Character Design - Sci Fi Duo and alien Race (ideas)

Steampunk v Solarpunk

 

 

I instantly wanted my duo to contrast greatly from the alien race to show different lifestyles as well as the idea of different planets. The duo coming from Earth would be Steampunk whilst the alien race would have Solarpunk inspired designs

 

The aliens would look primitive however their existence would be more harmonious with their planet, they would not be a drain, their technology would be far more advanced but again would not threaten their lives - they would stand for everything ideal that humanity would desire after the destruction of Earth

 

Edge Maverick - Star Ocean: The Last Hope 

 

My protagonist would be inspired very much by characters like Edge Maverick.

A lot of the time the protagonist is male with a female companion or will encounter the female lead so I decided to stick with the trend initially though I would design a few females and experiment with which I preferred. 

 

Rather than vibrant colours I imagine my protagonist to consist of dreary colours to reflect humanity's turmoil

 

Phantasy Star Online HUmar category character

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I like to focus on RPG's and the types I play, the protagonist is usually a melee fighter the typical weapon being a sword and that is a comfortable trend I enjoy 

 

The modified human is another interesting aspect

 

 

Bacchus D-79 Morphus - Star Ocean: The Last Hope 

 

 

For the companion to the protagonist I instantly wanted an artificial life form.

 

 

 

I liked the issues of what makes us human and the boundaries of science and androids brought up in Ghost in the Shell

 

 

 

Bacchus has been a character that has really stood out in regards to games for me - the only human remains of him is his brain the rest he has modified for battle and to escape illness.

 

I like the idea of Androids and Cyborgs essentially being super soldiers as they do not have to be concerned with pain or death  

 

 

 

Appleseed Briareos

Briareos is another humanoid who's design and concept I find very appealing. Again very few parts of him remain human

Another root I could take was perhaps including more mecha to the protagonist and companion rather than androids or enhanced humans to give a brighter atmosphere than dark and tragic 

 

 

The designs for Barnaby Brooks Jr and Kotetsu Kaburagi were very interesting - the largely futuristic design was a nice contrast to their rather contemporary setting  



As for the alien I decided to look more at fantasy characters for the contrast liking the minimalistic and more realistic designs as well as for a more old world element

 

Lymel Lemuri Phi - Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Another Star Ocean design

The design is less metallic and more natural however there are still sci-fi elements - the metal accessories with the orbs and the weapon itself looks intelligent



 

 

 

 

Rune Factory designs are always intriguing and beautiful with rich detail and a storybook fantasy look

 

My alien would most likely be female - the dresses and feminine attire for such characters is always elegant and more entertaining to work with

However if I was to have a female protagonist or a sci-fi alien I imagine I would aim for a Bubble gum crisis or Evangelion style slim body suit

 

Iconic designs

The skin tight body suit would also work well with a sort of mecha armour idea so whilst the armour would be bulky she would still hold a very feminine allure that would appeal to players

 

 

 

Similarly if the alien were to be male the design would most likely aim to be like Faize Sheifa Beleth's or Giotto's from Star Ocean - I like the elegance that still utilises some obviously more technical, advanced material features

 

 

Faize Sheifa Beleth - Star Ocean: The Last Hope

 

I particularly like Faize's almost militaristic design and the geometric shapes perhaps give it the less natural look. Again like Lymel his various accessories such as his ear guards and his armlets suggest intelligent technology and an advanced lifestyle but is warmer in atmosphere

Giotto is similar (not exactly as he is a Morphos whilst Faize is an Eldarian) his design is less typical sci-fi with no metal embellishments however the patterns on his clothes are almost like a motherboard pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Studies - Sci-fi Duo/Alien race (alien concepts)

Alien Witch / Mage

Sci-fi is hugely out of my comfort zone but my ideas so far are steam punk/cyber punk/classic sci-fi v solar punk/sci-fi fantasy

Sci-fi games sometimes have humanity leaving Earth after a cataclysmic event that destroys most of the habitable landscape or Earth becomes uninhabitable though our own lack of care so I wanted steam punk based human character to visually portray human selfishness/foolishness whilst the alien race will be solar punk (more emphasis on eco-friendly sustainable living, healthy environments) as humans travel to find a new sustainable home



Humanoid Alien Concepts

Space Elf

Witch

 

Whilst they have a fantasy/primitive design (solar punk or more of a natural ancient world look) to establish the extra-terrestrial sci-fi theme their weapons will be far more advanced and intelligent than the human character's



Witch concepts - Roughs

The first design I liked best was a wayward traveller perhaps minstrel themed design, for the second it was a mystic Spartan design with extra feminine accessories and the third was Greek inspired, mainly from Kid Icarus' Palutena and Medusa


3DS Max & Unreal - Third Project (Ideas)

Level Creation

 

As soon as we received this brief I knew what I wanted to create

 

I always loved the temples in the Tales games and the Temple of Time from Zelda, the spiritual minimalistic but well lit and clean spaces and the sheer size of the space and the effect of perspective on the players making them look that much smaller. 

I had also recently seen designs from Tales of Zestiria based on Arthurian legends, Pendrago and the Ladylake being my favourite environments.  

 

Pendrago - Stone, European castle style
Pendrago also has a magnificent and large Shrine Church
 

 

Ladylake Shrine Church

 

The amount of open space is nice in contrast to all the over hanging embellishments/assets and the pedestal/alter

 

 

In most Tales games elements (wind, fire, earth and water) are greatly emphasised and I wanted to use that trend however create a universal shrine to represent balance and the elements working in unison

 

Vivia Aqueduct beneath Roundtable Palace in Ladylake

 

 

 

 

 

I very much liked the secret room idea below the main area and with the Pendrago castle look I imagined typical secret moving walls / doors as in Rountable Palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to continue with the solar punk idea from my last project and have lots of plants and foliage within the level - I also imagined a huge healthy tree as a centre piece - in games like Symphonia and Phantasia a tree is symbolically at the centre of the world based around Yggdrasil (and named as such in the game itself) the tree of life

 

 

 



 

I also wanted to continue incorporating Xillia's Fenmont being one of my favourite levels visually. So while the plant life wouldn't be overgrown like in my room project it would still be abundant and slightly phosphorescent to give it a fantastical magic quality

 

Fenmont from afar

Xillia's Xian Du was another favourite visually - I liked the hanging tapestries and the rich vibrant colours









3DS Max - Second Project (wrapping/finished)

Mapping and Textures

 

Wrapping the cockpit took the longest - I hadn't properly modelled it with the edge method and with little time left I ended up manipulating a sphere shape instead and used bevel/extrude a lot to add shape definition

Now looking back on it I feel I could have tried to make the blue consistent all over


The colours looked a little more consistent after the finished model had been rendered however the cockpit was still a richer blue

 

 Some of the assets such as the ring on the nose didn't appear to well and some of the textures scratches looked out of place



3DS Max - Second Project (concepts)

Star Wars Ship



The wings stood out and the egg shaped cockpit

I am not much for Star Wars but the Jedi Interceptor is one I particularly liked the look of

The bridge over the body/wings caught my attention

Star Ocean is a Sci-fi franchise I've had more time with and the Calnus III is my favourite space craft







My initial idea was a classic Star Wars ship fused with some Japanese RPG style ships - the ones I'm most accustomed to - but with more weapons


Gods Eater - Alisha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the guns I wanted something bulkier so looked at the gun type God Arcs from another of my favourite RPGs 

Default mode God Arc

Keeping the wings and cockpit of the Jedi Interceptor however longer and winder wings, the bridge from the Calnus III and more/larger guns attached to the base instead of two lasers on the wings
I wasn't sure whether to include R2-D2 however I believe it is a requirement (?) for the ship
I also removed the extra parts from the wings


 

3DS max - First project (Lighting/Finished)

 Finished 

Experimenting with various lights (spot, direct and omni) I found omni was the best for creating the glow of the plants

The finished result looks a little too simple and the plants look too flat

Wyvern Mural

3DS max - First Project (textures)

Adding textures

 The temple would not be as grand and decorated as the temple of heaven. Stone and wood basics would be used to reflect an ancient old world theme. I always liked the look of Fengshen Yanyi environments

Fengshen Yanyi (Mystic Heroes) environment

 The pillars were given a cloth material texture with a pattern at the base with a simple Native American print to accompany the styled mural

Scene with cameras set up to circle the room

3DS max - First Project (Assets)

Creating more complex structures 

 

Fountain center piece

Adding vegitation and extra beams

 The temple would be minimalistic in design with very little occupying it to go for an untouched, undisturbed atmosphere emphasised by minimal light besides an almost erries green glow from the plants

 

 

Basic structures and vegetation added

Vegetation isn't oo over-grown except from the fountain, the environment is controlled naturally. The temples found in the Tales games and Legend of Zelda are sometimes in perfect condition giving the impression they are being looked after despire the lack of intelligent life which gives them a sense of detatchment from the real world

3DS max - First project (Basic structures)

Modelling

Still getting to grips with the 3D software; making the basic structures

Round room based on China's Temple of Heaven - circles representing celestial bodies such as Earth, the Moon and the Sun and themes such as harmony 

Making pillars and stairs

Wireframe mode - adding support rigs

Temple of Heaven - Beijing

The outside would resemble Japanese and Chinese temples with Pagoda style sloping roofs

The temple would be situated in a cave with light falling in filtering through the opening in the roof

3DS max - First Project (Concepts)

Concepts

Initial idea - the room would consist of lots of light, green and yellow to give the impression of vitality

Plant life

Glowing plants will provide light for the level

Native American dream catcher inspired

East/West blend focusing on china's Temple of Heaven and Native American patterns

Floor tiles - dream catcher pattern also to reflect scales as well as perhaps roots relating to the Earth/natural theme *

Wyvern mural designs based on Native American animal
paintings and Japanese Mon symbols

I made the level with my characters Sparrow and Kunic in mind, thus made the temple his shrine
Earth also represents the body/heart in some cultures so I kept that in mind to create more temples based on other elements and body parts

The three legged crow represents the Sun in Chinese mythology and guidance in Shinto as a messanger from heaven

I liked the use of shapes/patterns and the colours in their prints, the colours are rich and earthy but stand out. Many cave/wall paintings are a reddish paint - the colour may add to emphasise age in the level 

 
* The idea was to have different temples reflect a dragon/wyvern like characteristic, the tiled floor of the Earth temple for example, Earth being the body, would represent the scales, the lack of openings and the pillars to in a way stand as the chest/ribcage.