Category: John Howrith Bryan

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Gnomes, the game

Saluting Gnome.At the end of 2023 I was wanting to release a simple skirmish game with the idea for it to be expandable in the future to bring new ways of playing to fun and tongue in cheek setting. I had penned some ideas, but was missing a setting and then it hit me, Gnomes. Not the foot tall garden Gnomes that we see all the time, but Gnomes all the same. I had wanted to create a game that could be played at 1:1 scale so the Gnomes had to come down to size. Specifically a size of just over an inch in height.

The idea was that this game could be played on any surface in the house or even outside. That being said as the lore for this new world of Gnomes living along side Humans there was also scope for Gnome settlements being created.

Playtesting Gnomes with cardboard meeple.
Playtesting Gnomes with cardboard meeple.

I decided that the quickest way to get the miniatures made and duplicates made available for the set would be to sculpt them in house and cast them myself.  I also took the artwork role on, opting for a sketch-style art that meant that I could iterate it quickly and colourise once I was happy with it. That being said the initial play testing was done with very basic cardboard meeples with the initial troupe type sketches printed on them along with home-made cards with stats, rules and ideas hand-written on them.

Finally on February 1st 2024 Gnomes, the skirmish game, was released and available to purchase through my www.gydran.studio web store. I am currently working on finishing the first expansion for the game (EX1a) and have two more expansions in development (EX1b, EX1c). I also have other plans for the IP and am exploring the feasibility of them in the current market place.

You can find more out bout Gnomes the skirmish game by visiting the official page here. You can also join the conversation over on the Facebook page here too where people can upload pictures of their painted miniatures and ask questions from myself an other people who follow and play the game.

You can find some galleries below.
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Corridor – Animation

Corridor is an animated short set in the world of Breaching the Rift, a long standing personal project of mine and the basis for the science fiction miniature range that has been created since the  inception of Gydran Studio. The story is set after the events of the book, Shadow Raid,  and follow a completely new crew as they fumble about in the vastness of space.

STORYBOARDS

A storyboard to demonstrate the current state of the animatic.
A Pugwanian character struggles against an alien menace. Storyboard 52 from the readthrough.

Currently the story is in the planning phase, and at the time of writing this post I am creating storyboards to put against the readthrough of the script to check the stories pacing. As I am doing this alongside my full-time job I have had to set realistic deadlines and all storyboards should be finished by December 3rd 2023.

I am currently running regular updates on my Patreon page and I’m ahead of schedule at the moment (as of 02-11-2023). So, as long as I keep up the pace I should have this phase complete before the deadline.

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Rooster, 3D Character

The Original Corkaden image I created in 2018 as a part of Inktober of that year.

Back in October 2018 I joined in with Inktober where you do a sketch or full art piece every day for the whole of October. I found it to be a lot of fun and a good focus even though at the time I had very little time spare due to work commitments. On day 5 the keyword was Chicken and, of course, I decided to draw a chicken straight from memory. I always thought of him (him, as it is a rooster) as being a bit of a Han Solo-esque character so I even gave him a gun, bandolier and waistcoat (though they probably have a specific name for them).

I was trying to think of a character idea for a 3D model I wanted to make and the Corkaden (the name of the Chicken race in my head) came to mind. I got really excited by it and so decided to jump into my 3D modelling software and have a go at creating a facsimile of it as though I were creating a game character. I have done some character modelling, rigging and animating in the past and though it was about time I flexed those muscles.

Considerations of the character creation

The Current state of the character model. This will be updated as soon as more work has been done to it.

When I modelled it I knew I would have to take movement into consideration and he wouldn’t look quite the same. I also knew that I might want to give him different outfits if I took the project any further than just the character modelling so I made sure that I modelled the base shape and then added the fluffy legs, arms and chest as separate entities.

One of the things I considered when I modelled it was that of the characters neck. On your average real Chicken it is elongated and the head sits atop its muscular form. However, I opted to keep it similar to the original sketches proportions. I think this works and maybe after I’ve completed the model in its entirety I can go back and make a different version, but I am quite happy with this look.

What next

There are still some changes I would like to make to the model but I’ll leave the project here as it is for now. I will update this page if I do more work so you can see the progress.

 

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Breaching the Rift

Breaching the Rift is a turn based, Skirmish, table top wargame based in a science fiction universe were two or more teams battle it out to achieve their objectives. It has been in development since 2016 and has seen two iterations prior to its current status. The current rules are still being finalised and are due to be released either at the end of 2022 or within the first quarter of 2023.

The game has been demoed at many shows up and down the country with a lot of support and positive feedback. This feedback from people who have played it as well as playtesters have been taken into consideration and used to help develop the current version of the game.

You can find more information about the project over at https://www.breachingtherift.com/

 

 

Demos Gallery