No big city is complete without a decent barbershop. Here’s a first look at the line-art from the upcoming barbershop in Dreambear. I will post a new version as soon as the coloring process is complete. Meanwhile, our friends at B-wave are hard at work developing the first set of music for the Dreambear world. Can’t wait

Cheers!

Roel

Time for more lore! You probably didn’t know that the Dreambears, like us, had their own Renaissance, did you? Well, here it is.

About 150 years ago, the greatest change in history came to the Dreambear race, as their cultural and scientific development suddenly lead to a whirlwind of innovation and progress: The Dreambear Renaissance. Mirroring our own Renaissance, the life of the Dreambears, with Great Beronia at its heart, changed forever.

Where they had first been a nomadic, roaming race, filling their days with hunting dreams and playing freely in the wild, the settling of the tribes in various places, forming the first villages, and the subsequent start of technological innovation and science, caused their culture to leap forward. The standard of life went up, a certain sophistication rained down on everyone’s heads and the inhabitants of the land became true ladies and gentlebears.

Kick-starting this revolution were the rise of schools and education, and the curious and inquisitive nature of the Dreambears finally finding an output in science and invention. During those times, 150 years ago, many a workshop or attic would suddenly have their windows opened, a joyous inventor poking out and shouting ‘Eureka!’ Those days gave rise to many great new boons to civilization. Zeppelin-designs still used today were invented then. The Bellows were created, which greatly facilitated the distribution of Dream Orbs. Architectural miracles took place with great palaces, halls and squares being built through steadfast dedication and craftsmanship. Culturally, new music was invented and stars and legends in every field took their place. Dreamcatchers no longer had to go after the wild Dreams BEARhanded (somebody come shoot us). All of Great Beronia celebrated their newfound wisdom and culture!

So there you have it… the Dreambear Renaissance. There may even be a little DaVinci bear running around somewhere.

Roderick

A lot of people at the Festival of Games asked me if they could get a copy of the Dreambear presentation we made for the GDC ’09,  so we decided to put the trailer online. Since we like to give people a choice, we’ve put up a hi-res version to download and a Youtube version which you can view online.

Hi-res version (22mb)
Youtube version

Cheers!

Roel

A typical day at the WeberSG studio:

Roel: I want some new artwork for the blog, that picture looks nice
Tom: Go away, it’s not done yet!
Roel: It’s never done according to you, hand over the picture!
Tom: You can’t rush art!
*Roel steals picture*
Tom: At least tell people this time it’s still a work in progress!

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a near-finished poster of Prince Growl and his henchmen Ug & Mug.

Cheers!

Roel

Here’s a little sneak peak of the most central square in Dreamtown, the main square. The Great Beronian Bank can be found here. It’s far from finished at the moment, but it’s already shaping up to be a really cool place within the city.

Dreambear is featured in the 12th issue of Control Magazine, in an article about the freedom of players in virtual worlds. We were very happy to see our artwork full-blown on the first page of the article (and not forgetting the huge blue bear on the back of the cover). The whole article can be found here (sorry, Dutch only).

Cheers!

Roel

Holy smokes! We haven’t written here for a couple of weeks, but that isn’t for lack of working!

In fact, we’ve just moved from our old, dusty, not-so-good, leaky, boo-hiss, possibly haunted, man-smelly, cramped old studio to a spiffy new one! One that’s bigger. And better smelling, of dandylines and baby Jesus’ feet (which smell also of dandylines, weirdly enough). Anyway, moving is always an ordeal and right now we’re still installing everything, getting used to the environment, competing for the best spot, et cetera. We fully expect to be back in action next week, steamrollering ahead with our Dreambear magnum opus.

Just don’t be surprised if the game starts smelling of dandylines, is all I’m saying.

Roderick

Princes need armies, as sure as pots of gold need a leprechaun and a rainbow to take care of their distribution!

Prince Growl, therefore, has created an involuntary one of his own. In the dark of the night, he and his fresh minions steal into Dreamtown and kidnap any bear that is unfortunate enough to cross their path. Then, the captive is outfitted with a glowing amulet tucked on their chest, transforming the once peaceful Dreambear into a giant, lumbering Shadowbear. Purple and wicked, these creatures follow Growl’s every command. However, because inside them is still the captured Dreambear wanting to escape, the Shadowbears aren’t very bright. They’re conflicted creatures who barely have the ability to speak. Prince Growl doesn’t mind, though. They’re more than fit to go out in the forests and catch the wild Dreams, turning them into skittering Nightmare Orbs with their giant gloves. The spell that binds the Shadowbears can be broken by removing or destroying the amulet on their chest. Perhaps a little obvious, but prince Growl is obviously too busy a man to take notice of those things.

Two Shadowbears, Ug and Mug, serve as Growl’s primary henchmen. They’re always with him and execute the most important tasks and missions. Ug and Mug, like all Shadowbears, aren’t the brightest apples of the bunch, but they’re powerful in their own right and can’t be returned to their original states. Perhaps this is because they joined Growl of their own volition? Theirs will remain a mystery for a little longer.

Roderick

Whoa, it’s been a while since we’ve last updated the blog. It’s been pretty busy at the studio lately (especially since we’re moving to a new, bigger office at the end of this month), but here’s some new work in progress. It’s a study on the look & feel of the ‘ Shadowbears’, the evil minions commanded by prince Growl (Roderick will post about them in a couple of days in more detail).

They needed to look scary, but not ‘I’m wetting my bed, mommy’  scary. So we’re probably gonna roll with the top middle one.

Cheers!

Roel

Tom, our lead artist on Dreambear, wasn’t very happy when I posted the very first piece of concept art of Prince Growl last month. The reason? Because it wasn’t finished! Well of course it wasn’t finished, that’s the whole point of a development blog, I replied. But like every good artist Tom needed to ‘fix’ the situation and started to work on a new version of the prince. Here’s the result:

What do you think? Tom will probably be mad at me again, seeing as how the Dream Orb the prince is holding is still a plain circle. Ah well, we can’t have everything

Cheers,

Roel