Easter Design Blog: Dragonfly Farmstead

Heyo kids! Or should I say Habbos. I’m Ned and I’ve lived in the town of Dragonfly all my life. I own my farm and sell my produce at the local farmers market every Saturday. But that’s enough about me!

I heard that you wanted to know more about Dragonfly and farm life. That’s exactly why I’m here! There’s actually a farm quite close to mine that has been abandoned since I can remember. I don’t know much about it but I’ve seen some activity around there lately. Don’t remember the last time I saw that. So, I’m investigating! And I found some great people to answer some questions for me. Oh, there they are now!

Welcome to Dragonfly! What inspired the themes and items you created?

 Kukuyit: We wanted to go for a bright and refreshing theme for spring/Easter and locked in very early on that the vibe should be cottage/farm-like. Previously, we created the Great Farm Bake campaign back in 2017 which was very outdoorsy, so this time we focused more on the interior by comparison.
 Sparkaro: The elemental fruits were inspired by various fruit designs I've seen in farming and RPG games, such as the berries in Pokemon. The fruit growing was based on flowers and crops we've had in past campaigns such as Stranded Jungle, but with a magical twist to make these ones stand out from the rest. We could also be more creative with the designs this time around by adding elements of sparkle and glow.

 munkkiskunkki: I love all things colourful and magical, as well as cosy and fluffy. I've sunk a lot of hours into Stardew Valley, so getting to work on a farm-with-a-magical-twist theme was so cool!
 Knightingale: I was absolutely delighted when we settled on this theme as I have always had a soft spot for mythology and even more so for fae creatures! As a huge D&D (and Pathfinder) lover for about 3 years now, I've been playing in a campaign with a rabbit-inspired fae rogue so, when we were asked to design Dragonfly farmstead using fae as a strong inspiration, my ideas just started flowing naturally! 

What games do you like playing (other than Habbo of course) and how did those inspire you?

 Kukuyit: I’ve always been a big fan of casual/simulation games as they’re cosy and peaceful. Concepts for the baseline were heavily influenced by games I’ve played like Stardew Valley and the old Harvest Moon series.

 Sparkaro: I've always been a fan of games that have a lot of cute creature designs that you either collect or interact with in a colourful and immersive world, such as Pokemon, Neopets and Animal Crossing. These gave me some inspiration when designing the elemental fruits and Faes (who are also based on bunnies!).

 munkkiskunkki: I've always been big into RPGs myself, especially ones using pixel art (surprise!). I picked up Magical Vacation for the GBA not too long ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was subconsciously influenced by the gorgeous vibes when designing items for this campaign!

 Knightingale: I've always been a fantasy nerd. Currently, I’m all over Baulders Gate but back in the day WoW was my biggest game. As I practically grew up in Azeroth, it was so much fun to bring my own take on a fantasy mount into Habbo through the Flemish Bunny Ride - there was originally also a common variant of this mount furni sketched up but, unfortunately, there’s only so many pixels to go around and so many bunnies we can cram into this month!

Were there any technical challenges, or items/clothing that presented obstacles?

 Kukuyit: For me, it was the ‘New Fae Cottage’ purely due to the sheer size of it! (So much graphical splicing!) And the ‘Leaf Shade’ clothing. Getting the waist accessory to work without too much weird clipping or body/clothing overlaps was quite difficult because we’re limited to restricted clothing types. I hope in the future we’ll have more development capabilities to add a range of wardrobe categories.

 Sparkaro: The bunny plushie was quite technically challenging due to it being in the jacket category, because of technical limitations, and with how it clearly breaks out of the typical 'jacket' design. I had to do extensive testing and trial and error to get the layers working correctly so that it wouldn't become insanely glitchy! It was all worth it in the end to have such a cute item.

 munkkiskunkki: Creating a colourable glowing hairstyle was quite the experiment for me! Getting it to look luminescent even if dyed a darker shade took quite a bit of trial and error to get right. After all that, I hope Habbos will enjoy the end result!

 Knightingale: It wasn't so much a challenge but something fun, new, and possibly inspiring for future campaign ideas… It was my first time working on items that were dependent on effects to transform them into other items, including rarer variants of the Elemental Plants as an example. It was certainly a time for learning and it got the cogs whirring in my brain for some unique ways this concept could be used in the future.

What impacts your decisions when selecting which sketches to include in a furni line?

 Kukuyit: Choosing which furnis/clothing to take forward is so hard every single time! Ultimately we pick a range that the art team can handle given the time we have and the complexity of each item. We also make choices based on what our Habbos might think and how the items might be used. It would be really odd if we made cottages with no chairs or tables! So, some things are a must-have.

 Sparkaro: It’s a challenge to select which items to create when there's soooo many great designs! I remind myself that there should be enough furni to get creative with and that, ideally, the items will also work well with previous items we have made. The idea is that Habbos can mix and match furni and utilise brand new items that we have never made before! It’s important to balance large building pieces with small decorative pieces for a cohesive furni line.

 munkkiskunkki: Personally, I like to think about how players will be able to express themselves with the furni or clothing and how it can be combined with other items, not just within the campaign but outside of it. Anything cute or quirky tends to get a vote from me by default! I just love them.

 Knightingale: A lot of the time it is thinking about what makes a cohesive collection of furni that can support each other ~ it's a shame to have a table with no chairs to sit at, it is it not? Along with which items we think the Habbos might appreciate most! We try to find a balance in small designs Habbos can customise their rooms with and some flashy standout items that we put some extra work into to create something unique to collect! 

This has been so much fun and I’ve learned so much! I can’t wait to see what the future brings. Well, I think that’s everything for now. Roll on, March!

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