How The Touro Was Concepted
Every June we try to mark the launch date of Brigador: Up-Armored Edition. It has been nine whole years since the game went 1.0 on Steam, and we thank you for sticking with us for all that time. Enjoy.
From this point on, anytime the game is on sale on Steam (and elsewhere) it will now be at least 70% off, while the music albums and audiobook will be 75% off. Consider picking up the deluxe bundle, which includes all of the above at an additional discount. The birthday sale starts now and lasts until June 16th.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13405/Brigador_Deluxe_Edition/
Here is a short beginner’s guide to playing the game and becoming accustomed to the various hazards you might encounter in Solo Nobre.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/274500/view/3226274956656889915
Another question that first-time players have is about the difference between Campaign and Freelance.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/274500/view/3893988945398008047
If you require an even more detailed guide, consider checking out The Solo Nobre Murder Spree Handbook by one of our users.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=535841178
Normally we only run a 20% discount at the end of the year, but during the same time as the Steam sale, our merch store is also running a one-week-long discount. Either click this link or enter BRIGADOR (allcaps) at checkout to get 25% off your merch order (minimum 8 USD order required). This discount stacks with existing ones such as getting 15 USD off for every three minis purchased. It too will last until June 16th.
Along with our line of pewter minis, we sell t-shirts, pins, posters, patches and even this cool Zippo lighter.
[P.S. Available shipping destinations still do not include the United Kingdom, Ukraine or Russia for now - but we are more seriously looking at setting up EU distribution rather than shipping from just the US. However, this is not in the near future, but maybe in the next 12 months.]
Did you know that you can listen to the first half of the tie-in audiobooks for Brigador and Brigador Killers on YouTube?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's seven hours of war horrors narrated to you by Ryan Cooper. For free. Next.
Our first game has had a number of cover arts and more than one of you has requested them as desktop wallpapers. Here are all of the ones for Brigador throughout the years.
2015: Early Access I
2015: Early Access II
2016: Brigador 1.1 ft. Modesto
2016: Brigador 1.12 Halloween Update ft. Auditor
2017: Brigador: Up-Armored Edition with text
2017: Brigador: Up-Armored Edition without text
2021: Blood Anniversary Update with text
2021: Blood Anniversary Update without text
And not forgetting these brief appearances
2021: Mother's Love (from Blood Anniversary)
2021: Grave to the Rave Update
Alternatively, if you're in our Discord server, just enter ~splashart as its own command in a channel and our bot should DM you links to every splashart we've ever posted.
Posts have been made before on the inspirations behind the game, the early concepts and a basic rundown of the game's art pipeline, but there's yet to be one about one of the most important vehicles in the game: the Touro.
What would later become known as the Touro was originally sketched digitally on November 16th 2012. It was named "Vulture" at the time, intended for a game that was originally going to be called "Matador".
The Vulture was the precursor of the first mech design, but within a couple of weeks this overly bird look would be mostly phased out, though the rough lines of the torso and the "wing" stubs would evolve into something else.
Remember how there was an early gameplay concept idea about the player having a crew on their mech? The how of this wasn't expanded on in that post. The initial idea was the Vulture had a grabber claw where the player could pressgang crewmembers out of destroyed vehicles and into their crew. These new crew members would then act as stat modifiers.
This lower "tube" on the Vulture was for housing the extendo-arm. However, after some initial prototyping of the game, stopping to pick up or sort through crew members did not mesh well with the rhythm of combat, so we decided against that direction.
Yet this element lived on as a sort of vestigial tailbone on the Touro, which still has that lower tube, though it serves no purpose on the existing model.
Around the middle of November 2012, 3D-modelling of the mech began in 3DS Max, but the working title of "Vulture" on the digital sketch was dropped. "Crow" was the new working title.
After a few days of tinkering, it didn't feel like this was the right direction for the mech, especially if this was going to be the showpiece mech upon which everything else was based.
[No, really, it cannot be overstressed how important the Touro is to Brigador. It is not just a mascot on the splash art, or a protagonist in the first tie-in novel. Getting the walk cycle animations for the Touro to feel "right" served as a baseline for every other mech - too fast and it doesn't have the right weight, too slow and it feels sluggish. The Touro as we will go on to see also served as an element upon which a lot of other details were scaled - this mech could not exist in the world it stomps about in if the surrounding infrastructure (e.g. the roads, the checkpoint gates) weren't wide enough to accommodate it.]
So if you find yourself in a design slump like this, what can you do? Well, one way to go about making something feel "real" is to make it feel familiar. Practically speaking, this means anchoring the design in familiar shapes, even if it's not conscious for people. This technique is nothing new, and we encourage you to read about the efforts of Roger Christian on the set design of the first Alien film who used the interior of bomber aircraft for the ship corridors.
Thankfully in Brigador's case we did not need to go to military auctions to buy decommissioned vehicles. Even back in 2012 numerous military models were already available digitally, and the two that contributed the most to the Touro's look are the M1 Abrams and the Jagdpanther. The second working name of Crow was ditched and on November 26th 2012, the "Walker" was modelled out, and this is where what we know as the Touro starts to become identifiable.
Even this early on, it was known that the Walker had to be a little more involved than the standard chicken legs, and that it had to be able to kneel defensively, like so.
[Before you ask: the red figure for scale is ~2 meters tall. He is from a prior shelved project but would also later find his way into Brigador as the Man From Volta.]
How the Walker got its distinct look is because the M1 Abrams "skirt" (the part above the treads) was sectioned out like so.
The rear section of the skirt with the tail light still on it was to be the first joint. By November 29th, 2012 - two weeks after the digital sketch of the Vulture - the legs of the Walker were clad in these chopped-up skirt pieces.
The Walker had a somewhat goofy cradle around its main gun. This was an early provision to visually indicate swappable weapon bays, but the element was considered unnecessary and distracting. Also visible in this next image is the stowage rack of the M1 Abrams, which has been moved to the back rear of the torso.
Here the "knee" joint of the Walker begins to take shape.
At this stage the legs are mostly done, aside from the feet, which are solved a short while later. Moving a little further through the archive, we see that the "nose" of the Walker gets much closer to the final Touro version.
On December 1st 2012 our artist went on a detour to model out an entire jerrycan from scratch, stopping work entirely on the Walker.
The reason for doing so was the free digital jerrycans available at the time were lousy, neither aesthetically pleasing nor even dimensionally correct. Recall here the goal is to anchor the mech with familiar shapes - if something as innocuous as a jerrycan is wrong then this would throw off the sense of scale. Just as the Touro informed the design decisions of the rest of Brigador, so too did the humble jerrycan inform the design of the Touro. Also we wanted to put them all over for stowage.
Two days later, on December 3rd 2012, all of the fiddly bits on the jerrycan, which are never visible in the game, were fully modelled out.
The next detail to be added to the Walker were climbing rungs at the side and rear of the upper half.
The early concept of this mech having a full crew didn't fully disappear, mind. Though it canonically later became a single seater, we still checked whether the hull of this vehicle could actually accommodate four people.
January 10th 2013 rolls around and the detailing on the upper half of the Walker mech has made numerous strides, particularly along the rear right side where the main gun is installed. Several smoke projectors have also been installed and would remain there.
Finally, on January 16th, 2013, the feet of the Walker were changed. This was done by taking a wheel suspension piece from an M3 Lee and using it as a kind of ankle joint and building around that. The Touro on the left has an undetailed nose, but on the right grab bars and detailing have been added on that would remain to the final iteration.
From this point on what remains is more detailing, most of which is barely visible. For instance, the exhausts of a Jagdpanther were added to the pelvis. These are not seen in game due to the isometric viewpoint.
By January 17th, 2013, the Walker was basically a completed design, to be christened the Touro at a later date. One of the last things to be added was a spare ankle joint, which is this highlighted element stowed on the left "wing".
Here is the final render made just after finishing the design.
All of the vehicle units and building props for Brigador were made over the course of a couple of years, but the Touro took the longest because this vehicle was the Rosetta Stone for the whole thing. When the artist understands what they are doing on a design and why, then the rest of the game can be built in a coherent fashion. The point of surrounding yourself with these kinds of details like the jerrycans and bits of tank parts is because not only do they help make an unbelievable thing (a big walking tank) seem believable, but they are also self-reinforcing to the fiction.
Happy Birthday, Brigador. Here's to nine years more.
(Touro with sparklers via community member Hara)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/274500/
Deepest Steam Discount Ever
From this point on, anytime the game is on sale on Steam (and elsewhere) it will now be at least 70% off, while the music albums and audiobook will be 75% off. Consider picking up the deluxe bundle, which includes all of the above at an additional discount. The birthday sale starts now and lasts until June 16th.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13405/Brigador_Deluxe_Edition/
Brigador Newcomer? Start Here
Here is a short beginner’s guide to playing the game and becoming accustomed to the various hazards you might encounter in Solo Nobre.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/274500/view/3226274956656889915
Another question that first-time players have is about the difference between Campaign and Freelance.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/274500/view/3893988945398008047
If you require an even more detailed guide, consider checking out The Solo Nobre Murder Spree Handbook by one of our users.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=535841178
All SJ Merch Is 25% Off
Normally we only run a 20% discount at the end of the year, but during the same time as the Steam sale, our merch store is also running a one-week-long discount. Either click this link or enter BRIGADOR (allcaps) at checkout to get 25% off your merch order (minimum 8 USD order required). This discount stacks with existing ones such as getting 15 USD off for every three minis purchased. It too will last until June 16th.
Along with our line of pewter minis, we sell t-shirts, pins, posters, patches and even this cool Zippo lighter.
[P.S. Available shipping destinations still do not include the United Kingdom, Ukraine or Russia for now - but we are more seriously looking at setting up EU distribution rather than shipping from just the US. However, this is not in the near future, but maybe in the next 12 months.]
Free Audiobooks
Did you know that you can listen to the first half of the tie-in audiobooks for Brigador and Brigador Killers on YouTube?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's seven hours of war horrors narrated to you by Ryan Cooper. For free. Next.
All These Splasharts
Our first game has had a number of cover arts and more than one of you has requested them as desktop wallpapers. Here are all of the ones for Brigador throughout the years.
2015: Early Access I
2015: Early Access II
2016: Brigador 1.1 ft. Modesto
2016: Brigador 1.12 Halloween Update ft. Auditor
2017: Brigador: Up-Armored Edition with text
2017: Brigador: Up-Armored Edition without text
2021: Blood Anniversary Update with text
2021: Blood Anniversary Update without text
And not forgetting these brief appearances
2021: Mother's Love (from Blood Anniversary)
2021: Grave to the Rave Update
Alternatively, if you're in our Discord server, just enter ~splashart as its own command in a channel and our bot should DM you links to every splashart we've ever posted.The Birth of the Touro
Posts have been made before on the inspirations behind the game, the early concepts and a basic rundown of the game's art pipeline, but there's yet to be one about one of the most important vehicles in the game: the Touro.
What would later become known as the Touro was originally sketched digitally on November 16th 2012. It was named "Vulture" at the time, intended for a game that was originally going to be called "Matador".
The Vulture was the precursor of the first mech design, but within a couple of weeks this overly bird look would be mostly phased out, though the rough lines of the torso and the "wing" stubs would evolve into something else.
Remember how there was an early gameplay concept idea about the player having a crew on their mech? The how of this wasn't expanded on in that post. The initial idea was the Vulture had a grabber claw where the player could pressgang crewmembers out of destroyed vehicles and into their crew. These new crew members would then act as stat modifiers.
This lower "tube" on the Vulture was for housing the extendo-arm. However, after some initial prototyping of the game, stopping to pick up or sort through crew members did not mesh well with the rhythm of combat, so we decided against that direction.
Yet this element lived on as a sort of vestigial tailbone on the Touro, which still has that lower tube, though it serves no purpose on the existing model.
Around the middle of November 2012, 3D-modelling of the mech began in 3DS Max, but the working title of "Vulture" on the digital sketch was dropped. "Crow" was the new working title.
After a few days of tinkering, it didn't feel like this was the right direction for the mech, especially if this was going to be the showpiece mech upon which everything else was based.
[No, really, it cannot be overstressed how important the Touro is to Brigador. It is not just a mascot on the splash art, or a protagonist in the first tie-in novel. Getting the walk cycle animations for the Touro to feel "right" served as a baseline for every other mech - too fast and it doesn't have the right weight, too slow and it feels sluggish. The Touro as we will go on to see also served as an element upon which a lot of other details were scaled - this mech could not exist in the world it stomps about in if the surrounding infrastructure (e.g. the roads, the checkpoint gates) weren't wide enough to accommodate it.]
So if you find yourself in a design slump like this, what can you do? Well, one way to go about making something feel "real" is to make it feel familiar. Practically speaking, this means anchoring the design in familiar shapes, even if it's not conscious for people. This technique is nothing new, and we encourage you to read about the efforts of Roger Christian on the set design of the first Alien film who used the interior of bomber aircraft for the ship corridors.
Thankfully in Brigador's case we did not need to go to military auctions to buy decommissioned vehicles. Even back in 2012 numerous military models were already available digitally, and the two that contributed the most to the Touro's look are the M1 Abrams and the Jagdpanther. The second working name of Crow was ditched and on November 26th 2012, the "Walker" was modelled out, and this is where what we know as the Touro starts to become identifiable.
Even this early on, it was known that the Walker had to be a little more involved than the standard chicken legs, and that it had to be able to kneel defensively, like so.
[Before you ask: the red figure for scale is ~2 meters tall. He is from a prior shelved project but would also later find his way into Brigador as the Man From Volta.]
How the Walker got its distinct look is because the M1 Abrams "skirt" (the part above the treads) was sectioned out like so.
The rear section of the skirt with the tail light still on it was to be the first joint. By November 29th, 2012 - two weeks after the digital sketch of the Vulture - the legs of the Walker were clad in these chopped-up skirt pieces.
The Walker had a somewhat goofy cradle around its main gun. This was an early provision to visually indicate swappable weapon bays, but the element was considered unnecessary and distracting. Also visible in this next image is the stowage rack of the M1 Abrams, which has been moved to the back rear of the torso.
Here the "knee" joint of the Walker begins to take shape.
At this stage the legs are mostly done, aside from the feet, which are solved a short while later. Moving a little further through the archive, we see that the "nose" of the Walker gets much closer to the final Touro version.
On December 1st 2012 our artist went on a detour to model out an entire jerrycan from scratch, stopping work entirely on the Walker.
The reason for doing so was the free digital jerrycans available at the time were lousy, neither aesthetically pleasing nor even dimensionally correct. Recall here the goal is to anchor the mech with familiar shapes - if something as innocuous as a jerrycan is wrong then this would throw off the sense of scale. Just as the Touro informed the design decisions of the rest of Brigador, so too did the humble jerrycan inform the design of the Touro. Also we wanted to put them all over for stowage.
Two days later, on December 3rd 2012, all of the fiddly bits on the jerrycan, which are never visible in the game, were fully modelled out.
The next detail to be added to the Walker were climbing rungs at the side and rear of the upper half.
The early concept of this mech having a full crew didn't fully disappear, mind. Though it canonically later became a single seater, we still checked whether the hull of this vehicle could actually accommodate four people.
January 10th 2013 rolls around and the detailing on the upper half of the Walker mech has made numerous strides, particularly along the rear right side where the main gun is installed. Several smoke projectors have also been installed and would remain there.
Finally, on January 16th, 2013, the feet of the Walker were changed. This was done by taking a wheel suspension piece from an M3 Lee and using it as a kind of ankle joint and building around that. The Touro on the left has an undetailed nose, but on the right grab bars and detailing have been added on that would remain to the final iteration.
From this point on what remains is more detailing, most of which is barely visible. For instance, the exhausts of a Jagdpanther were added to the pelvis. These are not seen in game due to the isometric viewpoint.
By January 17th, 2013, the Walker was basically a completed design, to be christened the Touro at a later date. One of the last things to be added was a spare ankle joint, which is this highlighted element stowed on the left "wing".
Here is the final render made just after finishing the design.
All of the vehicle units and building props for Brigador were made over the course of a couple of years, but the Touro took the longest because this vehicle was the Rosetta Stone for the whole thing. When the artist understands what they are doing on a design and why, then the rest of the game can be built in a coherent fashion. The point of surrounding yourself with these kinds of details like the jerrycans and bits of tank parts is because not only do they help make an unbelievable thing (a big walking tank) seem believable, but they are also self-reinforcing to the fiction.
Happy Birthday, Brigador. Here's to nine years more.
(Touro with sparklers via community member Hara)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/274500/
Arlo fully assembled, painted and mounted to a base (base not included)
Varlets on the left and front, Roadie on the right, Lineman in the back
Left to right: Varlet, Lineman, Roadie
Vipers in the middle, Troubadours and Pantry Boys at the sides
Left to right: Troubadour, Viper, Pantry Boy
