Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent cribs quite liberally from Professor Layton, and relies heavily on its art style, but it’s still my favourite of Telltale’s episodic games to date.

The bits:

— Obviously the most noticeable thing about Puzzle Agent is its offbeat, crayon-drawn art style. What’s interesting here is that the game relies on stop-motion like animations reminiscent of old, low-budget cartoons. The effect is actually quite good and and the choppy movements are consistently utilized even when smooth animations could have easily replaced them  (e.g., a snowmobile driving in a straight line).

The system made me wonder if other art styles not conducive to animation could successfully adopt a similar approach.

Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent is quite a cinematic game that uses lots of different framing techniques for both its interactive and non-interactive sequences.

— Aside from the visual style itself, PA is a very atmospheric title in the vein of the old LucasArts adventure games. The characters are bizarre and expressive, the Fargo-esque setting is unique (at least for a videogame), and the great music and voice acting enrich the overall experience.

— PA was clearly designed with the iPhone/iPad in mind. The player never walks his avatar around the screen, and clicking most places sends out a helper-shockwave. As this shockwave expands, it highlights any points of interest that can be clicked on to initiate conversations, puzzles, scene transitions, etc.

These icons briefly pop-up whenever the player clicks on any close-by, non-interactive areas.

— The actual puzzles in PA are a bit of a letdown. This is due to two main reasons: lack of instructions, and the inability to jot down notes in-game.

A lot of the puzzles are quite obtuse, sometimes to the point where a hint needs to be purchased just to figure out what the game wants the player to do. Unfortunately this seems like a concession to the game’s hint system (all puzzles must contain 3 individual hints) as some cases actually contains an additional screen that explains the controls and the goals of the minigame.

The secondary complaint deals with the nature of the puzzles themselves. Many of them are common math/logic problems that are meant to be solved in a series of steps. However, the player is often forced to visualize and work through them without any in-game aids. This artificially inflates their difficulty, especially when compared to the visual jigsaw puzzles.

These points certainly don’t ruin the game, but do I hope the various minigames are improved in future episodes.

Unfortunately most of the other puzzles are not described in nearly as much detail.

- Many puzzles are completely optional and make exploring the world feel more like a non-linear, interactive experience.

- The actual hint system is quite clever. The game starts off with the protagonist trying to solve a crossword, and, having some problems with it, eventually reaching over for some gum to help him concentrate. As we soon learn, the town he visits is experiencing a gum shortage. This forces the player to pick up old, discarded pieces of gum to aid Agent Tethers in his puzzle solving endeavours. Yes, it’s quite gross, but perfectly fits the mood of the game and gives the designers a great excuse to sprinkle virtually all parts of the environment with a useful collectible.

Agent Tethers comes face-to-face with Mike "The Lobster" Lobb.

Old gum also seems to be a reusable resource, reappearing in new spots as the Agent Tethers travels around town. This provides the player with an unlimited source of hints and prevents him from getting stuck on any one puzzle.

- As a nice little touch, the time of day on the title screen changes up periodically while the camera slowly scrolls around the Scoggins eraser factory.

- The UI of the game is very flashy but intuitive, with lots of animating widgets composed of labels and icons. The unskipable puzzle submission is a tad long, but the overall interface is a joy to use (especially when compared to many other adventure games).

My favourite scene with the creepy gnomes had one of them invade my puzzle in the middle of me trying to solve it! The sequence worked very well since the puzzles (at least up to that point) were a separate, uninterruptible segment only exposed to the player.

- Agent Tethers uses a tape recorder throughout the game to narrate his experiences. This provides extra personality and context while clearly outlining what must be done going forward.

In the 90′s, Capcom produced a plethora of side-scrolling beat-’em-ups. They were all pretty fun, but my favourite was an unlikely-branded D&D title, Tower of Doom.

The TSR/Capcom partnership actually spawned two individual games, but here are the notable bits for the first one:

— The most famous feature of ToD is the branching path structure. Periodically, the player is presented with 2-3 options of how to proceed, with each choice leading to a different area and boss. All these paths converge fairly quickly, but the extra choices are a nice feature and encourage multiple playthroughs.

Options, options...

— ToD’s overall structure is very similar to a typical beat-’em-up, but the game also contains lots of streamlined D&D/P&P RPG elements. Characters gain experience and grow stronger by leveling up, keys (or a thief character) are needed to open some chests, traps are virtually everywhere, there’s lots of treasure to collect, etc. There’s even a troll boss that needs to be burned once his health is depleted or he’ll simply regenerate.

— There are very few health-recovery items in the levels themselves, but the player can heal by collecting loot and purchasing health potions in shops. The shops appear in between levels and also allow the player to restock on usable items such as daggers and arrows.

— ToD contains lots of nice, little touches: the characters start the levels with their weapons sheathed (and the player can walk around unarmed until he presses the attack button), enemies can be damaged by traps, an extra victory animation accompanies a boss’ defeat, and all major stages and events are framed using unique illustrations. The game even contains some unique “Game Over” pop-ups that — if triggered during a boss fight — have the player’s enemy openly mocking him.

Upholding the D&D tradition, Cloudkill is useless against the undead.

— Magic spells execute a flashy animation while pausing the gameplay, and their effects occasionally carry on once the game has been unpaused. This works fine for the most part, but due to the rule of only-one-spell-at-a-time, it’s occasionally possible to not be able to cast a spell while walking around without having a clear idea as to why it’s not working.

— Like many other beat-’em-ups, ToD’s attacks are accompanied by hit-flashes that indicate successful hits and mask collision issues. However, unlike most other titles in the genre, the player can attack downed enemies, but can’t actually grab or throw them.

— If timed properly, it’s possible to slash projectiles out of the air with a basic attack.

How could they break -- the Beholder isn't even touching them?!

— Non-usable/equipable items are fairly rare, but they do provide passive bonuses such as extra attack and defense boosts. These items don’t usually last very long, though, as they get “broken” or “lost” if the player gets hit a couple of times.

Sub-Terrania is a physics based, side-view shooter in vein of such titles as Thurst and Gravity Force. It was developed by Zyrinx, a studio composed of demo scene veterans, and was a difficult but enjoyable Genesis title.

Bullets:

• Sub-Terrania has something of a photo-realistic aesthetic that’s also reflected in its gameplay. The physics require pin-point thrusts due to limited fuel supplies, gravity drags down projectiles, momentum dictates collision damage, attachable items add extra weight and inertia, etc.
  

  Sub-Terrania doesn't wait too long before throwing large bosses at the player.

• Although there are only 3 tile-sets for all the maps, each level contains unique puzzles and visuals. These can vary anywhere from a laser-reflecting mirror to a giant hopping robot. Although the functionality of these elements is reused, none of the assets ever appear twice, and even the enemies and environmental objects are changed up pretty frequently.

  All these concepts make for a very nice, non-repetitive experience where the player knows something new is lurking around every turn.

• All the destructible elements are man/alien made, and are composed of dozens of tiny tiles. Each one of these tiles has its own collision box and health value, adding granularity and creating a very gradual and satisfying sense to the destruction.
• The overall game can be quite unforgiving. The ship’s shields are drained whenever it comes in contact with anything on the map (except when landing on flat surfaces which provide a much needed respite), the player’s shots can destroy precious powerups, and — unfortunately — the level maps only are only shown in between stages.
  

  This installation will go down one tiny brick at a time.

• Whenever the player’s ship explodes, it releases a shower of particles. Each one of these obeys collision checks and plays a sound effect whenever it comes in contact with the environment, putting a cacophonous exclamation point on the player’s death.
• If the player runs out of fuel, his ship begins to billow out smoke and proceeds to plummet to its demise (all the while accounting for its previous trajectory). In this state, the ship blows up as soon as it touches anything, which can happen mercifully quick or last quite a few seconds.

  The small touch creates a dreadful but aesthetically pleasing game death effect.

• Some of the enemies’ physical attacks carry a tremendous force that can send the player rocketing across the map (often to an almost-instant death). These moments can be quite surprising considering the somewhat plodding pace of the game, and add a menacing touch to the numerous adversaries.
• As the player journeys further and further underground, satellite data becomes increasingly sparse. At first, key locations on the map stop being pinpointed, but soon the mission-goals themselves become garbled up, and eventually the briefings disappear altogether. Rather organically, this creates a feeling of foreboding and also reinforces a sense of progression.
  

  Although pretty, the increased gravity and the underwater sections make the last few levels the most difficult in the game.

• The last levels of the game increase the pull of gravity, but also introduce underwater areas that constantly drag the player’s buoyant ship to the surface. Although the player can obtain an item that — when manually used — pressurizes the ship and temporarily inverts its underwater handling, it’s only of small aid (especially when the water is eventually replaced by hazardous pools of acid).
• Early on in the 9th and final stage, the player can obtain an item that grants him unlimited fuel. This is an extremely helpful and empowering upgrade, especially considering the game-wide scarcity of the resource.
• In something of a twist on punishing the player, the end-game boss battle is not restarted if the player dies. Instead, if there are any lives left, the ship simply respawns right in the middle of the fight.

The bits:

• HoMM II is a turn-based strategy game with 6 distinct factions. Each faction has its own town/castle type with a unique set of structures. Most of these serve the same purpose, namely purchasing creatures, but some buildings are unique to each faction.
  

  Virtually every corner of every map is filled with lush scenery and useful hotspots.

• Gold and 6 different resources (wood, ore, mercury, sulfur, gems and crystals) are necessary to purchase and upgrade the various buildings and creatures.
• Heroes are recruited in towns/castles and are required to explore the overworld map and lead creatures into battle. Each hero starts off with a handful of creatures and the specializations of his faction, e.g., barbarians begin with a high attack rating and the pathfinding skill.
• Heroes can gain levels increasing their 4 basic stats, equip artifacts, learn magic spells, gain temporary bonuses and learn and master passive skills. Some of these can carry over through the game’s campaign(s), but even on small maps all these elements provide a steady stream of upgrades.


The branching paths of the main campaign.

• Overworld maps contain a fog-of-war mechanic, come in a variety of sizes, and include an absolute plethora of objects. Some of these are purely aesthetic or used as collidable scenery, but others are integral to the gameplay.

  There are collectible goods (artifacts and resources), single-use locations (witch’s huts that teach passive skills and tombs that can be plundered), mines (gold/mineral dispensers that provide a set amount of goods in each turn), multi-use locations (teleporters and marketplaces where minerals can be traded), reusable locations (wells that refill magic points and special hotspots that grant a boost to luck/morale for the next battle), and re-fillable locations (creature recruitment centers and mills that can provide random resources every 7 turns).

  On top of these, terrain types also affect hero movement, and special-purpose locations such as password-protected gateways serve additional gameplay functions. All these objects provide an incentive for the player to explore as much land as possible, but — and maybe more importantly — also give him something to do in the areas he has already conquered.



Ah, the Necromancer's castle. One of my favourite tactics is to send out a scout with expert necromancy and a group of missile-throwing liches, and watch the defeated armies rise up as my new skeleton minions.

• Obelisks that are scattered around the maps reveal a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Once fully exposed, this image shows the location of a secret and powerful artifact that can be dug out from the ground.
• Every 7 turns, towns/castles and creature dispensers get new recruits. However, once in a while a plague will strike and no new recruits will become available (worse yet, creatures that were previously available but were not purchased will shrink in numbers). Conversely, specific creatures can randomly experience a growth spurt. Whenever this happens, their base recruitment numbers will double, and stacks of these creatures will randomly appear on the overworld map.
• As a CD-based game, HoMM II includes a CD-Audio soundtrack, with an option to use a midi one. A third alternative also exists which uses the CD-Audio with operatic vocals layered on top, giving the game a very distinct score.
  

  Those bone dragons are going down!

• The actual combat of HoMM II is also turn based, with each creature taking its turn based on its speed statistic. The heroes don’t attack directly (aside from casting spells), but their statistics are also appended to those of the creatures, effectively boosting their performance. A lot of the creatures also have unique abilities such as infinite counterattacks, recharging hit points, a chance to cancel magical attacks, etc. Unlike the sequels, HoMM II doesn’t clearly inform the player of these abilities and it takes a lot of practice to get familiar with them.
• Magic plays a crucial part in the overall gameplay, both in combat and on the overworld map. Being able to scout ahead and teleport around the playing field, or boosting your strongest units while damaging entrenched archers, is vital to the player’s success.

HoMM II has a very steep learning curve that’s practically unimaginable these days, but in many ways it’s this barrier and that makes it such an entertaining title. It might not be impeccably balanced for competitive play, but the sheer amount of variables that must be juggled at any given moment create an experience where the player is constantly adapting and strategizing.

With each move, an overabundance of options need to be weighed; immediate tactics have to be balanced with long term plans. The economy, map control, build orders, hero progression, proper use of units, etc., are all vital to coming out on the winning side, and each turn is different from the last.

The micromanagement of HoMM II gives Civilization a run for its money, but the upside to all these elements is that the game is practically filled with “emergent” gameplay. Creating map chokepoints, playing keepaway with AI heroes, slowly wearing down the opposition through superior use of resources, etc., all fall into a metagame that’s not immediately obvious — or even consciously designed — but one that’s created simply as a result of having so many ingredients in the pot.

It’s a methodology that’s largely avoided these days, but its end results are unique and very addictive.

First of all, we finally have a brand new site! It’s where all future Tribes of Mexica updates will go, but since I started these art posts here, I figured I’d finish off the series with one more entry.

In part 3, I finally got a background and all the necessary character artwork, but there were still plenty of missing assets that had to go into the prototype.

Our controls/tips screen used stock controller/button images supplied by Microsoft. These were edited a bit and given unique backgrounds to better fit the style of the game.

I asked my younger brother (who’s a graphic designer) to do some menu backgrounds and a custom font for us. Larabie Fonts is a good place to snag these or look for templates, so I didn’t expect it to be a huge amount of work. I gave my brother $100 and figured he’d be done in a day or two, but then the requirements kept on piling up.

Button icons, a tutorial screen, custom battle messages, etc.; none of these had to be done from scratch as there were plenty of references, but the quantity of UI elements grew to be far more than a weekend of work could cover. We didn’t have a lot of money, but I gave my brother another $100 for all this extra work.

Some spell icons...

We also needed some icons for the spells and status effects, so I asked Alice (who did our cover) to help with these illustrations. I also liked the Street Fighter esque health bars my brother did as they gave Tribes of Mexica a fighting game vibe, so I requested a few portraits to accompany them.

In total there were 12 spell icons, 12 status effect icons and 8 portraits, with a bit of palette-swapping/layering to cut down on the work. Alice was quite comfortable with this and we paid her $200 for all the images.

Finally, we needed some spell effects. Initially we wanted to have the same studio that did the character art to also create the spell animations, but they were too busy. We asked some other artists that we knew if they’d be interested, but they either didn’t have the time or were not well suited for the task. In the end, I posted another ad on ConceptArt.

...and some enemy portraits.

Out of all the responses, I chose to go with Rafa? Kwa?ny. Rafa? seemed like a good fit as he had some impressive CG animations and was willing to do the work for $200. I paid him a $75 advance and we talked over the details of all the spells, but then he simply disappeared. I e-mailed him a few times but never got a response, so I filed complaint with PayPal. Eventually PayPal “recovered” $0.53 of the $75.00 and promptly closed the case.

With just a few days left until the deadline of the DreamBuildPlay competition, we had to scramble to come up with an alternate solution. We bit the bullet and implemented some particle effects which I didn’t think there was time to do, and I paid my brother another $100 to create some static images for this system. This was the part of the game that got the least amount of polish, but I was still quite happy with the end results.

On top of all this, I also messed around with a bunch of art stuff myself. I trimmed, cropped and resized some of the UI pieces, and — having previously asked for our background to be split into multiple layers — created 7 different arenas from one template.

4 of the 7 backgrounds in our prototype which were all based on a single template.

This was done by moving, flipping, scaling and cloning individual layers and altering the level/colour balances of the entire image. These edits were somewhat noticeable if you took a closer look at the final backgrounds, but they were not the focus of the game and the rough spots were worth the extra variety.

Overall we created Tribes of Mexica on a shoestring budget, and the artists involved contributed partly because they were interested in the experience and the project’s visual themes. I wouldn’t necessarily count on the same level of support in the future if we couldn’t raise a bit more money, but it was definitely a positive experience that helped to frame our approach for dealing with contract work.

Previous Tribes of Mexica post.

Nice eyepatch.

In various interviews, its creators mentioned The Dark Crystal and the works of Hieronymus Bosch and John Blanche as inspirations, and it’s easy to see why. The Dark Crystal was packed with wondrous locations and anthropomorphic characters, Hieronymus Bosch was famous for his fantastically twisted paintings, and Johan Blanche had that Heavy Metal edge. The end result is a style that reminds me of various late-80s Belgian comic books I used to read as a kid; the palette is varied and colourful, but the world appears dangerous and cobbled together.

It all makes for some pretty pictures.

Secret of Evermore came out close to the end of the SNES era and was the first and only game to be developed by Squaresoft USA. It tried to piggy-back on the relative success of Secret of Mana, retaining that game’s ring-menu system and part of its title, but it was not well received by the fans. The main reason for this is that it wasn’t Secret of Mana 2.

The defeat of the iconic Thraxx, one of the earlier bosses in the game.

Anime was really taking off at the time, but SoE had its own aesthetic style. Its setting also had nothing to do with Mana, and the two games played quite a bit differently. Adding insult to injury, various magazines previewed Seiken Densetsu 3, the real sequel to SoM, and hinted at the game not coming out in the West because of SoE.

Despite all the fan outrage, though, Evermore was a quality game and I personally prefer it to Mana.

The intro to SoE.

The memorable parts:

The mighty femur, the first weapon in the game.

• SoE contains humourous bits of dialogue as well as progression segments that are based on physical gags. These effectively give the game something of a PC-adventure vibe akin to Space Quest.

  As an example, upon crash-landing on Evermore, the protagonist encounters a huge, prehistoric dog. Suspecting the animal to be a transformed version of his faithful companion, the boy throws a stick to see if the dog will retrieve it. The canine quickly comes back with a giant bone (which isn’t the stick that was thrown but is apparently good enough to prove the animal’s identity) and it ends up serving as the player’s first weapon in the game.

• The world of Evermore is split into 4 main zones: Prehistoria, Nobilia, Gothica and Omnitopia. Each one of these represents a distinct historical era and is dreamed up by NPCs that originally hail from the boy’s hometown of Podunk, U.S.A.

A few examples of the locations in SoE.

• Although the protagonist lacks any concrete personality, he constantly makes references to imaginary horror and sci-fi B-movies which adds a bit of flavour to the game.

SoE follows a different upgrade system from most action-RPGs.

• In addition to having aesthetically varied zones, the maps in SoE also contain rudimentary but unique puzzle elements: quicksand whirlpools teleport the player, lily pads are summoned to create bridges over watery surfaces, hot air vents are used to ascend a volcano, etc.
• The level maps themselves are quite linear, especially in the beginning of the game, but the overall level design is very good. The architecture is varied and interesting, and the so-called golden path is always asymmetrically criss-crossed with tracks that lead to treasures and various secret areas. To check out all of SoE’s maps, head on over to the VGMaps.
• Breaking up the repetition in the levels are various interactive elements that appear only a single time, e.g., the river ferry in Crustacia, the frozen volcano top in Prehistoria, the ramshackle bridge in the Hall Of Collosia, etc.
• The magic system is based on ingredients that actually reside in what look like their proper locations, e.g., ash by campfires, roots by the base of various flora, bones by skeletal outcroppings, etc. These ingredients have no clear visual indicators, though, so a bit of guesswork is involved in finding them.

Just keep running and you'll make it.

• All spells and weapons have their own leveling system and grow in power with use. Leveled up weapons can be charged up, while leveled up spells typically do more damage.
• Many alchemists that teach spells are hidden throughout the game and don’t need to be found in order to progress. These alchemists also sell a unique set of ingredients and allow the player to equip and remove spells (only a handful of these can be available at any one time). This non-linear approach to magic allows for some nice customization, but, unfortunately, the ingredients for most spells only reside in certain locales. This effectively prevents the player from sticking with his favourites throughout the whole course of the game.

Your canine partner is always useful for sniffing out extra spell ingredients.

• The player’s dog automatically sniffs out alchemy ingredients and treasures, and attacks any nearby enemies. This is very similar to the implementation of the dog in Fable 2, except that the player can also switch control to the dog at virtually any time. The dog can’t climb steep stairs, but he does get some unique dialogue bits from NPCs and performs the occasional function that the boy can’t fulfill, e.g., jumping over a broken bridge. Some areas also contain puzzles that rely on repeatedly switching control between the boy and the dog, but this is done rather rarely.

  For an even more detailed overview of SoE’s canine companion, head on over to this Escapist article.

• The overall flow of the game is quite varied and interesting. The first prehistoric continent is home to a small hub town and a few dungeons that need to be completed in a strict order, but the second zone is quite a bit different. It starts off with the boy washing up on a beach without his dog and no clear indication of what to do next. The beach itself forks in three directions: the western path leads to an uncrossable river, the northern path to a large shipwreck-town embedded in a mountainside, and the eastern path to some barren caves and a desert.

  The residents of the town don’t provide the player with any concrete goals, and more intrigue is added when the play is briefly switched to the dog. It’s revealed that the canine has transformed into a sleek grayhound and roams a lush, Roman-esque city whose residents seem to worship a god that looks just like him.

  

  Backtracking through the continents is impossible until the end of the game when the player obtains a Leonardo da Vinci like flying machine.

  Having no other path to follow, the boy crosses the huge desert which — unless he takes a rather expensive shortcut — periodically damages him. Upon finishing the grueling journey, he reaches a sprawling city that was shown in the dog’s cutscene. Once again, there’s no clear quest givers and all that the player can do is wander around conversing with the numerous merchants and citizens. After a certain time limit is reached, all the residents proceed to the main plaza where the city’s ruler decrees that the boy’s dog — their idol — shall be honoured by choosing the next arena-challenger.

  Let off his leash, the dog instinctively runs up to his master, effectively choosing him as the upstart warrior. The duo are then thrown into a cramped cell to prepare, and eventually the boy must face off against the colloseum’s champion all by himself. Following his victory, the boy is tasked with retrieving two artifacts from two separate dungeons which can be completed in either order, and some additional areas open up as the dog rejoins his master.

  The actual gameplay of these sections isn’t that much different from the first act, but they do a great job of breaking up the pacing and preventing SoE from becoming an entirely predictable experience. As a result, the player can never be quite sure of what’s waiting around the corner, imbuing the game with a strong sense of adventure.

He sure seems to be a good sport about it.

• The markets of Nobilia and Ebon Keep are based on a bartering system that requires the player to run around making advantageous trades. It’s a little monotonous but also completely optional, and its rewards include unique and useful items.
• Although money is gained from defeating enemies, it’s automatically collected and there’s no visual feedback to indicate that this is happening. Enemies also occasionally drop physical items that can be picked up — and sometimes those are actual piles of money — but this doesn’t happen very often.
• Each of the four zones has its own unique currency, and although money can be exchanged in each area, it’s done so at a loss to the player.
• A lot of the music in SoE is ambient rather than melodic, which nicely sets the mood but also has the adverse effect of making many of the tracks somewhat forgettable. Still, the texture of the audio is pretty unique — unlike the plethora of completely uninspired orchestral scores that litter games these days — and the overall soundtrack is quite enjoyable.
• Upon arriving in Gothica, the player must make his way to a carnival of grifters. These shady characters immediately kidnap his dog and dress him as a pig for one of their exhibits (think the Renaissance fair in Lisa’s Wedding). The dog breaks free and runs right into a local pig race, easily winning the marathon and the grand prize: an audience with the queen.

The dog saves the day yet again.

• The various sewers encountered in the game are composed of interlocking pipes that carry a specific current. The player can ride the currents and switch pipes at junction points, but can’t freely maneuver within them. These maps are still fairly easy to explore, though, as only one path leads to the exit and all other paths eventually deposit the player at the entry point to the area.

You'd figure Cecil would be able to get a better gig after saving the universe...

• The Dark Forest if a large maze of long horizontal and vertical stretches peppered with the occasional sign. At first it appears to be an area that simply teleports the player around, but all of its maps are actually unique. The trick to traversing the Dark Forest is in the little critters hanging out in its trees: if you don’t see ‘em, chances are you’re going the wrong way.
• Cecil from Final Fantasy IV makes a cameo appearance as an owner of a weapon shop, and various other Squaresoft properties also serve as easter eggs.
• One of the optional segments in SoE is an eerie play put on by two marionettes.

Naturally these marionettes are also a boss battle later on in the game.

• The final area takes place on a desolate space station. There’s very few NPCs, and all of the stores have been replaced by automated vending machines.
• The space version of the dog is that of a toaster who fires lethal projectiles and can float around in vents that the player can’t reach.
• The final battle is actually a series of fights, with a small cleaning robot coming in to clean up the mess in between the rounds. If this robot is attacked, though, it will return with some friends for protection.

A game’s aesthetics are sometimes its most notable feature, so I’ve decided to add simple galleries as a new feature to the website. First up is the TurboGrafx-16′s whimsical answer to Mario and Sonic: Bonk’s Adventure.

Having decided to move away from pixel art, I returned to ConceptArt.org to search for higher-res artists. Although my preference was for a style resembling Alice’s, I was open to other interpretations. After all, the characters would have to take on more deformed proportions to properly fit the dimensions, so there was no point in disqualifying CG renders, sketch-animations, etc.

Warrior concept by Daniel Hansen.

The requirements for the job stayed about the same:

• 1 background, 1280×720, with some decorative objects that could be moved around.
• 1 “unit” type consisting of 4 different colour versions, with each version comprising 8 angles (3 of them simply flipped) and 4 animations per angle.
• 4 different enemy types, with 4 animations per enemy and one or two special animations.

I kept the $800 as the initial offer for this work. I was prepared to see this figure fluctuate based on the utilized style and its requirements, but I also thought it was good starting point.

As I found out prior to making my post, ads that pay more than $500 have their own section on ConceptArt and require a $50 fee to be posted. Since I previously had a positive experience with the site, I decided the price was worth it. Our IncubatorGames profile, though, listed us as a group, and I made the payment under my name, Radek Koncewicz. As a result, there was some confusion over the post and it didn’t initially go up, but the matter was quickly resolved after I contacted some of the forum administrators.

All in all, the ad generated about 50 responses.

Animation mockups by Jesus Garcia, Tom Garden, IMGNATION and Decebal Tache.

Now the thing with pixel artists is that most of them create tiles, objects, animations, etc., as a matter of course. However, with illustrators animations are much more of a specialty. Lots of submissions showcased amazing background and character work, but very few contained examples of animations. This had me a little concerned, so I decided to request some mock-ups. Not wanting to alienate any of the artists, I offered $20 each for a simple animation test. It wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing. From our point of view, it also quickly added another $120 that we had to spend (although one of the artists was nice enough to actually send the money back when we didn’t choose him).

This turned out to have been a very good idea. The results were varied in style and quality, and really helped to showcase each individual’s ability to interpret and produce based on our directions. I realize that extra mockup payments might not always be feasible, but I highly recommend this extra step if things seem uncertain.

In the end, we decided to go with IMGNATION, a Brazilian art studio that had worked on videogames in the past. They accepted the $800 fee, with the only “extra” being a request to be credited in the game (which I was going to do anyway for all the contractors involved).

The finished background. I ended up playing around with it in Photoshop to create the 7 different backgrounds we had in the demo.

The people at IMGNATION who worked on Tribes of Mexica were Marcus Severo de Moura, Rafael Batista Sarmento and Orlando Fonseca Jr., the studio’s project director. I only ever talked to Orlando, and initially he broke down the tasks as follows: background, 30% of the work, units, 20% of the work, and enemies, 50% of the work. Eventually the workload proved to be closer to: background, 20% of the work, units, 30% of the work, and enemies, 50% of the work.

Working with an actual studio meant that it was a bit harder to play things by the ear, but it also meant that — as a business — they’d work hard not to miss any deadlines. Gearing up for our own deadline, it was definitely nice not to have to worry about art deliverables being late.

The final background we received was great, and the animations were nice despite relying a lot on transformations (movement, scaling and rotations that are the staple of Flash “tween” animations). Granted IMGNATION was working on these animations while we were putting together a rough system to play them in the game, so things were not as optimized as they could have been. Hopefully this process will be improved in the future as we develop and fine-tune more tools.

With the core and concept art out of the way, we had all the vital components. However, there were still plenty of other visuals missing, which I’ll cover in the next entry.

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