Dear Reader:
A look into the creation of Shovel Knight's Baz, Mole Knight, and King Knight Bosses
As we posted yesterday, Boss Fight Books has released a book all about the creation of Shovel Knight. That includes a ton of details on the creation of various bosses in the game. In the snippet below, you can learn a bit about the development of Mole Knight.
Mole Knight is one of Shovel Knight's most distinctive characters, and not just for his lobster-red armor and stubby legs that flail like an upset crab when players knock him onto his back. Long and flat, his hands extend into red-hot claws that carve through dirt like the proverbial hot knife through butter. "Mole Knight is obsessed with digging," said Yacht Club Games co-founder and Shovel Knight director Sean Velasco. "He's obsessed with it; that's all that matters to him, and he's upset with Shovel Knight because he wants to be the best at digging."
A second distinctive fixture, more subdued than his claws, is the plume of fire atop Mole Knight's helm. The flame dances even while he stands still, movements that seem trifling but go a long way to cementing the character's identity. "He feels alive. He doesn't seem like just an image," said co-founder and lead artist Nick “Woz” Wozniak. "You can have him sit there and talk to Shovel Knight, and he still feels active and alive. That's a thing to consider when you're designing a character: what are its secondary movements? What's the cloth, or scarf, that will trail?"