Character Development

Okay. Originally I planned to make my character one of the original aliens from our group's world because the planet's history interested me the most and I liked the backstory a lot. The rough character bio I came up with was this:

Name: Eisard

Gender: male

Eye colour: onyx

Body shape: lean muscle bordering on skinny

Physical health: missing left arm, replaced with synthetic device

Occupation: synthetics engineer

Personality: absent-minded genius who has the ability to focus only when building things

Bad habbit: telling information or facts that only he is interested in

Eisard belongs to the original race of technologically advanced aliens that created and lived on the planet before the junk robots. His purpose is to create synthetic tools, machines and robots to better society, which ties to his ultimate dream, to further society to the point that synthetic and organic life is living and functioning as one and as equals – his idea of the perfect advanced race.

Eisard himself is already a part of his dream as he has a synthetic device in place of his left arm due to an accident involving machinery when he was younger. Because of this, Eisard has a phobia of blades and as a result does not include them in his robots or creations unless it is absolutely necessary or no suitable alternative is available. Although he enjoys the possibilities available to him with his synthetic arm, Eisard does not like the idea of having others associate him with his machines or objectify him.

Eisard’s inventive side comes hand-in-hand with a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Because of this he is a perfectionist and is able to create outstanding hardware.

He is liked by his neighbours despite some late night construction efforts, however he has no close friends, even out of those who he works with, who he gets along with, but does not fully connect with due to the massive amount of time he spends working on his designs.

With original sketches of him looking like this:

Unfortunately though, I don't posess any amazing abilities in Illustrator, or in fact Any abilities in Illustrator, so when I tried to recreate him (using the only one of my scans that actuall y worked) he ended up looking like this, which I'm pretty sure is a synonym for 'ugly'.

So, that was the end of that character.

I then moved onto to Junk Bot faction, because I figured they'd be a whole lot easier for me to design since they're made up of found objects, and I couldn't really think of any ideas for the T-Bots. I then came up with this little robot:

Name: Uhrr
Gender: N/A
Age: approx. 5 years since construction
Hobbies: collecting items and parts so that other robots can

repair/build/renovate themselves/buildings
Personalitiy: inquisitive, curious, hoarder, unsubtle, edgy
Physical Health: a little body rust, but still good
Mental Health: paranoid about others stealing from his special item collection,

feels constantly watched (house contains a t-bot without knowing)
Likes: corroded materials, organic creatures, glass
Dislikes: shiny materials (too different from normal materials), water
Fears: thunderstorms, storms
Desire: to find and collect all the oldest looking items

I liked it. And it got me thinking about what Uhrr could be made out of. I still liked the idea of bellows, so I brought that into its design, and when I was thinking of other objects it could be made from, the term "everything but the kitchen sink" popped into my head, so I was like, "well why not the kitchen sink?" Or any sink, for that matter. I thought that worked well with the way Uhrr collects items,

as a sink could act as a sort of basket to carry stuff around in, and adds an interesting feature to his walk cycle because it gives an extra weight and difficulty to how Uhrr moves.

(Note that I'm deliberately not using "he" or "she" because I don't want Uhrr to be specified as either gender. I figure that way people can decide for themselves on whether they see more feminine or masculine qualities in Uhrr, so it's easy for anyone to relate to the junk bot)

Uhrr's original sketches:

I used a whole lot of basic shapes that I knew would be easy to create in Illustrator, and thus create a neater, more convincing character.

I'm Thinking Technologies

So, last but not least for today, I was thinking about the technology of the old aliens seeing as they were an advanced race and had all this hi-tech stuff that they built and left behind. I didn't come up with much, but I immediately thought of Mass Effect (I know, I know, always with the Mass Effect), and I found these two examples. The first is a shot of one of the in-game computer AIs that you can interact with. I like how it looks all hi-tech and computery without looking too shiny and hi-tech-computery. I like the buttons and the lights.

The second picture is from Mass Effect 2 and it shows an omni-tool which I can't be bothered explaining, but basically it's all techy and cool (click here if you want to read about them). I like the use of holographics and the amount of purposes you can create them to have, which is basically anything (like in the Iron Man movies, or that holographic person at Rippon Lea).

Think 'Robots'

So I guess this could fall into character design, but whatever, it fits into factions too. And I don't even know what faction I want to make my character from, anyway, so. Whatever.

Anyway, I found some pictures that give me ideas for the ancient robots (dubbed the "TBots" by our group) in our world. For the most part it's steampunk stuff, but that's how I imagine the TBots to be since, even though they're from a technologically advanced race, they're from the past, and it just fits. And I like steampunk - so sue me.

Alexander, Final Fantasy XIII

Alexander concept art, Final Fantasy XIII

Hecatoncheir, Final Fantasy XIII
Power fist, Fallout 3
Geth Colossus, Mass Effect (uncertain which one)
Neill Blomkamp's District 9
And this little guy

World Aesthetics

I found some more pictures to help illustrate my ideas for my group's world design, which I see as being a mixture of rusted, technologically advanced ruins mixed in and buried beneath rubble and reconstructed houses/buildings of the current society, made out of scrap material and junk. Material and organic mixed together with a warmer colour pallet that's comforting to viewers/players, rather than isolating or ominous.

The pictures involve a sort of organic, natural, earthy feel, mixed with sci-fi-ish, post-apocalyptic themes and technologically advanced buildings and structures. I like the different ways in which ruins and crumbled, past societies are shown in the majority of these.

Firstly, the more natural, brightly coloured:

- Oerba Village Proper concept art, Final Fantasy XIII
I like how this is overgrown and sort of ancient, as well as has a welcoming feel from the culture that's been left behind, rather than an eerie or ghostly feel.

- (unknown source)
Again this depicts inviting ruins. I like the machinery in this and they way that although everything's falling apart, it doesn't look dirty. Still livable in a way.

- Laputa Castle in the Sky (Studio Ghibli)
It's Studio Ghibli. Of course it has the best structures and most aesthetically pleasing mechanics. I like the colour scheme used by Studio Ghibli, particularly in Laputa, to depict their more historic structures.

Technologically advanced/post-apocalyptic:
- Fallout 3 concept art
Recognisable time period, creates a sense of uneasiness like you wouldn't want to be there. Full of memories of the past that feel like they shouldn't be dug up. I like how the buildings haven't overly decomposed, so they still hold onto a sense of life. I also like the patched style of the central building. Use of scrap material.

- Half Life
Alien, uninviting, nightmarish. Barren landscape, destruction. I like the amount of junk material in this world and all the angles and forms they create, but the overall end-of-the-world feel is a little too intense for how I picture my group's world to be.

- Citadel, Mass Effect 2
I really like how this shows how advanced society is in the world of Mass Effect 2, and the hardware-like feel of the buildings. I'd like to look into similar structures to use in the rubble of our world from the past aliens, however not in such a vast quantity as it feels too alien and isolating. The colour scheme also adds to that sensation.