Castle Crashing Alien Hominid Style

In light of my second year final major project, I wanted to start to utilise my abilities as an illustrator in a context that I am familiar with but will be a challenge to produce considering most of the work used for characters in video games is essentially a variation of a concept or theme that is versatile enough to produce a range. 
Using Sonic as a frame of reference that is ( at least I hope ) an iconic representation of contemporary gaming culture.


The Sonic franchise started off as a series of 2D scroller platform games that relied on the player being as quick and efficient as possible in completing the level. The majority of the themed levels made were a universal mirror of our own world ( chemical plant and casino zone to name a few ) but the main feature was that each of the level's elements were unique only to that set of themed levels. Take here in the Emerald Hill Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the enemies are predominantly fish and insects all of which are mechanised versions of their natural counterparts, the scenery consists of palm trees, coconuts, sharp inclines, flowers and a background that suggests only of a tropical paradise somewhere.

The original characters were soon developed after the release of Sonic & Knuckles into a range fit for the modern gamer but without taking away the original illustrative style that holds onto the nostalgic die hard fan's interests.

Not only did they produce a far wider variety of games with the constant reworking of the familiar villan of the Sonic series, Dr. Robotnik along with his never ending imperial elitist army of robots and genetically modified animals but they managed to keep the ( more or less ) same themes in each of the new games.

Now, moving onto a similar game in terms of its 2D scrolling and frantic gameplay, Castle Crashers. This game is more akin to Golden Axe a primitive beat em up game that has its roots in fantasy fiction and can be easily referred to board games like Dungeons and Dragons. 
The company who produced the game, The Behemoth have produced an incredibly popular scroller shooter called Alien Hominid, which started out as a popular Flash game that appeared on newgrounds. The game took the internet by storm due to its similarities with the game Metal Slug which had gamers all over the world hooked because of its user-friendly controls and interface but challenging if not incredibly annoying gameplay.
The game itself is injected with humour from the outset with enemies ranging from the large to the disproportionally absurd, a change from the serious overtone most games have.
This running theme of absurdities, black humour, huge enemies and seemingly impossible odds against an unfathomable evil leads nicely into the game that I have been playing and pining over since the viral trailer went on newgrounds.

Castle Crashers has an incredibly huge online following ( see above ) probably since Alien Hominid was re-released for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade in 2007 boosting the company's growing infamy in the games industry.
Castle Crashers has no dialogue, and relies on its animated visuals, characters and scenery to provide a legitimate ludoliteracy for the player and a more retro feeling when playing the game that makes casual players more interested, compared to a long winded dialogue between two characters that is integral to the plot. 
Besides this, the game has a multitude of characters available both playable and enemies all with their own unique abilities that can be levelled up after beating in game challenges, levels and gathering experience points to attribute to your character. 
The fields of experience are; 

• Magic - governs skill level usage and recharge ability
• Agility - governs navigational speed and how fast you shoot projectiles
• Strength 
• Defense - as well as health

As you can see from the character sheet here, the basic template for the body and face is more or less the same throughout, except for garments, weapons and size. This goes to show that the elements of a 'good game' is not complex intricate AI that relies heavily on a personality complex based parascript along with some advanced rendering techniques, but a basis of relative function according to the context.
Each enemy has its own set of functions, abilities, magic powers and individual weapons that are all correlative in their level context ( see Sonic example at top of post ) which has been the staple of games for generations but this game constantly surprises with its plot and enemies respectively.

One other huge positive to this game is the arsenal of weapons available to the player, all possessing different qualities that can hinder one skill but improve the other, my particular favourite being the fish from the Tall Grass Field level, not for its qualities as a weapon but purely on a humour basis.

The odd looking creatures at the bottom of this inventory sheet are actually performance enhancing orbs that follow you around in game providing assistance wherever it is needed adding another dynamic to the game, which healthy distracts away from its repetitive gameplay.


The Behemoth website is really something, having all links easy to find and a navigable friendly homepage reflects the games values. The history of Behemoth is long but its titles short. Started in 2001 by Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin both leading art directors/developers for both ALien Hominid and Castle Crashers they are now working towards a new title called BattleBlock theatre, with not much news on it yet, I can only hope it will be a game as good as both the old games they had developed.
Behemoth's website has a load of cool merchandise ranging from keychains, stickers and figurines, to hoodies, hats and belt buckles, the best part about the shopping experience on the site is that the entirety of the site has the company's distinct cartoon style running throughout.

In conclusion, these are the sort of games I think my style of illustration would best suit, be the most fun to make and be a good insight into myself as an individual with no limits or boundaries to my creative endeavours. The sort of gameplay that these two titles inhibit is the sort of gameplay that should be revisited, easy to gain access to on work/school breaks, fun conversation starters and a good place to start on the game industry ladder without fear of competitive next-gen games that offer too much and rarely deliver.