Hey there! Welcome to the first actual NEXO QUEST devlog, where we will explore the development of the game's art style and first town. If you'd like to see a visual log of the development, check out the video above.

The First Few Minutes

Ah, the feeling of opening up a new project and creating the first parts of the game. It would make more sense to work on the game's basic code, but I wanted to play around with the art style. So, I started my endeavor.

Creating the First Art Style

After a few minutes, I decided to go with a Flat 3D art style. To do this, I simply set all of the materials to unlit and picked out a color palette from colorhunt.co. Each planet would have its own separate palette that would be used on each entity from that planet, so that the game would still have variety. I decided to start on a desert-like planet, as I had found a good palette for this.

Creating a Basic Town

Next, I started on the building aspect of the game. I wanted to start on this early, so that I would have a good idea of how to create high-quality structures. I decided to go with crooked, abstract houses, as they fit well with the art style. For props, I downloaded a Kenney asset pack and simply imported the models into the game.

Art Style Redesign

I was almost finished with laying the groundwork. However, I realized it was hard to deduce what objects actually represented, and the color palette was limiting, so I decided to scrap the Flat 3D art style. I kept the planet palettes, but I also gave each type of entity its own default set of colors to accompany the planet colors. I also used normal maps to give the buildings and ground more detail. Lastly, I added post-processing, and switched the rendering system in order to optimize the game in the future (NEXO QUEST will be open-world, so optimization is essential).

I finished! I still have much, much, MUCH more to implement, Next devlog, we'll be taking a look at how I implemented basic combat into the game.

Stay tuned!