Scavenger Rule It’s a beautiful exploration of a complex, fascinating, and sometimes cruel ecology. nest yes return A beautiful exploration of a complex, fascinating, and sometimes brutal ecology. Their approaches and styles are different, but the underlying themes are connected by a common connection – and both are artists. Caleb Wood is an animator turned game developer who worked as a concept artist on Max’s sci-fi shows while working on his recently released arcade Hell game on his own.
Having started his animation career 15 years ago, Wood decided to get into game development in 2020. nest It was supposed to be something simple that he could use to teach himself programming. “But because I was able to produce some pretty good artistic quality,” he said, “I felt I had to at least try marketing and see what I could accomplish.”
exist nestIn the game, players control both a flower and a wasp, establishing a symbiotic relationship and battling a variety of strange insects and creatures in the wider ecosystem.Wood has similarities to symbiosis Scavenger’s Reign, dozens of strange alien creatures coexist in fragile and dangerous harmony here. At some point, the humans who crashed there also figured out how to coexist with the nature around them, with varying degrees of success.
But he calls the similarities “autonomous” — saying that when he worked on each project, he didn’t consciously plan them much. “I definitely lean toward nature themes and stuff like that,” he said. “[But] the only thought in my mind [for Nidus] I wanted to use these creatures and bugs and even the background as a canvas for looping animations. “
Much of Wood’s professional experience comes from creating these looping animations. nest Drawing specifically on some of his earlier short films, such as 2015’s totem.Here, the animation is composed of intricate details that become increasingly complex over time, and it’s easy to see this as another example of natural themes and a smooth, repetitive style. nest.
Over the course of development, such animations became increasingly influential on the game as a whole. Woods began by creating “woven loops” in specific areas, such as insect shells. “It’s a way of putting more and more information into a short piece of animation,” he said. As these animations became more and more detailed, he began to realize that overwhelming the player’s attention would eventually become part of the game’s difficulty.
“Because the game was slowly distracting the player, I decided, ‘Okay, what if I leaned into this and made everything absolutely overwhelming and ugly?'” Wood said. Combining neon colors and simultaneous control of two characters, nest Very crazy. (Perhaps crazier than expected—Wood said he probably wouldn’t make a design choice like dual controls again, calling it “less accessible.”)
In contrast, Scavenger Rule Has a more minimalist art style. “Whenever you design, it’s like you’re playing with geometry,” Wood said of his creature design work. He said it was “refreshing” to switch back and forth between the two projects.
TV animation and game animation feel very similar in that they both try to create solutions to constraints.exist scavenger, Wood would receive a request from the show’s co-creator and artistic director Charles Huettner to fill some kind of narrative function.exist nest, the art needs to adapt to the game. “Every time I design a creature for the show, I’m soberly drawn back into the chaos of the world. nest,” said Wood, and vice versa, going back to a simplified design Scavengers rule.
He also said that working in a team scavenger It means things are easier for him personally. “You just have to focus on your small part and it will serve a greater purpose,” he said. When working alone, making a design choice also means dealing with all the knock-on effects. For example, changing an enemy’s weakness isn’t just editing the art, it’s everything on the dominoes – code, game design, etc. “Things can get out of hand very quickly,” Wood said.
Wood isn’t sure what will happen next, but he wants to keep making games — on a team, if possible.Although he said nest It’s useful for giving himself a thorough understanding of all the different parts of game development, and he said it would be “amazing” to find a dedicated programmer. But whatever his next project ends up being, given his existing body of work, it’s fair to say it’ll likely involve strange creatures and how they coexist.