Hey everyone,

Paul already told you something about our future plans last time, I would love to share something I have worked on the past week!

With the start of the development, we started working on new game design ideas! We decided to add a new location. A small house which should function as a home for the player. My task was to come up with some initial concepts  for this location! 

PREPARATION

Developing concept art is always fun. Basically, you are turning your own ideas into a real thing! When I work on concept art, I start with writing down some facts about what I want to create. Even before that, I wrote down some questions:

• What should this location be used for?
• How  should this location feel?

Afterwards, I started with a simple list of facts:

• Being outside is important
• Nature is part of your home
• Balance between man and nature
• It should be a single screen (e.g. same as campsite)
• The player should be able to see his progress
• The player should be able to go on a journey
• Home should feel more comfy with progress of the game

After this was done, I started looking for games, movies, and pictures which feature similar locations to use as references. Games like Robin Hood: The  Legend of Sherwood, Castle Crashers and Moon Hunters also provide a small base  or similar locations for the player.

These provide a comfortable feeling, are less stressful than  other locations and they offer some possibilities to interact with the world and prepare for your next journey.

THE FIRST CONCEPTS

The red and blue dots indicate spots for future which will be when progressing in the game. The idea behind them is still in progress!

I already like the perspective of the location. The campfire serves as a visual connection to firesides which you may stumble upon during your journey.  The third concept felt fitting  -  a small river and some trees  near your house capture the mood I am looking for pretty well. I wanted to add some more nature elements to the next ones.

Round two!

Concept number 5 already has some of the features which I would like to see - trees, a stable cabin and some benches! I still like the river in concept number 3... but enough concepts for now.

I presented my concepts to my team and gathered some feedback. The following weeks will be used to iterate on the current concepts and develop a first prototype. And that´s it for this week!

Thanks to everybody who joined our Discord lately. We are really happy to see people having interest in Fireside! Feel free to join our Discord if you would like to provide some feedback or if you would like to get  more frequent updates.

If you have interest in a specific topic, feel free to post a comment!
Stay safe and have a great day!