[This is being posted as part of the hiatus for KttFF’s second chapter. THIS IS THE LAST PIECE BEFORE THE COMIC RETURNS! The comic will resume with CHAPTER 3 on August 24th, 2023]

For some reason, I got it in my head that it’d be so funny if this relatively normal – albeit probably kind of ugly – 80s-style home just had half a car jutting out of one of the walls. AND FURTHER, that said car was the means by which one controlled the time travel elements of the mansion. The mental image wouldn’t leave my head. It wouldn’t even be cool, it would look really dumb because the car isn’t even aligned with the direction the mansion would fly. This idea wormed its way into my head and it WOULD. NOT. LEAVE.

Thus, I was forced by nobody but myself to have to learn how to draw a sports car.

It was great practice! And though my setting doesn’t really have cars (it does have ships, though they don’t show up often), this gave me a little more confidence with drawing mechanical forms. It was still a nightmare – I absolutely prefer the more free-form designs of nature – but it was needed to make me a better artist.

Elsewhere on the page, I came up with the layout for (at least the living room of) Simon’s mansion! Though we don’t really see much of it in the Intermission, it was a real treat to design an actual living space! I’m used to making lots of rest areas and such, but developing a place someone actually /lives/ forced me to think about what I’ll want this environment to look like later down the line. Safe to say, we’re going to be seeing more of this place, hence me putting so much focus on it…

[This is being posted as part of the hiatus for KttFF’s second chapter. The comic will resume with CHAPTER 3 on August 24th, 2023]

I tested out a new method with developing the environment for the Chapter 2 Intermission. I still went out to gather a TON of refs, but this time, I sat down to examine each of them for elements that I could specifically reference for regards to the setting /I/ wanted to make.
Specifically, the Intermission features a terrible 80s house setting that we’ll get to see more in the future, a sports car, and a “garage” – none of which are things that I’ve really drawn before!

Hence, the lists. Again, as usual, I probably got way more information than I’d really ever make use of, but it did help me with developing a sense of place for this Intermission scene.

In terms of actual /drawings/, this is the page where I practiced THAT BIG FREAKY LASER SIMON SEEMS TO HAVE FOR SOME REASON. That laser posed a real challenge, since it’s not strictly limited to one form, and it needed to be able to switch. I also eventually got the idea to include some clock motifs as well (because he’s a time traveler, you see, haha), and that served to complicate it as well… but also give it an identity.

[This is being posted as part of the hiatus for KttFF’s second chapter. The comic will resume with CHAPTER 3 on August 24th, 2023]

To help ground myself, I’ve taken to making little maps of major buildings or other environmental details in the various settings. We don’t really get a good look at most of the buildings or games therein, but it’s at least helpful to know just in case the script calls for a shot of them.

… I should really start writing out the script and picking the shots I’ll use first before going out of my way to develop entire games and stuff, huh.

Also, since Trinity was going to appear again, I did some quick sketches of everyone’s heights… but screwed it up by making Leon too short compared to Trinity. He’s supposed to be chest-height to her, while the top of Ms Shepard’s head roughly aligns with Leon’s eyes. At least, that’s how it is for Chapter 2; who knows what they’ll all look like in the future!

[This is being posted as part of the hiatus for KttFF’s second chapter. The comic will resume with CHAPTER 3 on August 24th, 2023]

Similar to the Quizard Duel section, I’d hit a point in my script where I needed a visual element to tie to the plot. Specifically, this segment would be where Leon fully breaks down, realizing that he can’t possibly make the call for how to guide the future himself… but he /does/ get inspiration for where he can find the key.

Thankfully, I knew ahead of time that he’d suggest going to check landfills for it – I even foreshadowed it slightly with two trash-related jokes up to this point – but I still needed the element to trigger him into having that epiphany.
Enter, Junk Divers.

Because I don’t spend my time wisely, I developed an entire game concept around digging through trash to find treasure. Because symbolism or something.
But yes, I developed an idea for a game that was a little bit Pac-Man, a little bit Dig Dug, and a little bit a weird puzzle/exploration. The player digs up and down through multiple floors, looking for treasure. There’s a map telling you what floor you’re on, but there are multiple exits in and out of most floors, and often multiple “stages” on a single floor. The major challenges of the game are navigating back and forth between an increasingly complex set of differently-shaped rooms, all while at risk of being chased and cornered by killer robots.

If I ever need to develop a little video game, I think I’d make this in real life.

Anyway, I also made the place one plays the game this faux garbage truck, allowing Leon to stay in one place while Luca trusts him enough to go out and explore a bit on her own. Overall, I’m pretty proud of how all of those elements came together.