Cozying Up a Witch's Kitchen

 It's been a while since we last wrote anything on this blog. Don't worry: we have been working on the game! Now, I'm going to show you how I created the kitchen for Wynona. It has had a visual upgrade since we last showed it to you.

What inspired us in the creation of Wynona's decor were modern-day witchcraft (naturally) and cottagecore. 

An illustration of a kitchen with pastel pink and white cabinets. One cabinet is open displaying Wynona's altar. It includes items such as crystals, decorative bowl, mortar and pestle, a chalice, Wynona's favorite mug, and a bell. She has also hung plenty of different crystals in front of her window. We can now see a full moon. White, black, purple, and yellow candles are lit. A piece of wood has been recently lit for smudging. A pentagram made out of sprigs and flowers is hanging on one of the cabinets.
The final version of Wynona's kitchen. It is the main set for the game.

Here are some close-ups:

A close-up of Wynona's altar. It displays such items as crystals, an offering bowl, a bell, a small cauldron, a chalice and Wynona's favourite tea mug.
Wynona has built her small altar in her kitchen.


A view of Wynona's window. She has strung crystals in front of it. A lace window valance hangs behind them. It is full moon.
I decided to illuminate the window with the full moon. Wynona has strung an assortment of crystals that can bathe both in the moonlight and sunlight. I also painted a lace valance on her window to give the window a bit of charm and warmth.

Under the window, Wynona grows chamomille, sage, garlic, basil, and lavender.
Under the window, Wynona grows chamomille, sage, garlic, basil, and lavender.

A cauldron has been set on the stovetop. Pictures are also a rustic tea kettle and a crystal ball.
While Wynona has an electric stove, she likes to use a cauldron and an old kettle.
She also has a crystal ball in her kitchen.


A wooden pentagram with flowers.
Wynona values her relationship with nature.
She likes to craft decorations from materials she gathers outside.

Here you can see Wynona's spellbook. Wynona has an assortment of candles. She especially likes white and black ones. White is versatile, and black is protective. You can also see she has lit yellow and purple candles. They increase joy and creativity, respectively.

Here are some process shots of making the kitchen:

A bare bones version of the kitchen, still relatively empty and not fully rendered.
The first plan for the kitchen. At first, we had Wynona's oven in the picture but decided to take it off later. Funny thing, the faucet was the first somewhat rendered piece in the kitchen, considering it barely shows in the game.

The second version of the kitchen. Still not fully rendered but the final layout starts to be there.
I decided to open one of the cabinets and added a shelf in front of the window to add more stuff to the kitchen. The first iteration of crystals strung in front of the window have been illustrated. The day has changed to night.

This version of the kitchen has some things added, including a pentagram, a broom and herbs in front of the window.
Last snapshot before the final version!

When we started developing Bewitching Baking, we had no idea of the pandemic that soon would strike all of us globally. It's been interesting to see the rise in popularity in baking, witchcraft, and cottagecore during these trying times. We are worried about the state of the world and hope our games could bring its players a small solace. Please, everyone, take care, and keep safe.


Kristiina

Comments

  1. Bélinda17 January 2021 at 19:37

    That looks fantastic! You managed to combine meticulousness, myriad of meaningful details, and a light, welcoming atmosphere. I am impressed! I wish I could have such a place to cook :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristiina19 January 2021 at 14:54

      Thank you, Bél! It was fun to paint all those items and little details. I'm not sure if I still want to add/modify something; we will see.

      –Kristiina

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Conjuring Feelings Through Music

Image
As a small team of two, Kristiina and I have needed to develop different skills for our projects. For example, Kristiina has learned animation skills ( she has written about animation in this blog post ); I, in turn, have dipped my toes into creating music. Composing is both entertaining and challenging. You need to capture a specific kind of feeling, an atmosphere, as a combination of sounds. Sometimes, figuring the desirable sensation is tricky in itself. First of all, a song needs to suit the project. While we have been working on Bewitching Baking, Kristiina and I have discussed how both of us envision the atmosphere of the game. During our conversations, Kristiina suggested that we could aim for something calm, warm, and happy, with a little bit of soothing melancholy included. This suggestion brings us to the second challenge: subtle nuances and contradictory vibes. Happiness and melancholy may sound like a strange combination, even like an impossible mixture. Joe Hisaishi's
Read more

The Magic of Animation

Image
Today, I want to write about the 2D hand animations I have been making for Bewitching Baking. I will reveal how I make them. We decided to run the animations at 11 frames per second. It saves me time and keeps the size of the game more manageable. I have finished four of these animations thus far. The shortest one is 18 frames, while the longest one consists of 42. All in all, I have painted 114 frames to date. Most animations are of a single hand moving, but in some, I have had to animate both hands. My painting style is pretty realistic. To make my process at least a bit quicker, I rotoscope the base movement off a video we filmed. I import the video to Adobe After Effects where I lower the frame rate to 11 and then export the images. Initially, we decided on the 11 frames after testing the frame rate on a video. First, I do a quick line art trace of each image. Then I use the photos as a reference and start painting. I often copy the last set of hands while painting and first try to
Read more

Welcome to the Bewitching World of Baking!

Image
Hello, everyone and welcome to our blog where we write about the development of our games. We are a small indie team of two siblings from Finland, and we have been making games together since 2017 when we registered our company Innokas media . We have published games on mobile, both iOS and Android, and in the future, we wish to make games on desktop as well. This blog's purpose is to log and share our experiences as a small indie team and communicate with and inform our potential players of our games. Currently, we will mainly focus on the development of Bewitching Baking: a casual mobile game about a witch that likes to conjure up desserts. The game is a relaxing experience of completing different actions such as touching and sliding buttons and tilting the mobile device. Once the level is over, the game gives the player a score and tells them what dessert they have created. After this, the player can find the dessert in the recipe book found in the game. If the player has sc
Read more