The second semester I was brought in as an independent contractor because they were a small team with not enough artists. With my experience as Lead Artist on the original game I was a very good fit. They kept the original feel of the game of the player being a spirit but they turned it from an open world exploration game to a linear game with story and combat.
One of the first things I did was concept the Goddess who guides the player throughout the game. I made 5 iterations with different clothing and antler styles. After talking with them they wanted to see iterations on two of the antler styles and two of the main dress colors with iterations on design. They ended up going with the number 2.
They wanted an ethereal looking 2D animation that would pop up in the corner whenever the goddess spoke. I don't believe it was ever implemented but this is what I made for them. It can be slowed down for a more graceful look.
After that they asked me for a 2D animation of a crystal filling up as a loading animation.
They liked the idea of artifacts but wanted ones that fit their story. Some of them like the vase and tooth I was able to reuse, as well as the villager sword. The necklace I used the string part and changed the medallion. The others I made completely new. I tried to keep the icons fitting with the look from the original game.
I then 3D modeled, UV unwrapped and textured a village stable in the style of the original village house models.
They wanted a world tree in the center of the village. I created this model based on the trees they had chosen to populate their levels with and UV unwrapped and textured in their chosen color palette as well. In the end they went a different direction with the tree.
The last major thing I created for them was an opening cutscene animation done that explains the lore of the world. It was decided that a simple animation made to look like storybook pages was best for how long it was going to be. I drew each individual frame and put it all together Premiere Pro. I recorded all the voice lines myself and took the music from the original game and edited it to fit the scenes. Here is the final product. I also happen to voice all the Goddess's lines in the game.
The final game was published in August 2021. You can visit the Steam page or the game's website for more information about the game.