Expanded look on various races and groups for a game concept I’ve been working on for some time. My take on a new Zelda game and the various groups of non-Hylians that would appear in Hyrule. I hope you enjoy.

Echoes of the Past Concept Part 1

Echoes of the Past

So recently I’ve been working on an idea for a new Zelda game inspired by several artists and fanfics on Zelda Amino and Aaron Diaz’s “Clockwork Empire” Concept (Link to his work will be below. Check him out, his art is AMAZING!). Heavy inspiration comes from Breath of the Wild, and what I would want to see improved or implemented to improve that game personally. I wanted to share my own ideas and art for a game I have a somewhat vague idea for.

Please note that these are just rough designs and various ideas. I’m not a game developer or creator. I’m just a self taught artist having some fun, so I hope you like it.

Story

The story essentially is that the regions of Hyrule, over many many generations, has grown distrustful and wary of one another. Civil War is not out of the realm of possibility, and it’s up to you, a living reminder that two races can live together in harmony, to stop it. However you don’t have to. This is a completely sandbox game. Explore the world and sell your combat skills, or follow the story and become a hero. It’s up to you.

Gameplay

Now I want to get into a few gameplay features I had in mind. I’m not going to get too much Into it, as it will be discussed more in depth later on, but here are a few notable features.

EotP will use a basic RPG system, in which you earn XP and level up. The stronger enemy you defeat, the more XP you earn.

Magic will play a big role in your adventure, and the magic meter will return and be more important then ever.

Taking a page from Zelda II, health and magic will be upgraded as you level up. Heart containers are no longer a thing.

As a Sheikah and Hylian, you are able to use Sheikah and Hylian magic. Discover tomes, spell books, and bring them to teachers to upgrade your skills.

Learn swordplay from the greatest masters throughout the land and become a fierce warrior.

Items no longer go in infinite pockets. All items are stored in your horse or whatever animal you use as your mount, and you can bring a sword and shield, as well as 3 items and one additional outfit with you at a time. This will force you to think strategically on where you want to go and why to bring with you. Upgrades to bags will help with this the further along you level up.

Weapons to not break. Once you have one it will stay yours for the remainder of the game. Should you get duplicates, you can sell them for rupees.

Items like the hookshot, grappling hook, climbing spikes, bow and arrows, and other things can be found in stores or dungeons. The same can be said for maps or the land and special areas.

Dialogue options are also present, more akin to something like the Fallout series. Different options will prompt different reactions. NPCs will remember how you treat them, so remember to be polite!

All manner of creatures can be used as your steed. Horses, donkeys, rams, goats, elk, deer, and mythical creatures yet to be revealed. And the best part, they can all be registered and kept at stables that dot the landscape.

So that about wraps it up. I plan on doing character art for other main characters such as Zelda, and others who I want to keep a secret until their reveal. I also plan on going more in depth into gameplay and game elements I want to see included as well. I hope you enjoyed the outfits and concepts. I worked hard on them and I hope you find them original and enjoyable :)

Link to Aaron Diaz and his Clockwork Empire concept

https://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/

Link to my original Zelda Amino blog post detailing this idea.

me: *never becomes less tired*

Scenic sunsets at Lurelin Village! Print available by the end of the month

senshi stock

croquis cafe

line-of-action.com

quickposes.com

posemaniacs

clip studio paint models

pexels.com

sketchdaily

eggazyoutatsu atarichan drawer

designdoll

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Echoes of the Past

So recently I’ve been working on an idea for a new Zelda game inspired by several artists and fanfics on Zelda Amino and Aaron Diaz’s “Clockwork Empire” Concept (Link to his work will be below. Check him out, his art is AMAZING!). Heavy inspiration comes from Breath of the Wild, and what I would want to see improved or implemented to improve that game personally. I wanted to share my own ideas and art for a game I have a somewhat vague idea for.

Please note that these are just rough designs and various ideas. I’m not a game developer or creator. I’m just a self taught artist having some fun, so I hope you like it.

Story

The story essentially is that the regions of Hyrule, over many many generations, has grown distrustful and wary of one another. Civil War is not out of the realm of possibility, and it’s up to you, a living reminder that two races can live together in harmony, to stop it. However you don’t have to. This is a completely sandbox game. Explore the world and sell your combat skills, or follow the story and become a hero. It’s up to you.

Gameplay

Now I want to get into a few gameplay features I had in mind. I’m not going to get too much Into it, as it will be discussed more in depth later on, but here are a few notable features.

EotP will use a basic RPG system, in which you earn XP and level up. The stronger enemy you defeat, the more XP you earn.

Magic will play a big role in your adventure, and the magic meter will return and be more important then ever.

Taking a page from Zelda II, health and magic will be upgraded as you level up. Heart containers are no longer a thing.

As a Sheikah and Hylian, you are able to use Sheikah and Hylian magic. Discover tomes, spell books, and bring them to teachers to upgrade your skills.

Learn swordplay from the greatest masters throughout the land and become a fierce warrior.

Items no longer go in infinite pockets. All items are stored in your horse or whatever animal you use as your mount, and you can bring a sword and shield, as well as 3 items and one additional outfit with you at a time. This will force you to think strategically on where you want to go and why to bring with you. Upgrades to bags will help with this the further along you level up.

Weapons to not break. Once you have one it will stay yours for the remainder of the game. Should you get duplicates, you can sell them for rupees.

Items like the hookshot, grappling hook, climbing spikes, bow and arrows, and other things can be found in stores or dungeons. The same can be said for maps or the land and special areas.

Dialogue options are also present, more akin to something like the Fallout series. Different options will prompt different reactions. NPCs will remember how you treat them, so remember to be polite!

All manner of creatures can be used as your steed. Horses, donkeys, rams, goats, elk, deer, and mythical creatures yet to be revealed. And the best part, they can all be registered and kept at stables that dot the landscape.

So that about wraps it up. I plan on doing character art for other main characters such as Zelda, and others who I want to keep a secret until their reveal. I also plan on going more in depth into gameplay and game elements I want to see included as well. I hope you enjoyed the outfits and concepts. I worked hard on them and I hope you find them original and enjoyable :)

Link to Aaron Diaz and his Clockwork Empire concept

https://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/

Link to my original Zelda Amino blog post detailing this idea.

Commissions for Zelda Amino members

Kiui, a Sheikah girl with unclear loyalties

Commissions for Zelda Amino members Hero and Oracle

(Left) A Hylian archiologist with a troubled past. A seeker of knowledge and truth

The other day I came across this awesome program by accident (I don’t even remember what I was actually searching for, but on the several times I’ve looked for a program like this I’ve had no luck). It’s cool enough that I wanted to share it.

It’s called DesignDoll (website here) and it’s a program that lets you shape and pose a human figure pretty much however you want.

There’s a trial version with no expiration date that can be downloaded for free, as well as the “pro license” version priced at $79. I’ve only had the free version for two days so far, so I’m not an expert and I haven’t figured out all of the features yet, but I’ve got the basics down. The website’s tutorials are actually pretty helpful for the basics, as well. 

Here’s the page for download, which has a list of the features available in both versions.

There are three features the free version doesn’t have:

Can’t save OBJ files for export

Can’t download models and poses from Doll Atelier (a sharing site for users; note that the site is in Japanese, though)

It can’t load saved files

The third one means that if you make a pose, save it, and close the program, you can’t load that pose/modified model later. You have to start with the default model. I found that out when I tried to load a file from the day before (this is why reading is important…). Whether saving your modifications (and downloading models and poses) is worth $80 is up to you. 

But, the default model is pretty nice and honestly if all you’re looking for is a basic pose reference it should work fairly well as it is. Here’s what it looks like:

There’s a pose tag that lets you drag each joint into place and rotate body parts. The torso and waist can be twisted separately, and it seems like everything pretty much follows the range of movement it would have on an actual human.

Even the entire shoulder area is actually movable along with the joint! See, like how the scapular area of the back raises with the arm:

The morphing tag is one of the coolest features, in my opinion. It lets you pick and choose from a library of pre-set forms for the head, chest, arms, legs, etc. It has some more realistic body shapes in addition to more anime-like ones. Don’t like the options there? Mix a few to get what you want! Each option has a slider that lets you blend as much or as little as you want into the design. 

So you, too, can create beautiful things like kawaii Muscle-chan!!

The scale tag lets you mess with the proportions and connection points of different joints. This feature combined with the morphing feature not only allows more body shape variations, but it also means that you can do things like make a more digitigrade model if you want. (The feet only have an ankle joint, but for regular human poses that’s all that you really need, so whatever.)

Or you can make a weird chubby alien-like thing with giant hands and balloon tiddies if that’s more your thing.

The ability to pose hands to the extent it allows is far more than I could have hoped for from a free program. Seriously, you can change the position of each finger joint individually, as well as how spread out the fingers are from each other. Each crease on the diagram below is a point of movement, and the circles are for spread between fingers. 

And to make it a bit more convenient, there’s a library of pre-set hand poses you can pick from as well, and then change the pose from that if you like. 

In both versions, you can also import OBJ files from other places for the model to hold, like if you wanted to have them hold a sword or something.

That shaded ball on the left is your light source. You can see how moving the point changed the shadow cast.

Oh and all those other nifty looking things in that bottom bar there, yeah it’s what you think. You can change the model color to one of these presets or even customize your own palette.

Plus for all you lovely people who want something a little more simplified to use as a pose reference