Erwin Kho

Aaand it’s a wrap! First GDC/SF visit is in the pocket, and I can’t wait for the next one :) While I’m slowly adjusting to the Danish weather (yes, we also get sun, you just wait) and lack of hills (we sometimes build our own, see Copenhill for example), I just wanted to give a shoutout to our lovely IGF Pavilion neighbors of Tchia, Rhythm Doctor, Medditerranae Inferno and Venba, who are returning home with well-earned recognitions for their excellent work. Congrats you guys!!! And to the other devs, students and fans I got to meet: thank you for meeting us at our booth. For me, this feeling of being part of this crazy creative industry is rather new (I’ve been hiding in a -ahum- cocoon these past 6+ years) and you’ve really helped change that. Until next time! #gdc2024 #indiegamedev #gamedev

Three’s a crowd? The designs for the 3rd world in COCOON played very much with the ideas of repetition and cloning, to tie in with that orb’s ability of being able to regrow itself at every pedestal. The gameplay prototype for this battle required you to defeat the boss 3 times, so I quickly started thinking about this boss actually consisting of 3 bodies that somehow were fused together. A bit like a siamese triplet. The design of the organic battlepod that the bosses control was fueled by my semi-hidden fascination for mini-submarines, which in turn was seared into my brain by Super Marioland’s endboss, Tatanga. Anyone remember him? I thought his spacecraft had such a cool design and I drew it a lot as a kid. The armor plates were inspired by the fascinating sea urchin species Colobocentrotus atratus. - - - - - - - - - - - - COCOON is available now on Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation! Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #scifi #embryonic #worldswithinworlds #arthropod _perfection

Who doesn’t like some hairy legs? The idea of the player being able to get stuck to the boss’s legs was already in Asger Strandby’s gameplay mockup by the time I started designing the creature, so it made sense to me to give them very visible hairs. Inspired by how pollen is carried on a honey bees’ legs, this boss’ legs can get a bit too stuck in crystalized amber. A version of the ‘small body’ actually already existed, as statues of worker drones that would populate the landscape in this world (although in the end that statue model got used as a Moon Ancestor design). The design of the ‘big body’ took a few meandering turns, though. I had some ideas for it being a huge tank, and also it being a massive clamshell with gun turrets sticking out. In the end I turned to an existing design of some background mining towers. I thought it fitting that the boss of this mining world was itself fused with a biomechanoid mining tower. - - - - - - - - - - - - COCOON is available now on Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation! Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #scifi #oneinamillion #worldswithinworlds #arthropod _perfection #bossbattles #biomechanics

Hello? Is it COCOON you are looking for? - - - - - - - - - - - - COCOON is available now on Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation! Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #scifi #oneinamillion #worldswithinworlds #arthropod _perfection

The bosses of COCOON were a lot of fun to create, as they gave me a brief change of perspective, away from the very puzzle-focussed environments, and to work with something that gets to be animated and express all kinds of weird behaviours in the arena. 
In regards to the design process: whenever I came in for the visual design, the gameplay was mostly already quite defined and tested. We’d have a static generic model spin and dart across the field, spawning all kinds of capsules and spheres, and doing whatever moves we wanted, so we could test if the battle felt nice to play. My task would then be to ‘skin’ the gameplay mockup, as we call it. In this case the skin was a happy marriage between a 3-legged starfish, squid, shuriken, and latticed fungus. I think it made perfect sense in the end. - - - - - - - - - - - - COCOON is available now on Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation! Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #scifi #discovery #worldswithinworlds #biomechanical #bossfight #bullethell

It’s been a crazy and amazing 6+ years and COCOON has finally been let out into the world (and worlds!). For me it’s been the opportunity of a lifetime to create the most fun and enigmatic alien designs I’ve ever done so far —to let out my inner H.R. Giger— and I could not have done it without the endlessy supportive, funny, and stupendously talented colleagues that I’ve had the privilege of working with here at Geometric. I think the most gratifying thing now is to read the super positive reviews, and most of all to see/hear the responses from the players and how they enjoy every aspect of the game. I guess the past 6+ years are starting to pay off ;) - - - - - - - - - - - - If you’re interested: COCOON is available now on Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation! Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #scifi #journey #discovery #worldswithinworlds

A challenge awaits…! A piece of key art I did for the upcoming videogame COCOON. For the bosses I wanted designs that were monstrous and threatening, but also somehow beautiful and graceful in their own right. This one has elements inspired by miners’ equipment, butterflies & spiders, and Surinam toads. Trust me, it’ll make sense when you encounter it ;) COCOON will be released on September 29 2023, for Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation. Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev  #c4d  #c4drender  #c4dart  #unity3d  #cocoongame  #playcocoon  #cocoon  #alienworlds  #puzzleadventure #bossfight #guardian #biomechanics #arthropod _perfection

Some discovery awaits…! A piece of key art I did for the upcoming game COCOON, all the way back in November 2018. I have only a few of these lying around as I kinda had my hands full on doing entire worlds, creatures, plants and structures, but I think I can share some more as we get closer to release, and bring my IG back to life again :) COCOON will be released on September 29 2023, for Steam (for PC), Switch, XBOX and Playstation. Developed by Geometric Interactive. Published by Annapurna. [link in bio] #indiegamedev #c4d #c4drender #c4dart #unity3d #cocoongame #playcocoon #cocoon #alienworlds #puzzleadventure #discovery

Super proud to announce COCOON, the videogame that I’ve been working on these past few years with the amazing people of @geometricinteractive . We still have a bit to go, but our announcement trailer is out now! Link in bio.

I guess this should have been a before & after picture, but I was too enthusiastic with packing. It’s the end of an era; after one and a half years my team and I are moving into a new ‘proper’ office space. We’ll still be surrounded by nerds and geeks, but I will miss the rowdy lovely crazy bunch that is Tegnestuen Gimle #foreverinmyheart❤️ #tegnestuengimle

Building better worlds takes time, and in my case a lot of sketches as well. #gamedesign #indiegamedev

[dying computer screen selfie] Hello 2018!