Character Word/Moodboards
During the time I was creating the concept for the story, I was required to come up with a number of different characters and then concepts for them, such as their personalities and reason for being in the story/game.
I had originally planned to provide the artists with character wordboards instead of moodboards to allow the artists to have more creative freedom with their concepts and designs when drawing the characters. However, when I was creating the wordboards, I also decided to create some small moodboards for possible inspiration, and to also show some of the concepts ideas I had. Although the artists were told that the moodboards were just in case they wanted some inspiration, and that they didn't need to be completely followed (apart from some elements that were decided prior to me coming up with the concept, and then some concepts I also wanted included).
Some of the character concepts shown below make use of both moodboards and wordboards, but some only have a wordboard.
Most of the characters without moodboards were characters who are less important to the games (demo) production, as they won't be created due to them not being apparent in the first two levels (as their concepts were/are still experiencing some development).
However, there are also some more important characters without moodboards such as the first crew member, the sidekick, and the antagonist.
The first crew member doesn't have a moodboard as his design would be similar to the style of the protagonist as they're from the same island, and therefore only would have the main difference of looks, which can be played around with by the artists concepts.
The sidekick doesn't have a moodboard because I didn't really have an idea of how the character would look, apart from being an octopus as its main distinguishable feature.
Finally, the antagonist doesn't have a moodboard as while doing character moodboards I changed his concept from a mecha shark with more of a human like personality, to a shark with more of a enraged shark personality, which doesn't talk. At the bottom of all of the boards, the concept for the antagonist is shown, but this characters design was concepted by our lead artist who still took a similar approach of finding influential images.
Additionally, all of the wordboards are missing a lot of information regarding the characters visuals, which is because I was planning to give the artists more freedom in their designs, meaning they could have a say on these character features. Although my character profile templates cover the characters in a bit more detail and include some possibilities for some physical features.
My Character Word/Moodboards:
Brief explanation: Group has already voted on a Mohawk hairstyle, hence the bottom left image. Three characters on the board make use of the steampunk theme with goggles, each wearing them in different places.
Steampunk prosthetic arm. Colour scheme including red/crimson to reflect the colours a captain would wear (middle two images, but without the weapons). Clothing itself can be either pirate or steampunk focuses, or even a mix (something to experiment with).
Brief explanation: After carrying out a vote it was decided that the octopus sidekick will be flesh, and not mechanical.
The role this characters plays in the story is assisting the protagonist on his journey. Gameplay wise she assists during combat by extending her tentacles to hit enemies (dealing low damage - linking with the weakness of the
character, but knocking them back?)
in terms of appearance, the character would be small and would likely be comparable to a stereotypical octopus, or at least include features such as the tentacles.
Brief explanation: As the mother is one of the characters from the first island of the game, her clothing will be the style of that island (so similar to the other characters/npcs, where the steampunk/Victorian theme are shown in the clothing more so than other islands).
Additionally, I also thought that maybe the commonly
used (at least in anime) 'hair of death' could be used for the mother, as she dies during the first level of the game, but also just because the hair style is simple but effective (although like the other features of my characters, the artists can decided about these features).
Brief explanation: This character will have features, such as the clothing, suggesting that his origin the the 1st island (same as protagonist). However the clothing will also need to portray how the character has been isolated/trapped for many years (this being why the damaged clothing is shown). Additionally, as the character has been trapped
many years, it could be effective to give him some sort of scruffy long beard/hairstyle, with the colour either grey or greying to indicate this characters age being older than most others, but also due to his stress of being trapped for a number of years.
Concept of this character: Before the attack on the island he obtained his income by fishing, and was often helped out by the protagonist and his mother. After the death of the protagonists mother, he has an understanding of what the protagonists going through, and decides to dedicate himself to helping the protagonist and his deceased friend (the mother).
Concept of this character: As stated, before joining the crew was a doctor/surgeon.
Crew member 2 joining the crew from the 3rd island (snow/frozen island), the clothing of this character will reflect the cold conditions of the environment (warmer clothing to resist the cold).
The current concept for this character is a female blacksmith (current concept) who also has unusually good skills with guns/cannons.
The clothes would be a similar style to the people of the 5th (volcanic) island, but could also have the steampunk/pirate/blacksmith styles mixed in.
As we’re only creating two levels for the game, the first level is the only level that will require (a few (one or two)) NPCs to be created. The second and fourth levels will not have NPCs on them anyway, as they’re uninhabited islands. Other levels will need NPCs to be designed but not created (mainly for GDD), and their styles will hopeful consist of
a style suiting the specific islands (such as the characters from the 3rd island making use of coats/more layers due to the cold environment, and then the characters on the 5th island being the opposite due to the warmer conditions)
These would be for the pirates that could be apparent on certain islands during the game, but mainly for the pirates whom the protagonist/crew steal the ship of. The idea being here that the designs are make more use of the stereotypical pirate look/style than the others, to indicate that they’re pirates. Also, maybe the designs can be a bit more humorous / comedic, as the whole section of stealing a ship could be made into a somewhat funny and light-hearted section of the story (so like most of the crew members from Pirate of the Caribbean, and how they’re often used for comedic relief/effect?)
General look to this character will be a a mechanical shark, in the steampunk theme.
While developing this character, its concept changed from a shark with human features (speech), to more of a wild monstrous concept of it lacking human features.