Character concepts (and some more things)

Started by Blondbraid, Wed 15/07/2015 19:49:02

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Blondbraid

I guess it all started when I saw an old WWII propaganda cartoon (Der fuehrers face, in case anyone is wondering),
and I got inspiration for a game set during the second world war, in a cartoonish art style,
visually I'm going for something in between a 1940s cartoon and expressionist art.

The main heroes would be a soviet sniper and her spotter in a darkly humorous story
akin to a buddy cop comedy in a war zone.

The sniper
(A strict and menacing character devoted to her motherland and strong believer in the communist ideology)

The spotter

(A jolly, if shabby man who isn't particularly attached to anything)

I wish to strike a balance between cartoonish and historically accurate.
On one hand, a real soldier would have more straps, bandoleers and details on their uniform,
but on the other hand it would be hard to draw and could easily look cluttered on a cartoon character.
These pictures are just concepts, but I plan to use them as reference when I draw the sprites for the game,
so I'm looking for some feedback and opinions as to weather the uniforms look right and recognizable despite
a somewhat simplified style.

The characters, from left to right, are supposed to be a commissar, a night witch (not an occult sorceress but a female pilot) and a simple solider.
Can they be recognized as such by their uniforms? I have a hard time finding color pictures from the time in question.
Any thoughts and opinions on the character concepts?


Mouth for war

I like it a lot! Very comic book appeal to it :)
mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, next to soccer

Lasca

Everything looks great!
The one hardest to identify would probably be the night witch. Perhaps putting some flight gear och some wings on her shoulder, to put her in the airforce. Otherwise the colours looks great. I guess everything also depends on the level of knowledge of your player. For someone not familiar with the function of a commissar, perhaps it would help to make him a bit more "political". Perhaps some more stars? Otherwise, I love the style and overall idea.

Grok

Looks overall very good.

I would suggest that you change the face of the sniper though. It is, as I understand it a female sniper, and to me it looks like the character has both mustach and a pointy beard. That might be a bit too menacing?

Maybe the comissonar should have a pair of spectacles?

I would recommend the (fictional)book "City of Thieves" by David Benioff as background reading. There is some general information in there and one of the characters, Vika, is a female sniper. It's also a very good read. :)

Blondbraid

QuoteMaybe the comissonar should have a pair of spectacles?
QuotePerhaps some more stars?

I'm so sorry, but this image just popped into my head and I just couldn't resist. ;)

But on a serious note, I am grateful for your support.
Regarding the female sniper, I wanted to make her look weird and menacing,
but she is NOT supposed to have a beard and mustache. If it looks that way
I'm glad that it was mentioned so that I can remedy that. She's meant to
look silly yet scary, but hopefully the unibrow and stare will be
enough to get the point across. I will post a new image soon!


Blondbraid

#5
Here is a hopefully improved redraw of the sniper!


Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sun 19/07/2015 22:36:37
Here is a hopefully improved redraw of the sniper!

No beard and no mustache in sight. I think that is an improvement. :)
Personally I would go for a more girly look, though.



That might not be what you want. She doesn't have quite the same quality of being menacing, this way.


Blondbraid

#7
QuoteNo beard and no mustache in sight. I think that is an improvement. :)
I am relived to know that! :)
I love your character design, she looks wonderful!
Perhaps too wonderful for my game...:(
The sniper is meant to be a cold and somewhat scary (yet a bit silly) character and I want her design to reflect that,
with an owl-like stare and sharp angles (I love the expressionist art style with weird proportions and dramatic shadows,
and also wanted to make it exaggerated and cartoonish at the same time).
I guess I also wanted to make her something of an anti-heroine, who isn't nice or pretty in any way yet still a
sympathetic character by the end of the story.

I guess I was also partially inspired by this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=369&v=hGlJdXwOYWM

All the same, your character design is great and I especially
love the watercolor look.


Lasca

I say keep your design and don't make her more girly. In my opinion there's too many girly looking characters in games. But obviously this is all very subjective groks character is a great drawing!

Jury_Rigged107

looks nice. 40s 50s. nice

Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Wed 22/07/2015 13:35:53
...
I guess I also wanted to make her something of an anti-heroine, who isn't nice or pretty in any way yet still a
sympathetic character by the end of the story.
...

That's a perfectly valid way to go. :)

Kasander

#11
I agree with what Lasca said. I like Grok's drawing, but his version while lovely painted is rather stereotypical and probably doesn't fit your initial idea for the game. I think sticking to your initial idea, to what gave you the spark, is the way to go and I for one would like to play game with such character***.

Having said that, I think you *could* add two thin horizontal lines to make her instantly recognizable as a woman: one short line to make her lips just a little bit thicker (and still menacing!) and one longer line just under her breasts - to dispel any doubts.

That is, if you indeed want the players to recognize her as a woman at first sight and if you don't plan any jokes based on her not-so-obvious sexuality or quests like cross-dressing as a male enemy soldier or something (in which case her gender-blending appearance would be an essential part of the game).

Anyway, I like the concepts and the idea. Regarding the uniforms, I think you've made a very good job, overall design is imo spot on and with that cartoony style you've chosen there's no need for more historical accuracy. I definitely see a lot of comedy potential in there :)

***But hey, you could introduce a rival character (or antagonist even) who despite her lower (or maybe non-existent) battle skills would be a media & polit-bureau darling, a kind of poster-heroine of the Soviet Union, of graceful and "womanly" appearance, beloved by everyone in the Soviet camp except obviously your main character who - seeing right through her with those piercing eyes - would hold her in disregard ;)

Blondbraid

You have given me lots of ideas!:)
I am grateful for all comments that I have recieved.
I just finished a bit of concept art for the antagonist of this game, which to the suprise of none,
is Wehrmacht soldiers. While Nazis is one of the least unique video game enemies in the world (next to zombies, and Nazi zombies)
my game will hopefully have a somewhat original art style.

This is supposed to be an officer barking orders at a soldier, though I have little to no knowledge of military ranks.
I am kind of torn between adding more insignia and details or keep them simple and cartoonish. My goal is to make them look simple
yet still look like actual German soldiers and not just generic bad guys from any sci-fi dystopia.
What do you think?


Cassiebsg

Keep them this simple, you don't need lots of detail and insignias to make them recognizable. They already are, and I don't need the under text explaining the drawing... it's self explaining already. :)

Keep up the good work, and hope to see you game soon :D
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Fri 24/07/2015 10:57:43

I just finished a bit of concept art for the antagonist of this game, which to the suprise of none,
is Wehrmacht soldiers. While Nazis is one of the least unique video game enemies in the world (next to zombies, and Nazi zombies)
my game will hopefully have a somewhat original art style.

What do you think?

They are easily identifiable as German WW2 soldier and officer. That will work just fine.

On the Nazi part you might like to make a difference between Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.
Soldiers and officers in Waffen SS were nazis. That was a nazi party organisation. Soldiers and officers in the Wehrmacht (regular army) where not necessarily nazis. There where of course nazis in the Wehrmacht too, but not all where.

The battle between Russia and German in WW2 was between two totalitarian regimes. I can't see that there is a good and an evil side in that conflict. It was all evil. On an individual level there was room for good, but overall it was pretty bad. Handling that well in a game is not a small task.

For a Russian soldier at the time the Russian leadership and the political officers could easily be as much a threat as the German army.

Blondbraid

QuoteOn the Nazi part you might like to make a difference between Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.
Soldiers and officers in Waffen SS were nazis. That was a nazi party organisation. Soldiers and officers in the Wehrmacht (regular army) where not necessarily nazis. There where of course nazis in the Wehrmacht too, but not all where.

The battle between Russia and German in WW2 was between two totalitarian regimes. I can't see that there is a good and an evil side in that conflict. It was all evil. On an individual level there was room for good, but overall it was pretty bad. Handling that well in a game is not a small task.

For a Russian soldier at the time the Russian leadership and the political officers could easily be as much a threat as the German army
I fully agree to all this and I wanted this game to be partially a satire of action movies and video games where the only goal is to kill
as many bad guys as possible because they are all evil and bad guys and was born in a different country than the "hero". I suppose another
source if inspiration for me has been the last season of Blackadder, where they used black humor to point out the absurdity of war. If I
wanted to tell a black and white story of good versus evil, I'd probably make it a fantasy story.

Here is a new picture of the spotter, which I intend to use as a sprite in the game.
He is supposed to look slobbish and maybe a bit drunk, but otherwise
a happy and carefree man, who in contrast to the
sniper do not care much for the war or ideology.
I have a feeling that something is a bit off with
this image though, but I'm not sure what...:-\


Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sat 25/07/2015 16:30:59
I suppose another source if inspiration for me has been the last season of Blackadder, where they used black humor to point out the absurdity of war.

That's a great source of inspiration.

The spotter looks fine to me.

Blondbraid

#17

I decided to change the spotter's hat,
hopefully this is an improvement.

Soon I might have enough of a game to start a
thread in AGS games in production, though I'm
terrible at coming up with good names and titles.
Does anyone think that "Sniper and spotter being patriotic"
sound like a good name for my game?


Cassiebsg

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sat 25/07/2015 16:30:59
He is supposed to look slobbish and maybe a bit drunk, but otherwise
a happy and carefree man, who in contrast to the
sniper do not care much for the war or ideology.

Now you made think of these two (laugh)  (in french, sorry)!

Love your art, just keep it going strong, looking forward to play this game already!
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Blondbraid

QuoteNow you made think of these two (laugh)  (in french, sorry)!
I haven't read the comic, but it sounds interesting (nod)!
Anyways, here is a new character design.
I thought about leaving her uniform undefined so that I can reuse the sprites for different situations, since I had an idea for a joke
(which is hard to tell without spoilers). Basically, the first time the player meets her, she presents herself as Svetlana the army cook,
Spoiler
later on the player encounters her by a plane wreck in the battle zone, but it turns out that it isn't her, but her identical twin sister Tatiana the pilot.
Later on the player meets an identical woman tending wounded soldiers, making you wonder weather there is a third sister,
but it turns out that it's just Svetlana who works extra as a nurse, sawing off gangrenous limbs and so forth when she isn't preparing her fellow soldiers food.:-X
[close]
Is this funny or lazy?


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