2023-10-31 - Happy Halloween!

[Alpacalix]

They remind me a ton of Ampeels from Subnautica! Very cool, I love them a lot. They may not feel Halloween-y in the "traditional" sense, but they definitely would be terrifying to witness- imagine diving in the darkness and all of a sudden, you're surrounded by this beastie? 

[MoonShark]

1 minute ago, Alpacalix said:

They remind me a ton of Ampeels from Subnautica!

I've never played Subnautica, so I googled what these are, and I can see that! Definitely not something you want to encounter in the depths all alone...

[Rhahatl]

Do also wanna pop in and say that I do adore the Subnautica vibes (even if unintentional) and the color scheme.

Might just need some time for these to grow on me, so I'll wait and see.

[Dinora_]

Oh, the adults look great! I love the combination of colors and their poses! I'm also one of those people who find the deep sea and its inhabitants very exciting - so the Abyss noodle is right up there with my favorite dragon species. ❤️ 

I also think they fit in with Halloween in a way, although perhaps not quite as "obvious" as other Halloween dragons. 

[Ripan]

What a nice and sleek design, going to be fun to figure out pairs with these!

Yeah, I too am getting some flashbacks from Subnautica. 🪸

 

Also I totally guessed Abyss Wyrm back in page 5- almost got it completely right! 🤭

[guuvii]

29 minutes ago, Talisraye said:

They’re pretty neat, but I don’t see what’s Halloweeny about them.

 

I feel the same about them.

[MoonShark]

17 minutes ago, Ripan said:

Also I totally guessed Abyss Wyrm back in page 5- almost got it completely right! 🤭

You did!   I grinned when I saw that post of yours, because it was almost on the nose--in fact, it was their original name back in 2019.

[Stormphoenix42]

I think a dragon that only shows up during Autumn, whose creepy blue glow is mistaken for spirits or ghosts (y'all a fan of orbs?) is plenty Halloweeny lighthouse keepers and coast-dwelling folks deserve scary stories too! I like the interesting concept, it gives me some room to play around in descriptions.

(they also look so pretty in checkers.... too many ideas, not enough CBs!)

[Munin]

I feel that many people are just too influenced by the commercial depiction of Halloween which is al purple, green, orange, witches, ghosts, zombies, and skeletons.

While the original roots were more about the veils between the worlds going thin and creatures and spirits passing over for a night. So in that sense they fit in quite well imo, creatures from "another world" - if not quite literally, we still don´t know a fraction of what there is to know about the deep sea - coming to visit, seeming scary in their alien appearance and being a very real danger.

[Rhahatl]

14 minutes ago, Munin said:

I feel that many people are just too influenced by the commercial depiction of Halloween which is al purple, green, orange, witches, ghosts, zombies, and skeletons.

While the original roots were more about the veils between the worlds going thin and creatures and spirits passing over for a night. So in that sense they fit in quite well imo, creatures from "another world" - if not quite literally, we still don´t know a fraction of what there is to know about the deep sea - coming to visit, seeming scary in their alien appearance and being a very real danger.

 

You're definitely right about the commercialized depiction of Halloween, but I feel like when it comes to unknown beings in a fantasy game you usually have to push things a step further, if that makes sense.

A lot of monstrous or unknown feeling things can definitely fit the traditional theme of Halloween! But when everything in a game is an unknown monster type creature, I feel adding extra "spooky" aspects can really help solidify it as Halloween and help it stand out from others.

(Not trying to be argumentative btw, I just really love talking about monster design and horror)

Edited November 3, 2023 by Rhahatl

[GhostMouse]

These are so cool and gorgeous, I love them and I'm definitely going to be hoarding them.

 

I'm also team "these don't really feel like Halloween to me." We have lots of year-round dragons with spooky, creepy lore, and there's nothing about these that stands out as being Halloween related, or even particularly scary. I feel the same about the Iridichis (even though I love those, too).

I'm also confused about how these are wyrms? This isn't a critique, I just want to understand.

 

The encyclopedia says:

Quote

Leviathan

Leviathans are waterfaring dragons; they lack wings and often (but not always) have fins in place of legs or claws. They are usually distinguished from Eastern dragons by their ability to breathe underwater, and do not typically possess the ability to fly.

Wyrm

Wyrms are dragons with no limbs whatsoever. They are sometimes flightless, but more commonly they fly through the same magical means as Eastern dragons.

These dragons:

1. Are waterfaring.

2. Breathe underwater.

3. Have fins.

What am I missing?

Again, I really do love these. I don't want my comment to come across as harsh or critical because that's absolutely not my intention.

[miaou]

when i read the description, i thought for sure there wouldn't be complaining about non-halloween dragons at halloween. i mean:

 

Quote

Their often sudden appearance can cause panic among nearby humans and other creatures who mistake their eerie glow for spirits or ghosts rising from the depths.

spirits/ghosts (even the mere perception of such) right around october 31st feels pretty traditional to me?

 

anyhow, super cool design and fantastic lore! well done and congrats, moonshark and schenanigans! 👻

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by miaou
i tyup gud :3

[Moonlight_Eevee]

1 minute ago, GhostMouse said:

These are so cool and gorgeous, I love them and I'm definitely going to be hoarding them.

 

I'm also team "these don't really feel like Halloween to me." We have lots of year-round dragons with spooky, creepy lore, and there's nothing about these that stands out as being Halloween related, or even particularly scary. I feel the same about the Iridichis (even though I love those, too).

I'm also confused about how these are wyrms? This isn't a critique, I just want to understand.

 

The encyclopedia says:

These dragons:

1. Are waterfaring.

2. Breathe underwater.

3. Have fins.

What am I missing?

Again, I really do love these. I don't want my comment to come across as harsh or critical because that's absolutely not my intention.

Irichidi were more based on Day of the Dead (correct me if I'm wrong). Since the holiday usually falls right after Halloween, you couldn't really get a breed fitting that without it being a 'Halloween' release 

 

Now, I do like this dragon and I get what they were trying to do, but I always envisioned the first deep sea Halloween dragon as transparent 

[Su_Halcon]

Definately too pretty for mean or dark or whatever Halloweenies lol ...

 

" terrifying appearance" wut? where?

Edited November 3, 2023 by Su_Halcon

[Arwen17]

More and more, these "holiday" dragons are looking like normal release dragons and have nothing to do with the holiday.

Kohraki looks nothing like halloween.
Iridichi looks nothing like halloween (even tho its dropdead gorgeous)
And now this year's dragon, while gorgeous, looks nothing like halloween.

Are spriters just running out of ideas for Halloween?

The valentine and xmas dragons have managed to continue to look like their holiday.

 

 

[Munin]

I have to add that Halloween has literally no meaning or emotional attachment for me so I may be a bit more detached from the whole thing. It wasn´t a thing here when I grew up and nowadays it is only a commercial holiday with companies pushing it as a way to sell costumes and people taking it as an excuse to party. So I have no deeper desire to have something "spooky scary".
Imagine that dragon underwater though, you don´t see the body. All you see are a bunch of glowing eyes coming towards you. With that arrangement of glowy bits they´d look like that vengeful beholder your dm sends after your dnd party after you derailed their plot one too many times

Edit: Also a thing to keep in mind - we see one submission chosen by TJ. There may be a hundred pumpkin dragons and ghost dragons and reaper dragons submitted but a) do we really want to rehash the same imagery over and over and b) if TJ choses not to release them maybe they just don´t fit his vision for the site. Got nothing to do with the creativity of the artists.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Munin

[Talisraye]

59 minutes ago, Munin said:

I feel that many people are just too influenced by the commercial depiction of Halloween which is al purple, green, orange, witches, ghosts, zombies, and skeletons.

While the original roots were more about the veils between the worlds going thin and creatures and spirits passing over for a night. So in that sense they fit in quite well imo, creatures from "another world" - if not quite literally, we still don´t know a fraction of what there is to know about the deep sea - coming to visit, seeming scary in their alien appearance and being a very real danger.

Good point

[LadyMadonna]

24 minutes ago, MoonlightEevee said:

Irichidi were more based on Day of the Dead (correct me if I'm wrong). Since the holiday usually falls right after Halloween, you couldn't really get a breed fitting that without it being a 'Halloween' release 

 

Now, I do like this dragon and I get what they were trying to do, but I always envisioned the first deep sea Halloween dragon as transparent 

I'm with @MoonlightEevee on the transparency point.  Decades of Attenborough documentaries lead me to believe that colour tends to be "washed out" of the creatures from the far deep and certainly some of them are entirely transparent.   My personal taste would have preferred more of the gorgeous blues seen in the egg to have followed through to the adults and sprites - I'm rarely drawn to dark purples. 

 

But, that said, these are beautiful dragons.  I love their poses and the lore that is in their description and further imparted above by @MoonShark.  @schenanigans always comes up with the goods - I can't think of any of her sprites that haven't appealed to me.

 

As for whether or not they're appropriate to Halloween or the Day of the Dead - how about all the long drowned seafarers down there in the deep dark of Davy Jones Locker? Perhaps these Wyrms could be taking care of their souls and helping them to ascend to the next life.  What do you think?

[Moonlight_Eevee]

9 minutes ago, Arwen17 said:

Iridichi looks nothing like halloween (even tho its dropdead gorgeous)

 

The whole point of Irichidi is to represent Day of the Dead which falls one day after Halloween. You can't exactlt release a new breed right after Halloween so the best thing that was done wae release them on Halloween.

[Arwen17]

6 minutes ago, Munin said:

Edit: Also a thing to keep in mind - we see one submission chosen by TJ. There may be a hundred pumpkin dragons and ghost dragons and reaper dragons submitted but a) do we really want to rehash the same imagery over and over and b) if TJ choses not to release them maybe they just don´t fit his vision for the site. Got nothing to do with the creativity of the artists.

 

Would be kinda cool if the users of the site could vote on the holiday sprites, even tho I know that would ruin the surprise of what it looks like.

Like, Iridichi wasn't a bad idea. But I think the body of it should have been pale white instead of grey. I would have associated a white color with the paleness of death and crossing over. The way it looks right now just makes me think of a puddle of oil with rainbows in it because of the coloring on the wings. Make it a more sickly white on the body and it would suddenly look more like a "death" dragon" or Halloween.

Kohraki and this new dragon look nothing like death or Halloween in any way. They're not creepy in any way. They just look like a normal dragon of any other month. If you tossed them together with the other dragons in an image collage, I wouldn't be able to pick them out at all as halloween dragon or death holiday dragons. That's how generic they look.

 

[SamuelMaybird]

These guys look great! I do like that the Halloween dragons have been embracing the spooky and kooky instead of commercial side of the holiday.

 

A dragon that literally disappears in the depths, red as a color basically vanishes after a certain depth, and glowy bits? Excellent 👍

 

I also like that they aren't malevolent and just come up to the surface, do their thing and leave. Orbs and ghost stories would just come naturally with it.

 

Very much enjoy these guys

[Rhahatl]

...People don't think Kohrakis look like Halloween?????????? Genuinely baffling to me.

 

I don't think it's fair to say that people are running out of ideas at all. I may not be the biggest fan of the execution of some of the ideas, but the concepts on their own are fantastic.

[Arwen17]

1 minute ago, MoonlightEevee said:

 

The whole point of Irichidi is to represent Day of the Dead which falls one day after Halloween. You can't exactlt release a new breed right after Halloween so the best thing that was done wae release them on Halloween.

 

 Iridichi wasn't a bad idea. But I think the body of it should have been pale white instead of grey. I would have associated a white color with the paleness of death and crossing over. The way it looks right now just makes me think of a puddle of oil with rainbows in it because of the coloring on the wings. Make it a more sickly white on the body and it would suddenly look more like a "death" dragon" or Halloween.

[TriangledRat]

I'd say it's much harder to stick to the traditional Halloween themes as time goes on. Remember we've had fifteen Halloween events! There's skeletons (done, arguably twice) ghosts (done) witches and wizards (done) pumpkins (done) tricks (done) undead (done)... So we move to more abstract things like fears - mind control, mimicry, illusions, and now, arguably one of the scariest parts of any planet: the deep sea. 

Valentines and Holidays are what I would say 'easier' because their associated themes are more abstract; you can do a lot with love, sweet, pink, flowers without it seeming too much like a duplicate of itself rather than a concept like 'skeleton'. I'm sure there's other avenues to take, but I don't think that going for the dark, watery abyss with no escape being invaded by a giant sea-beast is straying very far. 

 

Having said that, regardless how you feel about it, keep in mind these critters were worked on with a lot of love and care from their creators. Go for some constructive criticism that they can take along for next time. "This doesn't fit the theme at all, are spriters out of ideas" ain't it. 

[RainbowTheAlbinoServal]

Why are we arguing about pixel dragons now? They're good to me and thats really all I want out of them