Behind the Scenes: Old Bio Design Process (Patreon)

Ever wonder why the developers cringe when they think of the old bio design? Well, it's because it took months of work that ultimately ended in failure.Most of you remember the Bioluminescent dragon was going to be an Amphithere. The design was greatly inspired by a nudibranch (cute sea slugs) with a dash of ball python and big brown bat added in. However, the resulting model did not translate well and looked too goofy. So, Bad Parrot created another design with more detail. Again, the translation was too cartoonish.We decided to scrap the nudibranch idea and go with a more viper and hognose snake feel. Yet again, too cartoony. Another sketch by Bad Parrot used a raptor like head and humming bird like wings. We had something to work with this time.This was the point we decided to turn the bio into a wyvern and give him some back legs. We kept tweaking it from here, changing the tail, head doodads, and wings. Then we asked Hao to show us what the mouth would look like opened.... boy was that a mistake.Now that he looked like a terrifying monster with his mouth opened, he decided to give him cheeks and a beak, creating the "horse" like face you see in the final concept of the OG bio. We also edited it legs to make him a faster runner on the ground.Then it was time for creating his iconic skin. The first skin was based off a butterfly, but didn't fit. So, Bad Parrot created some skin ideas with help from Jao. However, we didn't like it on the model, so we decided to try a skin based on poison dart frogs instead.This was the point we decided to ask some of the bio backers what they thought of the design. The overall opinion was to scrap the design and try again. So, after months and months of work, we decided to put this poor creature to rest and try again later.And that is why the developers disliked designing the bio.