Hey there,
I use substance painter to create the materials for the models. It comes with and you can add various textures to paint with. Some I do draw by hand in Photoshop, but for the most part I use the textures provided in Substance. I’ve updated this scene a bit as of this screenshot. Always trying to make things look a little bit better.
How did I decide the theme? Well, this one in particular, was inspired by the owl that I had made a while back. I always liked the owl on the original Clash of the Titans movie and wondered what the owl I made would look like gold, similar to that one. Then I thought, wouldn’t that look kinda cool in a golden tree. Then my brain was trying to figure out how I could use this in the game. So, I created a quest around the owl and the shield that is sorta related in a way to the movie. I made the shield look very similar to the shield in the movie but instead of using the eagle that was on it, I thought I use the silhouette of one of the birds in my game instead. There is also a sword that goes with it that I made later for the quest. Hope I’m not spoiling too much, but the owl will upgrade one of your weapons when you help him by turning it into to gold and improving its stats. There is a golden pot there now for the quest.
Hope that answered your questions. I hope to get a video on combat and crafting done at some point. Just can’t find enough time in the day.
As always, thanks for the interest, and i’m always glad to answer any questions.