Claws Out is a third-person shooter where you pick between multiple bullet types, each with a different effect. You face several enemies at once and have to chain those effects with your revolver to survive.
Help Dolores stop the Doggers — the mafia trafficking milk and ruining the Claws Out family business.
Now that the game is introduced, here's everything we did to finish it.
The concept
I worked as an environment artist in a team of eight. We had three months to ship a video game, so we started by deciding what kind of game we could realistically pull off.
A steampunk game focused on combat felt right, so we mixed the ingredients: steampunk + mafia + shooter + bullets with different effects.
Prototype
Once the idea was locked, we built the first prototype — everyone producing concepts and documentation to pin down what the game was and how we would finish it on time. This is an environment concept I made for the prototype:
Then we built a blockout of the first stage, using the level design document (LDD) as reference.
Alpha
The map was redesigned, so the artists rebuilt the blockout — this time more detailed and with assets. The character went in with a placeholder shooting pose.
Beta
We textured the existing assets and built more to fill the map, which grew once again. Animations were added to smooth out the movement.
I also made Dolores' revolver, the main character's weapon. This is how it evolved:
For the tunnels I authored the materials in Quixel Mixer, which gave me every tool I needed to get the look I was after.
Gold
We only had a couple of weeks to go from Beta to Gold: textures, set dressing so the map never feels empty, decals, new lighting, updated UI and menus, and the animation pass that makes the movement feel great. These are some screenshots of the finished game:
What I made
- Environment concept art and the stage blockouts
- Modular environment assets and set dressing
- Dolores' revolver, the main character's weapon
- Tunnel materials authored in Quixel Mixer
Tough weeks, but we made it on time. Here's a gameplay video of the Gold build:
