Sketchbook Monday on a Monday. Let’s see how long this trend lasts, shall we?
A member of Clan Sergio, from AetherFall. These proud warriors protect the village of Bel where the star gazer’s observatory can be found. They also claim command of much of western Laurooga, having the unyielding loyalty of the surrounding farmers, larborers, and artisans scattered throughout the area.
Vedette, a member of Clan Sergio, accompanies Dante throughout his journey. Although she’s generally your last line of defense in the game, she holds up fairly well for short periods of time so long as she’s not swamped by a large group of enemies all at once.
One of the latest concepts for Dante, the character you’ll be playing the game through as. He narrates much of the adventure and takes an active part in the story’s events, but at the same time he’s not the driving force behind what’s going on. He’s not the one saving the world, so to speak, but he’s doing his part to help. Hardly trail-blazing to be sure, but I felt this would give the game a fresh outlook by putting a simple spin on the viewpoint we’re used to seeing in action games.
This is one of the earliest concepts for the “militia” unit. They’re lightly equipped farmers and laborers who are weak in combat, but cheap to produce and have some interesting properties in battle. They also help you construct buildings.
A newer version of the militia. You’ll notice all the characters have a short, cutesy look to them, similar to Swordmaster Odyssey‘s early style. The reason for this here is because on-screen they’re all pretty small, so I thought it best to give them big heads so that they’re still recognizable at a glance, even on blurry, old-style television sets.
This final concept sketch was used as the basis for the militia’s full-color promotional art.
Here’s a mercenary skirmisher. These guys are probably your most reliable combat units. They’re the fastest unit availible to you, pack quite a punch using their blades, and have solid defense. They’re much more expensive to produce than simple militia, but they’re worth every penny. You’ll be seeing a lot of these guys in the game.
Bowmen are equiped with crossbows and can attack from afar, well out of harm’s way. With skirmishers and militia to protect them, they can inflict a good deal of damage without taking any damage themselves. However, if your front lines fall, your bowmen will be powerless to protect themselves!
A quickie sketch of the standard bearer. These guys don’t attack with your combat units, instead they hold your standard up for all to see, boosting moral.
Here’s an early concept of the powered armor suit, the heavy-hitters of the game. Despite their raw power, though, you’ll need to have skirmishers and militia on-hand to escort them: their attacks a extremely slow, a fact that enemies could exploit by attacking and running away before the armored units even get a chance to get a hit in.
Another sketch of the power armor. You’ll notice that the drill concept has been dropped. I was afraid it might seem too similar to the Big Daddies in Bioshock.
And finally, here’s a sage from Dante’s village of origin. He plays a role in the early portions of the game, getting Dante started on his journey.
Concept art for Project Legion‘s art style in the levels. As the sketch itself clearly proclaims, this particular location is called “Yu Hill Forest”. Expect a follow-up soon of what the realized, in-game version looks like.
Plenty of concept art for Project Legion today which, as you might guess, is primarily what I’ve been working on as of late. Here’s a sketch of the main hero. The idea was that each unit class have a unique head shape that quickly identifies them on screen, and–taking that even further–that the head shape actually be something related to that class. For example, the archers’ heads would look like an arrowhead when viewed and profile and, as you can see, the hero’s head would be shaped like a star. After toying around with it awhile, I’ve largely dropped the concept. In practice a lot of the characters’ heads are obscured by others in-game anyway, and honestly it would make for some pretty wild hair, hats, and head accessories that I’m not so sure I could pull off without looking completely stupid.
Just to drive the point home.
A more recent sketch of the hero.
An early concept sketch of a villain (perhaps the villain?). I like to try and not create the same kind of antagonist in every story I come up with, so I make this guy a lot rounder than Warlord Keaton in Swordmaster Odyssey.
And here he is, with more realistic proportions, in a close-up.
Jessie in a different style again.
Colin, “The Grand Hero”. He’s been featured in a couple Sketchbook Monday entries as I recall.
Here he is again.
Gigas Khan, a giant of a man who serves at different times as both an enemy and an ally of Colin.
This is a character development sketch for the main hero of “Project Legion” (the working title of the game I’ve been working on). He looks a little generic at this point, but I think I might be on the right track.
She’s meant to be the hero’s assistant/side-kick/player 2.
Is this the hero’s advisor, or a back-stabbing prime minister in the hero’s path? Who knows! 🙂 I’m just kicking around character ideas at this point. There’s no real story to the game yet.
All the sketches for today are from a game design I’ve been hashing out. This odd-looking guy here is supposed to be somewhat of a rival to you, the hero.
And here he is from the side, a visualization of his battle sprite.
This is the good-for-nothing prince that goes out of his way to get in your way.
And here he is ready for battle.
Assorted characters; was trying to decide what style to go with.
And of course, nothing is complete without the big bad.
Tough guy in a suit, I say.
The doctor says that you’re not sick and you have to go to school/work today after all. Nice try, though.
Yeah, this kid is sort of in a bind. Not only was he abducted by aliens, but when they put him back they kept all his internal organs. He doesn’t care how he’s still alive without a heart or a brain, he just wants them back! Stupid aliens, always going around and taking other people’s body parts.
An alien. But not of any relation to the aliens mentioned just above. I still wouldn’t trust it, though.
Here’s another freckle face kid. Seems I’ve drawn a few of them lately.
“Where’s my story? Why isn’t it done yet?” I’m—I’m working on it as fast as I can, Iccari! I really am! 🙁
And, just to close things out, here’s a bunch of chibis. CHIBIS! Aren’t they cute? …No? Well who asked you anyway? From left to right: Jessie, Kevin, Hayden, Iccari, Silver.
For some reason, I’ve been longing to do something based on the American Revolution–but in outer space! Because, of course, turning things into space operas automatically makes them cool… or… something like that. Here’s Lieutenant Colonel George Washington during what would be the prelude to the main piece, the French and Indian War.
And here’s Major General Washington some twenty years later as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. He doesn’t look especially outer-spacey, though, does he?