Minebug

When we were thinking up enemies for the mines I was adamant that we stay away from standard creatures that everyone expects to see. No spiders. No goblins. No bats etc. Turns out I couldn't stick to that for very long and ended up doing my own iterations of them later; BUT
this was the first original creature.

These guys are the main reason the mines have been closed; the reason the player is there in the first place. The bugs are indigenous and not normally a problem at all. They are about the size of your hand and dig holes into the rock. They are harmless and will scurry away if they are startled; nothing more than a nuisance. Due to recent events, they have grown in size and have become very aggressive.

Their head is mostly mouth (for eating grime off the rocks) with 5 eyes, 4 on the front and 1 on the back so they have 360 degree vision. They scurry along on their little legs and use their bigger front ones for digging. They have a corrosive mucus that makes digging holes in the rock much faster and easier.

The main shape of their design comes from the horseshoe crab, which I think is both creepy and awesome at the same time. The rest is just how I thought it would look based off the concept of where it lives and what is function is. And here he is, the humble Minebug. I like him. He's quite of cute in a gross kind of way.

Mining Town

I refined the town down to the core elements we needed: mine cart, blacksmith, elevator and an entrance way to the mines itself. I didn't want to loose too much of the scale from the original design; so I put another ramp below the town (where the player can't get to) with some houses built into the cliff and made the docks visible so the player can see the ship he has just come in on.

This, in conjunction with the opening scene should give the player the impression that he isn't just trapped on one little walkway, but is just hanging out in one part of the town and give a greater sense of space.

Mining Town

This was my original concept for the mining town on the side of the cliff. However, I discovered I needed to scale it back when Al and I realised that we were taking on too much for 2 people to complete in only 6 months (how naive we were).

There were originally little huts built into the nooks of the cliff everywhere, NPCs (non-playable characters) walking around, a village leader, and a seamstress...basically a whole little community, which unfortunately was mostly left on the cutting room floor.

DD

Mishap Cliffs

I've been hanging on to the original concept of this for over 10 years. I was playing Baldur's Gate II and first encountered Arie, the winged elf (I'm such a nerd). I remember thinking what a civilisation of winged creatures would look like; and pictured them all living in a city on the side of a cliff like birds.

So when Al approached me with the concept of an iOS dungeon crawler in mine shafts I thought that this would be a good opportunity to use the idea from above.

I scaled it back and sketched out a shanty-like mining town on the side of the cliff, with the mine shafts going straight in. Living on the cliffs is not very comfortable so I figured they'd have a camp or town of some sort on top; thus, the ‘Town of Mishap’ was born. I later refined the Baron's castle to a castle/tower as I fleshed out the story.

I thought it would look cool if the player arrived by ship on a stormy night with a light rain pelting the cliffs and the ship; the only warmth coming from the lanterns on the ship and the lights from the town up above.

DD.

Welcome

Hey guys, and welcome to our blog!!

It’s been a while coming, but we finally got the ball rolling on the blog and are super excited to let you have a sneak peek into the ‘Mines of Mishap’.

We’re looking to provide some concepts and breakthroughs with what we’re doing, all in anticipation toward our November launch date.

So keep your eyes peeled for our first post regarding the ‘Town of Mishap’ and a first taste of our concept art to be posted up tomorrow!

Many thanks,

Dave & Al