The project's idea is to work the theme in the art style and gameplay concept, as in the historical background and origins of the character and his motivations. The initial problem's root lies in the character being a child who tries to follow his dream of flying around the world, but his wiser and more responsible mother tells the kid not to. The protagonist is a living root who lives in a small secret underground space with his mom. You play with Seedling while he rebels and climbs a tree all the way to the top to fly away, against his mother's advice. Using some external projects as a gameplay base such as Jump King, we utilized the jump action as a primary movement mechanic for his climb, adding some other mechanics as well in the context of the species. We managed to include the theme in a lot of different places: in the art style, story and species in the game.
Seedling is a project for 2023's Global Game Jam. Our theme was "roots". We choose to handle it literally and figuratively. In wich, the protagonist is a creature made of wood, and the story revolves around family roots.
I worked on the animation, concepts, and the art for some background elements. Here's my contribution to the project.
I also designed Seedling's Mother and the animations.
Here's the background and some elements I drew for the cutscenes.
At last, the first and final cutscenes, respectively. Everything was brought together in After Effects.
