The Comte de Rochefort

The Comte de Rochefort, otherwise known as the “Man from Meung” throughout The Three Musketeers, is a mysterious character who appears from time to time both in the book and the game. I debated about revealing his true name in this post – the Man from Meung’s name is not announced until the end but it is somewhat of a disappointment. It wasn’t as if he declared that he was the King of England or d’Artagnan’s father.

…Or did he?

Dingo Games Shirts

Dingo Games company T-shirts, made in the summer of ’08 and worn proudly since. Made with StencilPro and aided by my wonderful husband. While I imagine that I do a pretty ok job of ‘screening’ small images, I don’t seem to have the consistent arm strength needed to squeegee bigger images, so that’s where I run to my computer scientist for help.

It has been a busy couple of weeks that began with PAX and ended with a trip to the Mandarin. And the middle, like an Oreo cookie, was filled with the best stuff; family, friends, Pate‘s corn, the Toronto Zoo, Cyrano, German board games and a very, very fun and beautiful wedding. It’s good to be home and to get back to working on Musketeer related projects – apart from game work, there are 5 ostrich plumes and a black felted hat that are requesting my attention.

It’s done it’s done it’s done it’s done it’s done it’s done it’s done!

Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre

You can try (and buy) The Three Musketeers: The Game here!

Poor Louis, everything to him is just so boring. In the game he wears a little head wreath because he needed to be a bit different (and I didn’t like him in a crown, and a cavalier hat wasn’t unique enough). Pretty sure the real Louis wasn’t walking around wearing a laurel wreath, but it is a dashing look, as portrayed in actual portraits and on coins!

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

He’s gorgeous! He’s rich! Kings wanna love him, army officers want to be him!

In The Three Musketeers, Buckingham is a key character involved in all the courtly intrigues. He may not be around too much, but when he is, the reader is made aware each and every time that he is very important, very good looking, and very English.

Anne of Austria, Queen Consort of France

Poor tragic Queen Anne – beautiful but unhappy.

When I had to go about creating artwork for The Three Musketeers: The Game, I was concerned about keeping ‘things’ within a historical contest. Clothing, weapons, furniture, buildings, pottery – so many different aspects of early 17th century life were researched in hopes of making a historical game true to the time period. It was overwhelming initially trying to keep everything accurate. So while I did my best, a lot of things in the game are not “100% true” to the real early 17th century.

Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers is a swashbuckling romantic historical fiction epic; it’s not a period-perfect true-to-real-life non-fiction account of the 17th century. Events that actually occurred are in the book – but at incorrect times. Real people within the book are by no means historically accurate portrayals. There are even items that didn’t exist in the early 17th century that found their way into the book – like a stove-pipe that is crucial to the story. Even the iconic and beloved tabard of the Musketeers is not accurate – the real Musketeers weren’t given uniforms until later on, and there is uncertainty about the ‘tabard’ (or cassock) colours.

While I did take artistic liberties when doing illustrations and animation, I had such a marvelous time conducting research, even if the final products weren’t “100% true.’ All the main characters were based on real portraits from the early 17th century. We traveled to England and France to get a more personal feel for the countries portrayed in the book. And I had such a fun time documenting different weapons and articles of clothing.

So when you’re reading or playing The Three Musketeers, know that both Dumas and Dingo Games had the best of intentions. You can’t watch Pirates of the Caribbean or Gladiator (or any film version of The Three Musketeers!) as a historical documentary – you watch it for fun. And fun is what The Three Musketeers: The Game is all about.

(If you are interesting in a watching a great ‘real history lesson,’ watch ‘Tales From The Green Valley.’ The show takes places in the UK instead of France, but I absolutely loved it – and yes, for those concerned, the DVD works fine on North American players!)

It took 165 years, but The Three Musketeers has finally been faithfully adapted into a video game.

Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu

I am happy pleased honoured (and thrilled) to say that Dingo Games has announced its latest project, The Three Musketeers: The Game. Closely following the story of Alexander Dumas’ original masterpiece, The Three Musketeers: The Game is a unique action-adventure-rpg-story-swashbuckling game for Mac and Windows, coming in August 2009.

I am very excited about this game. It has taken a long time to do (there was a lot of research and travelling on top of all the actual ‘game work’) and I am extremely pleased with The Three Musketeers: The Game. I think Alexandre Dumas, père, would be proud.

In the near future I’ll post more images, and talk a little bit about the project (concerning the story, the artwork, historical accuracies/inaccuracies and of course the characters). I’ll do my best to bring a little taste of Dumas’ early 17th century to you (until the game is released, and then you can experience it yourself).

And for those who don’t know, Cardinal Richelieu is the main meany, the primary antagonist in The Three Musketeers: The Game (and the book). Dumas’ Richelieu differs from ‘the real one’ (as most of his characters do), but both Richelieus were undoubtedly powerful men in France.

(p.s. more about the game and all that press jazz here.)

Test animation of the Grey Goo for Tasty Planet

I don’t think the animated gif above will show up in my gallery (edit: hey, I think it works!) but it’s of poor quality anyways and really, if you want to see ‘the real thing’ you can just go check out the demo! What a good gooey game for all.

Nummy concept art for Tasty Planet.

Evil Virus

Happy belated birthday Canada! Soon you’ll be 150 and can legally drink!

I have been terribly busy. But at least I’m making a lot of progress! The next Dingo Games project is *really* coming along, I’m very excited now. I found some old concept work from Tasty Planet, a casual game by DG that I worked.  Ah, those were the days; going to school, working, planning a do-it-yourself wedding and making tasty treats for a grey goo-ish like creature to eat!

Small Things to Eat - Tasty Planet

Why they are *very* small things to eat (indeed!).