Creating Cocozee
The first monster and the most important one to design was the nature monster that you would start and play the game as if you had picked it beforehand. The starting monsters have to be appealing in a cute way as they are meant to represent a younger maturity of their monster race but also appear to have potential as they will eventually grow.
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Middle stages of maturing (also referred to as evolution in most games) have been cut entirely from this game for a few reasons. The first one is that they are simply unmemorable, a lot of the time they are awkward and forgotten due to them not going for cute or cool, more of a balance of both. But more importantly, maturing works a lot differently in this game due to a lack of any level system, rather you have to complete a certain task/s explained to you by a special NPC. I have also implemented narrative elements into this maturing system, having a thought out reason on how this strange method of progression makes sense.
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Moving on from that design choice and back to the starting nature monster, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to create. My first idea was a coconut monkey, having both themes relating closely to tropical areas made sure that this monster would fit nicely into the environment. I tried to come up with some other ideas, some other tropical animals came to mind but for the most part I was already settled on the first idea I had come up with. When looking for references, I obviously chose to look at a lot of Pokemon monkeys and a few from other monster collection games as well, along with pictures of coconuts.
The finished design of character that I have named Cocozee features a lot of inspiration from the references above. I especially used the Pokemon Chimchar (reference #2) to understand what basic features a monkey themed monster should have as well as how to balance a starting monster design's cuteness as well as it's potential.
One problem I do see with the final design that I have made is that the frilly part of the coconut may look more like some form of facial hair to some people. Luckily this is only a problem with the concept art's perspective and a lack of 3D viewing and so this shouldn't be a problem in-game.
Creating Cocozee
The first monster and the most important one to design was the nature monster that you would start and play the game as if you had picked it beforehand. The starting monsters have to be appealing in a cute way as they are meant to represent a younger maturity of their monster race but also appear to have potential as they will eventually grow.
​
Middle stages of maturing (also referred to as evolution in most games) have been cut entirely from this game for a few reasons. The first one is that they are simply unmemorable, a lot of the time they are awkward and forgotten due to them not going for cute or cool, more of a balance of both. But more importantly, maturing works a lot differently in this game due to a lack of any level system, rather you have to complete a certain task/s explained to you by a special NPC. I have also implemented narrative elements into this maturing system, having a thought out reason on how this strange method of progression makes sense.
​
Moving on from that design choice and back to the starting nature monster, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to create. My first idea was a coconut monkey, having both themes relating closely to tropical areas made sure that this monster would fit nicely into the environment. I tried to come up with some other ideas, some other tropical animals came to mind but for the most part I was already settled on the first idea I had come up with. When looking for references, I obviously chose to look at a lot of Pokemon monkeys and a few from other monster collection games as well, along with pictures of coconuts.
The finished design of character that I have named Cocozee features a lot of inspiration from the references above. I especially used the Pokemon Chimchar (reference #2) to understand what basic features a monkey themed monster should have as well as how to balance a starting monster design's cuteness as well as it's potential.
One problem I do see with the final design that I have made is that the frilly part of the coconut may look more like some form of facial hair to some people. Luckily this is only a problem with the concept art's perspective and a lack of 3D viewing and so this shouldn't be a problem in-game.
^^^