Field note 05Creature art6 September 2026

The heavy and the feral.

The Bloat Brute gets root fists and a broad carved face. Out in the camps, six feral Puslings carry the same family resemblance beneath an overgrown crown.

M5 · Creature family Brute & neutral creatures v0.5.2

An amber-eyed feral Pusling, a small summoned Pusling and a broad Bloat Brute stand near the home altar, with the masked wizard behind them. — A staged family lineup captured from the exported 0.5.2 Godot build. The summons were paid for through the ordinary soul economy; the neutral was repositioned for this view.

Lantern Mire now has its creature family in the playable game. The small summoned Pusling, the heavy Brute and the wild camp creatures share peat, willow, fungus and carved masks. Their different silhouettes carry the roles that were already working in the skirmish.

A body built to carry weight

The Brute is held together with thick willow staves and broad flax bindings. Root fists and splayed feet make it heavier than the thin-limbed Pusling, while shelf fungus and a wide mask connect it to the rest of the parish.

Codex authored the original mesh, surface bakes, rig and motion in Blender using Python, then opened the editable source through computer use to inspect the gait and contact pose. Six clips cover its arrival, idle, lumbering travel, strike, reaction and collapse. Both armies use the same model, identified by their cyan circle or coral diamond.

Blender studio render of the Bloat Brute with a broad wooden mask, fungus shoulders, thick wicker bindings and large root fists. — Blender studio render of the original Brute source. Its sixteen-bone rig drives one textured mesh; the review lights and floor are excluded from the game.

The family outside the brood

The six neutral husks now look like feral Puslings. We reused the family rig and suitable motion, removed the courier basket and faction cloth, and added forked crown growth, broken bindings and amber eyes. Their feet follow the existing terrain while their gameplay bodies keep the original collision shapes.

These creatures still occupy the same camps. The passive ones remain passive; the others retaliate within their existing reach. They have no new patrol, chase or respawn behaviour. Each still holds exactly one soul.

An overgrown feral Pusling in Godot with amber eyes, thin root limbs, mossy wicker and a tall forked crown. — The feral variant in the exported game, staged near the home altar for inspection. Its larger presentation fits the existing neutral target; the camp rules are unchanged.

Same contact, same souls

A Brute still costs three souls and thirty-five mana. It keeps its original health, speed, damage and attack interval. The fist pose starts when damage happens, so adding animation has not added a delay to combat. Death drops all three souls immediately while the body finishes collapsing.

Native checks exercised paid summons, moving joints, contact damage, neutral retaliation, pause, corpse removal, restart and conservation of all eighteen souls. The full gameplay and art regression passed, and both camera distances were captured from the Mac export. Sustained performance and human judgement of combat feel remain for the later release pass and playtest.

The next increment is the arena: give the ground, roots, rocks and vegetation the same care while keeping the altar approaches, camps and routes readable. Sound, authored text barks, accessibility and release verification follow.

End of field note 05Back to the journal