Mementoes - Concept/Finished Art, Animations and Props
This is a game published in a quarter, made by 8 people!
Check it out here:
https://kaiserelite.itch.io/dream-of-daddy
(Now now, don't look at me weird for the name of the game... It's actually supposed to be Mementoes. Dream of Daddy and its strange, current thumbnail image of markiplier was a placeholder for when we came up with a better name and thumbnail. The Itch page is just outdated and I don't have access for some reason...)
Do you ever just want to get sent to purgatory? Well in this game you can! And even better yet, you can date the monsters there who aim to kill you. You just gotta navigate around the backrooms of purgatory to find out what you are here for...
As I am the only 2D artist in this game group, I was tasked to do everything character and item design wise. Aside from a narrative doc that described the backstory of the characters, there was little to go off on, leaving me with all the creative freedom in the world.
Though, as an asset contributor, I want to have an insight of designers' visions or directors' ideas to get a general ballpark of what we wanted. I'd hate to make something that wasn't desired or expected in the general game world that we want to achieve. We were a talented group of people, but decision making was lax - it was very hard to know if what I made was appropriate or close to the vision of the game. I've learned that in cases like these, it's good to step up and ask for opinions directly. Criticism was rare, but very appreciated - it was a sense of direction, improvement, and progress.
That being said, designs were definitely leaning towards suggestive and mature themes. It was fun to experiment on, though!
(Narrative doc)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_mvmVtOe_mY_wz632gsHBcH-uEHyvxMspBlJYSZfMU/edit?usp=sharing
*I am not the owner of the narrative doc, but it is set to edit mode. If you make edits, we will find you!!!!!!!!*
The cover of the game. I don't believe it's actually in the game or in the Itch.io page... but for the sake of your sanity, I'll put it here...
(I did not make this composition myself, a team member put this together.)
Violetto - Enemy Sprite
He liked skateboarding, chemistry, and guitar playing in his previous life. He seemed to be the type to be a very unsettled Wraith who has undying resolve. As much as I like his design over the other three, I don't know what he is
Liana - Enemy Sprite
Can't have a dating sim without a character with big personality.
The narrative we went with makes her seem like a fun-loving woman. So I made her into a Nāga. She's quite bloodthirsty though...
Elian - Enemy Sprite
He's a travel enthusiast with a liking towards Egyptology. I wanted to make him look "cryptic" and hot, like you didn't know what the heck you were looking at or why you were attracted to him. (I don't know how well I executed that.)
Olena - Enemy Sprite
From the narrative doc, I assumed she was the quiet, lonely kid of the crew who had brilliant creative writing skills. I imagine that her mind would be quite dangerous then. It can manifest some unspeakable horrors...
Elian - Jumpscare animation
For the jumpscares, I wanted each character to have their own unique scare. (Some of them are kinda weird in hindsight, but I think I'd expect it from a game called Dream of Daddy)
Violetto - Jumpscare animation
Olena - Jumpscare animation
Liana - Jumpscare animation
Electric guitar - prop
You're tasked to collect items in the backrooms to solve the backstories of the monsters you're trying to survive from (and date eventually). Item lore is in the narrative doc linked in the description!
Chemistry beaker - prop
Skateboard deck - prop
Dress shoe - prop
Roll of tickets - prop
Dog collar - prop
Passport - prop
Camera - prop
Pyramid keychain - prop
Picture booth photograph - prop
Metal heart shaped necklace - prop
Poem journal - prop
Initial concept art of Liana -
I scrapped it because I felt uninspired. Feel free to leave a dislike!
Liana - Original color
This was what Liana used to look like and was almost about to be passed like this to final draft. She looks like a Christmas/Holiday pepper.
Liana - Color variation #2
She kinda looked pretty like this but it would've been striking in contrast to the dark purgatory backrooms
Liana - Color variation #3
It's just inverse colors
Liana - Color variation #4
I knew I wanted her to be somewhat red and this was a competitor with the current design for Liana. Though eventually it was decided that the magenta-green gradient was more like her.
Elian - draft
I believe this asset is still used in the game for the dialogue screen. I redid Elian because I thought he wasn't strange enough compared to the three others
Olena - draft
She has the same ordeal as Elian's draft. I feel as though she's too approachable here, like she's going through things right now and needs hugs
Violetto - draft
This was actually my concept art for a game jam that occurred around the start of this project. It got scrapped in the game jam, so I made a color readjustment, added horns and called it a day. (Check out my post on Wall-B for the origin)
General monster concept
I used this image to get recruited into the team as an artist. It's from my high school project...
General Monster jumpscare
I animated this in a few hours as a placeholder for when I finished the other animations for each character... Ironically, I feel like this jumpscare is scarier than the other 4.
Rough concepts
To illustrate the "hot monsters" idea I drew these up in lecture for our dev group, when we were unsure of what to do for our game.
I would've made Liana into a succubus, but it felt predictable...