Dralligator
Realistic Pokemon Project
About the Project
During the 2nd year of university we were tasked with creating a concept - and then sculpting that concept - of a realistic creature with the theme of it being something that could be implemented as a pokemon, therefore having to think of game mechanics that could theoretically go alongside this design.
This would also be the first time sculpting, rigging and animating something and although there are a lot of thing I should have done in hindsight, overall I consider this piece to be a successful learning experience.
My workflow was to sculpt a basic and rough design in Mudbox. Send the mesh over to Maya to quaddraw over. Given my lack of experience in Maya I then sent it over to 3ds Max after the quaddraw to fix up the model a little more and alter its shape a little more then UV unwrapping.
The model was then sent back over to Mudbox for a more detailed sculpt.
This workflow has some issues, for example my preferred workflow in hindsight would have been to rough out the design in 3ds Max - however, now that Mudbox has dynamic tessellation, sculpt sketching is now much more viable, especially for those that are not advanced with the software.
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Type:
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Pokemon Design
As obvious from the name this creature is a mix between a Dragon and an Alligator - two somewhat visually similar creatures but with more emphasis being on the behaviour of the creature.
The Dralligator is a Dragon that is in the process of adapting to its new surroundings of living in a pitch black, watery cave. Its main feature is its ability to be 3 main elements, but not all at the same time. Mechanically the Dralligator is always a ground type and begins the battle as a fire type that can use fire abilities, however, if the Dralligator uses a water ability its body temperature cools and can no longer use fire abilities until it warms back up again.
The reptilian scales have been replaces with cracked rock with lava seeping through this. You can imagine that after using a water ability such as dive the lava would cool and turn black, filling the cracks.
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Other visual design features are the horns which are supposed to be reminiscent of stalactites in a cave. The back of the creature also is coated in limescale from the constant drips from the cave ceiling.
The Dralligator has also begun to devolve its eyes and is blind. Lava seeps through the cracks of the eyes, like pus from an infected wound. To help it navigate however it has a total of 6 nostrils and has the ability to use echolocation - and example of this is the audio sample to the left which I made alongside this asset.
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