Devlog #5: Trust the process!

Welcome back to the Ki10 Games devlog! This week, I wanted to share the chaos that drives the creation of assets across the whole project… scribbles.

The beginning of our Logo

I’ve always seen the designs of logos, UI, etc as such a key aspect of what makes games both look appealing and feel good to play. It can sometimes make or break your initial thoughts of a game before you even decide to play it. I can’t count how many times I’ve passed on a game because it didn’t catch my eye early on (I’m a snob, I know)!

With that being said, our logo is nothing to write home about… YET! I’ve been set on making rough sketches of existing franchises, finding fonts that feel right, and adding styles and themes to these. It takes time but with each step it feels worth it, like a little victory and a leap in the right direction.

The first logo I sketched was the Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy logo. I’ve always loved the chaotic font with a nice, neat sub-title below! I tried to imitate that same feel for the Kit: Knight in Training logo.

The inspiration to explore

As soon as I sketched the Jak and Daxter inspired logo, I loved the style! The mixture of messy and neat went really well and fit just right with the ideas we have for the overarching story and theme of the game.

I searched for fonts that were “messy”, aiming for a graffiti style when sketching the “KIT” section of our logo. I started to experiment with cracks being present in this part of the logo, some being random and then others originating in the centre of the word. The aim of this is to capture the initial catastrophe that our protagonist, Kit, has to overcome throughout the game.

A quick look at collectibles

As well as experimenting with logos, I’ve started using a similar process to explore what our main collectible could look like. I gathered icons from existing franchises for inspiration and came up with a very quick, rough sketch for what could be an idea for this asset.

The main inspirations for this were:

• The Paw Patrol logo (this is a safe space free from judgement), mainly for the shield with a paw print in the centre.
• A stock image of a ranked emblem, mostly for the shape of the shield with the notches on the sides and the star in the centre.
• The flashback tape icons from Crash 4, for their use of large details and a fairly monochromatic colour scheme. It would also be crazy not to mention that a huge inspiration for our art style is that of Crash 4.

It was really important not to just create a clone of these icons but to take inspiration in order to make our own unique assets. My immediate self-criticism of the sketch was that I wish I’d have made the paw print in the centre larger, possibly overlapping the shield border similar to how the star does in the Crash 4 inspiration.

Nothing set in stone

With all of this being said and shared, none of it is concrete and may not even be close to what we end up with in the end! But it’s so important to keep tabs on previous designs and thought processes when creating. It can be inspiring to see how far you’ve come but also helpful to back-step to previous designs if needed.

One thing I’ve learnt during this project is to stop being a perfectionist and to share early designs, even if I don’t love them. I know this has helped me, and I would urge anybody else that creates obstacles for themselves to just embrace the chaotic process sometimes. Don’t be embarrassed to show off some early or even less favourable sketches!

Thanks for reading and see you next time,

Scott

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