Cassandra and Edmond come from the same original property, Rhianna’s short story Spectral Tides.  If I had to classify Cassandra as something particular, it would fall somewhere between a scholar, a tinkerer, and a scientist.  She’s definitely one of those people who loves to know how the world works, even at great hazard to herself.  Luckily, she’s got Edmond to keep her head on straight and help her keep out of danger.  Right now, one of the characters that Cassandra interacted with is a supporting character in Adelia Kreegan’s Wild Magic, so there’s almost a cyclical interaction within those two groups, as Adelia’s brother Luca is the leading character in Relic.

If we were going to make a game out of this content, I’m sure that Cassandra would be the most eclectic one of the bunch.  She’s not really combinative, but if we were building a brawler, there would likely have to be some things we would have to be open to.  I could see her being a very slapstick character, thunking people with the spyglass, or some other objects she might have on her person.

Once again, we’re closing with a card version of our hero.  As I mentioned before, this is the last hero character that we’ve teamed up with to do with Serathus.  We do have one last sprite that he made for us for one of the “enemy” characters you would run into in a would-be game, but I get a sense that it might be our last collaboration with him because of how busy he’s become over these last few months.

In any case, we get to cheer for the fact that all eight heroes were finished in this style.  I can’t wait to bring them even further to life in the book that inspired them, and if I’m lucky enough later, a game that ties everything together.

The post Pixel Art – Cassandra appeared first on Tellest.

Edmond’s first two stories were holiday tales written by Rhianna.  He first showed up in an April Fools tale that ended with a bit of a rick roll.  Then, Edmond showed up alongside his debut tale’s partner Cassandra in a Halloween tale with some ghostly elements.  Edmond would ultimately show up in another story with Cassandra with the upcoming Relic story, which means you’ll get to see her in pixel form soon enough.

Edmond has the power to somewhat control the weather.  He can’t quite make lightning in his hand or anything, but he is able to perform some minor manipulations, like creating a strong breeze, or adjusting where clouds would be.  With some clever thinking, he can do a lot more than what it sounds, and this makes him an invaluable member of whatever group he’s in.

And finally, here’s our card version of Edmond.  If Relic would be a beat-em-up game like Double Dragon or Castle Crashers, Edmond would have some interesting combat mechanics because of his weather manipulation.  I’m very pleased with the way he turned out, as this is the first time we’ve ever seen him.  To have him brought to life in this way was great, and I’d like to thank Serathus for helping make it a reality!

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Today, we’re looking at the second half of our piratey pair that we began in December.  Basta is a captain’s first mate, but what about the captain herself?  In steps Catelyn Angmar.

Catelyn Angmar is a storied captain who is living in a couple of shadows.  First, she’s got the legacy of her father hanging over her.  He’s a famous sailor who had ownership of a legendary ship called the Cutlass.  Interestingly, the Cutlass is supposedly now a tavern just outside of Viscosa, the ship allegedly having been brought upriver from the south seas.

Catelyn also has to contend, as a pirate captain, with the expectations of other people.  While she’s the captain of the ship, she is often conducting business from her cabin, as respect is not afforded much in her line of work to a woman.  It’s easier to handle things in a clandestine manner until it’s time to spring her trap, and by that time, she’s proven that her gender doesn’t matter much.

Together, she and Basta manage to handle a lot of the ins and outs of whatever kind of pirate or mercantile business they have that they’re going through.  While they are pirates, they’re perfectly fine people, and their allies are better for having known them.  Catelyn has her own quests that she wishes to fulfill, but she’s just as happy making sure her crew is well-paid, as long as they’re sailing in the salty sea air.

We have one more pixelated couple coming your way in this pseudo series, so be on the lookout over the next few weeks!

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Now, while we haven’t seen the literary introduction for Basta yet, we have seen him illustrated by another artist, Barnswallow.  Serathus does a great job capturing his essence in this pixel art, and fits a lot of character into so few pixels!  When Basta does appear, it will be in at least two books—the first Relic book, as well as the second book in The Ranger series, Heart of the Sea.  Basta is one of the good guys, along with his paramour, who we will see at the beginning of next year.

Basta is the first mate of the ship he’s on, typically, meaning he’s got a lot of work to do, keeping the rest of the crew in check.  In a lot of ways, he’s the face of the ship.  On the other hand, he keeps some secrets of his own, and they’ll be interested to unveil as time goes on.

As always, we close with a card version of our hero.  We’ve finally pushed into the second half of the hero characters, and while we left off with somewhat sad news last time around, I’ve got some other hopeful news instead going forward.  Serathus and I have partnered on additional sprites in this series, and he will be tackling some would-be enemies that the heroes might run into along their journey.  Again, his busy schedule may affect how quickly we can structure some of those for the website, but in any case, it’s interesting to think about.  On the other hand, we’ll see Basta’s love, Catelyn, in just a few weeks, so stay tuned!

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The last time we saw Lyla was in very unfortunate circumstances at the end of the Child of the Stars trilogy.  I won’t get into it much here, but suffice it to say she likely wouldn’t have been going on many adventures with Kaos after the events of that story.  Since we’re in a new timeline, we get to explore things in some new ways.  At the time of Relic, she hasn’t even left Saveon, so she’s never met Luca, David or Dirk.  Will they be on opposite sides of a war again, or is their meeting going to amount to something more?

Lyla might not even have much of a war to fight in, meaning she might have to find work elsewhere.  But just as she was a competent, skilled swordswoman in the books she originally appeared in, she’s talented here as well.  It’ll be interesting to see how she progresses in this new Tellest timeline.

Once again we are closing with a card.  And actually a little bit of sad news.  We just reached the halfway point for this series and its heroes.  Lyla is the last of the original heroes, but we’re going to be seeing new heroes toward the end of this year who have been in stories within the new timeline.  We’ll start up a new look at some Tellest D&D art soon which will be taking the pixel art’s place for a short while, but later this year, we’ll start showing off the next four heroes from Relic.

The post Pixel Art – Lyla Brenna appeared first on Tellest.

Dirk now fully embraces his lycanthropy, doing less to hide it this far into the timeline, as the people of Atalatha, with whom he is closely aligned, have become more tolerable and respectful of other races and magical beings.  Heck, at this point in the timeline, gnolls are walking around the city in broad daylight!  Dirk is still very close with Luca, and it’s not unheard of for the werewolf to follow his ward wherever he goes.

Dirk is the eldest of the three main characters, and he has years of training and wisdom behind him.  While Luca has treasures and David has his immense size, Dirk is agile and knows his strategies, so he rounds out the group nicely.  Of course, I’m still playing with the cards close to my chest regarding the story.  Speaking of cards…

Here we have the card version of Dirk.  Still not sure what they do, I’ve got to tell ya.  But I’m sure I could think of a way to incorporate them into the project in some interesting ways.

In keeping up with the normal timeline, I’ve got the next pixel art character—yes there’s more—coming down the pipeline in just three weeks.  There’s still more to show off about this little project, so remember to check back here from time to time!

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If you’ll recall, where once David was a raging gladiator, he’s now a mighty paladin.  He represents just about all of Atalatha as one of their premiere guards, and even though he’s kind of a star player for the city, he still has some time to hang out with one of his best childhood friends, Luca Kreegan.

So with that in mind, whatever story we’re going to tell with Luca Kreegan, David is certainly going to be tagging along for it.  There’s one more historically important character that we’re going to show as well, and the three of them tie in rather well.

Again, we’ve got the card version of David here as well.  Still not quite sure what they’ll do, but I’m imagining seeing cards you can pick up in the game that spin around when you find them.  I’ll have to work with my collaborators and see if anyone has a good idea!

The next pixel art is right around the corner, so keep your eyes peeled.  Anybody have a guess as to who it will be?

The post Pixel Art – David Garus appeared first on Tellest.

But let’s start with a familiar face, shall we?

So, this little guy bears a strong resemblance to Luca Kreegan, formerly known as Kaos Kreegan, doesn’t he?  Once the face of the Tellest brand, Luca has been relegated to second string in his family, with Adelia taking the reins lately.  But with this project I’m working on, we’ll be able to see this new iteration of the character in all his glory… albeit his tiny sprite glory for now.

For those who don’t know, there’s definitely been a shift in the Tellest timeline, with things being revealed in upcoming books and stories.  But there was still a history we wanted to explore with Luca, so we’re working on a new project with him.

I’m not quite sure what these cards do yet, but I’m thinking of ways to integrate them into the project as well.  We’ll see as we get a little closer to understanding what form the project is going to take first, and all the good things that follow.

Serathus works at a slightly odd schedule, but I’ve managed to cram a lot of these sprite projects into little three week gaps, so you’ll see the next character who joins us in the weeks to come.  Stay tuned!

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A few weeks ago, we wrapped up the sprite artwork for the adventurers who are going to feature into the expansion for Quantum Quest.  The adventurers are a big part of the game, but I think it’s the new chambers that are really going to spice up the game, so I’m excited to show these off.  Below, you’ll see our first set of new chambers, and I’ll give you a little description of how they work.

Kin Maelar Portal

This room is going to be a nice tie-in to a book that’s going to be releasing around the same time the game is (give or take a few months).  The Kin Maelar are the villains in the upcoming book The Maelstrom (a sequel to The Fall).  They’re essentially storm demons, and with that comes a bit more damage.  They’re hard to tame, but if you can manage, they’ll do extra damage for you.

Phaseshift

Quantum Quest was first conceived when I was listening to a Monopoly advertisement while I was driving around, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that there are some similarities.  The most prevalent, I think, is the entrance/go mechanic.  For this set, we decided to lean all in as a meta joke.  Phaseshift sends players back to the entrance, with a penalty incurred.  Depending on its placement in the dungeon, it can really stink to land there!

We made a small change to the art in the development process.  Our dwarf seemed a little too content with what was happening.

Frostwave

Frostwave is a high-cost chamber that the owner can really take advantage of.  They can determine whether they want to limit movement, or stop it altogether.  Their enemies take more damage if you just slow them down.  And when it’s haunted?  This room can make a huge mess of the other parties.

The Crusher

This expansion is all about more vicious cards, and The Crusher is one.  It targets the weakest party members, and can instant kill someone with two or less hit points.

There were a few things that we needed to change for the final artwork of this chamber, including a change in the skull, more signs of the trap having worked before, and for the character’s boot to be more opaque.

The Living Chamber

Quantum Quest is all about the Living Dungeon, so what better way to express that than with The Living Chamber?  The Living Chamber does damage to the healthiest adventurer, but it’s biggest gimmick is that every time someone lands on it, it switches spaces with the chamber in front of it.  In that way, the dungeon layout is always changing.

Time Crash

You ever get that feeling you’re going nowhere?  Time Crash makes sure that’s 100% true.  It sends you back to where you started your turn, and you take damage to boot!

Vampiric Essence

This one is the one that I could see changing the most from beta to full release.  It’s a little complex at the moment, requiring players to put tokens on it whenever a non-owner lands on it.  When the owner does land on it, they can discard those tokens to heal their adventurers.  It might just be an instant heal rather than a token effort.

Bonus: Under Construction

This isn’t a real card, but we did use it when we were putting together our Kickstarter!

That wraps us up for set one.  Swing back in a few weeks, and we’ll show off even more of our new chambers!

The post Quantum Quest Expansion – Chamber Set One appeared first on Tellest.

As always, we start with a black and white version of the piece.

After a little bit of color, you can see the magic she’s casting.

And then of course you see the expanded version, where you can make out the details a little better.

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