He's Massive!

Final post

The project is nearing an end. I unfortunately didn't have time to do character sheets or face studies because I chose to focus on a well rendered final character paintings. My characters took me a while to fully complete. I managed to get a character painted in an environment but only one, due to time. I could have worked quicker but It would have been detrimental to the quality. Nonetheless, I feel i have a reasonable amount of work and all three characters where completed.

Boss Lineart and Painting

Not sure what I would call him. He's like Hydra but that's a bit too typical.

The linart is quite rough, and in terms of what makes sense with the pieces and details, it's a bit all over the place. I don't have time to make things make sense, and I feel I have strayed a bit too far away from that steampunk style. Then again, they are the pro-tech robots which would looks more advanced and intense.

Boss update

When I got feedback on my boss ideas the Hyrda like boss seemed to be popular. I started to draw it out really for painting and got told his feet needed to look more vicious. they looked a little tame.

I changed the whole leg and made it taller. It looks so much better. I can't believe I didn't see how bad it looked with short stumpy legs. It doesn't look intimidating with small legs. Looked like an egg. But now it looks Boss!

Less Egg like look and spring like form. Ready to pounce!

It was a wise idea to have each head serve a different purpose. I thought about what the character would be. What purpose would it serve? I decided that each head could be a different construction object. For example, drills, cranes and shovels. It would make sense that with the long neck it could reach down and unearth the primitive life in the ground - destroying it. It would aslo work in terms of a boss battle.

Lineart will be posted soon.

Cave Scene w.i.p

Boss Initial Concepts

Creating the boss is tough. He needs to have a similar but more advanced style to the regular robots and also needs to be less humanoid, since they are against life. One thumbnail was chosen for it's scorpion like tail. I really didn't know what i was going to do with it, but as it turns out it has adapted into a more vicious version. On to the next three variations of a different thumbnail, then I will work the boss in more detail.

Final Design of Ray

This is the final concept of Ray. May change/ render up a few things though.

Final Design Robot Update

It is virtually done now. I have been toying with idea for a different mouth. Really not sure what to do or to just keep it pretty much the same. I've added variations below to see what people think of it before I commit.

Buck Teeth

Teeth (reminds me of somthing)

Normal + Gold Trim

Nose

Nose + speaker holes

I'm leaning towards nose with speaker holes. Just adds a bit more to it. The teeth on the second remind me of a character from an animated film or something. That's going to annoy me.

Ray Painting w.i.p

This first stage of Ray. He looks ok at the minute. I feel like I've failed myself somewhat in regard to it looking steampunk esque but I think the rust look works better anyway. It's kind of hard to add all these details when he's so small as well.

Pro-life Robot (Ray) Linart

This is the linart at the current stage for the character which will be called Ray. Me and a friend bounced back ideas about the character and he proposed the character wear clothes from the wreckage but wear them wrong, because he doesn't understand completely. A humerus idea, and it helps to give backstory about the character, he's like a little kid who's a wanna be action hero. It would add some light comedy to the role whilst other characters may take on a more serious tone.

He's called Ray, because he has a ray gun!

Further Ideas for the Robots.

Whilst discussing my idea with a friend we where bouncing back and forth ideas of the culture and things the pro-life robots would do. Comedy is always a great aspect to have within gaming, it helps you become more attached to the characters. The game would of course have a serious undertone, but me and my friend where talking about the fact the robots would speak in a similar way to 50's films.

The quick talking gangsters for example. It would be interesting if some of the robots took on famous roles from the films they have seen e.g detectives/gangsters. What made us both laugh was the idea of them using popular sayings or quotes from the time but used in the wrong context. It would be humerous after a boss battle for robot to give the final line before they defeat him, only for it to be completely out of context causing the main character to be confused. We were also discussing my robot design suggesting that he could be wearing bits of clothing from the wreckage, but wearing it wrong because he doesn't know how works. For example pants on his head.

The best thing about this is that these moments of comedy would show these small robots to be fun, and almost child like imitating what we have done. It would break up the serious tone of the game for some light hearted relief. In a sense the character could be one of the group you go on the journey with, adding humor to keep things fun.

Pro-Life Robot Initial Concepts

Just initial concepts for the pro-life robots. I chose two quite quirky designs, they would both be quite small which helps to show they are the underdog. I've tried to give them fairly humanistic qualities as well since they have been influenced by our race.

Final Human Character Design + w.i.p's

Still no name, I have a few to choose from which have different meanings. As I said I wanted something that related to environment or nature/life. These are a few that I am interested in:

Ash - Ash Tree
Rowan - Rowan Tree
Hudson - River
Reed

I don't want something too farfetched, but is also somewhat known. Rowan doesn't seem too bad - or Hudson - it sounds very spacey.

On to my finished piece. It took me longer than expected and I wish I could have done more. To explain the piece and what I am trying to convey through it:

He's a somewhat lonely man. Often escaping as a child to get away from life and it's problems in which he was trapped. He was raised around a lake and was therefore quite in touch with nature. The ultimate escapism was when he became an astronaut.

-I gave the character down turned goggles and head to signify his sadness.

-The use of an earthy palette of colours to highlight that fact he is in touch with nature/fighting for the pro-life robots.

- Cool background to compliment the earthy colours

- I made him slightly hunched to show he's no brash hero who thinks he can take on this challenge. This is also the reason the gun arm was pointing down. He doesn't want conflict if he can avoid it, thus his arm is pointing down rather than up.

The steampunk style didn't go as well as I wanted it too. I knew it wasn't going to be full steampunk but I am reasonably happy with what turned out. If I have it my way I would probably have done more colour tests before painting the character. But the rusty look on the metal helps to show the the materials are more natural and haphazard.

Edit: I got criticized on a number of aspects regarding the characters appearance. I was asked to think about whether why he has clothes when the robots only have low level life and therefore clothes don't make sense. The leather and green overalls could have come from the crashed ship. I responded by saying they could be under overalls for a suit. The game is set slightly in the future and what he wears in his ship is unknown to some degree.

I also got asked whether his skin/ breathing would be a problem since the planet is different. My answer to that is that it isn't much different. Hence why life is beginning to form. I could have went with design two in which he has a full helmet or breathing apparatus, but that would be detrimental to characterization.

Another aspect criticized was what each part of his armor would actually do. A lot of the Steampunk/industrial style is such that you don't really know when you look at it. As long as it looks to have a purpose that's fine. This having been said, His boots have a punp gas container on the back to help walk, since they quite big, but also to add for gameplay purposes e.g jumping higher (double jump). The arm cannon is fairly self explanatory a dial for pressure and a wheel to turn to shoot the device. It is connected through a pipe to his shoulder piece that in turn connects to his backpack powering it. The shoulder piece acts as armor to some extent. The cog device could be a way of gaing energy through wind power, with the device being spun to sustain power.

These are criticisms that can be rectified by the story, rather than them being things I will need to completely overhaul. Nonetheless they where good to consider.