Final Project: The Lost Character Design...

Here we have a character design that didn't make it past the Development stage; the Hellhound. Name and design are fairly self-explanatory. It was originally supposed to be the 4th Horror character, but I realised once I'd finished it that it didn't really work and abandoned it in favour of the Eye-Maw

Final Project: Horror Character #6- Cryptid

An alien predator hides in the dark corners of the universe, waiting to be discovered by its next prey…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Gaping Maw with no Face (H), Tongue (H), Wings

Colour(s): 

Pale Green

Design Notes: 

The Cryptid was essentially designed to be the next Xenomorph; an iconic horror monster for a science-fiction setting. Like the Plague Doctor, the Cryptid borrows some elements from other prototypes; its wings came from a fly-man design. The tongue was suggested by a friend and is meant to be how the creature ‘sees’. Instead of using sight or sound, it ‘tastes’ the air around it like a snake to detect its prey.

Design and Development sketches for the Cryptid

Cryptid Final Concept

Final Project: Horror Character #5- Happy

A twisted mechanical monstrosity stalks an abandoned fairground…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Rusted Clown Mask (H),  Buzzsaw/ Pincer Weapons, Spider Legs

Colour(s): 

Rust, White, Red

Design Notes: 

Happy’s design is the logical conclusion of combining three well-known fears: Clowns, spiders and homicidal robots. At the point when I came up with his initial prototype, I had already created a variety of others based on the other two, and upon trying to come up with ideas for the last one, I found that a combination of the three made for a terrifying design. He’s also heavily inspired by Babyface from Toy Story

Design and Development sketches for Happy

Happy Final Concept

Final Project: Horror Character #4- Eye-Maw

A bizarre, twisted abomination of unknown origin…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Eye-in-Mouth (H), Chest Mouth, Hand Mouths

Colour(s): 

White/ Pale, Red

Design Notes: 

This weird creature is based on one of the early concepts for the Medusa redesign, which was itself inspired by the final boss from Resident Evil 4; both had a single, glaring eye staring out of a gaping mouth. It also draws inspiration from the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth.

Design and Development sketches for the Eye-Maw

Failed early draft of final design

Eye-Maw Final Concept

Final Project: Horror Character #3- The Plague Doctor

This insane doctor seeks out ‘patients’ to provide his cruel and unusual brand of mercy…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Bone Bird Mask (H), Hat (H), Executioner’s Axe

Colour(s): 

Black, Bone, Red

Design Notes: 

Obviously, the primary inspiration for this character is the medieval doctors who treated the bubonic plague; I found their appearance, particularly the bird masks, to be both memorable and unsettling. However, I also incorporated some elements from other prototype characters, including his weapon and the clothing on his lower body 

Design and Development sketches for the Plague Doctor

Plague Doctor Final Concept

Final Project: Horror Character #2- The Reaper

The personification of death hunts for wandering souls in limbo…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Skull Head (H), Gaping throat Mouth, Sickle Arms

Colour(s): 

Black, Bone

Design Notes: 

As its name and general appearance suggests, the Reaper is very much inspired by the classic depictions of Death (the personification of it, not the act of dying). This mostly due to the fact that it was actually intended as a redesign of the Grim Reaper; it isn’t just inspired by Death, it’s actually my interpretation of the iconic personification of demise. Naturally, I wanted it to be as otherworldly as possible, hence the smoke-like body and gaping maw in it’s throat

Design and Development sketches for the Reaper

Failed Early Draft of Final Design

Reaper Final Concept

Final Project: Horror Character #1- Sharkopath

The ocean’s perfect killing machine now walks on land…

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Gaping Jaws (H), Shark Body, Pincer-like Legs

Colour(s): 

Blue-Grey, Bloody Red

Design Notes: 

The idea for the Sharkopath came when I asked a friend for ideas of what people are scared of. He mentioned how some are scared of things attacking them from underwater, which made me immediately think of the iconic Great White Shark. This in turn led me to the popular and terrifying notion of a shark that could follow you onto land. I also added a couple of elements to make it more horrifying, namely scarring around the mouth and hollow eyes.

Design and Development sketches for the Sharkopath

Sharkopath Final Concept

Final Project: FPS Character #6- Cyclops

A manned mech from the not-so-distant future, armed and ready for war

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Spherical Cockpit (H), X-Shaped ‘Eye’ (H), Blocky Shoulders

Colour(s): 

Yellow

Design Notes: 

Unlike most of the other characters, the Cyclops bears very little resemblance to its original prototype, as I ended up going for a completely different design during the development process. Its armaments are intended to be customisable, with players being able to swap the guns and missile launchers for other weapons if they wish

Final Project: FPS Character #5- Wanda

A young witch living in the modern age armed with magical powers

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Scarf (H), Coat, Boots

Colour(s): 

Red, Black

Design Notes: 

My initial idea for this character came from wanting to design a FPS character who used magic instead of a weapon. After messing around with other concepts, including one very stereotypical wizard, I eventually had the bright idea of basing the character in a modern setting. Her facial features are based on those of actress Emma Watson

Design and Development sketches for Wanda

Wanda Final Concept

Final Project: FPS Character #4- Panther

A jungle warrior living in a prehistoric world, hunting and stalking her prey

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Skull Helmet (H), Leopard Pelt Clothing

Colour(s): 

Black/ Dark Brown, Yellow, Bone

Design Notes: 

Panther’s design is the result of two game concepts. The first involved traversing a rainforest-like setting and hunting animals, while the second involved the character using a bow and arrow and a spear as opposed to a gun. Interesting of not is her race; during the development stage, I had actually planned for her to be Caucasian, but during the final stage I realised a darker skin tone would better compliment the leopard pelt clothing she wore.

Design and Development sketches for Panther

Panther Final Concept

Final Project: FPS Character #3- Jurassic Soldiers

Genetically-engineered dinosaurs, bred for combat and armed to the teeth (sometimes literally)

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Dinosaur Head (H)/ Features, Bone Armour/ Weapons

Colour(s): 

Blue (Tricertops), Red (T-Rex), Green (Stegasaur)

Design Notes: 

A similar idea to the Dogs of War, only with dinosaurs, guns built from bones and a more brutish, mercenary look. As with the previous characters, I started by designing the primary character, which in this case was the Triceratops, and then used him as a template for designing the others. However, due to the radical differences between the dinosaur species, the other designs are not as uniform, resulting in each one having their own unique look

Design and Development sketches for the Jurassic 

Jurassic Soldiers Final Concept

Final Project: FPS Character #2- Dogs of War

A squadron of canine soldiers, ready to fight for freedom and liberty

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Tin Helmets (H), Dog Features, WW1 Uniforms

Colour(s): 

Olive Green

Design Notes: 

These characters are based on a simple and fairly obvious idea: dog soldiers wearing army uniform. I started by designing the Bulldog, who I used as a template for the others. I had intended to also design some cat soldiers to serve as enemies, but unfortunately I never got around to it

Final Project: FPS Character #1- Astrid

An explorer lost in space, wielding a gravity-warping alien artefact

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Contrasting hair colour (H), Space Helmet, Alien Orb

Colour(s): 

Teal-Green, Magenta-Red

Design Notes: 

Astrid was designed around an old game concept from my university years. It was intended to be like Portal, but with gravity manipulation instead of portals. Her facial features are based on those of model Susan Coffey

Design and Development sketches for Astrid

Astrid Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #6- Mordekai

A spear-wielding Dragon knight armed who gets abilities from the helmet he wears

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Winged Helmet (H), Cartoon Lizard Face (H), Spear Weapon

Colour(s): 

Green, Bronze

Design Notes: 

Similar to the last design, Mordekai is based on a character design I conceived in my earlier years. He is still extremely similar to his old design, with the only major differences being his spear and wing attachments on his helmet. Speaking of the helmet, Mordekai can swap with others for different abilities (interestingly, one of them belonged to his old design)

Design and Development sketches for Mordekai

Mordekai Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #5- Helio

A living puppet with the power to control the elements

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Head Spikes (H), Long Nose (H)

Colour(s): 

Varies depending on element, Yellow in Neutral

Design Notes: 

Interestingly, Helio is based on an old design I created when I was younger; in fact, his long nose and clothing are relics of the original design. After creating the prototype that would become him for this project, I felt he looked ‘neutral’ enough to work with the element-swapping game mechanic, and also added a sun motif, hence the name ‘Helio’

Design and Development sketches for Helio

Helio Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #4- Kage

A masked kunoichi (female ninja) who strikes from the shadows

 Unique Character Identifiers: 

Oni Mask (H), Hood (H), Red Scarf 

Colour(s): 

Black, Red, White

Design Notes: 

Kage’s design kind of speaks for itself, but there are a few things of note. For one thing, her outfit is designed to resemble an authentic ninja outfit, while her mask is based on the Oni masks often seen in Japanese mythology. Meanwhile, her name is taken from the Japanese word for ‘shadow’

Design and Development sketches for Kage

Kage Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #3- Gunslinger

A nameless gunfighter who wanders the West with an assortment of weapons

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Cowboy Hat (H), Poncho, Dual Wacky Firearms

Colour(s): 

Brown, Orange

Design Notes: 

The Gunslinger is obviously based on the stereotypical cowboys of the Spaghetti Western genre, particularly Clint Eastwood’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. His guns, on the other hand, were designed to be wacky and somewhat kid-friendly, with many of them designed to overcome specific obstacles. The ones he wields in this concept, for example, are his standard weapons and act like a boxing glove on an extending arm

Design and Development sketches for the Gunslinger

Gunslinger Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #2- Cosmo the Alien

An alien explorer with formidable psychic powers

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Third Eye (H), Antennae (H),  Glass Dome Helmet (H)

Colour(s): 

Green, Gold

Design Notes: 

The initial inspiration for Cosmo came from the telekinetic powers of Silver the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (though the game itself is terrible) and the planetoid level design from Super Mario Galaxy. When it came to designing a character who could meet these two criteria, an alien seemed an obvious choice.

Design and Development sketches for Cosmo

Cosmo Final Concept

Final Project: Platformer Character #1- Princess

A rebellious princess who clobbers any foul creature foolish enough to try and kidnap her

Unique Character Identifiers: 

Crown(H), Dress, Mace Weapon

Colour(s): 

Pink, Yellow

Design Notes: 

Princess was originally conceived as a ‘reverse-Mario’; basically, instead of getting kidnapped, the princess clobbers the bad guys and saves the world herself. From this basic concept, the character’s gameplay style, personality and general appearance seemed to flow naturally.

Design and Development sketches for Princess

Princess Final Concept

Final Project Brief and Prototype Characters

So, onto the final project. As I said in my last post, it's all pretty much done, so this is just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

As I've also said a couple of times, my final project focused on designing new original gaming icons based on what I'd learned from all the redesigns I'd done. I wasn't originally sure about how I'd go about doing this, but after talking with Jim (one of my tutors) it was decided I'd design a group of characters based around a couple of game genres. 

3 Genres, 6 Characters each. 18 Characters in all

The characters I chose for this were all ones I felt had grown stale and could use a new, original 'icon' or two to reinvigorate them. The genres I chose were Platformer, Horror and First-Person Shooter.

I started by creating several pages of prototype characters for each genre and then picking a slect few to develop further. You can see these prototypes below:-

Platformer Prototypes

These characters were each designed with their own specific game mechanic in mind

FPS Prototypes

These characters were each designed around variants of having a projectile weapon of some kind

Horror Prototypes

These characters were designed as enemies and are intended to be scary as hell

The next 18 posts will be about each of the 18 characters I chose and designed. First up is the Platformers. I'm going to try and keep them relatively short, so don't worry about having to read several walls of text.

Final Project: First Draft

Well would you look at that! I've been so focussed on getting the work done, that I've left all the blogging until the very last minute (about five days, to be precise)! Who'd of thought?

Ok, sarcasm aside, all the work for my MA is 100% done at this point. I just haven't got around to updating the blog until now. So strap yourselves in, kids, 'cause I've got a motherload of blog posts to drop on you.

This first one is the first draft of my final project. It was originally supposed to be a load of characters based on a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, the end result being like a journal or diary describing these fantastical individuals. However, beyond some ideas and prototype designs for various races, monsters and people (none of which were particularly cohesive) I never got very far with it, and after deciding that the project was focussing more on the world than the characters, I quickly scrapped it.

The sketches below show the summation of this version of the project