After an exhaustive search for a Rebuild 3 artist, sifting through 150 applicants and agonizing over the decision for months, I chose the art and style of Adam Meyer (of Steamroller Studios and Crystal Clear Art). When he’s not working with me on Rebuild 3, Adam’s got a zombie game of his own on the go – the beautiful Deadwood with a super unique art style involving wooden people.
As for the style of Rebuild 3 (tentatively called “Gangs of Deadsville”), we’re going to go for something cleaner and more cartoony than Rebuild 2… but not nearly as cheesy as my stickmen from Rebuild 1. Here’s a rough mockup of what we have in mind:
The new characters have so much… character! They’ll have mix & match features like earlier games, and a bunch of new clothing options. Hipsters, geeks, cops and cowboys – I can’t wait to make my last stand with these adorable bastards. I’ll leave you with some of Adam’s survivor sketches:
Looks really nice! I’ve been a fan of Rebuild 1 and 2 (They brought me to the long, hard winter we had in germany), and I really look forward to the next sequel!
Glad to see bookmarking this blog after the release of the original rebuild is paying off :).
The art looks good in it’s own style, but according to the rebuild3 survey early results (and my personal taste):
4. What do you think of the art in Rebuild 2?
35% said “bloodier and creepier”
only 5% said “cleaner and cuter”
The concept art is not bloodier and creepier, it is more comic-y and cuter in my opinion. The Walking dead, which is one of the most liked zombie films is good partly because of it’s gruesome-ness which I think is important except if you make it for kids (ex: plants vs zombies)
Way too toony; Rebuild 2 did it right, had the right balance between gory and dark zombie apoc.
I personally like the new art style. While it may not be ‘Bloody/creepy’ it combines a certain amount of ‘Dark and Gritty’ with toonish. Reminds me a bit of dead space downfall, for some reason.
When I completed the survey, I also chose the “bloody/creepy” option, but not because I actually think the game requires more of it, but rather because making the art more “toonish” would place a degree of separation between the player and the characters the player becomes responsible for in the game. The subtext of all effective zombie media lies in it’s immediacy; it is the society we are intimate with and experience on a daily basis that becomes the force of urgent chaos and mind-numbing terror, and by identifying the survivors in Rebuild 2 as real people (with realistic-looking portraits) the player had no obstacles in identifying with that society. I’m just afraid that the new cartoonish style will stunt that level of immersive identification.
hmm not bad :D it looks great