otaking77077

Mech Research II

Added 2025-03-07 04:59:11 +0000 UTC

Hello!

We're currently nailing down more preproduction details for the mech project. One consideration is making it 3 or 5 acts so we gathered some idea locations that would have battles and/or glimpses of yesteryear memories (an abandoned arcade, video rental store, a rundown 7/11 - roller dogs are a staple on a roadtrip, are they not??) to rest at. Plus it would be nice to show how the mechs are used in different climates as they go through their journey.

Roughly we have an idea for the main story line, some missions and characters. It's different from working with pre-established IPs as you can imagine, but we're chipping away at all the brainstorming portions so we can get back to the art. There's some side experimenting Otaking has been keeping himself sane with in his free time in Photoshop. Maybe he'll post some of it next week to see what you think.

The pre-production phase lays the foundation for the rest of development. It helps streamline processes, ideas and ensures what's feasible with the potential to be fun. It involves planning, prototyping, and creating design documents. It's the initial phase, but across various industries is considered the most important stage of development.

Here's how it usually breaks down for anyone interested:

Concept development: Create the core ideas for the animation
World building: Determine basic versions of environments, character and story dynamics
Storyboarding: Develop the narrative
Technical planning: Create the production pipeline
Budgeting and scheduling: Determine the budget and timeline for development
Design Document: Create a blueprint that guides artists and writers
Pre-production review: Test core ideas, animatics

Typically, this phase takes up about 20% of the entire development timeline. During pre-production, the team is usually small, which works well for us!

If you have any questions about the process or anything specific you'd like to see addressed between sturdy, robust mechs vs tanks - let us know below. We hope to have more visuals for you next post! Til then stay warm, or cool depending where you are...

- Producer Maki