Pi_Finity
Narrative Design Project
Brief
I am being asked to make a fantasy game similar to the theme of Legend of Zelda, Witcher and Ori and the Blind Forest. With my concepts I will have to pitch a unique original narrative plot with art of the environments and characters, I will also have to find my own inspiration for the game and do some contextual and visual research.
Contextual Research
Fantasy Game Analysis
Rain World
Rain World is an expansive 2D platformer primarily based on exploration and survival. The game features a unique pixel art style, stunning visuals and fascinating deadly settings paired with generative physic animations and AI, Rain World is one of the few games able to portray a deep, natural, fleshed out and interactive environment giving the player a challenge to survive, explore this world and unlock it's secrets.
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Plot
You play as a Slugcat, there are multiple versions of the Slugcat you can play as that give different gameplay styles and endings, however I'm going to be exploring the default one the Survivor. In this abandoned world where creatures of all kinds have taken over, you a Slugcat must survive deadly crushing rain and hunt down food with your tribe to live to see another day. However, the Slugcat after failing a climb gets separated from its family having no choice but to live and survive on it's own. After a short while you encounter a weird yellow creature (an Overseer) that mysteriously acts as a guide, stringing you towards what seems to be a journey back to your tribe while helping you avoid dangerous predators.
However, as the guide seems to loose track of your tribe, it begins to guide you towards a different; the yellow creature guides you to a Iterator, massive ancient machinery with abandoned cities built on top of them responsible for the deadly rain, as these machines use the water to cool and clear their systems before "breathing" the water vapour out causing the deadly downpour of rain. There are 2 Iterators out of a total of 5 we see in the Survivors perspective, the Iterators have "Puppets" that we the player can interact with; we meet an Iterator called Looks to the Moon, who has collapsed due to another Iterator Five Pebbles, leaching off her water source.
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The player is then guided to Five Pebbles, who grants us the ability to communicate with the Iterators, it is here we discover the Slugcat Survivor's true intentions which is to break free from the cycle of reincarnation they are stuck in. Nearing the end of the game, Five Pebbles directs Slugcat to a spot deep in the ocean where they can free itself, we go back to Looks to the Moon to give her stolen Neurons from Five Pebbles which give back some of her memories and abilities, we learn more about the world before heading off into the dark depths.
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The game ends with us swimming through a dark void, before duplicates (speculated to be the different reincarnated lives we've had) finding a temple and swimming into a bright glowing light breaking the cycle and ascending, the end credits then show us reuniting with the tribe.
Rainworld Story Analysis
Rainworld's story's situational archetypes within the Survivors gameplay are a mixture of The Quest, with the Survivor having to get Neurons for Looks to the Moon, and Voyage And Return, being the goal of trying to reunite with their tribe with the reincarnation cycle being broken. The game also features a Todorov’s Equilibrium - Disequilibrium narrative structure:​
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Equilibrium - Survivor is with it's tribe, surviving Rainworld's harsh climate with its family.
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Disruption - The Survivor falls from a jump leaving it separated from his tribe
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Disequilibrium - Slugcat must survive on its own, setting off on its own journey being guided by multiple creatures like the Iterators and the Overseers.
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Repair - It's journey eventually leads them to break the reincarnation cycle, swimming to a hole deep within the Earth.
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New Equilibrium - The Slugcat reunites with its tribe.
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I think this narrative design is fitting for this game as the whole focus of the gameplay is the environment and how everything is almost like an ecosystem, not having a direct storyline or goal that would be world altering or have a large impact; therefore it would make sense for there to be a slight change of the Equilibrium as we are focused on a small creature that so happened to break away from its tribe and break the cycle of reincarnation before returning to the tribe again. I think it also works because of the different Slugcats you can play as including in the DLC that have the same story structure.
Character & Environment Analysis
There are only a few relevant characters in Rainworld that can be labeled with character archetypes, as most NPCs and creatures aren't characters with a goal and are placed in the environment with the instinct to survive. This puts most creatures in either two character archetypes; The Guardian - comprising of hostile creatures that block the Survivors path, and the Ally, Neutral and edible creatures that help the Survivor.
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The creatures that do uphold another type of archetypes are:
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The Protagonist - The Survivor is the creature you play as and fits into this archetype as it is separated from it's tribe and needs to return, so not so much a hero unless you count it stealing Neurons from Five Pebbles to give to Looks To The Moon.
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The Herald - Narrative wise this would be being separated from the tribe however, the Survivor needed to be guided by a creature called the Overseer to even meet Five Pebbles or Looks To The Moon.
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The Shapeshifter - Five Pebbles at first is an ally and helps Survivor by giving him the Mark of Communication and telling it how to break the cycle of reincarnation, however in-game he gets more irritated if you return to his chamber, leading for him to kill you on the third return.
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The Ally - Looks To The Moon is more of an ally and a friend that helps guide you and tell Survivor about how this world was created and general information.
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The Princess - Rather than being a creature, The Princess is more of an object the Survivor is trying to get to which is the Deep Sea where the cycle of reincarnation will be broken.
With the character archetypes, Rainworld also manages to have a handful of setting archetypes, as it is an environment-focused game Rainworld has a total of 12 different regions, each with its personalised music and different creatures.
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The Garden - The big tree where the Slugcats are seen at the beginning and end of the game can represent the garden as a place of peace and prosperity where this species can thrive.
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The Forest - The Forest is the archetypes where most of the regions fit as most regions are wild and infested with Beasts.​
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The Mountain - The Exterior is comprised of The Wall, The Underhang and the Leg, all dangerous areas infested by hostile creatures. Survivor must climb most of these areas vertically where it could fall to it's death at any moment. This section itself is the outer shell of the Iterator Five Pebbles, who you will find within this area.​
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The Sea - The Depths are the last section you have to go through in the game, within this section is an endless abyss of water and ancient and alien looking creatures that are gigantic compared to the Survivor, who must swim endlessly to finally find what it needs to break the cycle of reincarnation.
Broken Age
Broken Age is a point and click adventure game involving 2 protagonists, each having their own stories based in two separate worlds. The player can switch what perspective they want to play as and depending on the actions and events in one perspective, it will affect the story in the other perspective. the player must talk to other characters and complete puzzles to make progress in the game. It is said that both Shay and Vella have a subtle telepathic connection to each other, which helps them overcome the difficulties they face.
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Plot
Shay and Vella are two protagonists of two sperate stories. Vella Tartine was fated to be sacrificed to a monster called Mog Chothra, who is said to choose and eat Maidens of each town, otherwise it will go on a rampage. Vella decides to try and escape and fight back against the monster once and for all. Shay Volta is a young man on a spaceship, the Bassinostra, he believes was sent on a mission to discover a new planet as his people back in Loruna are dying. He's been looked after by an overprotective Sun computer that considers it self Shay's mother and another computer representing the moon that is considered his father, Shay himself is bored of the monotonous, repetitive routine he does everyday and tries to break free.
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Act 1
Vella escapes the Maiden Feast, an event dedicated to sacrificing Maidens to Mog Chothra, and flies away on a giant bird. Vella goes to a sky village where a maiden feast had already been held, after finding non of the residents don't want to help her defeat Mog she sets off to a village near the sea, Shellmound, where a temple resides. Vella discovers that this temple is actually an ancient spaceship buried in the sand; she wakes up the pilot, Alex, out of stasis so she can use the ancient ship's scanning system as a weapon against Mog Chothra.
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Shay meanwhile tries to sabotage one of his daily adventures, meeting Marek who claims to be a man in a wolf costume that has been watching over him. He tells Shay that the "Mom" computer has been hiding the fact that the universe is at war at that he needs to save creatures from other planets. Shay then endangers the mission twice by trying to save a creature that kept running away. Marek says to finally defeat the "Overmother" he must take over the ship's controls, the ship crashes on the beach of Shellmound.
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By the end of Act 1 we realise that these two stories are in the same world, as the Act ends with Vella going up to the defeated Mog Chothra on the Shellmound beach, with Shay emerging from Mog's mouth. Vella tries to punch Shay seeing him as a threat but misses and falls into the mouth as it closes while Shay is left outside. Turns out the monster that came to eat maidens was Shay's spaceship disguised as a monster with the interior to make it look like Shay was in space, and unknown to Shay, the creatures he was "saving" were the maidens during the Maiden Feast and that the creature that kept running away was Vella.
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Act 2
Vella is now trapped inside the spaceship, she meets Marek who tells her that the ship's computer is controlling Mog. Vella using the ship's remaining equipment disguises as Shay to trick the "Mom" computer, but when she breaks inside the room, she finds out that the computer is actually a woman named Hope, Shay's mother. Marek locks the two inside and reveals himself as a Thrush, a genetically, mutated, elitist race of people living in a hidden city called Loruna. The Thrush collect people from the "Badlands" to diversify their gene pool by deconstructing them. When Vella escapes the ship has already landed in Loruna, Vella then frees the kidnapped maidens while Marek is distracted, plants a bomb inside the Mog factory, and as marek leaves the ship, hope takes control and leads the ship out of the factory just before the bomb explodes.​
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Shay is now free from his spaceship prison and explores the town of Shellmound, he discovers that the computers he called Mom and Dad on the ship weren't computers at all but his real parents. Shay meets Alex, who reveals that he was tricked by Marek too and that he was also in a ship and that he had to save helpless creatures, and crash landed. They deduced the helpless creatures were the maidens from the Maidens Feast. After the ship with Vella trapped inside heads towards Loruna, Shay convinces Alex to repair the crashed space ship to go after them.
The two ships collide outside the Loruna, as they are both on auto pilot and cannot get around each other. Shay and Vella eventually get both ships to melt to form a bridge. marek tries to capture Vella but she beats him up, escapes and reunites with her family. Shay nearly falls off the bridge but is then rescued by a sentient toy introduced earlier as Grabbin Garry, he escapes and reunites with his family.
Broken Age Story Analysis
Broken Age's story consist of the situational archetypes Overcoming the Master​ with the Thrush and Marek needing to be stopped from kidnapping maidens and Voyage And Return where both Shay and Vella are thrown into territory estranged to them and they must return to reunite with their families, the story also follows a MacKendrick’s Step Approach:
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Once upon a time - Depending on who the player chose first, they are introduced to either the town of Sugar Bunting or the Bassinostra the ship which is voyaging for a new planet.​
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There lived A - Vella is introduced as a strong baker girl who was chosen as a maiden in the Maiden Feast (a sacrificial ceremony to a monster called Mog, Shay is introduced as this rebellious young man who is trapped and overprotected by his "Mom" computer.​
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Who - Vella wants to fight back against the Mog while Shay wants to find an escape for his monotonous life.​
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But - Vella is stuck having to attend the Maiden's feast after trying to ask Levina (a elderly who convinced everyone to do the ritual in the first place) why they don't fight back. Levina is horrified at the notion and still gets Vella to attend the ritual. Shay is stuck with the boring adventures, as the "Mom" computer has eyes everywhere.
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So one day it happened that - Mog Chothra has arrived and Vella doesn't want to be eaten. Vella breaks free on a flying bird, and goes above the clouds and finds Meriloft. Shay sabotages one of his adventures and falls into a pit of foam, in which he meets Marek. Both their stories continue which leads to...
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So then as a result of which - Vella after finding the ancient spaceship and uses it to take down Mog Chothra, the monster turns out to be Shay's space ship. The two both meet but get separated as Vella gets trapped inside the ship with Shay outside. Marek fakes being under rubble, the ship's autopilot heads back to loruna.
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But meanwhile - Shay tries to use the ancient spaceship to try and chase them.
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So that unbeknownst to - ​Unknown to Vella and Shay, the Thrush (an elitist mutated race) are planning to use the kidnapped maidens and deconstruct them to expand their gene pool.
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Until the time came that - Marek traps Vella in the computers control room where Marek explains what the Thrush are and his goals. It is also revealed that Levina is also a Thrush
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When suddenly to the surprise of - Vella breaks out and plants a bomb in Loruna's Mog Chothra spaceship factory and escapes. Shay also having caught up in the ancient spaceship crashes into Vella's ship. Both ships melt to form a bridge
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So it turned out that - Marek tries to capture Vella but fails as she beats him up and throws him off the bridge. Shay nearly dies trying to escape the melting ship but gets saved.
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And for ever after - The two reunite with their families.
The two storylines can also fit into Propp’s 31 stages of Narrative​:
Vella
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Preparation: A rule is imposed on the hero. - Vella needs to attend the Maiden Feast.
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Complication The hero plans action against the villain.​ - Vella plans to kill Mog Chothra.
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Transference: The hero leaves home. - Vella escapes.
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Struggle: The villain is defeated. - She takes down Mog Chothra.
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Return: The hero is pursued. The hero is rescued from pursuit.​ - Vella is trapped, taken to Loruna and escapes.
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Recognition: The villain is punished. - Marek dies.
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Shay
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Preparation: A rule is imposed on the hero. This prohibition is broken. The villain tries to spy on the hero.​ The villain deceives the hero.​ The hero unknowingly helps the villain - Marek tricks Shay to kidnap maidens
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Complication: The villain harms a member of the hero’s family. - Shay's mother is trapped on the ship which is autopiloted to Loruna.
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Transference: The hero journeys towards his goal. - Shay gets the ancient ship to chase after them
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Struggle: The villain is defeated. - Vella defeats Marek
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Return: A difficult task is set for the hero. The task is accomplished.​ - Shay tries to jump for safety and is saved
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Recognition: The hero is recognised. - Shay reunites with his mother.
Character & Environment Analysis
Broken World is a story driven game and therefore has a lot of character and setting archetypes, especially with its 2 running plots. Though many characters are just side characters to fill out the world building and are there for the puzzles, many character have a significant role.
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The Hero - both Vella and Shay are the Hero archetype, as Vella tries to kill the monster supposed to cause havoc and eat people and Shay being determined to save helpless creatures escaping a space war. Both by the end have the goal to stop the Thrush.
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The Villain - In Vella's story Mog Chothra seems to be the villain at first, but later it is revealed that the Thrush and specifically Marek is a threat a long with Levina from her village.
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The Ally - The sentient toys called Hexipals can count as an ally as you can keep the in your inventory and Shay's playthrough, they can help you complete puzzles and one saves Shay in the ending of the game.
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The Herald - Marek convinces Shay to go against the computers wishes and to help him save creatures from a war, eventually we find out he was a villain all along trying to use kidnapped maidens.
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The Guardian - Most characters fit under this archetype as a form of puzzle Vella or Shay have to complete.
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The Shapeshifter - Marek is the character that changes his role the most
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The Princess - The kidnapped Maidens can count as Vella frees them from their capture.
Broken World also has a lot of settings and places both on the spaceship and the different villages in what the Thrush call the "Badlands." Broken Age seems to follow setting archetypes in a very literal sense:
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The Village - Vella's home is a city by the water called Sugar Bunting, although the people now live in peace as a city of bakers, the city used to be known as a place full of warriors and was used to be called Steel Bunting. Here there is law and order and the expectation of girls to attend the Maiden Feast, with most people doubting those who want to fight back against the monster.
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The Island - Shay's spaceship the Bassinostra is Shay's home he's known for his own life, he is surrounded by artificial intelligent beings and has grown isolated and bored due to a repetitive life style as he is stuck on this ship.
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The Tower - Loruna is a large super intelligent empire, guarded by a high built wall called the Plague Dam, Shay has the mission to chase after Bassinostra to find his mother who was still on the ship.​​​​
Visual Research
Rainworld Art Analysis: General Artstyle
Rainworld has two art styles; the drawn detailed official art and the pixel sprites and backgrounds in the actual game play. The in-game drawn art comes in cutscenes serving as contextual pieces to fill the player in on the story with the exception of one art piece shown during the hibernation sequence, a mechanic in the game. The overall art style of the game is this pixelated 2D style, each NPC, object, environment and Slugcat sprite is made from non-grid restricted pixel art. Some reasons I think this art style works well with the theme of the game is that it reflects the dystopian environment the game presents to us while also still being portrayed as unique and expansive as the pixels aren't locked to a grid like other pixel games, therefore making it look unnatural and breaking expectations.
Another reason for this art style might have been to simplify the generative animations to still look natural; the game uses an advanced generative AI to make the animations and movements of the NPCs meaning the creatures can interact with the environment in a natural and authentic way. This means the animations for each creature is based on this AI, therefore there were no premade animations, simply code to tell the creature what limb movements it would make: therefore the art style must be fluid enough top create procedurally generated animation.
Focusing on the pixelated gameplay art style, the background and the creatures, plants and Slugcat contrast in tone and colour, this is especially seen in the first section of the game where the Survivor's pure white sprite contrasts significantly to the dreary foggy background, the same goes for the creatures and a bit for the foliage; the reason might be to easily distinguish the characters from the busy background. The background also has a foggy misty effect to give the backgrounds depth and to further indicate a dystopian environment. To add to the contrast, all the background elements and surrounding areas are very complicatedly; full of hanging growths and vegetation with other cluttering elements such as garbage and waste. by making the main playable character much more simpler and plain it gives it more recognisability and distinction. Despite most of the sprites being made of pixels, the game does a good job with shape language making the Slugcats and other non-hostile creatures look round and friendly, while hostile creatures look sharp, more box shaped and threatening. The last point that drives these creatures to seem fleshed out is the diverse size of each creature and how bigger creatures t and Overall the pixelated art style is a good fit for a dystopian world, being detailed and unique, if the developers had picked a 3D modelled or non pixelated style I think the game would lose part of it's originality.
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Now looking at the official art, the cutscene at the beginning of the game is bright and vivid with colour, contrast to the rest of the environments in the gameplay; this could represent the change from the comfort of the Survivor's tribe to an unwelcoming and difficult setting. The ending cutscenes are painted with golden and red bright hues which I think represent ascension and the reunion of Survivors tribe; I believe this is fitting for the ending of the game as it conveys a sense of finality and hope for the tribe and the Survivor. The colours also reflect the mood of the cutscene with warmer colours being used when the Survivor is with its tribe and cooler and darker colours representing it's separation from it's family. The rest of the cutscenes throughout the game are artworks depicting dream sequences or achievements; these artworks are like the beginning and ending cutscenes but are depicted within a small section in the centre of the image surrounded by darkness. I think this is effective as darkness gives us a sense of sleep and unconsciousness, it also frames the pieces in an interesting way making the colours become more distinctive and vibrant.
Rainworld Art Analysis: Concept Art / Creature Designs
Rainworld during it's development only had 2 artists, Joar Jakobsson and Allegra "Del" Northern, Del is responsible for the dynamic, expressive promo art for Rainworld while Joar was responsible for the creative sketch, pixel art and creature designs for the game.
With Joars concept art, he focuses on the designs and different iterations of those designs to see what would be the best outcome. It shows how he thoroughly thinks about his designs as well as thinking about how the designs would fit in-game by doing concept art with pixel art. I also like how he doesn't do iterations that are slightly different, he expands his options by changing major design aspects filling the whole page with different concepts. With these different iterations, the different in-game traits of some creatures become apparent and intentional to flesh out the creatures; Lizards have many different traits
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Another positive about his creature designs is the shape language and how he can convey poses, body shape and form with how restraining pixel art can be; despite the simplicity being made out of a few pixels, each of Slugcat's different iterations convey a different character and personality, like the bigger and hunched over iteration seeming more strong and weary while the thinner and straightened iteration looks more confident and agile. I think the final used in-game Slugcat sprite looks like a balanced mix of both these iterations that Joar carefully crafted together, which looks fitting and natural to what the game portrays as a an agile omnivorous creature that can hunt for prey but can quickly run from predators.
I also like Joar's use of colours as he uses quite vibrant neon tones while also making the creatures seem realistic in the environment they've been put in. I think this use of colour is particularly seen in the lizards as each variant is a different colour and have unique traits. I've noticed that with Joar's creature designs he focuses on one primary colour (mostly the colour black or near to black) and one highlight colour which is vibrant and vivid. I think the reason why Joar uses black or slightly brighter tones as the main base for most creatures is because it matches the mostly dark and dreary environment of Rainworld with most of the creatures needing to camouflage however giving the creatures a highlight colour so they don't completely blend in, this mainly apply to hostile and some neutral creatures. Creatures that are edible and or neutral might have a brighter colour scheme to reflect that they can help the player or are noticeable so the player can try to eat the creature.
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Broken Age Art Analysis: General Artstyle
Broken Age is mostly comprised of one painterly stylised art style animated with rigs, with occasionally a geometric and vector like art-style appearing for Shay's computer screens. Broken Age's main art style is bright, vibrant and soft; the team behind Broken Age used a lot of harmonious colours creating appealing colour palettes while still pertaining to the theme of each setting. For example; Vella explores very warm, natural environments like Shellmound and Meriloft, however the interior of the spaceships are much more cooler most of the time, as well as having vibrant, artificial colours used in the backgrounds, characters and objects. Lastly, the colours help blend the animated and clean rigs with background, having those colours helps root the objects and characters in this setting.​
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The texture of everything in the game is also of note, as most background elements of the game have these soft edges, including the backgrounds of the ship. I find this an interesting choice, it helps elevate the games overall painted and blocky stroke aesthetic, while not being to distracting and alienating the more clean edged characters and objects from the environment. While talking about brush strokes and blocking colours , the team seems to have consistently used one type of brush for all art in the game while maintaining a fun smooth colour blocking technique.
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Lastly, I think the game does a good job at shape language and having a general good idea of stylisation using shapes. In Vella's perspective, we see a flourishing world with circular and soft shapes making out the foliage, rocks and clouds. One of my favourite environments, Meriloft, is a village on bubbly and delicate clouds with all the house designs, rather than being solid square shapes, are round and abstract, mimicking natural shapes. I like how it makes the environments seem more realistic while creating a unique look. The same goes for Loruna and the space ships, Loruna being comprised of harsh shapes being a unempathetic empire, and the ship having a lot of complicated and solid shapes like squares and hexagons to make it look sophisticated and futuristic.
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There were many concept artists working on Broken Age , among them were Lee Petty one of the only artists who's concept art is easily accessible. Most of his concept art is in black and white and occasionally uses colour, however he manages to convey interesting environmental story-telling and character designs. I particularly like the lighting and perspective aspects of his concept art, it makes his paintings seems more detailed as well seem more dramatic. When he uses colour, he makes the colours pop by using a grey colourless background or uses the colour sparingly, it highlights his concept art. Shape language and object forms are also prevalent here in his art, even in black and white the form of objects and characters are very clear which shows his knowledge of perspective and depth.
Broken Age Art Analysis: Character Design
One of Broken Age's key features is the character designs, which have a wide variety over the games many locations. However, the characters do have a consistency when exploring the Badlands or when you're on the Bassinostra, as the two places two drastically different aesthetics.
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One way the game portrays the change in aesthetic between the Badlands and Bassinostra is the shape language with characters, for instance most of the inhabitants of the Badlands have circular and detailed designs that reflect the environment they are in. This gives them a more natural and organic look as a lot of things in nature are very detailed and have less smooth and flat surfaces, this is the opposite of the designs on the Bassinostra; as most of the characters are artificial they have less detail and have more flat and perfect edges giving them a more robotic feel, even with the few humanoid designs their body shapes, clothing and accessories are still more geometric than the designs in the Badlands. We can see this reflected in our two main protagonists as Shay has a more rectangular and less detailed design, where Vella has a lot of details in her dress and head piece, while the entirety of her design consists of round shapes.
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Colours also make each character design more unique as well as creating subtle associations with characters, for example all of the Volta family (Shay, the mother and the father computer) all wear a blue colour. This colour theming is seen mainly, the residents of the different towns and cities, most citizens on Meriloft wear brown, green or both as a representation of sticks and leaves due to them being a village of bird keepers, the people of Shellmound wear a lot of bright, vivid colours to represent their happy seaside village, the items like Grabbin Garry all have this yellow, blue and orange colour schemes to indicate that they are all items etc... Colours in the character designs are also used as subtle foreshadowing for Marek's reveal; all other characters have this array of tones and overall vibrant palette, however Marek in his wolf costume is this dark black colour with glowing yellow eyes, black is the colour associated with the Loruna citizens, therefore Marek being in an all black wolf costume contrasting with all the other colourful and fun characters hints towards his trickery.
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Lastly, the lighting for each character is very detailed and changes depending on the lighting of the environment, this small feature adds a lot of depth and realism. They also portray the lighting in different ways like using rim lighting and different angle, this is especially featured in Shay and Vella, as they travel to many different locations within the game.​ I think by implementing this they make the character seem rotted in the environment but also making them stand out.
Contextual & Visual Research (Extra)
Other Media Inspiration: Summaries
Media based on narrative:
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Slay The Princess
A choice based phycological horror game where the narrative changes on how you perceive the princess.
Undertale
An RPG based on a child falling underground and having the choice to either kill or spare monsters. Your choices greatly effect the game.
Marionetta
A webtoon about a girl dying trying to find her friend and instead finding a circus full of ghosts. She must kill the owner of the circus to survive
Media based on visuals:
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Sky: Children of Light
Little Nightmares 2
Slime Rancher
Synposis
In The Minuses
Fantasy Apocalyptic Survival Game - For teens and above
Characters: SC (Space Child), EC (Earth Child), Various Mutated NPCS
An asteroid is set to hit earth with a timer counting down for the impact of the crash, two children on the wait line for the evacuation spaceship get separated, one choosing to stay and one being dragged onto the spaceship. The spaceship leaves before the asteroid hits, leaving the first child watching the screen of the timer but as the it hits 0 nothing happens. Instead, the timer counts in the minuses (hence the title), and as the child steps outside she finds glowing particles high above the clouds. Turns out the asteroid was a colossal mass of space microorganisms that had separated and were now beginning to swarm the Earth.
The child needs to find a way to contact the evacuated spaceships while discovering the new hypermutated environment caused by the microorganisms.
Options for the game:
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There are two POVs one from the child in space and one from the child on Earth, you switch POVs every 5 days, the choices you make on both POVs affect the ending of the game.
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You play as the child on Earth trying to survive the now apocalyptic state of Earth trying to repair a communication device for the spaceship, while the child on the space ship sneaks around building a communication device for earth while trying to convince the residents on the ship to visit Earth.
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Earth is a disaster the first few days, as power cuts off many power plants and factories malfunction causing massive explosions which affect the mutation of the surroundings while the microorganisms mutate and take over animals, however things calm down with the microorganism helping cell growth in plants causing nature to take over.
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The microorganisms can mutate plants and animals rapidly, these might include rapid growth, growth of otherworldly features etc… On the other hand the spaceship is the opposite, metallic walls and dark hallways with florescent lights, the residents are either depressed, angry or scared.
Some endings choices include;
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Ending 1 - The child on Earth has mutated either without the player realizing or discovering later in the game (with hints like broken mirrors and blurred reflections and human corpses having abnormal growths) the child when finally meeting their friend depending on the choices they are either killed for being mutated or accepted as being mutated
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Ending 2 - The child is made the new mutated protector of Earth, the space child having the choice to kill them or join them
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Ending 3 - The Space Child is made into a robotic cyborg weapon sent to destroy the mutations on Earth, the Earth child having the choice to kill them or join them
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True Ending - Both EC and SC are transformed and changed and accept each other.
Planning & Design
Rough Ideas
First, I looked at the research I did on the designs on the first two games, inspired from Broken Age I decided to do some shape motives with the Earth and Spaceship environments as I wanted the two to feel other worldly to each other. I chose a spiral to represent everything overall, however to differentiate the two locations I used a more geometric spiral to represent the man-made and sharp look of the space ship while using a natural and curved spiral for Earth to represent the mutated plants and animals. To further build on this, I throughout all the Earth designs and concepts I kept using circular and abstract shapes while using angular and sharp shapes for the space concepts.
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I did a similar tactic with colours, using blue for the space environments and warmer hues for the Earth, however, with the two main characters, in their designs I made the Earth Child wear a blue colour and made the Space Child have a warmer coloured coat. This was to create a connection between the two characters while also making them stand out from their environment.​​
Sketches
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I started off my designs with focusing on the mutated animals and plants on Earth as I had the most ideas for how the environment would be like.With the designs themselves, like Rainworld I made animal variants. I thought that with mutation there should be different levels of contamination, I therefore made 3 different stages of the mutation and built on how some animals would evolve with each stage:
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Contamination - the microorganisms have only imbedded themselves into the skin or surface of host.
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Mutation - the microorganisms have been breathed in or taken into the body and have started to change the host's DNA to a small extent.
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Metamorphosed - the microorganisms have successfully taken over the entirety of the host changing its behaviour and anatomy.​
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I also thought about how the microorganisms would change an animal or plant while still keeping the spiral motif, I therefore summarised a backstory that they would take over like isopod and worm - like creatures, having been used to having antennae and plating they would adapt earth's animals to having the same. With plants I gave them thin spiralling hair like sensors and nerve like vines for bigger plants and with animals I gave them plating and long spiral nerve like whiskers that acted like antennae along with other features.
Rough design for Space Child.
I made the Earth child's design first and therefore built the Space Child's designs off hers but giving him the opposite features. I finalise this design later.
Sketch of Earth Child.
Since I made a sketch for Space Child I also made one for EC since I also wanted to compare.​
Earth Child's design in progress is seen further in development.
First I did designs for the plants, trying to make a variety that could be seen in this mutated world, I tried to keep a spiral motif through out all of the designs. However with the Mutated and Metamorphosed plants I didn't want to plaster the spiral symbol everywhere, instead I contorted the shape and form of the existing plants to convey a spiral shape in some way; this is mostly seen in the Starry Night Vines named after the famous painting an the Spruce tree's structure having changed to have a spiral when seen from above.
Other designs such as the wheat are based off of other real plants with a similar shape such as Spiral Ginger. Th same is for the rose design based off Datura or Moon Flowers before they bloom. There are three different mushroom designs as I think it is a very common fungi in the wild that still looks alien and otherworldly; the first design is of contaminated Tetrapyrgos mushrooms with a spiral on top, the second are Oyster mushrooms contaminated with hair like sensors, and the third is an Ink Cap that mutated to make a spiral shape when it decayed.
With the animals, I tried to give them each a unique silhouette by giving them each unique features like the rabbits mutated card, the foxes sharp ears with sensor hairs underneath and the birds head swirls. I also gave them this unique eye shape, I think this would help with the branding and recognisability of the game besides from the swirls. I also made the insects very simplistic and cartoonish as a contrast to the complicated designs; story wise the insects are the closest thing to how the microorganism's want their host's to be built like and therefore are unchanged from their real life counter parts. ​
For the stages I did concepts of a sheep based of a Dorset Horn and a Fallow deer. With the sheep I made its horns spiral around their eyes and gave them more hair like antennae further through the stages; the final stage hinting towards the lungs being swollen from breathing in the microorganisms. For the deer I made it so the metamorphosed stage made the antlers grow rapidly causing them o be too heavy; causing the microorganisms the deer's neck and chest to open up to bring in food with the whisker like hairs. I started working on a design for an ally or guide for the Earth child; because in the story she would need to go down the path to being the new mutated protector of Earth, this guide would lead them down this path. I tried to make this design stand out from the other animal designs as it would be a more important character in the story, and for it to be more noticeable within the actual gameplay.
Earth Child's Design Progress
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Out of the two protagonists I had a clearer idea for how the Earth Child would look. During the development of the story I decided on the name Abistra or Abi, and will be referring to her as Abi from now on.
I knew I wanted to give her a more circular silhouette with her hair as well as dungarees or suspenders, however I couldn't quite land on a good art style that would fit with the rest of the designs. First I tested out some more realistic proportions before going for more of a cartoonish style, I also experimented with the hair and the clothes. I was most happy with the bottom left sketch, and therefore expanded upon it on a new page.
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Finalising the outfit and the hair, I polished Abi's design and settled on this stylised anatomy and bouncy hair with definition in the sleeves pockets and cowlicks to give an interesting silhouette. On the same page I polished the ally's design and named its Venus, a mutated cat. I drew parallels from Abi's design to Venus's to draw a connection between them; giving them the same spiral marks on Abi's face on Venus's knees and making the whiskers similar to Abi's cowlick. I think this design is a nice pair for Abi as well as being good for a games recognisability to work as a mascot.
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The last page of sketches is of the fully mutated metamorphized version of Abi, I really wanted to lean into a bug or isopod aesthetic as well as creating a "mother nature" type of design. I tried to also make the spiral more prominent making it a focal point. While making the design I wanted to keep the recognisability of Abi's original human like form, like the spiral cheeks and the same hair shape but evolved. I tried experimenting with the antennae, making it similar to Abi's cowlick in later iterations.
I had less ideas for the spaceship's environment, though by the time I did these sketches I had already finalised Space Child's design, who will from now be called Suba (Sooba).
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I knew I wanted the environment to be more geometric, I therefore looked for inspiration and found that liminal spaces have that dystopian feel I was looking for. As there weren't really any decorations I could think of I started drawing possible places and rooms within the spaceship. I would imagine the spaceship being this cold almost empty place reminiscent of a mall with fake windows portraying a blue fake sky; the top right drawing portraying this. I wanted the spaceship to seem slightly uncanny and uncomfortable, making the living quarters these apartment like round pillars. I also thought of a room that kept track of the day-night cycle, and a seemingly endless hallway.
Based off of Venus, I started planning and conceptualising Suba's guide, a robot dog called Pluto.​ To justify his placement in the game I came up with the story that robot animals were created to help human isolation and loneliness in space. As it is also Suba's guide to turning him into a robotic cyborg, I wanted it to mirror Venus's design; as Venus's eyes is one of it's most prominent features I hid Pluto's and made it's tail short as Venus's is long. I also did little concepts of robot animals that other humans would have.
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While Earth had it's mutated animals and plants, I wanted something on the spaceship to parallel them, I therefore came up with these robot machines that ran the ship represented by the loose wiring on the walls. I wanted these machines to be mysterious, I didn't make a design for them as I wanted their presence to be hinted at in dialogue that you could have with sparse amount of humans on the ship. I also didn't want them to be seen as Suba's robot cyborg is pretty much a direct replica of them. With Suba's cyborg design I wanted to make it close to his original, I therefore ended up giving him a jacket and a long metal skirt similar to his original coat. I also made his cyborg design mimic Pluto's design and made a visor that covered his eyes and put wheels similar to Pluto's. As he is a cyborg tasked to destroy mutations I think he would have a flamethrower like weapon stored in his metallic skirt somewhere.
Developed Sketches/ Concept Art + Story Development
Current story Summary
With the current ideas and concepts, here's the current story plan:
Abi and Suba our two protagonists get separated, as the last evacuation spaceship prepares for take off, and as it does we find Abi stuck in the launch station watching the timer tick down as an asteroid falls towards the Earth. Meanwhile Suba watches through the only window on the spaceship able to see Earth, as all other windows have been covered the residents of the ship too devastated to see their planet get destroyed. However as it comes close to impact, it seems to separate into tiny particles which spread all over Earth's atmosphere, Abi and Suba seeing this now come up with a new goal; to reach each other and reunite. Abi stays inside of the launch station unsure of what exactly happened with the asteroid before being met with Venus, a cat which quickly mutated who found potential in Abi's bravery, deciding to guide her through the new world, meanwhile Suba wallows as the spaceship drifts further and further away from Earth. He is then met with his newly assigned Buddy bot called Pluto, a robotic dog, who senses his want to reunite with his friend and helps him traverse the ship. Venus then tells Abi that it's kind evacuated it's planet like the humans did, being attacked by angry aliens, and worried that it would happen again their kind is trying to find a new protector to save them, Pluto with Suba tells him about the artificial intelligence running the ship, saying they are going to pick a human candidate to turn into a cyborg encase they are attacked. While working on communication devices to contact each other, both protagonist's are lead by Venus and Suba, who unknowingly guide the two to being natural opponents of each other, as Venus tries to convince Abi to metamorphize into Earth's new protector, and Pluto tries to convince Suba to try and get picked to become a cyborg . It is revealed that the aliens which attacked Venus's kind were humans in space suits from a space expedition burnt down their forests on their home planet, and the candidate that would be chosen from the last spaceship would be sent down to Earth to exterminate all the mutations. Depending on the players action's, one of the two protagonists will die, however if they managed to do everything correct they would get the true ending where both Abi and Suba lived in peace.
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Here I developed and combined the sketches into environments while experimenting with colour palettes in these quick 30-minute concepts. I decided on drawing a location within Abi's perspective which would be a giant wall covered in Starry Night Vines as I think those and the mutated Spruce were the most prominent and unique while also being the easiest to be developed with the game's story; in the beginning, it would have more normal vines but by the end, the wall would be covered in spiralling vines representing change. I also used this opportunity to see what colours would fit Abi's design against an environment. With Suba's, I decided to develop the mall-esque spaceship idea and make a centre area you would see in a shopping centre while also seeing what colours would fit Suba's design, this is as a slightly unsettling mall environment would be perfect for capturing the difference between Earth and a spaceship, as I would imagine it would be uncomfortable living away from the planet we consider home. I made the whole environment bluer, even adding a colder colour to the fake plants, on top of all the cooler colours I also added a harsh white light to make the area seem artificial and unnatural, to make a connection between with spaceship to Earth and Abi's perspective I added the geometric spiral as a centrepiece, imagining this would be the spaceship or space company's logo.
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Story Development - Environments
​​Earth would most likely be a the forest archetype with new mutated and metamorphized organisms now taking over the Earth, with Abi having to navigate the chaos. However, there would be a garden archetype, most likely the area where Venus tries to convince Abi to metamorphize, portrayed in a earlier sketch. ​I also think the village archetype would be applied to the launch area as it is where everything
started, while the plains archetype could also be applied to areas where people have stayed hoping to survive the impact, the player not realised the other humans have been contaminated or mutated until the end if the game. The river archetype can also slightly apply to the big vine wall representing the flow of time and how it changes.
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I think the spaceship would fall into the archetypes of the sea and the island, as it's supposed to be an isolated ship with most residents keeping to themselves in their designated rooms. The vessel is filled with spiralling hallways and empty rooms, making it eerily empty. The developed concept art above directly parallels the Earth's garden archetype area and would be where the AI would pick the candidate to turn into a cyborg. As the spaceship is very secluded and empty those two archetypes are the only ones that fit the space environment.​
These are Abi, Suba, Venus and Pluto's finished designs, I'm glad that I chose this cartoon-ish style as it made leeway for a lot of unique character traits as well as gave the characters a lot more depth than if I went for a lot more simpler style. I also think it was a good choice to make all the designs parallel each other, as they all look very different I think it was important to establish that they are all from the same game. I'm now going to go over my thoughts on each character design:
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Abi's Final Design
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Overall, I'm happy with how Abi turned out, with my favourite parts of her design being the exaggerated hair and leg proportions. I think her colour palette is clear and harmonious while connecting her design to Suba's, with her shape language being very soft and round which is what I was aiming for.​​​ The only thing I think I should have added is a highlight colour similar to the green on Venus's design.
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Venus's Final Design
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I think Venus is the design that stands out the most because of it's different colour palette and unique silhouette. I think Venus reflects Abi's design perfectly, making the two designs seem linked together, I also think Venus's design is a good nod to Abi's full metamorphized design. I don't think there is much I would change with it's design, except maybe adding the same mud splat on it's other paws.​​
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Suba's Final Design
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Suba's design is much more simple to Abi's; I think this fits the character well as I would think the spaceship has a much more plain look than Earth, reflected in his design. I also like how square and geometric his silhouette is compared to Abi's while also paralleling her design a long with his colour palette. Even the line art reflects the difference of Abi's soft appearance to Suba's more cold appearance. If I were to change something I would add more of the spiral motif.
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Pluto's Final Design​
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Same with Venus, I think Pluto's design is a good nod to Suba's cyborg version, as well as standing in for the lack of spiral motifs for Suba's design. I think it's design parallel's Venus's design well; being simple and sharp, as well as having enough shape variety for a good silhouette. I think Pluto's design is a great balance between simple and detailed and the only thing I would change would be to make it's highlight colour more prominent.
Character Story development
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Abi & Suba
Abi and Suba are both the hero archetypes. Personality-wise, they both have bravery and heroism traits but otherwise remain slightly plain for the player. However, if they were to interact with other characters, Abi would be more caring and kind but also a bit reckless. Suba would be more quiet and reserved but also gloomy and a bit blunt, harbouring almost the same recklessness as Abi. This recklessness (apart from the fact they are children/ young teenagers) could be a result of them both needing to take dangerous measures to try and contact each other.
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Venus & Pluto
Venus and Pluto are both the ally and mentor trope, as throughout the game they are supportive and loyal and act as a friend to the protagonists, however they are considered mentor's because of the knowledge they give to set off the protagonist's while on their journeys.
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Summarising other characters in the story:
The Guardian (characters that the hero must confront and overcome) - SpAIral the AI controlling the spaceship Suba having to prove himself to them. The Metamorphized, a natural threat to Abi, Abi having to avoid them. ​
Other Characters​
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SpAIral - The AI controlling the spaceship as well as powering all facilities on it. SpAIral is presented by wires and screens, with Suba needing to prove himself to the AI to be picked to be turned into a cyborg.​
The Heckler - As Suba tries to convince other people that they should visit Earth, the heckler tries to interject trying to convince people not to.
Dillas - The name given to mutated animals that now have a conscious mind, "Dillas" as the isopod plating on most of the mutated animals resembles armadillo shell, can be also used as a name for the species of microorganism that took over Earth. The name was created by humans still on Earth.
The Scouts - similar to the Heckler as an obstacle, the are a group of survivors that try and kill all mutated organisms by burning stuff down, foreshadowing for the end of the game.
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Concepts/ Ideas (that I didn't have time to draw)
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​Fake wheat - Self explanatory, mutated wheat that is dangerous and will harm Abi.
Spiral trees - Normal trees that have mutated, different from Spruce Mutated Trees.
Prospers - previous Hosts of the microorganisms since decease since the invasion of humans. Would look like small armadillos.
The GUIards - In the form of screens, these are AI guarded stationed near the spaceships cargo and act as security. Also acts as "workers" you can talk to.
Final Piece
Finally, I decided to do some title screen art for the game, while also adding already thought out concepts like the SpAIral's wires and the mutated contaminated Tetrapyrgos mushrooms, I also decided to try and incorporate the fake wheat and Spiral tree concepts. I took inspiration from the Little nightmares 2 art and tried to create a unique perspective, while also incorporating the unique different colour palettes of the two different environments into one piece. I think that looking at the piece as a whole I can now see how well some of the designs work, especially the main characters which my eyes are drawn to the most in the piece; I think overall that it establishes the games style and direct well without giving away too much about it, making the audience curious which is good for the marketability of the game. If I hade to change something i would add a bit more detail and change the tonal values slightly to be less bright on Abi's side.
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On the right there is the original black and white version I had before I added colour, I think this version is also quite affective, despite having almost no colour. I'm proud of how clear each aspect of the drawing is as well as how the characters are still recognisable with no colour.
Evaluation
Research
I was asked to make a fantasy game on the same premises of Legend of Zelda, Witcher and Ori and the Blind Forest. In terms of the games I chose to research, I feel my choices Rainworld and Broken Age are in the same lane as Ori and the Blind Forest and therefore fit the genre that was asked. As a choice, I think making a game similar to Ori and the Blind Forest, Rainworld and Broken Age, is a risk as more modern games take on a more realistic and mature game style and themes, especially as my concepts are mostly 2D based when most games now are 3D. However, I feel like making a more unique game will help elevate the interest as more people look for different-styled fantasy games than the ones that seem to convolute the market, with similar realistic 3D styles and the same adventure open-world quest game mechanics. Therefore, picking Rainworld and Broken Age, despite how these two games are older and can seem outdated, is a great source of inspiration because of the game's unique gameplay and art style; Rainworld has a unique procedurally animated world with realistic worldbuilding despite its retro-looking graphics, and Broken Age with its unique two perspective gameplay mechanic and fun storytelling. I also picked these 2D type platformer or puzzle games because of how well these games can brand themselves; before I researched Rainworld I could recognise the Slugact in a few places, this is a reoccurring with a few other 2D platformer and puzzle games like Hollow knight and Undertale, therefore I thought choosing this type of game would help open up more design possibilities and concepts. I think my contextual research made major changes in my choices in terms of visual research and concepts, if I had researched a game like Witcher or Legend of Zelda I feel like I would have taken a much more realistic and less stylised approach, as well as change the type of gameplay I had in mind for the game, to be more of an open world game. This is because without researching Rainworld I wouldn't have come up with the different species as well as create a more fleshed-out world, and if I hadn't researched Broken Age I would have probably only added one perspective and would have come up with a much less interesting story. I think what worked the most was how much I researched the games both contextually and visually, I was going to originally research one game for contextual research and one for visual, but I think doing both for each expanded my knowledge of how each aspect of gameplay, storytelling and visual style tied into each other, so instead of picking little pieces off each game I could look at the games as a whole and do the same for the concepts I was making, creating something much more fleshed out and something that made more sense. If I were to do something differently, I would have also looked at the suggested games more in-depth, as I feel like it would have helped me create concepts that would have appealed more to the brief, it would also helped me pick similar games to research as I only picked Rainworld solely because it looked unique; if I had a more in-depth view of the suggested game I would choose my research more precisely and wisely.
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​I think overall the concept art I made was expansive and outlined my ideas as precisely as I wanted to while also matching the research I had gathered. With the research, most of the games were targeted at teens and above, I think that the art style I chose wasn't too cartoonish but a perfect balance for a mature audience. I also think that having the concept art be on paper, granted me a much easier way to quickly put down my ideas, switching to digital media later on also helped me lay down colour onto my concepts easier than traditional as I had more freedom with making mistakes than if I accidentally put down the wrong colour on paper, it made the process much faster and easier. I also think that with the brief asking for a fantasy game as well as with my research having a mix between a mature and younger audience, I used brighter colours with my concept art but also tried to convey slightly darker themes of separation, isolation and a dangerous environment with what could be considered monster designs. With the final designs for the main character I think that overall they are recognisable while also keeping the identity of the game, they balance each other out so compared to each other they stand out and reflect their personalities and roles, I think the final piece also reflects the game well and turned out nicely for a title screen and would be great promo art for the game. In terms of presentation, I tried to make each of my sketches clear by editing each photo removing any paper blemishes and making the background white to make the sketches look professional. With concepts like the final designs, adding a transparent background with a highlight shape behind the design helped elevate the designs, while also making them look professional. Analysing the art itself, I think there is a slight variety of artistic techniques I used while conceptualising, especially with the final designs compared to the final piece, however, those are both different stylisation wise; I could have used a different medium like traditional paint to make the final piece to make it look more authentic. The last thing I want to go over is the visual principles I used when making the Final designs and Final Piece and how effective I think each technique was. I think the most effective part of the final designs are the shape language and the colour schemes, as these aspects reflect the character's personalities while building visual storytelling by features showing a connection between each design. I wanted the shape language to be the clearest, as shown by my research it was the most key factor attributing to a designs distinctiveness, helping the characters silouhette and form. For the Final Piece, I used a mix of a triangle, cross and circle composition with the focus being in the middle and the surroundings framing the focal point in the centre with a distorted perspective, I think the form of each plant and structure within the piece is clear due to the having a good variety of contrast and tonal difference. The light source also helps emphasize the focal point (the characters) as the brightness of the light behind them gives them a very clear tonal difference. I think the texture and colour are the weakest parts of the piece, as in my opinion the colour could be applied better despite the colour palette itself being okay and not eye bleeding despite the contrasting hues, I also think the textures could be a lot clearer, and that I could have used some other brushes for the trees and wall next to Abi. I could have added Venus and Pluto but I didn't want the piece to seem too cluttered. Overall I'm happy with the final piece, despite liking the black and white version more, I feel like the final piece conveys what it needs to (the characters, the mood, etc... ) ​​
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Design
Conclusion
Comparing to the first project I work on, I think my analysis and decisions regarding developing and picking final designs was more thought out than previously, as I had a bit more understanding about what was wanted rather than what I thought was easiest or what I liked most. If there was something that was lacking on this project compared to the first I think it was my annotations on my developed designs which were much more lengthy and details last time, I wish to hopefully combine my developed understanding and more rational decision making with having more detailed annotations next time. Finally, I think I completed what I needed to in the amount of time I was given while also portraying it as an interesting pitch to a game, I aimed to attract appeal with the characters and world building which is what my Final piece conveys. I also tried to make best with how many ideas I had, not having time to conceptualise all of them, and therefore writing them down which is the best I could've done; even though it would have been nice to portray the ideas more visually I think summarising was the best with the amount of time I had, so I could focus on the more developed ideas. Overall I'm happy with the outcome of this project, I think I made the right decisions when picking my research despite having some aspects I could have improved, as I still had a a satisfying final result that think reached the standard presented by the brief while remaining in a professional presentation.