While writing this column, I’ve come across tons of developers who took inspiration from rather overlooked topics – and this time it contains literal junk. This game, Scrap Bringer, goes for a steampunk look, but with cartoon character designs that make even the most unappealing trash look like a Nickelodeon cartoon.
We have trash and more in there Cool WIP, Polygons weekly summary of eye-catching clips and screenshots of ongoing work. Each week, Polygon staff scour the internet for the most interesting games that are still under construction to bring you a selection of the coolest emerging projects.
This week we have capybaras galore, a good dose of sticky slime, a bright pink forest and finally a little peek behind the animation curtains of game development.
A mafioso who rules the garbage dump
Scrap Bringer is a twin stick action game that combines cel-shaded graphics with a steampunk-inspired world of pseudo zap. While we haven’t seen much of what the action will be like, the developers bring a killer flavor to the character design – many of which are a stylish mix of abandoned items on a trash heap. A new clip from the developer showed a nifty animation for a van full of characters that look inspired by a mob movie. There is no release date, but you can follow the development on the Studio Twitter account.
A developer makes capybaras for love
In a suitably modern and romantic gesture – TikToker Mybadron used his game design degree to give Capybara desktop buddies (interactive virtual pets) as gifts for their friend. The developer posted updates – one showed them Design of the 3D models of living things and color them. And while it’s a cute story, it’s also a great snapshot of the type of work that goes into making such a tool. If you want to learn more about how it was done, you can check out all of the updates on the developer page TikTok account.
This goop gives Dragon Quest’s slime a fight for its money
Slime is nothing new in games – take the popular Dragon Quest slimes or the ChuChus from Zelda, for example. but savior, from developer Starsoft, meets slime-based monsters absolutely. A Clip of the slippery pile of goop shows it stumbling forward with a strangely long gait and looking around. To to the developers, savior follows an intense war that has divided civilizations for centuries. It all sounds big and grand, but to be honest, I just really like this stupid guy. There is no release date for savior but you can post occasional posts on the Developer’s Twitter account.
A bright pink forest
Twitter user B’s feed shows a range of vibe-y and atmospheric digital rooms. Recently posted a clip shows a figure Walk through a forest full of pink hues and glowing neon plants. The magic room is not intended for an announced game, but appears to be part of a series of experimental developments in which the creator plays with game environments. You can put all the stunning creations on their Twitter account.
A look behind the curtains
This is not a game, but to highlight cool aspects of game development I wanted to bring this post into the column. Here we have an originally published Twitter post by artist and animator Kinucakes This shows a simple guide to animating character loops. It’s a detail that is easily lost on players who take character movement for granted. However, behind all the constant movements there is a great looped animation. It’s really cool to see how this technique is simply depicted, with notes explaining the difference in movement. As a non-developer, it really increases my appreciation for the games I play.
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