Thursday, March 10, 2011

Project IITS Update

Hey folks,

I promised I'd give an update with a few details on the Project IITS, uh...project. The game stars Kayli, of course, and while it was the intent to feature her prominently for the game, I'm a great believer in allowing gamers to create their own persona within the world we want them to spend a great deal of time in. The scope of the project has scaled back and forth a few times but we needed a Kayli character in any version. For the game, I felt a smaller, cuter Kayli was more appropriate so we needed to re-imagine her a bit to fit into the game world. Below is the dynamite little package that we came up with:


While our readers will surely recognize Genevieve's distinct touch and style, I needed someone to create Kayli in 3D for the game. I was lucky enough to catch a former co-worker of mine, Mark Kobrin, in between gigs (he is now in NZ working at WETA Digital, no less) and he banged out a great 3D Kayli for me. Here's the result:


Given that Genevieve has been so busy, I've had to look elsewhere for some help in doing some concepts for environments that will later be turned into digital versions. My friend and former co-worker, Brandon Luyen (who is an instructor at the Academy of Art University in S.F.), suggested that a former student of his might be a good fit for the general style of the game and I contracted Cecilia Wong to do a few pieces for Project IITS...here is a re-imagined "Gordo's Island" that will be one of the set pieces for the game:


Hope y'all enjoyed this tiny taste of the Project IITS game. Thanks again to all our faithful readers for continuing to believe in IITS, supporting Genevieve and I, and spreading the word.

- Joseph

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for saying so, Dread Lord CyberSkull!
    =)

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  2. OMG! Nice. The 3D design for Kayli is spot on and I'm glad there is new stuff to report on the gaming front. Always looking forward to more arts and designs from you guys. Keep up the styles!

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  3. Good to hear from you, Mike! Hope you're doing well and I hope I'll have more stuff to show soon. =)

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  4. OH SNAP! An Indie game with a 3D Kali?! Let the wild speculation begin!

    Indie games make me think xbox live/PSN content.

    Hub world maybe RPG or platformer. Perhaps a shaving of each with a pinch of a third unknown genre.

    I got it: Tactical Espionage Action, I can see it now Kali with Snake's bandanna sneaking into Gordo's house to steal his meats.

    After pocuring said meats she scales the shack and dons her batman cape and cowl combo to glide gracefully away with Guile as he lets out a sonic boom to show Grodo who's boss.

    I have a feeling that I am on the money with this.

    heh

    Ok, time to get serious now.

    I look forward to seeing what you guys will forge from this. A tantalizing first look and I hope more morsels are bequeathed to us mere mortals in the near future.

    I like to think I'm part of the project just because the pictures have a Z in there. heh

    Well wishes to you and Genevieve and everyone else you got working on this.

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  5. Hey Zac!

    You're ideas are funny but no, we're not doing Metal Gear Kayli. You are right about one thing, the target platform is currently Steam/XBLA/PSN. When I have the time and can sum it up fairly briefly, I will divulge a bit more info about the gameplay.

    I will say that the world of IITS was dreamed up as a game world originally...not a comic book one...and the world design was very important for some of the ideas I had about how to execute the game. Some of this has changed since the original concept but some of it remains.

    I know, vague, right? =)

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  6. Yeah I am liking that -oceanproduction . forgot my damn password . Looks even better in 3D alot of Anime inspired artwork doesn't translate well into 3D kayli looks great . Need more bootylicious heroine in gaming lol. So she was originally a game idea

    I actually had a similar idea of starting with a game idea for my character then switch to a comic Mostly because I figured a web comic was more accessible . Though I planned on using 3D software to aid the comic book ( in creating lighting color references and design references).

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  7. Reminds me of the Ghibli films Nausicaa of the valley of the wind.)
    http://hiccupsblog.blogspot.com

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  8. Hey 94134,

    Thanks for the comments on Kayli's 3D appearance, I agree...Mark did a great job and loves modeling the female form so he was really a good choice for the modeler.

    The comic book was its own idea and took off and took on a life of it's own. They're really separate projects but we hope that the two projects can drive interest in each other and support each other.

    Your comic/game idea sounds interesting, let us know when you have more!

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  9. Hey Hiccup,

    We have a lot of influences and Studio Ghibli and the Nausicaa are definitely one of them. We also love Monster Hunter and Codename Eagle so you might say that the original game idea was a combination of those three ideas.

    It's fine to have influences of course and we don't mind openly discussing which artists and games inspire us but we definitely want to make our own world for both the game and comic. As we move forward, I think we'll become more and more distinct.

    Thanks for dropping by and saying, "Hi"! =)

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  10. loooooool, change the name "Project IITS" to "Project TITS" just kiddin

    nice stuff u have

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  11. A.J,

    Heh heh...we've joked about that a lot internally but you're the first to have suggested it to us...though probably many of our readers thought the same thing. =) Thanks for dropping by.

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  12. Hey Zorilita! =)

    Thanks! Glad you like it.

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