(Click to enlarge)

The movie below shows the visual- prototype level that was made for Fairytale Fights 2.  This prototype focuses on technical and work-flow improvements.

We did this prototype because Fairytale Fights (1) was build almost entirely from ‘building blocks’. This approach seemed flexible but always resulted in a situation where you would have lots of unwanted seams in the landscape and it was also often difficult for the level builders to recreate the concept art. So we had to come up with a better plan.

As a test we went for the other extreme and the landscape now consists out of only a few unique models. The result is a seamless landscape that matches the concept art almost perfectly. And we also checked if this approach was more or less time efficient, and it seemed to be more efficient. So that was a useful test.

Aside from this we also experimented with different lighting and shaders to get a better feel for the game. And finally we tried to go even more abstract with the style, to provide cleaner, less cluttered environments so that the player could focus more on the hectic gameplay. Still, I must say, this prototype lacks a visual focus and it has a pretty generic theme, so it’s not really exciting to look at. But that was supposed to be the next step. Unfortunately that step was never made since the company went bankrupt soon after making this prototype. It’s a real pity, especially because on the other side of the studio people were developing some really awesome gameplay for Fairytale Fights 2…

Well, the movie was captured by my fine colleague Ron Kamphuis, who was in charge of the technical aspects of this level.  My contribution was making the concept art for this level and doing the style research for Fairytale Fights 2.

A few months earlier then this prototype I shortly worked double shifts and was also made the lead of the level art team. During some downtime there I got the chance to make some prototypes with the team. The goal we set was to create bits of level that should be visually exciting in a new way (this included new gameplay and camera angles). Now Ron has also uploaded a few things he worked on. So if you are interested to see some more cool prototypes for Fairytale Fights 2, then check out this page on Ron’s website. (My compliments Ron, it’s still fun stuff to watch!)