SKALD: Against the Black Priory
Skald is a dark fantasy RPG, featuring modern design combined with a classic 8-bit look and feel, coming out for Windows and Mac in 2020.
In preparation for its kickstarter (successfully funded in one day), I was very lucky to be asked to contribute, along a score of talented artists and developers to the assets area of the game.
In preparation for its kickstarter (successfully funded in one day), I was very lucky to be asked to contribute, along a score of talented artists and developers to the assets area of the game.
My task was the main screen background to the game, as well as a number of in-game illustrations going along with the interactive story.
The visuals of the game are mimicking the canon of the RPG from the late '80s and early '90s, — games like Ultima and Pool of Radiance, — and the brief requested the use of the Commodore 64's 16 colors palette, which for me, not specialising in pixel art, is a wonderful challenge.
The game is set on Idra, a harsh, windswept island in a North-Atlantic like sea, providing a heap of dramatic landscapes for the dangerous travels of the party of heroes.
For the main screen as well as for the smaller sized in-game illustrations, I created first the grayscale sketches, for the main dev approval, then the larger size speed-painting as color-guides, and finally the pixel art.
The gates of Horryn, from sketches to pixel art.
Shipwrecked on the shores of Idra.
A mysterious lighthouse over a stormy sea.
A lean caravel, an ominous iceberg.
The sea is a an important theme in Skald, cold, treacherous and unforgiving.
The adventure starts there, and will take you from the frozen hellscape of the Arctic, and the windswept hills of Idra to the back alleys of Adler's Helm and a myriad crypts, caves and dungeons.
Skald will come out for Windows and Mac in 2020, featuring a lot of fun and a pool of talented artists for great visuals, sfx and music.
In-game screenshot; interface art by Scape-IT, the game dev.
THANK
*YOU*
*YOU*
