It’s time to dive into the characters of Fingenace! They make up an interesting bunch where everyone brings something to the table. So let’s take a look:

Finn

   Finn is a hot headed fish out for vengeance! He is the leader of the group… or at least he tries to be. He is intelligent but stubborn, blinded by his hatred towards the dolphins. When he gets fired up there is no stopping him from venting his anger!

Since Finn is such an angry fish I really wanted to push that and highlight just that. So I made is eyebrows extremely long to really sell the loud and flamboyant stature that he gives off. This decision can be seen in all of the other fish in the group as they have extremely long eyebrows or eyelashes, but none as intense as Finn’s.

Bubbles

Bubbles has one goal: to blow things up, and she plans on fulfilling that task. She is the youngest out of the group but that doesn’t stop her from exploding all that stand in her way.

Bubbles is interesting in the way that she really want to explode things. So I wanted to push that attitude that she alludes. I think that she was the most successful in terms of having a personality as she is just dripping personality from this stance.

Gil

Gil is very precise in what he does and he does it efficiently. He is a sharp shooter always thinking one step ahead of him. When the others aren’t up to par, that is when he loses his cool.

Gil was hard for me to nail down, I’m not really even sure if I am done with the look of it. When I was imaging him, I was picturing a slick and slender fish. He has given me the most trouble in terms of conveying his personality. Through is body language.

Dorsa

While Dorsa wants revenge for what the dolphins did to them, she also would love to benefit from all of this… Financially. She wants all of the money and scrap that these dolphins have for herself. It isn’t every day that you come across an opportunity as rich as this.

Dorsa is very intelligent and thinks highly of herself. I tried to pose her in a position that accentuated that fact. Other than that she really was an enigma when I was designing her, but in the end I think that it turned out well.

So that is an overview of each character and some insight as to why I designed them the way that I did. Things are still in the air but I think this is about what they are going to look like in the end. What do you think? Let me know in the comments and hope to see you next week!

In other news, we went to Glitch Con last weekend! It was great seeing all of you and being able to interact and show the game off was a blast! But I am sure Lane will be talking more about that on Friday.

Remember check out Stephen on Mondays and Lane on Fridays, while I take on Wednesdays.

(In case your wondering why this wasn’t on Wednesday, yesterday was April Fool’s… no one would have taken it seriously, it’s the internet!)

It’s that time again folks! I’m sure you all woke up this morning, excited about this nice spring Monday, looking forward to the robust and detailed game design articles from Escape Industries’s resident game designer/programmer/crazy person. I’ll be here every week to make your Monday mornings that much brighter. Wednesdays are for your weekly dosage of art design from artist and musician Charles McGregor, and your Friday game binge will be provided by Lane Davis, game designer and programmer.

Last week, I left you with a serious puzzle on your hands. What in the world is this thing?

This, dear sir and/or madam, is a shield. A Shock Shield to be precise. It destroys any enemy bullets it contacts. Such a gadget would be useful for players looking to protect allies from those pesky dolphin-developed foes. Many of the parts in this game are designed to have these kinds of abilities that help your teammates out. Some weapons deal out some serious damage in a short time to quickly clear high priority targets, some displace powerful opponents, some impede movement and rate of fire of the more mobile enemies. There’s a wide variety of choices available, creating vastly different gameplay experiences for each player on the team.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a team game unless you needed to rely on your team. The weapons come with some shortcomings. The Shock Shield, for instance, doesn’t deal very much damage on contact. It slows enemies a bit, but players with these equipped will have to rely on  their cannons to do most of the heavy damage. Of course, if one had a team (*wink wink*), one could synergize with a damage-focused teammate by creating openings in enemy attack patterns for him or her to take advantage of.

Next week, we’ll take a look at these lovely things:

I wonder what these could be…

Hello everyone!

I am Charles McGregor, the artist and musician for Fingeance. You may have seen some of my work over at Tribe Games like Glitch in the System. I am here to help Fingeance look and sound great! So you can find the majority of my posts be about the art and audio of the game (with some User Interface talk spliced in sometimes).

Fingeance art style is inspired by western comic books, with very bold and directional inking. A lot of the inspiration also comes from the Sly Cooper series.

I really liked the use of thick and thin lines of the art it helped give it that comic book feel in the cutscenes. Besides the fact that I really like the Sly Cooper series, I think this art style fits the comical story of Fingeance.

I still got a ways to go in terms of fine tuning the art style before I am completely happy with it, but so far I think I am on the right track.

So that is a quick overview of the overarching art style of Fingeance. Let me know what you guys think of it and what you want to see me delve into in my posts. Right now I plan on bringing you updates on the new art in the game, the reasons why things look and sound the way they do, and show how I do some of the things that I do among other things.

On a side note, Escape Industries and Fingeance are going to be at Glitch Con 2015! If you are a going there or want to meet up with us make sure to come this weekend, we will be roaming the conference on Saturday and Exhibiting on Sunday. Be sure to check us out and check all of the other awesome game developers!

Hello folks! My name is Stephen McGregor, programmer/designer for this lovely game we call Fingeance. I like long walks on the beach, staring into someone else’s eyes, and creating obscene weapons capable of destroying massive mechanical machinations of mammalian megalomaniacs.

Each week on Monday, I’ll give you some details into the mechanisms of Fingeance. My brother, Charles McGregor, will share some art and music going into the game every Wednesday. On Fridays, my dear friend Lane Davis will give you more general info about the game.

So, what is the game of Fingeance? Undoubtedly I’m spoiling some of Lane’s post, but as players you control up to four fish in underwater ships in a shoot ’em up fashion as you seek your just vengeance against the dolphin overlords. Obviously these dolphins aren’t going to just let you walk into their houses and break all their pots, so they’ve developed some really nasty enemies to keep you from them. Thankfully, your ships are also equipped with some powerful weapons.

Each ship comes with a cannon and a gadget. Your cannon is your main source of damage, while your gadget will supply you with an additional ability. What sets this game apart from other shmups is the different ways these parts will help you achieve your goal of ultimate power! beating each level. After each level, each player returns to headquarters to customize their personal ship with whatever parts are available. These parts can range from a simple straight shooting cannon, to a freezing projectile producing trident, to a heat pumped whip. The game can change each time you finish a level with such unique parts, making each playthrough special.

Unfortunately I’m not as artistically gifted as my two partners, so here’s a sneak peek at one gadget we’re working on:

What is this thing? What’s it do? Why am I asking you questions I already know the answer to? All shall be revealed next week on Monday!