#and still learning how to draw various mech styles

[eleooooooo]

watched tf1 again tonight

[sparkmender]

Oddly enough, despite the nightmares that seem to be plaguing others, this dream is peaceful. He is making his way through an archive of some sort, or a museum, it's hard to tell which. The walls are stacked with various items and datapads that are brimming with information, none of it redacted even! There are a few windows that are higher up but the curtains are pulled on them. An archivist kindly informs him that it's to keep out any potential light pollution or particles from outside to better preserve the items for the future.

The archivist is eager, even, explaining how different students and their teachers will come here from across Cybertron to learn about the past. About how to prevent some of the more disturbing facts from repeating again.

As they walk him down through an aisle he can see that there's a pair of mechs practicing different language modules from the Primal Vernacular. The words briefly reach him-

"Council member Six of-"

And then the hand is on his shoulder to turn him down another aisle that focuses on art. The method of developing pigments for painting older styles of framework art is shown step by step. Everything here is so beautiful and well kept.

Then the hands are helping him to step up towards what looks like a glass box. A simple looking throne, the archivist is explaining how the temperatures inside are kept at a level that will ensure no rust could ever start to grow. The casing is air tight so they won't need to disturb the piece that often in order to check it and clean it. Honestly, everything is practically self sufficient in there.

And they help him to sit down, light fingers arranging him and fussing with a polishing cloth to make sure he gleams. Adoring optics looking at him once the glass is put into place once more.

"It's perfect."

Maybe the problem really has been him all along. He was so ungrateful towards his keepers— saying the most terrible things, hurting himself when all they wanted to do was to keep him safe from a world of danger and cruelty.

If they were harsh, it was only because he needed to be punished; if they starved him, it was only because he had gotten too used to over-fueling a frame that needed very little. He denied himself the connection and intimacy his systems demanded, and they’d had to force it on him…

It is a beautiful library. A beautiful casket. He is beautiful, too. Everyone is beautiful. So very perfect he wants to cry, but crying might smudge the delicate gold embellishments painted on his faceplate, and the technicians worked so hard to draw them on just so.

He still weeps, wordlessly, trails of pure energon leaking down his alabaster plasticine and staining this whole glimmering world pink. He’s sorry. He’s really very sorry. He understands, now.

—Rung does not wake, but he shivers, ever so slightly, and smears tears against Megatron’s pillow as he clutches it to his chassis and buries his face in the foam. Whenever he does finally manage to pull himself from recharge, he’s likely not going to make it out of berth, today.

Not for a while.

[rottenheartedchild]

Bayo OC Rewrite - Ivan

The top drawing is his ancient Master Assassin uniform while the bottom is his Game 1 look. Ivan is seriously one of the hardest oc to rewrite considering he has a fuckton of flaws in his earlier design. Anywho, big thanks to @umbran-mechs , @tradramblings , @namichma and everyone for helping me out with his bio)

  Name: Ivan Petrovich

Nicknames: Yanko, Vanya, Asshole, Ameli(by Salwa), Reynard, Memester, Uncle Anya.

Age: physically 46, implied immortal

Gender: cisgender

Sexuality: pansexual demiromantic    

Pronouns: he

 Back-story: All his life Ivan had lived in Vigrid with only his mother, Thalia, the Master of the Umbran Assassins and Fernanda, the family’s matriarch. As a child he would often ask about his absent father, only for his mother to react badly to his questions. Soon he learned to never question his mother when it came to his father, for she would respond in a cold, violent manner and shout at him that he was a traitor, a murderer, a cannibal. The frightened child ended up believing her farce naively and ceased his questions concerning about his father. Fernanda was genuinely appalled by how Thalia had raised her son and threatened to strip away her title should she ever overstep her place again.

Through the public’s eyes, his mother was the epitome of maternal love, protective and gentle but Ivan knew better who she truly was. Behind closed doors, she was a cold-hearted monster with acid for blood and iron for bones. Thalia was a maestro of lies and she managed to fool everyone, even the Clan Elders, with the farce of a loving and gentle mother. In private, she secretly trained her only son with the harshest training imaginable and spared him no mercy as Thalia criticized every mistakes made during his training.It worsen as she forced Ivan to pretend as the proud perfect child in the public eye to maintain the facade of a flawless family. There are times where Ivan envied other children whose family were tender and supportive with each other and he would fantasized of the life he always dream of: a loving father who would take him to the fields to play and a mother that would comfort him with hugs and kisses. Alas, it was nothing more than a dream and he had to face the harsh reality he lived in.

Years have passed, Ivan became the perfect killing machine, devoid of emotions as he dutifully carried out tasks with hairsplitting precision and steadfast concentration. He also began to grow weary of his mother’s nonsensical falsity, finding it laughable how he had foolishly believed her words. Soon he began to rebel against his mother, disobeying her orders and such out of sheer spite as he spat on her teaching by covertly training under the witches who taught him various fighting styles, to increase his chance on overthrowing his tyrant of a mother. When Ivan felt prepared, he decided to face Thalia for the title of Master Assassin and placed a wager; if he won he’ll demote her and took the mantle but should he lose, he will resumed his role as her pawn and let go of his freedom. Thalia reluctantly accepted her son’s challenge and under the watchful eyes of the Umbran elders, they began their battle.

The battle went on for days as both parties refused to back down from it. Though Thalia may seem to outclass her son, Ivan turned the tide by countering all of her moves with her own teaching. Adding insult to her wounded pride, Ivan managed to beat her using what he learned from his masters. The match was over and Ivan was declared a winner by the Elders, much to Thalia’s dismay. His first task as the Master of Umbran Assassin was to dismantle his mother’s tyrannical doctrine and replaced them with a much more constructive method, improving the proficiency of the Umbran Assassins in and out of the battlefield. With the help of his childhood friend, Samson, a blacksmith witch from Vigrid, the morale in his pack progressed quite considerably and he was well-respected by his students for it.

Throughout his life, Ivan formed many relationships, ranging from the playful Lumen Sage Ariel, to the snarky Umbra witch Samson, to the lovable Helen, who was also Ivan’s niece. But Ivan’s most memorable relationship was that of his wife, Salwa, another Witch hailing from Maghreb. Despite Salwa’s somber childhood, she remained kind-hearted and lively, which drew Ivan closer to her. The two eventually wed, settling on a simple ceremony with only their loved ones close by. Shortly after, their son Tuncay was born, and the parents planned to give him a better life than they had, unaware how the events of the future would really unfold.

It happened so suddenly, the first of many tragedies, when his first son died in Inferno due to a failed pact. It struck them like a knife in the shadows and with nothing to bury the fallen witch with, Ivan mourned for days until there were no tears left in his bloodshot eyes. Once in a while, Ivan would remembered that headstrong child who died in vain over a failed contract and broke down behind doors. It wasn’t until the arrival of the newest student, Gretchen, whose pestering demeanor reminded him of Tuncay bought back a bit of spark in his life. The tension between Clans were nail-biting and Ivan was terribly affected by the events as he pushed his disciples to their limits in order to increase their chance of survival, with his most problematic student forced the hardest. All of his worst fears became a reality as the Clan Wars erupted, forcing the assassin to fight back against their former allies. Despite the heat of the battle, he could clearly listened the wails and cries of fallen souls and one of them made his heart dropped right there; his second daughter. Though the witches have won the war, to him it meant nothing as he had lost another piece of his heart. It didn’t helped that Gretchen had deserted the Clan immediately once she saw the monstrous Fortitudo and angels have blocked up the paths leading to his student. Enraged, he ruthlessly mauled the angels only to find her already long gone after that.

The victory was merely temporary as none could predicted that a mass witch hunt had begun shortly after the war, the witches including Ivan were far too drained from the previous battle but he forced himself to protect his home from their enemies. One by one they perished under his rampant fury as he exterminated the ones who killed his daughter and disciples. Just when he thought it was over, he was greeted by a sight that scarred him for eternity; an Umbran witch murdered his sons in cold blood before leaving to fend off the incoming enemies. His mind went blank as he dejectedly walked over to the corpses of his sons before cradling them in his arms, tears silently flow from his eyes as he remained that way. Even a stab to the back from his own mother didn’t snapped him out of his stupor as he began to fell to the ground, his sons’ corpses still held tightly close to him. The last moment before he lose consciousness was that damned witch fought against his mother and won, causing him to smile bitterly and shut his eyes to rest. The cries coming from his surviving children and niece pierced the skies as they tried to reach Ivan only to be pushed away by the mysterious witch who buried him, sealing the tomb with powerful charms as if to protect him from harm. Left with no choice but to flee, the children vowed to free him from his curse and guard his tomb from the enemies.

A century later, after being awoken from his 100 years slumber Ivan was thrusted into another adventure of a lifetime; from tearful reunion between old friends and family, to the calamitous battle with the cryptic witch who revealed to be his long-lost father before ripping his arms out during the climax of their match, to travelling to foreign countries and aiding Ariel’s noble yet chaotic crusade. During those travels, he have picked up countless of skills and learned languages after languages, finding it quite rewarding from years of killing and subterfuge. But there were few things that remained constant in his thoughts, those being his former student deserting the clan out of pure cowardice and his family who succumbed to their grisly fates.

For a long period of time, Ivan now becomes one of Hollywood’s most influential director with awards and honors to back up his expertise. When he’s not busy directing a movie, discussing plots with his screenwriters, doing undercover work or supervising his billion dollar fashion industry with his niece/goddaughter, Helen, he can mostly be found in parks reminiscing pastimes or spend his time at Samson’s quaint bar, sipping a tall glass of Black Death vodka as he dishes out the filthiest gossips he could find. Lately, Ivan begin to feel apprehensive as the young woman in front of him bears a stark resemblance of his former student, Gretchen. Grinning, she introduced herself as Ingrid before auditioning for the comic relief role, and his life is about to change for the better or worse.

  Beast within: Tiger within( Caspian Tiger )

                     Seal within( Leopard Seal)

                      Bird Within( Hooded Crow)

                     Bat Within( Greater Mouse-eared Bat)

Pact Demon: Madama Laverna, Goddess of thieves and cheats

Extras:

Huge fan of the arts, doesn’t matter if it’s a musical, a play or even an animation. He finds it very fascinating and endearing as he rather laze around and watch old Looney Tunes cartoons.

Extremely gifted cook and often can be seen with a bag of snacks. Famous for his exquisite tea collection and Albanian cuisine. Often invites close friends over for hearty weekend brunches.

Due to his upbringing, Ivan’s able to distinguish people with their true  nature and refused to associate himself with the toxic ones. It helps that he can use it to his leverage when dealing with difficult targets.

.Completely unapologetic and a selectively sadistic schadenfraude. Once joked that should his enemy died, he’ll throw the biggest party to celebrate their demise and burn the corpse for an extra measure.

Despises puns and dad jokes but begrudgingly tolerates them if it came from either his kids or closest friends.

Very supportive of his fans and often gets excited whenever they gifted him with drawings, sculptures, etc. But he despised the ones that ruined the fun for everyone.

Has two pet ravens that act as his messengers, Huginn and Muninn and a female psychiatric service pit bull, Delilah who enjoys dressing up in colorful pajamas and pretty costumes.

Always thought that his wife, Salwa was the most beautiful woman in all realms with the skin as dark as opulent midnight and her spots could put snow to shame. Amaal and Salvador thinks their dad is a lovestruck sap.

Both Laverna and Ivan lived for the drama, especially if it’s messy and gritty. Give them some dirt and they’ll chatter for hours with sinister grins on their face.

Famous for his eccentric behavior, stern yet fair ethics, strong sense of professionalism and ample amount of knowledge. Also a polyglot due to centuries of travelling to foreign lands.

Often dyes his grey hair with a mixture of henna and human’s blood to give him that signature red highlights.

Donated or sold most of the mansions he had in Europe to be either used as orphanages, hospitals or anything in between. He even helped renovated them to keep them up to date.

Ivan often commented that Gretchen maybe his most difficult student to date but her gung-ho nature made his life a bit brighter. He never told her outright about it.

One of his bullet couture is literally a neon hyena fursuit in chunky heels. Both Ingrid and his family eternally cringed at the technicolor monstrosity.

Can’t function without a strong cup of coffee. Ivan without caffeine is equivalent of a cranky murder machine who’s on a warpath.

His favorite characters are Bugs Bunny, Qrow, the Red Guy from Cow & Chicken and Donald Duck.

Has secret rooms which can only be unlocked by playing songs from his favorite music game app....in Hell mode.

 Ivan personally deals with the scum of humanity, and those unfortunate enough to become his target find themselves returning to the earth as part of some compost.

[nerdzgarage]

While we live in a world of short attention spans, the board game resurgence has sparked our appetite to get back at the tables often and for hours. The scheduled game night has risen to a priority and not just a time filler. We collect games, and we track our victories as well as our losses. The spirit of competition is alive and well at The Garage. Our top ten games played this year, some that are new and some that are new to us.

Star trek Catan

LOVE the components

Star Trek Catan

Let me preface that we have played other games that were versions of a game and then Star Trek or Star Wars-themed adaptions, and we were exceedingly disappointed. It was serendipitous that the blend of Catan and Star Trek was successful since the subsequent wait time, for the game to arrive,  felt like light-years.

The game’s artwork is engaging, Starship roads and Space Stations are delightful. The takeaway was that we needed to search out superior miniature tokens for our other Catan’s.

The most substantial change is the addition of the Crew cards. Every player gets a two-time use crew card. Then you have to discard it back into the Crew pool, to be picked up by another player. These crew cards each do something different, so it’s best to wrap your head around them before you start to play.

These Trekkers enjoyed the fun twists with the various stars from the original Star Trek series, as well as new pieces of acting as roads and settlements, and cities. The Nerdz at the Garage are obsessed, if you liked Catan and you like Star Trek, this is a must!

Who wouldn’t want to play with a tiny Enterprise Starship or Klingon Battle Cruiser?

Buy Star Trek Catan  

  T.I.M.E Stories

Captivating Artwork

T.I.M.E. Stories

These Nerdz have been obsessed with Sci-Fi shows and have recently binged, Travelers (Netflix), and Life on Mars (B.B.C.). When I saw T.I.M.E. Stories’ playthroughs on the social media, it was evident that The Garage required some Time Travel games. The players become Agents from the T.I.M.E. Agency and are sent on missions to different places in time to fix the anomalies and return to base. Complete the task in time, or you will be recalled back to base, where you will have to start your mission over again. If you failed and sent back to complete your task, taking notes is crucial; we found out the hard way. These notes will assist in future missions.

What we enjoyed was the mechanism for collaboration. When a player gets to read the back of a card, they have to explain what they’ve just read to their teammates rather than just reading it verbatim. Once you advise the team on the next goal, the group works together to advance the mission. The artwork in T.I.M.E. Stories is stunning, and each expansion has an entirely contrasting look. Days after completing the first game, we found ourselves still talking about how we played and what strategies we would do different and use for the next mission. Mirroring how we converse after a binge-worthy show.

But T.I.M.E. Stories 

  Viticulture

Really- I am Listening

8. Viticulture

We were in St Louis for a fundraiser and had a serendipitous opportunity to learn Viticulture from the designer, Jamey Stegmaier. Our copy was still shrink-wrapped on the shelf at home, waiting for the time to get it on the table. When Jamey asked what we wanted to play, the choice was obvious, Viticulture. It takes me a few playthroughs to fully grasp a game, and I was trying my best to be competitive; however, I was thoroughly enjoying the company, and that enjoyment may have contributed to my severe loss. We have since played it a dozen times and moved on to the expansions. It is quick to learn, solid player interaction, and with the expansion, replayability. It is often what we teach when newbies come over.

  Viticulture is a worker-placement game. It is played over a number of rounds until someone has scored at least 20 points. At the end of that round, the player with the most points wins. Each player has his own mat, which shows his vineyard.

But Viticulture

  Star Wars Outer Rim

The rulebook the rulebook the rulebook. Once you get past the rulebook and get through a play through, the game presents its nuances. The strategies wrapped in the delightful characters are well thought out.

The path to a victory is not set alone on your actions, other players may hold secret plans to attack you. The player interaction is limited but keep a close eye on the other bounty hunters! The negotiation element is a unique addition. Borrow money to trade a contract or bounty, but the deal may leave you broke at the end of the galaxy.

Bounties and jobs give replayability and deepen the story. These jobs are mini-stories with multiple encounters.

The gameplay is smart, with lots of options and adventure. Yes, we are huge Star Wars fans and thoroughly loved this game!

Buy Outer Rim 

  Above and Below

Just Charming

Above and Below

Above and Below is a new game for Nerdz Garage. Once it was on the table, it stayed. We are fans of “choose your own adventure,” and this has a unique take, and it is four games in one. There is board advancement, strategy, engine building, dice rolling role-playing, and choose your own adventure stories! The premise of Above and Below is that your village was forced to flee and relocate. After finding a suitable location on which you can rebuild, you discover a vast network of caves underneath filled with mystery. We’ll get to the caves and the mystery in a moment. First, you’ve got to acquire beds for your villagers. Beds are essential because your workers must rest when exhausted to continue the next turn. Now that the villagers have a place to rest their heads, you can to put down roots and rebuild your new village. Now is the time to gather resources and explore Above and Below. It is an engine-building game, and like most, it starts out slow, and the shifts to high by the end of the game.

Overall the game is beautiful and intriguing. Both are what attract the Nerdz to a game and keep it on the table. There is variety in the encounters, allowing for a new experience each game.

The gameplay is straight forward but has a depth of strategy that will appeal to seasoned gamers. Nerdz Garage highly recommends this game to anyone who enjoys the excitement of choosing your adventure or who enjoys the careful management of resources.

Buy Above and Below 

  Tokaido

I came across Tokaido by pure chance. Walking through a game store and out of my peripheral was this beautiful box. I was drawn to the art, and the game was on the table that night. The stunning artwork is throughout the game and its components.

The game is straightforward and swift to learn. Tokaido has all of the players traveling the famous Tokaido road between Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo) and having encounters along the way. Each spot on the road you may acquire, money from working on a farm, or maybe a piece of a panorama. Essentially this is a set collection game with a few different sets to collect. These collection and encounters give points to move you up the track. We enjoyed the mechanics of the turns and how they were subdivided into four parts with a mandatory rest at an inn in-between. We enjoy both the original experience and then the more involved Crossroads game.

Tokaido is often played over morning coffee and always packed when we are on the road. There have been many a hotel lobby that the game has been played and invariably gets compliments from passersby.

Buy Tokaido 

  Scythe

Beautiful Artwork

Scythe

The game Scythe was a gift from our friends Ben and Mariah, who bought the game while on their honeymoon in Ireland. They purchased it at a game store and donut shop where the commonality was to buy/bring a game, consume fabulous donuts, and play for hours. Why this has not been invented in the U.S., I don’t know because it sounds marvelous and I would live there. If it does, please let me know!!!!

  There is scarcely a game that I do not delight in, however, when a game box weighs in at 8 pounds, and you lift the lid of Scythe, it can be simultaneously exciting and daunting. Scythe is a game with a lot of bits and bobs to understand and keep track of, but that gives ample opportunity to get your hands and develop a backstory. They offer immense information to draw from to build strategy and or role play. There are plenty of rules for players to discern and then figure out how to get all of them working together. Set in an alternative universe in Eastern Europe in the 1920s with mechs roaming the countryside. You farm goods, conquer regions, and try to win over the people and gain popularity. Players start with their own faction. These factions have their own faction leader, their own mechs, their own home base on the board and their own characteristics, or powers. Combined with a randomly drawn player board, every board is slightly different, you have unique starting conditions. This ability to weave together highly complex strategies that change each game makes the game replayability something to be commended! Scythe is a rare creation that we found had the perfect balance between depth, style and substance, and fun and challenge.

Scythe keeps you wanting to come back to try new faction and player mat combos.

We have started the expansion, Rise of the Fenris, and we are trying to relish it unhurriedly.

Buy Scythe 

  City of Big Shoulders

Poker Chips work!

City of Big Shoulders

The artwork is eye-catching and intriguing; the theme is sophisticated, so what else could we do but play City of the Big Shoulders by Parallel games. Set at the turn of the century, shortly after the second great Chicago Fire, City of the Big Shoulders is a euro-style, resource management and worker placement game with an 18xx-style economic engine. Take on the role of entrepreneur and investor as you build one of 15 historical companies, hiring workers, acquiring resources, and producing goods to line your pockets and become Chicago’s most significant resident.

When you start to set up and open the behemoth rulebook, you must overlook the urge to close the book and put the lovely box back on the shelf. I was having a dialogue in my head while da hubby was going over the rule. The conversation- “tell him you have too much to do to play” response “stick it out, just get a round in, and it will make sense.” After missing most of the setup instructions, I buckled up and dove headfirst into how to play.

The components are wooden and high quality. The board is compelling, and the city map underlain is a nice touch. The money did seem delicate and modest. We did follow the recommendation to use poker chips instead, and the feel of the poker chips was satisfying.

The city of Big Shoulders is a thoughtful, challenging game that moves swiftly. The historical and nostalgic background of the booming industrial metropolis was captivating. It is not for the faint of heart, but we found once we had a grasp of the rules, we were all in.

It is my favorite game of the Year and ranked top 3 for the collective Nerdz Garage.

  *We suggest having a calculator handy.

  Buy City of Big Shoulders 

  Castles of Mad King Ludwig

We love Castles of mad King Ludwig! It is the only other game that we take on the road when we travel.

The theme and historical events are what attracted us to the game. King Ludwig II of Bavaria and he was rumored to be a wee bit off in the head. Technically he was declared insane. He was known for having fascinating castles and palaces, with some rooms being inspired by the operas of Wagner. He even built a miniature Versailles as a tribute to Louis XIV. While his sanity has been questioned, his castles were intriguing and beautiful.

The game is well-designed, from the room pieces to the mechanics. The game has almost infinite replay value, and it is simple to teach. (taught it this week)

Each player is trying to build their own castle and score the most victory points. Each round, the player who is the master builder will draw cards that tell them what kinds of rooms they need to put out for sale. The master-builder sets all the prices of the rooms but then gets to buy a room last.

The simple mechanics keep the rounds quick. We do love the accomplishment of completing a castle in each game and take time to compare our bizarre castle.

The uncomplicated mechanics and a depth of strategy  keep us putting it back on the table.

Buy Castles of Mad King Ludwig

  Wingspan

Adorable Eggs

Top Notch Components

Wingspan

A Big Year is a personal challenge or an informal competition among birders who attempt to identify as many species as possible by sight or sound, within a single calendar year. All evidence for Wingspan, the board game had a big year.

When we first heard about Wingspan, we were excited because it is published by Stonemaier Games which is high on the playlist at The Garage for their diverse games (Scythe and Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig are house favorites) and then thrilled for the theme because we are longtime birders.

Wingspan is a card-driven, engine-building board game where players are bird enthusiasts, researchers, and collectors working to attract the optimum birds to their wildlife preserves. The strategy and mindful approach to these cards can swing a game in your favor. There are difficult choices to make in the declining turns, knowing that time is limited and moving swiftly.

In the pursuit of your personal and shared goals, players will work to attract the best birds to their habitats. Each bird can provide a particular action that bolsters a chain of combinations in the habitat they reside in.

Play begins, players are dealt a hand of five random bird cards, two random goal cards, and one of each food types. Before you start, you choose a goal and which birds to keep. Choose wisely because the birds offer bonuses that building early, and craftily will turn to points at the end.

There are three different habitats available for players to attract birds: forest, field, or wetlands, and each habitat allows players to focus on optimal areas of growth: gain food, lay eggs, or draw bird cards.

The winner of the game is the bird enthusiast with the most points after four rounds. We have repeatedly noted that we wanted another round but wanting more makes the game addicting.

The backbone of strategy is predominantly based on luck and timing due to initial draws and player actions. There can be a scarcity of resources and unlucky draws. Smart engine building begins from step one of this game.  Each of the four rounds offers alternative goals for end round bonuses plus the diminishing mechanism of leaving a cube on the goal board. The declining turn component lends to an unmistakable sense of urgency and difficult choices, knowing the end of the round is evident. I relished the declining turns and maximizing the potential turns towards the finish.

Unboxing Wingspan.

Opening a Stonemaier game is a gift that never disappoints. This one included a rulebook printed on linen that is sharp and accessible to follow. The storage in Wingspan is savvy, and the game pieces are charming. They added a dice tower that is a birdhouse! Top-notch inspired game pieces that you expect from Stonemaier games.

There are 170 unique bird cards, and it has to be noted, the time and effort put into each card. The illustrations are stunning and the factual information: what they consume, their habits, Wingspan and that their bonus actions are related to that individual bird.

Our house rules are when you play a bird, you announce the name, where it is from, and if you have seen IRL.

We loved the satisfying engine building, impressive game pieces, replayability (we are 55 games), and THE BIRD CARDS!

Buy Wingspan the Board Game

Nerdz Garage

Jimmy

Dylan

Suzzan

The Nerdz Garage Best Board Games of 2019 – From Time Travel to the Stock Market-  The Year has Offered Stellar Variety While we live in a world of short attention spans, the board game resurgence has sparked our appetite to get back at the tables often and for hours.

[nickzimmermandesign]

Creative Output Project

For my Creative Output project, I decided to make concept art for a game that I’m working on. The game is a fast-paced 2D fighting game that I want to hand-animate with art inspired by classic 80s and 90s mecha anime and cartoons, like Gundam, Voltron, etc. ---

Month One: Research, Learning, Initial Ideation

In order to start making concept art for my game, I had to figure out what I wanted to create and how to actually draw it in that style.

To figure out what shows I wanted to have influence the concept art, I started rewatching a few episodes from each of the memorable mecha series  I watched when I was a kid. Over the course of the month, I ended up watching several episodes from the various shows in the Gundam series, Evangelion, Robotech, and Voltron. Additionally, I watched the ‘2017 Giant Robot Duel’ between the US and Japan for further influence. While watching all of these, I took note of which mechs I liked certain design aspects of, and later printed out pictures of them and put them on the wall near my desk.

I figured that having them on the wall near my desk would allow me to visually recall the mech easily, as well as serve as inspiration while ideating for my own robots.

As for how to actually create the concept art, one way I taught myself was that I managed to get a hold of a few books on how to draw in the style of anime/manga.

I used these books for references and tutorials towards the beginning of teaching myself the art style. Most of the tutorials were relatively easy and short, so I think a couple of the books may have been targeted more towards very-beginner artists. Once I felt I had a decent grip on the anime-style art that underlies the mecha genre, I went to Google and found some tutorials online on how to draw mecha. Unfortunately, not all of them were helpful, as many of them involved mostly just the artist drawing at an inhuman pace with little-to-no commentary or instruction. I did manage to find some helpful guides though, which are linked below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXWdzbC_46Ahttps://www.sketchbook.com/blog/how-to-draw-mechs-basics/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoP15ZfN1uwhttps://khallandra.deviantart.com/journal/Tips-and-Tricks-Mecha-Basics-564576627

---

Month Two: Mech #1’s Ideation and Creation

Now it was time to make the concept art for the first mech in my game! I started off the process by sketching ideas for the mech’s head. 

After sketching those, I spent the next couple weeks brainstorming, and the ideas on these pieces of paper inevitably made the Wall of Inspiration.

Finally, I sketched out the first character in full. Although it looked rather simple, since it was one of the first times I’d ever really made a character this complex before from my own imagination, I had a lot of trouble with it. In addition to the overall difficulty of drawing something as complex as mecha, I kept erasing after I drew things, attempting to either redraw what I just drew to make it perfect, or to add something else I had just thought of while drawing the initial lines. In total, drawing that out took me roughly five hours, and I was really happy with what came out of that session. 

Pretty cool drawing right? I though so too. 

However, when I put the drawing into Illustrator during my next session, I became significantly less happy with it. Image Trace didn’t do it justice and wasn’t even workable, so I had to hand-trace it with the Pen tool, which took hours. As I was tracing over it with the Pen tool, it started to look cheesier and cheesier, which was worrying me. I felt like I was some teenager passing time making MS Paint art during computer class. 

About halfway through, I kept minorly tweaking small lines and the placement of small shapes in attempts to make it better. Despite these attempts, I couldn’t manage to make the mech look any better. I even gave it a couple of days and went back to it, still couldn’t do much with it, so I hoped for the best and colored it in. 

Overall, I think Mech #1 came out a lot better than I expected it to after giving it some color. I still am not super happy with it, and I like how the head looked in the second draft much better compared to how it turned out here. I think it came out okay, but something about it feels forced to me, like you could tell I was trying to use an art style that wasn’t really my own. I still can’t shake that ‘kid messing around in MS Paint due to boredom’ feeling every time I look at it, which actually really upsets me because of how much effort and time I put into it to make it specifically not come off like that. Finishing this mech taught me the most important lesson in art I’ve learned to date: imitating the style of others will only lead to output that doesn’t meet your expectations. I thought I learned this a long time ago with music, but I guess I needed a reminder session. 

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Month Three: Mech #2′s Ideation and Creation

My original plan for the last month of my constant output project was to animate the first mech I made, and put that robot into the game I was working on. I had been learning how to use Spine, a rigging animation software, for a couple weeks beforehand, and had even begun to work on animating Mech #1. However, shortly after, my team and I decided to sideline the fighting game in order to build on a separate prototype for a game we didn’t initially think of or expect to make. So, I decided that in order to continue working on the game in a productive manner, I should make more concept art, and animate both according to their finalized character move-sets when the project gets to that point. Also, I really wanted to give creating a mech another try, and I had an idea for a robot that I thought would be kind of cool. I felt like I tried too hard to imitate my influencers while making it, and that the resultant output was lacking because of it. 

For the second mech, I decided to design it mainly using my art style, while still taking minor design notes from the creators who influenced me to pursue this project in the first place. This time around, I had actually came up with the majority of the mech I wanted to make on the subway, so instead of repeatedly iterating on the various ways I could go with it like I did with the first design, I just went in and started drawing a draft of it. 

I wanted the next character I designed to be a tank-y powerful-yet-slow character, so I decided to go for a more sturdy-looking mech design. I also wanted to give the character powerful projectiles to make up for its slow movement speed, so I took note of Heavyarms from Gundam Wing and made one of the mech’s arms a gun, except instead of a gatling machine gun like Heavyarms, this character has a three-barrel laser cannon. I consciously decided to stop trying to overcomplicate the mech. The circle in the chest was meant as a way to shoot a ‘super-attack’ in the form of a massive laser beam.

This was the final sketch before I scanned it into Illustrator to edit next session. I decided against throwing in the chest-hole ultimately to both keep the semi-minimalistic aesthetic I was going for, and keep the design from being a bit too Pacific-Rim-y for my taste. (Side note: while the drawing was still in sketch form like this, one of my friends said that the laser cannon arm reminded him of three pieces of bundled chalk, and I still can’t unsee it.)

This was how Mech #2 looked after I finished tracing it with the Pen tool (Image Trace couldn’t get it close enough to right so I just went at it manually again). I didn’t change much on this design from the last step other than that I shortened the laser cannons (and reshaped them to look slightly less like chalk) and slightly changed the shape of the mech’s head. 

This is the final version of Mech #2. I really liked how this came out after being colored. It felt much more ‘me’ than Mech #1, and I felt like that shows through the design quality upon comparison. Only change to it other than the coloring (which was changed at least ten times before this image was exported) was that I added circles in the laser cannon so the cannons didn’t look like grey chalk (I couldn’t shake it). I can’t say enough about how much happier I am with this mech design than the first one. I hope that when I get around to doing the concept art for Mech #3 I like it as much as I like this one. 

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Conclusion:

So that’s what I did for my Monthly Output this semester! I really enjoyed learning to draw mechs, even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of my first design. I’ve always wanted to learn how to draw them, so this was a lot of fun for me to do. Learning a new art style is very difficult, and honestly I definitely have yet to master it. I guess that’s why the same studio has been making Gundam for 40+ years. I still feel like I have a long way to go until I get to the point of feeling comfortable putting my own designs in games I make, so these will probably stay as concept art to hand off to an illustrator for now. I’m really excited to keep at this. I may not be the Gundam animators yet, but I feel like I can hold my own a little bit now, which is way more than I could say at the beginning of the semester!