Playable Kobold and his service in a Dragon organization (Patreon)

In one of the previous posts (and the game-jam build) I have shown the chubby synthetic dinosaur called YoYo. But some people have commented that they don't want to play as a synthetic character...

Thus we decided to try to add a second character to both offer variety for different tastes and promote co-op play as different characters (and give an ability to switch control between characters in solo play). The two characters are likely to have different gameplay mechanics as well, but it's something we will have to ultimately decide as we progress through our prototypes.

Heavily taking inspiration from my previous designs (avatars for Second Life and VR), I designed a nimble, agile Kobold, image of who you can see above (in the header of the post).

I haven't started on his model as of writing this post, but it shouldn't be a problem - with the revamp I also simplified my modeling style, making it possible for me to create a fully rigged models in just 2-3 days.

I also designed him a set of various tools and abilities: metroidvania-style upgrades that he can pick up along the way, however I omitted the descriptions of those toys for now - I'll expand on them in the next post

For now I'd like you to read up on some lore I've been also working on - you'll need it to understand what my world (and the game) is about.

Knott the Kobold

Knott has a body of a Kobold - a small-sized, orthograde-postured biped, who takes majority of his appearance from Dragons. He prefers using a prehensile male interface for his job and pleasure - he loves getting to know all sorts of new creatures, learning of their unique biologies and minds - that's why he chose it as his area of expertise.

He serves in a Dragon-founded organization who focuses on saving life from extinction across the Multiverse of Realities, Space and Time.

His pack, together with large teams of scientists, exo-speciologists, builders, and Essence-tamers was sent on a long mission to one tormented world. They sarcastically nicknamed it to "The Hungry Planet". While it was a home to countless species across its lifetime, none of them were capable of reaching the Astral realms on their own. The organization decided to intervene, helping all those creatures to survive the Greatest Filter of evolution.

Knott's duties are to manage and oversee the process of uplifting creatures. Together with his pack, they study ways of communication with every new species - be it body language, speech, scents, or telepathy. They gather local volunteers who are willing to be brought up to a new level of Existence - to go through the transformation into a Dragonkin with subsequent accommodation into the safety of the Astral Planes. For Knott, sometimes it's just office work, sometimes he takes on the highly involved and sensual process of uplifting himself.

Essence - the lifeblood of Dragons

Dragonkin are highly advanced beings, adapted for life in any environment, including vacuum of space and physical uncertainties of Astral realm. They are created via subjecting lifeforms (and machines) to specially-programmed, mutagenic Essence.

Essence is administered internally, typically during any kind of biological interfacing between a Dragonkin and a regular lifeform. If size-difference is too vast however, the Dragonkin can submerge the creature in Essence, typically by consuming the creature through their interface and later laying them as an egg.

Over several days of time (rarely faster) it rebuilds a creature's entire physiology - while their body shape doesn't change much, their internal anatomy becomes very different. Visual changes often include bodyparts reminiscent of Dragons however: scales, plates, spikes, long tail, genital slit, etc.

Essence is a biotechnological substance designed manipulate matter on the atomic scale. It is (explosively) secreted by Dragons and Dragonkin during receiving highly pleasurable stimulations. has form of white-blue glowing thick fluid, and when given a set of appropriate telepathic instructions, it can rebuild any physical object into its essence-infused form. It affects any lifeform, machine or even entire planets - with the right guidance, Essence-Tamer can make anything come to advanced, Essence-based life.

Next up

I wrote a very large document about the game's world, but I'm splitting it into multiple posts for easier reading.

Stay tuned for more info coming right in a few days!