Hello, everyone!

As we wrap up Faerie Afterlight development, we’re returning our attention to the community through an ongoing series of Dev Blogs. These blog posts will provide you with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Clay Game Studio and greater insight into the world of Faerie Afterlight ahead of the game’s September release!

As a follow-up to our previous Dev Blog that focused on the game’s plot and story, we’re moving right along to one of the most prominent features of Faerie Afterlight: world building through art and visual design!

To provide insight, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions concerning our art direction.

What are the primary artistic inspirations behind Faerie Afterlight?

Some of the artistic inspirations behind Faerie Afterlight came from other fantasy-based games like Hollow Knight, Ori, Kirby, and even Rayman… with some additional surrealism thrown into the mixing pot. The game's environments, however, are inspired more by the beauty of nature through the lens of a children’s fairytale.
For example, Faerie Afterlight's first-ever piece of concept art serves as a benchmark for the rest of the game's content:

As you can see, the image above has two visually distinct halves. On the right side, warm tones, and on the left side, cold tones. This is meant to represent the contrast between our two main characters, with Kimo's side depicting darkness, danger, and coldness, while Wispy's side is beaming with light, life, and warmth. It was crucial to establish a clear benchmark in a game that revolves around the interplay of light and darkness. As you can see, nature and similar fantasy games heavily influence the art’s elements, with lots of Rayman and natural coral reefs coming to the surface!

Why did we choose a 2D art style?

We wanted to create a unique style while preserving the fantasy theme. Surrealism was our answer. Gloomy and Dark surrealism might have been too much for general audiences and has become a bit too much of the norm for the genre, so we decided to use a fairytale style with more straightforward and colorful visuals. We felt like 2D would be the best way to communicate this style, and we have many examples to work from!

We created this concept art in the early stage of the game's development, and though the area won’t appear in the game, it helps illustrate our inspirations! Surrealism, fairytales, and the contrast between light and dark are all present.

Where did the game’s unique combination of underwater coral reefs and terrestrial geography originate?

Kimo and Wispy will start deep underground and then journey toward the sky. Every chapter depicts different geographical elevations as they reach new heights! We start in a sea trough, the lowest part of Faerie Afterlight's world. Our players will follow the perspective of a very tiny creature exploring the vast world, so we need to view the world from that perspective. How would the residents or villagers look? What sort of building would be present? The small, beautiful things around us inspire our choices, especially those we tend to ignore or pass by. That's why corals, mushrooms, puddles, and grass are heavily featured in the game.

What motivated the character design of the NPCs, enemies, and main characters?

We based the NPCs and enemies on small animals around us in Indonesia. Mainly insects, but we also have sparrows, small mammals, and many sea creatures. Since we would like to depict the small beautiful things that often go unnoticed around us, they became our source of inspiration. We wanted to combine the animals with an occupation. For example, Torre is a combination of an otter and a fisherman!

In regard to the game’s boss battles, Kimo faces off against foes that are many times larger than they are. The idea is to provide players with a sense of intimidation, making the bosses more rewarding to overcome. Much like in life, overcoming significant challenges often leads to great rewards!

The concept art above shows off one of the awesome bosses found in the game. We depict this particular boss character as a woman wearing a dress with a crown adorning her head and sitting in a throne-like flower, much like a queen bee. The character emanates beauty and power, with the color composition of pinks and oranges to support these majestic themes!

We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about Faerie Afterlight, its art style, and our creative process. Please keep an eye out for future Dev Blogs leading up to the game’s launch later this year. And if you haven't already, please download the free demo, Follow, and add Faerie Afterlight to your Steam Wishlist.

Talk to you all very soon,
Your friends at Clay Games