Heroes Ravage hosted the first open alpha and now there is lots to be done and fixed based on the feedback we got.
But while this open test was an important milestone for us there was a long way that led to this moment.
On the GIF bellow you can see the progression over time on the aspect of the sprites.
There is however more than meets the eye. Other than the visual improvement over time there were several changes done for a character customization system that we will show in more detail in the future.
Right now we have over 60 000 sprites thanks to our Commander of Legions aka artist and animator.
And now from the depths of the void we present you The Wizard!
Design
The wizard is a dark magician that took his magic experiments too far and had his body engulfed by darkness.
So he made the void his weapon and is capable of spawning small pieces of darkness and project them at his enemies.
Since his body is weak from being trapped in the void the Wizard tries to keep his enemies at bay by resorting to ranged attacks only.
Be aware of his darkness attacks though, as once they are cast they wont stop despite how many obstacles there are in the way.
The wizard takes damage from all the weapons in the game.
Audio Design
Did you know that the Wizard is wearing flippers? Details like this make a difference when trying to imagine what a monster will sound like.
The first aspect of the wizard that comes into focus is the “darkness leaking” out of him, at first we toyed with smoke sound effects a la the smoke monster of the series Lost but it didn’t feel right.
In this iterative process, we looked closer and maybe the particles leaking out are embers of darkness, something close to the embers of a bonfire, so again we tried with that idea in mind… but yet again it didn’t feel right, either the sound didn’t fit and something was off, or it quickly became too annoying.
It had to be something more subtle, more slick, more cool… That’s when you need to embrace the voices in your head go for it.
The precise moment when you light a Cigar, and you pull the air out of the paper tube, and it burns the wee… I mean the materials inside of it, it makes just the right sound without being too obnoxious or annoying to fit right with the animation.
We appreciate any feedback!
