We had lost our developer Andrew for a month to the Dare+ competition held at Dundee University, so I had been thinking of ways to keep the budding spirit of Tilt & Sprout alive.

I thought that this would be a great time to find a way to develop the world that 'Tilt' our Tilt & Sprout mascot lives in. The perfect way to do this with the skills available to me is through the use of comics.

With the graphical update in the wings, I thought it would be great to use the same images within the game update to compose this world.

Coming up with the story line for the first comic was fairly easy as it was a story that I had created when originally designing Tilt. When I design - especially characters, I like to place them in a situation to figure out their personality and then try to bring that across in their final look (one of the tips that I picked up from acting, when creating a character, which I find useful when it comes to character design).

The comic had several drafts made before being finalised. I wanted Tilt's neighbour to contrast against Tilt but also have his own distinct personality to become a recurring character. Also April-Wendy, our Creative Consultant (currently unpaid) made tweaks to improve the flow of the story with the suggestion of emotional symbols and movements in certain scenes to create more activity and flow within a static image.

The final version of Tilt & Sprout's first comic is now finished can be viewed here on the website or on the Tilt & Sprout Facebook page .

Now that the first comic is out it has spurred me on to create further story lines for Tilt and introduce some other characters, while still keeping it based on the Tilt & Sprout game keep checking back to see what we come up with next.

When you lose a skilled developer you really appreciate them once you get them back. Although, well done to Mish Mash Studios with their entry into the DARE+ Competition with their game, KUA FU, which got fantastic feedback.

Welcome back Andrew - NOW GET TO WORK!