Over 50% funded in 5 days

We started Unbound almost three years ago and it has been a long and exciting journey. These days, after finally launching the campaign and through all the madness that every launch brings, we got a little nostalgic and had a look where it all begun! So here is the very-very first concept art made for Unbound!  

When I first met Sergiu to talk about a possible collaboration, I had no idea about what to expect. At that time, I was running my studio Square Heads Games with focus on mobile games. Things got a little slow after launching several small titles and I was looking for a team to get on board for a bigger project. That's when Sergiu entered the picture. He already had the idea for the game, but he was looking for an artist to work with. We met and he talked more about the project, explained his vision and what we hoped to achieve.  

After that meeting, in my head things were still fuzzy but, I really liked the idea and I could't wait to get home to start sketching up some concepts. The only thing that was clear to me is that I wanted to create a fairy tale atmosphere, like in the fairy tales I grew up with, a little quirky, a little funny and a little scary; it had to be all in one. Most of the fairy tales I grew up with are from the Russian folklore, with Baba Yaga, Zmei Gorinich, Ilya Muromets and so on. 

The most common thing about those tales was the location and the action where it took place. It was mostly deep dark forests with all type of creatures lurking around. All the creatures were strange looking but not all at them were evil so the main character had to figure out what is what and to outsmart them with all kinds of tricks.  

This feeling of awe in front of the beauty of wild nature and constant uncertainty of what lays beneath all this beauty is what I wanted the player too feel once he/she got into the game. I'm in love with the nature, I like hiking a lot. I am always amazed by the contradictory feeling the nature gives you, it's gorgeous and welcoming on the one side and on the other, you know in your gut that your place is not there, you may take a walk, look around but you never should outstay your welcome :).  

From the very first concept for Unbound, these are the feelings I want the player to experience; the overwhelming power and beauty of the nature, the excitement an adventure brings and the the mixture of fear and curiosity one will feel when venturing into unknown territories. Even if the style had undergone trough some changes, the art direction remains the same. The scope of it, is to create a truly immersive atmosphere and my main goal is to offer the players this mixture of feelings that will stay with them for a very long time.