Fleshing Out the Killer Charater Design

As far as character go with myself i tend to view them in a different light or perspective as it were playing on characteristics that may not be brought to the forefront as much, i like to explore a character working out what makes them tic and why, more so switching up morals so even a good guy can have questionable qualitys and straying away from the perfect good guy who never crosses the line.

When it comes to character design it is the villians or anti heros that i like creating mainly due to the fact they have faults like everyone one of us but on a greater level and exploring this route just brings out a uniqueness that is hard to attain from other styles of character.
This might not be unique for me but creating a villian first or your vision of the villian and fleshing out that character giving it depth makes creating the rest of the cast an easier task because you can ask yourself  'ok how will this character react to this villian and his motives and morals'.

With this concept its a very much a 'what if' situation which reflects on up bringing and traumatic events and what it can do to someone and what path it can lead them to take in the future. Im taking the viewpoint on it so instead of he is a killer full stop giving him something that leads to the understanding to the audience he is damaged mentally and an unreasoning monster of a man is a scary prospect.

One thing im keeping in mind is a phrase 'you fear what you dont understand' and i feel this applies to the slasher genre immensely it is important to only give the audience so much but spilling it all would take away the mystery of the character and more so the fear, keep some of the mystery you keep the fear.

My main aim with this character is to make him a serious monster and not a joke which some slasher villians become thus why the time is being spent so when it comes to the game players will fear to be in his pressence.

Note: Bit of a long this time but i think its one of my better posts im not sure which area ill be covering next so keep a look out for whatever it is i should be putting it up maybe tomorrow. For anyone wondering i stuck the pic of Michael Myers up there for some eye candy not a fan of to much text anyway it is basically a reference or influence on what im creating plus its a cool pic.

Story and Design

Ive began work on fleshing out the story aspects of the concept with alot of the focus on the backstory which in the case of a slasher concept is very important as gives the reason to why the killer has become what he has due to events which have mentally affected him in someway.

Taking these factors into cosideration the backstory is nearing the stage where im happy with it and ready to move on to fleshing out the present sections of the story. With the present story in mind it has been a bit of a challenege putting it all together due to the options strings attached to the story events that the player will interact with. Altogeher though the story is coming along very well and i feel it is one of my better peices of work that i have recently done, i wont give away plot elements here but the way im tackling its constructing is keeping parts of what makes a slasher film and blending that with what works in a game format and i feel the mix of the two really works well and they play of each other perfectly enhancing one anouther.

I didnt want to be fixed on the slasher genre too much well in the roots and some of the elements it is known for im basically taking the elements that work towards the story cause i feel adding good quality story elements to a slasher concept only feeds the slasher style it gives more meaning to characters and events rather than it being just about the kills.

The next post im going to cover some of presentation elements that the game will feature.

Setting the Atmosphere

A major part in the horor genre along with the killer is the enviroment it is almost one with the killer and it usually helps reflect some aspects of the killers persona.

With this in mind it is important to take in consideration with the killer i have in mind what enviroment plays to his strengths and most importantly helps him grow as a character. Where he hunts and kills is his domain, so thinking about that i wanted something that would fit a traditional slasher flick setting out in the moods but switch it up with elements people would not expect to see.

The main setting for the killer his home as such would be a lumber/saw mill for 2 reasons isolated setting and a place with plenty of tools to work with. Anouther bonus to this is it gives the area depth to explore and will be visually interesting and will give off a creepy atmosphere with the saw blandes and power tools.

This is just a brief overview of the setting but it is enough to give you an idea what is being aimed for.

Slasher Design

This is an older idea that has recently been resurrected it made alot of sense to do and now the peices just fell into place on how to carry out the concept and to do it justice.

The concept is based around the classic slasher icons and capturing the tense feeling and terror and audience would feel watching them but more so if the audience was one of those hunted characters fighting for their lives. This is one advantage video games have there is watching something but actually being a part of it and your actions affecting others in this form of game will be something very unique.

The style of gameplay that i am aiming for is based of real life and what we do as humans we invstiagte and make human mistakes that in many situations can not be changed so taking that into the game format so your actions reflect what happens in the future and also because of this your actions face consequences good or bad.

The game is set within one enviroment inwhich you can explore with the exploration and the horror element to keep things feeling unique each playthrough the same things wont happen twice depending on your actions and the order in which you tackle them a good way to sum it up is the butterfly effect.

Altogether this is something that really hasnt been tackled in the game genre so it will be interesting and fun trending new ground with this one.

Ill be posting up anouther two posts shortly covering the setting and also the killer so look out for those.

Infulences

Anyone that designs creates art whatever influences play a huge role in what they do and it alot of cases like me it what starts them off down the route they want to go.
My biggest influence in gaming would have to be Hideo Kojima and his Metal Gear Solid series without that i really dont think i would be where i am now. I find his work to be very unique and he blends a cinematic style with great gameplay which together help tie in a strong narrative. The first Metal Gear Solid game will always be one of my biggest influences.

The series changed the way i thought about games and it has really set a seed in me which has been growing over the last few years in the way of story telling in video games. Those games showed me a game can be so much more and it can effect people the way films do and this is one of the key areas im going down with what i want to do and that is to create a real powerful game that delivers a quality narrative with gameplay that suits the story but more so creating some that is more of an experience that the player goes through, rather than beating a high score or a highier difficulty.

I feel gaming has alot to offer yet and at the moment its is just scratching the surface to what is possible.

Website is Coming along

Ive started on the new design for my website which should be up in the near future. Its kind of a portfolio site and basically a platform to keep all my stuff in one place and contained also it should help up my game cause i only want to put my best stuff on there showcasing what i can really do.
Below is the base template designed in photoshop using alot of images as placeholders just to help get an idea of how things flow and such but i like it so far. Im keeping it simple and easy to update with a bit of style to.
The finished version will look alot better but seeing as the template is nearly done it will be easy to kick start on the final graphics for the site.

Story telling in games

This is something i feel very strongly about in the game world and at this stage of gaming it is still taking the baby steps on perfecting a good way of portraying a good story throughout the length of a game.

To me i feel with the gaming platform and current technology so much more could be tried and done but its very fixed on established rules or guidelines of what a game should be.
Gaming at the moment a large amount of the time is very controlled fixed and in many ways can be summed up  with gameplay followed by cutscene etc but what if that was thrown out and looked upon as something such as how can we approach this in a new way? and example of this is Final Fantasy 13 which is basically has gameplay and story on different sides of a wall its basically a movie but blending in gameplay sections.

One thing im getting at is going from a gameplay mentality to an experience one, thinking of a game as something more than a game to pass the time but something you as a player can connect with and feel a part of it. Some parts to this is making games feel natural to the user in the way they interact but also having a human connection to the game in the way of emoticons so things like life and death have a meaning and a consequence and once that is established a sense of fear will be in place because in most cases you wont want your character to die because that would be it for them.

One game does tackle this which is Heavy Rain and i think we need to see more games taking a different direction to the norm, the norm is fine games like Street Fighter, Gears of War and Call of Duty are fun no doubt but gaming needs to open up a little more to change to have more variety and in essence opening up to new audiences.

Back, with some thoughts

Been meaning to update this but i just havnt been in the mood to do so recently feeling like i am kind of stuck in a spot job wise and just generally. Kind of feeling like i need a break sort of getting away and doing something new though that at the moment is on hold till the job picture starts looking a little brighter.

Currently just doing some work on a game that me and some friends will start to put together soon its been on and off for awhile and its time to get things going on it or else it never will. So as far as that goes ill put up some stuff about that not sure what yet but ill think of something.

With all the job searching at the moment in chosen role Game Designer i have been having doubts on whether to go down that route the passion i had for that role and that side of things just seems to be fading away which leaves me with alot of question on what path i want to take now. This isnt the first time ive thought about it which might be a sign it really isnt something i want to do, or else its just not right yet?