Mist Rushers
With Implode limping around online, I now open another front: game design. Although high fantasy is my gig, pandemic Witcher 3 gameathons have left me burned out on sword and sorcery. So I’ve shifted gears into sci-fi. Mist Rushers. Mercenary tank crews, dog-warrior allies, mechs drilling into fog. On paper, it’s the kind of pitch that makes you feel like Kojima with a cigar. LOL.
“In practice? I’m stuck trying to define the art style with the skillset of a maraca-wielding mariachi.“
I’m no illustrator. Never claimed to be. I’ve led designers all my life, barked orders in agencies, pushed color palettes until they bled. I know what looks right — but knowing and drawing are two very different beasts. Now it’s just me, a mouse, and concept sketches that look like rejected mascots from a cereal box.
One mech came out looking like a toaster with a drill bit. Another pass looked like a washing machine cosplaying as a tank. My Ish’kala dog-warriors? First draft looked less “feral alien allies” and more “French Poodles on crack.”
But here’s the thing — the vision is still there. I can see the game clearly. Chunky silhouettes. Exaggerated lines. Rough scratches that suggest a world where Metal Gear Solid crashes into space exploration. Crude? Yeah. But I think there’s something there.
Mist Rushers isn’t real yet. It’s sketches, fragments, a joke I keep telling myself with just enough sincerity to keep going. But for the first time, I can almost see it through the fog.
The game engine has been chosen. Unity awaits.