Deep One (Early Design)
Initial mock-up of the deep one. This needed to be flexible, as they should eventually be morphable enemies with multiple subclasses. I used curves to create the general shape, turning them into meshes before export.
Here's an alternate angle of the initial vision of the deep one. Note that it's missing whiskers and has no gills, as of yet—I wanted to get the energy and flow of my initial vision going first. This is likely only one subclass of them, but we'll see.
Here's a scrap, with which I was toying with a final ray-cast material. I don't count on RTX cards for a game, but it translates well and is bakable. I attempted to add some dissonance around the eye. It led me to the idea I kept.
Here we have another rendering of the deep one, with whiskers, gills, and a little more work on the fins, such as those at its hands.
An approach to the final model, where things start to clarify.
A slight darknening of the materials, and a bit of emission added to the eyes.
A "final" render, complete with some compositing. It's actually been morphed further, but I'm actively working on the motif of the game and will likely need time to bevel it down and finish it before sharing the result.
Every game needs its opposition team. In this case, I figured I would start with the classic Innsmouth neighbor, the Deep One. 50% fish, 50% redneck. Realistically this came along well; the comic style mock-up didn't take too long to do, and the result looked great. I'm still whittling at it in Unity, following leads on both additional elements which can be expanded on with a procedural generator (likely a grammar system) and behavioral facets that work towards its presentation.
I think the best way to improve it right now might be a particle effect simulating salivation, a generative noise placed on the jawbone so it looks less static, and hopefully, a detail-mapped slime trail dripping down it. One thing at a time, though—I need to implement a proper inventory system next. That's a whole different kind of art work. The Deep One concept can sit and, as we say, marinate for a bit.