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We're back today for the second instalment in our Dev Dog Diaries series for Good Boy!
In case you missed the first episode, Team17 & Observer Interactive sat down together to film several Developer Interviews with the team from Observer Interactive working on Good Boy! We also filmed with lots of furry friends... some of which are the dogs that you'll meet as Rovers in our indie game. 🐶
Dev Dog Diaries Episode #2 - Joe Kennett
Environment Artist - Observer Interactive
In our second interview of the series, we get cosy with Nellie the dog and Joe, Environment Artist at Observer Interactive, to chat about Nellie in the game as a doggo space Rover, the games serene art style, and the inspirations behind the art style of the familiar, yet alien planet of Terra II.
Introduce yourself, introduce your dog, and let us know what you do!
"I'm Joe and I'm an Environment Artist on Good Boy, mainly painting little rocks, trees, flowers and stuff all over the game and making it look nice - that's the general gist.
And this is Nellie. She's my three year old lab. My little girl, god bless her."
What was it like the first day you met Nellie?
"We went to the breeders, and there was like thirteen pups or something, and we had a little look at them all and a little play with them all. Nellie was chewing my shoelaces and biting my fingers. She wouldn't get away from us! So we just knew, she was the one!
She's very cuddly normally- always been a needy dog"
How does Nellie's in game Rover reflect Nellie in real life?
"So Nellie's whole design, her whole vibe in the game is based on what she's like in real life.
In game, she's the mining Rover. She digs everything up and she's got a big macerator on her back, where she just chews everything up and swallows it. It's exactly what she's like at home as well!"
"We were lucky really- the concept artist for Good Boy is amazing and also very attentive. I got input on every part of Nellie's design.
There's a photo of her that I sent to the concept artist with my baseball cap on, and he put the baseball cap on her (on her concept art). He did everything we asked, it was really, really good!"
What's it been like working on Good Boy so far?
"It's been a rollercoaster- it's amazing, a bit of a dream project to work with the people I'm working with on it. I took a long time out from game dev and came back for this project specifically! So it's been a steep learning curve back here, and it's just been a dream really.
We're a really small team. I've had a lot more responsibility than I typically would have over the art. So it's just been a wonderful, wonderful project to work on."
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What's your favourite creature in Good Boy?
"We've got some tertiary creatures that just hang around and do cool stuff.
We've got this guy, who we don't have really got a name for yet, but he's working name is Gordon. He's like a little flying squirrel guy, and I absolutely love it - he's my favourite."
Can you talk about the art styles and inspirations behind Terra II?
"We looked at a lot of miniature photography. We had this toys in the garden idea for it all. Imagine people talking photos of Lego in grass and stuff like Happy Meal toys in the garden, and that was a really big influence.
We wanted to give a lot of it this alien but familiar feel to it. All of the friendly stuff, like all of the human things in the game, should feel like a plastic toy in a way, in a world that feels slightly different, but still nice and safe."
"We looked at tons of games. Obviously the game is pretty stylised, so we're looking at games like Outer Wilds and Animal Crossing!
I use a lot of Diablo in my set dressing when I'm building a level out. I'm always looking at Diablo because they do such a good job of that isometric camera. We're not quite like an isometric camera, but it's you know, that top right down thing. But yeah, anything stylised and pretty really!"
If you want to hear more from Joe about Good Boy, the full episode is now live on YouTube here!
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