Echo Everstone designs

Some character design progression! I tend to fiddle with the designs, especially the face, until the last minute. I sometimes tone down the weird faces since for this game I need a range of expressions from each character!

Grimoire's body

Here are some early drawings of possible shapes for Grimoire himself. His new model took me to longest to decide on, since I wanted to be completely happy with him from head to toe.

FaceBook.com/DetectiveGrimoire

That's right, we now have an official Facebook page for Detective Grimoire!

Check it out, come and say hello and see what's cooking.  

(We'll have news, development info, exclusive images, behind the scenes treats and more!)

In other news, here is a mysterious photograph of some eyebrows...

DetectiveGrimoire.com and Trailer!

Check out DetectiveGrimoire.com for some information on the game and an official teaser trailer!

Pretty exciting!

-Dim

Onion Skins

Here are some onion skins! I finished animating the character for the dialogue in the game.

Sorry about no news posts. I've been busy! :) Grimoire is going great, I'll get some exciting stuff up soon

-Dim

Ending Sequence

I'm working on the ending of the game right now! So I can't really show you anything!

You can just try to guess what Grimoire is so suprised about:

Clues and Areas

Images for you

I never know exactly what to show on here, so here are a bunch of images from all over my computer!

Information and Design

 Lately I've been wrestling with the information in the story, trying to break it down into different sections and get my head around exactly what we're telling the player, and when, and how - and what it looks like when we do. It's more difficult than animating! Hopefully when we get this all completely finalised, it will be much easier to put it all together.

Meanwhile, Catherine continues to produce amazing background designs - this game is going to have some serious atmosphere, I look forward to playing it in the dark at night by myself.

Action!

Music by Raphael Meyer
Edwyn Tiong as Grimoire
Shudo Ranmaru as Sally

Everything you see is still potentially work-in-progress. Enjoy!

Sally Spears

Got her final 4 poses drawn up. The yawn/stretch at the end might make more sense when I animate it, or it might end up even more confusing - since she turns her body one way and her head another...

I tried to draw her as someone who holds her mouth open naturally, since I tend to just draw a lazy black line for my mouths. It gives her a slightly different feel, I think. I also had to include a pose in which she plays with her hair. I can use it for when she's bored, or when she's nervous.

New animation and background designs

 

Since Officer James is sitting down and wrapped in a blanket (he never gets out of the boat during this game) he can't move his body much. So I tried to get a bit more movement out of his arms and his head. Also, I always enjoy looking at the Onion Skins afterwards.

 

We also have some new background sketches from Catherine! This area doesn't really have a name, yet. It's one of the areas with fewer plot-related clues, but two characters will be waiting here.

Grimoire's Animation

Since Catherine is dealing with all background art, my biggest job for this game is to animate all the characters!

Why is there a Museum in a swamp?

Hey, good question....

 

Background designs by Catherine Unger

Grimoire gets into position

Grimoire has five poses instead of four. He needs a good mix of emotions, since he does the most talking. 

I included my initial pose doodles above, I quite like the way they look. 

The middle stage isn't so great, but then I make sure final stage is just how I want it.

The water is black and deep

"my favourite kind!"

Inside and Out

He's wearing a hat, guys.

Who is this mysterious stranger

Conversation options

In this game we've put all the talking options on one screen. If you want to show someone a clue you have found, or discuss a suspect's profile, those options are found right next to the other topics of conversation.

Each suspect also has a "challenge" topic. When unlocked, these will allow Grimoire will engage in a battle of wits to extract the truth from his suspect, similar to the Eye-Contact-Interrogation from the first game.

A Little Girl

Yeah I put her back into a green dress. She complained but I told her we needed some characters that weren't just black, white, yellow and red.

She's slightly omniscient, just as in the first game. However she'll make more than two appearances this time.

 

The Little Girl is one of three characters not to have a suspect profile. So you can't accuse her of murder. She wouldn't let you anyway.