Belle of the Ball - Jacqui Davis' Art Preview Part 1

BelleoftheBall-Banner

Jacqui Davis has been working diligently on the art for Belle of the Ball, to be kickstarted by Dice Hate Me Games in late Summer 2013 for an early 2014 release. You can find more about the game on the DHM site here. It's been a thrill to see these guests with silly names and sillier titles finally come to life.

Developing the island setting Ludobel has been exciting as an opportunity for world-building I rarely get to do. It's probably been since Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple that I got a chance to fully direct character designs. Jacqui Davis' work has been magnificent so far. In particular, she's really taken to heart my desire for a diverse cast of characters featuring a variety of ethnicity, silhouette, and gender presentation.

Each guest has a first and last name, naturally. I randomly generated these names from a list of suffixes and prefixes I thought sounded funny. On occasion, I'd tweak the names to maximize their tongue-twisting silliness, thus you get guest names like "Dirigible Dinnerbum." All guests come from one of the twelve counties of Ludobel, and each county has a Lord and Lady noted by a sash. Each guest also has an honorary title, reflecting a noteworthy skill, achievement or occupation. Thus you have titles like "Wall of Flappingcap" or "Fool of Dent." Enough chatter, on with the art!


BelloftheBall-ArtPreview-Highmount

Highmount County is home to high mountain steppes and equestrian aristocrats. L to R: Obelisk Orlantop, Inch of Highmount; Lady Livery Lingridtub, Gem of Highmount; Lord Anteater Appletend, Fool of Highmount; Vorpal Vanbee, Key of Highmount; Embrose Excrew, Jack of Highmount.


BelloftheBall-ArtPreview-Anglebottom

Anglebottom County is known for its fine silk exports. L to R: Lady Maybe Mumblecaw, Ace of Anglebottom; Lord Calla Quizcave, Barge of Anglebottom; Penny Puzzlemass, Cape of Anglebottom; Orblah Openbend, Eye of Anglebottom; Lady Critique Crappique, Drake of Anglebottom.


BelloftheBall-ArtPreview-Indigum

Indigum County is an artists' commune, source of baffling fashion trends. L to R: Kickingsell Kittenbell, Zest of Indigum; Meowsmith Mutterhut, Rock of Indigum; Ragequit Rumplefatch, Wall of Indigum; Lady Lovelylady Lamp, Quill of Indigum; Lord Wibblywobbly Wantonmutt, Lance of Indigum.


BelloftheBall-ArtPreview-Craw

Craw County is a misty, rocky moor home to ancient ruins and dour historians. L to R: Jugular Jugkeg, Wall of Craw; Lady Custer Cutterlub, Lance of Craw; Lord Capable Canklerack, Quill of Craw; Underpants Unterdaria, Zest of Craw; Original Orblack, Rock of Craw.

There are still eight more counties, so look for more previews in coming weeks, including guests from grape-growing Jamshire County, mountainous Krinkle County, and super-scientific Flappingcap County. To see more of Jacqui Davis' work, go see her blog!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Graphic Design and Typography Tips for your Card Game

Image
Chris Farrell of Illuminating Games just wrote a thorough critique of card games setting their body text to be so small that they cannot be read at arm's length, let alone across the table. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is worth a read for any would-be card game designers out there. (Myself included.) Break out your copy of the base set of Dominion, and look at the Chapel. This has a text box roughly 3.5cm by 4.5cm. It's got a single line of text. That line of text is 1 (one) millimeter high. 1mm! For me, it's only clearly readable at half an arm's length even in the bright light of day. (...) Compare this to a more sane game like Glory to Rome, where the font size is 2-3 times as large (text is 2mm high, keywords 3mm and usually highlighted). I can generally read Glory to Rome cards across the table, and can certainly see the important keywords. To heap insult upon injury, not only does Glory to Rome have far more legible text than Dominion it also has
Read more

Low-High Dice Game

Image
A dice game inspired by the stock market (and playing lots of Martian Dice). Roll a bunch of dice and choose which sets to keep. Choose your strategy wisely! Stuff You Need Two-to-Six PLAYERS A PENCIL and PAPER to keep score Thirteen standard six-sided DICE How to Play The shortest player takes the first turn. On your turn, first roll all thirteen dice. Several dice will have matching results. These are called SETS. (A single die result is a set, too.) You must choose a set to keep. For example, your first roll results are 111124445555 . The sets are four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, and four 5 s. After keeping a set of dice, lock them up in a row. This is called the GOOD TRACK. For example,  you could keep the set of four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, or four 5 s . You decide to keep the four 1 s and line them up in your good track. After keeping a set, you may end your turn or re-roll the remaining unlocked dice. When you re-roll, immediately set aside any results that ar
Read more

The Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge

Image
UPDATE: The submission period has closed and here are the entries. If you're an entrant, continue sending pics or vids of people playing your game. The first step to a game lasting a thousand years is for people to play it today. UPDATE 2: And here's the winner! To support games designed for longevity – that can be learned, played and shared for hundreds of years – we offer this challenge to any game designers, artists and imaginative people who also share this desire. Challenge Create a game. The game can be of any theme or genre you desire, but there is one restriction: You're creating a "new classic," like Chess, Tag or card games. So, create a game to be enjoyed by generations of players for a thousand years. Prize $1,000 to the winning entrant, to be announced and awarded January 1, 2012. Entry Deadline Entries must be submitted before midnight July August 31st, 2011. ( Update ) Entry Guidelines Enter by posting a comment below with a link
Read more