#4 Theme - Medieval Fantasy Night Club Mix
The last and final theme we decided upon was a mix between two themes - Nightclub and a Medieval fantasy. We’ll have our characters from medieval fantasy in a more normal scenario such as going to a night club. Since I take a lot of visual inspiration from movies - I started doing my research by watching “Onward” a 2020 Disney/Pixar animated movie.
Events of this movie are set in a suburban fantasy world, where two elf brothers are on a quest to find an artifact that will temporarily bring back their dead father to life. This movie a mixes typical fantasy world that's inhabited by mythic creatures with the modern real world that we know today.
The mix between reality and fantasy shown in this movie helped me to understand the balance between those two genres as well as showing some great character design which helped fuel my creative process.
I was inspired by this movie and the way it showed mystical creatures as normal citizens, living their normal lives, having a job, etc. I designed my set of characters similarly to this, as they will be in a medieval style however, they are in the modern world.
Character Design
Tomboy
One of the aims for our game is to include various types of characters. A story where everyone can be a hero, independent of their sex, race or sexual orientation. I decided to start with a more tomboyish character.
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviours considered typical of a boy. Common characteristics include wearing masculine clothing // visual representation can be found on the mood board I created for this character//
and engaging in games and activities that are physical in nature and are considered in many cultures to be unfeminine or the domain of boys.
Taking inspiration from the movie "Onward" and the art style of "Kipo" as well as the mood board I made earlier I created a petite elf character. The feminine features are mostly shown by her body type - especially the wide hips. The more tomboyish features are : her hairstyle and the type of clothing she's wearing. Being rather on a small side she would be a supporting character // she would help the main cast by healing and providing buffs to allies or debuffing and inflicting status effects on enemies.
WereWolf
In folklore, a werewolf is a human with the ability to turn themselves into a wolf.
Usually, these creatures are depicted using dark and dull colours which wouldn't be ideal for our game so I decided to mix it with the colour palette I made for the nightclub to make them stand out more. Moreover, I think it would be more unique and interesting to see this legendary creature in more bright and vivid colours giving it a new and refreshing feel.
His broadness gives him more of a warrior-like body type. He would be comfortable taking damage. Unfortunately, he didn’t fit in the nightclub scenario due to his ragged clothes. This character design was later recycled and the werewolf became a bartender. The player can meet him now in the shrine// in this scenario it's a bar// and he will gladly serve any healing drinks the player might need.
Mage
Mage - Mood board
The characters shown in the mood board have similar features in common
for example :
the glowing eyes - to show the magic within them
pointy ears - as the creatures are non-human // more elf-like
horns -to seem more dangerous and powerful
All those features were implemented to our design.
Outfit Mood Board
Inspired by Korean fashion and kpop.
We decided to choose Korean fashion because it is more unique then the western one. It is more creative and out there plus the ones shown in the mood board already resemble video game characters.
Taking inspiration from previously made mood boards I created a female mage character with 3 different outfits to see which one fits her best. After showing them to my team leader - Bernardo he was really pleased with her design. We decided to take forward the character nr 1 as she has the brightest and most colourful outfit which will help her stand out in the dark night club.
Later I made a more detailed version of her design. She has new shoes as well as a plaid skirt. Also, there are more details visible like her bra.
I decided to fill the character with one flat colour as it is easier to see her design and it will be easier for me later to recreate her body type, outfit and to pose her.
Bard
Bard - Moodboard
Bard will be a supporting character that would use his musical instrument to support other friendly characters in the players' party
Outfit mood board - Guys
For the outfits, we decided to go with the 80s style because it was a decade of bold style, colours which would be a great tool to play with. Moreover it would fit the nightclub-style greatly as the character would stand out from the crowd.
With this character, I decided to play with the pattern of his pants since the mood board showed some interesting designs and I wanted to see how far can I push it. As it can be seen I tested various patterns and clothing options to see which one fits best.
Demoness
Demoness is a female version of a demon. For her design, we chose to be inspired by Morrigan character from Darkstalkers since the style of her design is unique and interesting as well as mixing it with the small red dress that would fit the type of the character she would be.
The red colour is usually described ad the color of the devil that's why we wanted to push this colour forward.
Those images show a process of changes that this character went through. Even though I was happy with the first design after talking to my project leader we decided that the wings behind her ears were too iconic for the Morrigan character from Darkstalkers. After removing the wings we wanted to try adding some tribal tattoos but it got too crowded and messy as he was wearing a necklace at that time. A solution for that was removing the necklace. My project leader was satisfied with the final design but having to animate this character with the tattoo might not look as smooth since we're going to use the frame by frame animation style. Having to redraw the tattoo on every frame would be very time consuming so we decided to go back to the version with the necklace.
Choosing the darker skin tone highlights the colour of her dress and fits better than the lighter version
Orc Warrior
Orcs are usually described as bestial humanoids with muscular frames, large canine teeth and snouts rather than human-like noses.
The mood board shows different versions of orcs as well as the body type I wanted to use.
In my design, I opted for a more appealing version of an orc. As it is shown, she has a very muscular body type which is perfect for the role of a warrior. Her hair is tied up behind her so it would be easier for her to fight as her hair won't get in the way. Creating more tomboyish character I decided to give her slit eyebrow and a stronger jaw - additionally, those two features make her more intimidating. She is a strong female character, not held back by typical beauty standards. She would be comfortable taking damage as well as dealing a great deal of damage to the enemy party.
For the colour pallet, I decided to go with standard green colous that orcs are known for. But to give her more colour I used red for the colour of the hair as it complements nicely the color of her skin. As for the outfit I wanted to show as much body as possible - to show how buff she is. It is similar to the bodybuilder contests where the contestants are showing who is more muscular.
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