CS blog Address

http://ba6contextualstudies.blogspot.co.uk/

Damned and hero orths

Bobby Drake early on in his cause to earn back his soul and save the 'Sin City'

Another damned who hasn't moved on, she will task you with solving her last wish so that she is free to pass over.

The 'Saint Bobby Blues'

This is an example of the overall sound i'd like to have for the game and sort of inspires the title.
it's a bit corny but i'd like it to be the title of a song so its to be called 'Saint Bobby Blues' or the 'Ballad of Saint Bobby'

Damned Character Final

My original intent was that she was tipping her hand to let the blood roll off her wrist, but a friend pointed out that she looked as if she was pushing her self round a corner as if she was rearing for a fight.

Devil Character Final

Hero Character Sheet Final

The Story goes in its final draft that you (Bobby Drake) are a blues musician at the top of his field, yet you have never made it big, something that you are eager for. Now your time is being cut short as you have been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. You go to great lengths to find an answer to your problem but soon you come to terms with your finale. One night you drunkenly stumble across a crossroads outside of the city, there you meet a man who tells you he can give you your time back. You see this as your opportunity to live again and fulfil your dream of becoming a famous musician.

The next day you wake up in your bed as if nothing happened, last nights events a drunken blur. You spend the next couple of weeks performing in bars and getting your name out there, and your close to signing a deal when tragedy strikes. Your brother has been pronounced dead, the cause an undiagnosed brain tumour.
You're distraught by the events and you visit his wife and child who are in mourning. During the visit you see an apparition of your brother appear, he forgives what you have done claiming that he'd of given his life for you but ask that you do one thing in return. He tasks you with delivering a letter he had made if this particular event ever arose to his daughter and wife. With his final wish completed he can move on to the other side but not before warning you of the devils intent.

He makes it very clear that if you do not earn back your soul you will spend an eternity in the devils playground being tormented and punished for your sinful ways. You embark your services upon the 'sin-city' finding information in bars and helping those who have been in conflict with the devil and the tormented.
You meet a priest who aids you in your quest by blessing objects you can use for combat and distributing missions for you to complete. In the end you break the hold the Devil has upon the 'Sin-city' and earn your right back into heaven.

hero wip 2

hero WIP

Just started working on the skin tones.

Damned character final

devil final

final hero wip

Bobby Drake: Demon Hunter

Character sheets progression

Settling on the name Bobby Drake.
His character is a relatively calm one aiding with task that include  helping ghost move onto the other side.
At this point his design is quite formal and smart, i believe this his his attempt of trying to make it big as a musician thus indulging his greed by buying fancy clothing. Later on his look will deteriorate into a more gruff look. 

This version of the damned is obviously out of there mind, with contorted poses and tortured facial expressions.
Blood is smeared all over her clothes and body to show the frenzy in her actions.

Character Sheets WIP

The Damned Orthographic

This version of the Damned is highly influenced by the film 'The Exorcist' with the character being possessed by a demon. I believe in the film that it's implied that it is the devil who possessed the girl, but in my game i see the devil as thinking that kind of thing is below him and has a lesser demon take control of the girl.

Her body is covered in cuts to the point where she is losing a lot of blood, if she wouldn't die from this then i believe she would succumb to septicemia. This could play into the game with a morale decision of whether you put her out of her misery or the more honourable version which would include exorcising the demon and rushing her to hospital in vein hope that she would survive.

Protagonist Orthographic

Haven't got a name for him yet. Thought about calling him bobby since bob is short for robert (Robert Johnson)
I think something corny like Bobby Moon, since it sounds like a show name / crazy mans name.  

This design comes from later in the game when the effects of messing with the devil are taking there toll on the hero. He begins to care less about his appearance and starts to look more rugged with his hair and beard grown to a considerable length.

The Devil turnaround

The Devil is going to be a bit of a sadistic character but on the surface he'll come across as more of a businessman that always have an ulterior motive, no matter what he promises there is always a benefit on his side. I think this will reflect with the end of the game, the devil will win but it's just a matter of how much you let him win.

Front Orthographic view of Hero and Refined Idea

Originally The main Character was going to be black and the game was to be set during the depression.

after a critique session with my tutor and a group of peers, i have been reassured that the race of the main character doesn't matter and since i am better at drawing Caucasian characters i will make the hero white.

The game is now to be set in modern times in a new york like sin-city. The reason for this is that i can portray various forms of folk lore and culture from all around the world into one cultural hub. 

I intend to explore the afterlife of various religions and spiritual embodiments of cultures such as muslim, buddhist, native american and so on. 

Hero's Thumnails

The middle thumb is the result of me toying with basing the game in modern times, with the Robert Johnson legend as the inspiration. I'm leaning more towards this idea, purely because i'd be able to include the spirituality and faith of other cultures which otherwise wouldn't be present in the 1930's. 

Devil Thumbnails round 1

They don't look overly evil or creepy but i guess i was trying to emphasize the fact that the devil could be anyone and take any form and be deceiving in the way that he acts.

numbered for reference

devil 

damned

hero

The Damned Silhouettes

The 'Damned' that feature in the game will be the obstacles that my protagonist will have to overcome in various ways. They are the minions and victims of the Devil.
These Damned include apparitions, demons, ghosts, possessed and witches.
The general style in my head was twisted and contorted poses for the possessed and creepy, mysterious poses for the rest.

The Devil's Silhouettes

The devil has turned up in various forms of media, my favourite being the less literal of the depictions.

The ones that stick out in my mind are the devil in 'Constantine' and in 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

Constantine Devil resembles what the angels look like, as he is supposedly a fallen angel. He is dressed completely in a white linen suit and wears no shoes. What differs him from the Angels in Constantine is the fact that he has no wings (probably because they were taken from him when he was banished from heaven) and his white outfit has a black oily substance surrounding his feet. He also has obvious blackened veins around his neck. 

Lucifer as he is depicted in the original Constantine and Sandman Comics.
He is indistinguishable from other angels other from the fact he takes delight in things like cigarettes and alcohol.

image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/60/Lucifer16.jpg/250px-Lucifer16.jpg [accessed 16th april 2012]

The Devil in Constantine shown wearing his Angelic suit with an obvious yet subtle evil twist including the blackened marks on his neck.

Image Source: http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110909225654/villains/images/1/17/Lucifer_(Constantine).jpg
[accessed 16th april 2012]

The Oily substance that constantly secretes around his feet and wherever he walks. 

Image source: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/D7heydIAPSs/hqdefault.jpg  [accessed 16th april 2012]



The Devil as he is portrayed in 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' which depicts the devils as suave corrupted businessman who takes enjoyment in disrupting the faith of others and gambling with the souls of the innocent.
The main focus of the film is a game that Parnassus and The devil are playing in which the winner is the person who can either save or corrupt the most souls. The soul which is at stake is the soul of Parnassus' Daughter.

The Devils obsession with bets is heightened when he wins the bet and then claims that he had cheated or won unfairly (even when he didn't) so that Doctor Parnassus would partake in another bet for more souls.

The Devil as he is shown in full business suit and bowler hat. He is also a very suave dancer.
He corrupts souls by giving the 'player' there greatest temptation.

Image source:http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/12/parnassus-devil-2shot-660.jpg
[accessed 16th april 2012]

Protagonist Silhouettes

Although i don't want combat to be a main feature of the game, i felt that the protagonist needed to be portrayed as a force to be reckoned with.

I remembered a scene from the film Dogma, which depicted a priest who was so egotistical that he blessed his golf clubs for a better game. When the time came one of the main characters used the club to kill a demon.

The demon with the blessed golf club stick out of his chest in 'Dogma'

image source: http://www.dogma-movie.com/pics/bar/images/leegolf.jpg [accessed 16th april 2012]

This gave me the idea of having the protagonist of my game getting certain objects bless for use against the damned, this includes baseball bats, bullets and even his guitar. 

I think a way of implementing this into the game would be to have priests at certain areas of the game that can bless certain tools, making them holy instruments. Also i considered having holy water, which can be dispensed over the tool to heighten the damage temporarily. 

Proposed Idea version 1

For BA6 I’m going to develop an idea I have been toying with for a while. On the surface it’s a redemption story about a man who sells his soul to the devil and does what he can to earn back his right into heaven. Deeper than that though I want to explore a humans mortality and the legacy a man leaves behind.

The idea is based on the life of Robert Johnson, who is considered a master of the blues and influenced many of today’s modern rock stars. Allegedly he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads to play guitar. it is also the time and setting that intrigues me.

Robert Johnson

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/RobertJohson.png/220px-RobertJohson.png [accessed 16th april 2012]

Johnsons story takes place during the 30’s in America, which at the time was in ‘the Great Depression’. During this period in time spirituality, especially Christianity, was operating at its highest. Atheism, although it existed, was considered bad and Christianity was almost forced upon society by the politicians and the education system.

I believe that I can exploit this religious potency and explore the effects a more hyper realised devil could have on the society.

With this in mind a possible idea is as follows:

Set during the 1930’s in a rural Mississippi, Robert Johnson is a man on the cusp of brilliance. He is considered legend among his peers as a highly talented guitarist however Johnson has never made it as a professional. Mortality is knocking on Johnson’s door as he is diagnosed with having a brain tumour therefore his dream may never be realised.

One night Johnson with nothing left to lose travels into the night alone and drunk, it is here he stumbles across the crossroads 5 miles from nowhere.

As If he had been waiting there forever, a man dressed head to toe in a white suit encounters Johnson, claiming to know what ails him and that he is able to give him whatever he wants. At this point Johnson will try anything and when the man offers his life back in return for his soul, Johnson believes him to be mad never the less he signs his soul away thinking it to be a meaningless gesture.

Somewhat how the devil would look, perhaps more evil.

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/Harland_Sanders.jpg/200px-Harland_Sanders.jpg  [accessed 16th april 2012]

The next day Johnson awakes under an apple tree, he wanders back home where he goes to pick up some more medication for his condition less it do any good.

The doctor excited to see him explains that there was a mix up with the scans and a careless assistant had put a ‘smudge’ on them making the doctor believe it to be a tumour.

Johnson now having gained back his life runs to tell his brother the good news. To Johnson’s dismay he finds his brother lying motionless in his bed. The same doctor later performs an autopsy and exclaims the cause of death as an undiscovered brain tumour.

Johnson spends the next few days in a drunken rage and eventually lays down next to his brother’s grave attempting to speak to him. The ghost of his brother manages to make contact with Robert and asks that he help him move on by delivering a message to his wife that he had left a supply of money underneath the floor boards to support them if something were to happen.

Before crossing over his brother leaves him a warning that if he does not earn back his soul, he will be at the mercy of the devil for an eternity and never rejoin his brother in heaven.

Robert Johnson departs with his guitar in hand and on a road that will lead him to the damned and the needy.

His role will have him performing exorcism of those the devils minion have possessed, performing last rites for the deceased and helping the departed move on to the other side.