The Homestead: A Centaur's Story [Archived]

[noeinan]

Uploaded some sketches.

[noeinan]

More centaur sprites.

[noeinan]

Finishing some more sprites, doo doo doo.



Since she took part in the war against the giants, and the club already looked vaguely femur shaped, I decided to go ahead and make it a femur.

[Laiska]

I love your character designs so much, you have no idea. The amount of diversity in them is phenomenal!

[noeinan]

Aw, thank you! I work really hard to make them all individuals, and not all the same size/color/face. ^^

As an update, I'm almost done with all the sprites! (If I have time at the end of the month I may touch them up.) Only the two human girls, and probably a couple more centaurs from the herd left.

To make sure we have enough time to do things right, the story will take place during the week or two before the herd arrives-- and will end when they leave. I'm thinking I'll follow up on their journey for next years NaNoRenO.

Currently, the concentration will be on getting some backgrounds finished, maybe custom GUI, and of course the story! I'll be uploading more detailed character profiles soon, along with names.

[thekobester11]

Man, how do you color like that?! It's soo polished and refined. I love it.
The lines look smooth. I love the concept, really looking forward to playing this!

[noeinan]

Thanks! The colors are actually just flat-- no shading or anything (yet).

I mostly chose the colors by looking at real horses and seeing what they looked like. I actually did a lot of research on them to make sure their eye and hair colors were genetically accurate. ^^

As for the lineart, it looks much messier close up, haha. But the nice thing is if you ink on a huuuuge file, by the time you shrink the image down for use in game it looks smooth. XD

[Edit]
Attached a picture of them all standing together, roughly to scale.

[Victoria]

Seriously, what is your secret? How do you have time to do everything by yourself and still make such a big progress? =D
I will definitely play this when it comes out!

[noeinan]

Haha, well I'm not doing it totally by myself. The concept is mine, and I've done all the art/programming, but I am working with a writer, Sheridan. Not having to do the writing has helped me a lot, since I can concentrate on the art and character design.

As for how I have the time to do the art-- I draw the sketches during my lunch break at work, and then I come home and ink/color while watching an anime that is mediocre, but I haven't seen before. (Or a comedy cartoon that isn't too engaging.) I can color during my relaxation time, have something going on in the background so I don't get bored, and I can get a lot done. ^^ Time management for the win!

Also, currently updating the thread-- all the centaurs now have names!

[arachni42]

Aw, thank you! I work really hard to make them all individuals, and not all the same size/color/face. ^^

I just wanted to say that your effort/research definitely shows ^_^ I look forward to this.

[noeinan]

Dwah, thank you. ^^ I'm glad there are so many people interested!

I did lots of research on horse genetics, to make sure characters who were related could actually be related and to get the colors right. I'm glad my days of studying are paying off!

[noeinan]

H'okay, two more centaurs (couldn't help myself!) and a bunch of background sketches. A lot of the backgrounds are going to get most of their detail through colors and shading so wish me luck because that's super difficult for me!




Originally intended to be the centaurs camp, which travels around with the herd. The structures you see are based off of yurts, but with way bigger doors because centaurs need them. I was thinking I could maybe get along with using this as the homestead background... But the homesteads are supposed to have more permanent structures so I'll need to draw another one. >< Still, a good start, even if I don't get to use it this time around. (Due to the fact that this first release won't cover the twins traveling with the herd.)


The inside of a yurt. Purposefully left bare so I can add in furniture as I see fit.


This is shown when the centaurs leave the mountainous area to visit the farm. You can see two small buildings down there-- that's the farm. Put little triangles for the trees, but obviously I'll need to define them better when I color the thing.


The plains. Pretty bare! That's because it's just... plains. Not much going on there. Most of the definition will come from the coloring stage, which will be super hard so I hope I don't horribly mess it up. ><


The outside of the farm house. I may or may not add plants out there, depending on what season I decide it is. Currently thinking it's spring, coming up on summer, but I need to fact check with a bunch of stuff so there aren't horrible inconsistencies.


The inside of the house. Left bare for the same reason as the yurt. The sketch isn't completely finished because as you can see from the outside of the house... All the walls are cobblestone. That is a lot of drawing cobblestone. So much cobblestone.

Okay, aside from the art I have also worked out a more coherent storyline and planned out the choices the player will make. Sheridan still needs to look over it and see if it's doable, though, so I will wait to give the details on the endings, and possible romance options, until after they give the okay! Still, look forward to more story updates soon. ^^

[noeinan]

Finished all the cobblestones. It's not perfect, but I got really, really tired of drawing random shapes.



Now I just need two more backgrounds, the homestead permanent housing outside and inside. I'll have variations depending on what furniture I put in there, but the bases will be done. I'll try to finish those up tomorrow?

[noeinan]

Aaand homestead pictures. Also spent some time designing centaur furniture, but I'm not completely finished.

[Bexy]

I think it's a interesting project ^^ with a lot of characters ! Good luck to finish it :3
And the backgrounds looks cool and numerous.