Búzio Windows game

Hello, indieDB Community!

This is our 2nd article about our in-development game called Búzio.

In this article, we will be showing and explaining some of the art and mood boards that we did for the environment, and the character.

The narrative theme will focus on an island with submerged temple ruins, and the protagonist will navigate through them using a magical instrument to unlock mysterious mechanisms along the way.

Given that our game features a fantastic/magical element, a magical instrument, it would be wise to adopt a theme that readily accommodates non-realistic features and magical scenarios. Therefore, opting for a fantasy theme throughout the game appears to be the most suitable choice. The widespread recognition of the fantasy theme also facilitates a stronger connection between the game and the player, unlike more niche themes such as horror or sci-fi, which come with their own specific art styles.

In our view, the fantasy art style/theme offers a broader scope for experimentation with concepts, which could prove beneficial in the long term. Additionally, it's a genre that consistently feels 'fresh' and is less prone to becoming tiresome.

Our art style will feature the use of simple shapes as its foundation, followed by vivid colors and high contrast. These art style decisions are evident in the images below.

For the models, we will use the mid-poly version to model the assets for the game.

The objective of the textures is to incorporate simple colors with subtle variations, reflecting characteristics such as cracks or signs of erosion. Following this, we'll apply a post-process material (a shader) to achieve that cartoony/flat appearance.

For the character, here is our MoodBoard.

For the environment, here is our MoodBoard.