This game is so cool! What were the inspiration for the monsters? Were they just concepts or inspired by folklore or something?
(IM SO SORRY THIS IS REALLY LONG BUT-) Hi! I’m so glad to hear that you liked the game! :) As for your question, I was the one in charge of making the monsters for this project, so I’ll do my best to articulate my answer. In a nutshell, each of these monsters had their own very unique design process and inspiration! For starters, the first two I initially sketched were Squid (the beloved hand creature) and Rug (silver tongue). Those guys quite literally popped into my mind, I can’t quite describe it… However, I knew immediately that I wanted them to set the tone for what I wanted to see in the rest of my monsters. For Mary and the Vinegar Twins, I also knew instantly what I wanted them to be. Mary was designed around an Evil Eye, and the twins were from a scrapped third horse/unicorn monster that was drawn alongside the initial sketches of Squid and Rug. Meta had also sketched some critter ideas, and I really wanted to include them because they were very cute! So my interpretations of those monsters eventually turned into Hera, George, Jackie, and Dragon. Picasso was the last to be made, and it was decided his theme was an amalgamation of angels, mirrors, crystals, and abstract art. But overall, the one thing these guys all had in common was how I chose to design them around the “charms” they were set to give to the player. The placement of their charms and the type of charms was VERY intentional, because I knew EXACTLY how I wanted all of their “final forms” (aka the gore) to look before the initial monster design itself was even done. The final order in which those monsters went also influenced the placement of those charms/overall design, because the severity of the violence was intended to escalate. Lastly, the artworks from RIKA/@bwusagi, Deerchip/@deerchip_jung, and @submori_521 (all on Twitter) really inspired me and got my wheels turning (especially for Hera). They all have this excellent style that is otherworldly, and it accentuates the anatomy and facial expressions of the beasts that they make and it looks so gritty and real (and also cute!) Anyways, I hope this answered your question, but if you have more, please feel free to ask!