Project #2 - PART 3 - Vyse's Brother

Since I'd previously looked at Skies of Arcadia, and having played the game, I am familiar with the game space and the characters within it. So this part of the project was relatively easy in and I was able to establish an appropriate unique character. Having looked back and analysed the game, it was apparent to me that it would be simple to create a new character for a world so large and so varied. Given that Skies of Arcadia features optional missions, I took advantage of this in designing an older brother for the main character, Vyse.

I brainstormed the kind of character his brother might be, aiming to branch away from the good/strong relationship ideal that I focused on with Link's brother.

Brainstorming

Exploring some of the character anatomy in Skies

While there are pirates clearly inspired by different cultures, a brother to Vyse would be more likely to resemble his more Western style of pirate attire since he would originally come from the same culture as his brother. I researched a number of different pirate designs in the game, with the following sketches the result of that:

It was decided that his artificial leg would add curiosity towards the character, following some views on others who have played the game. It is his 'big sword' as Josh would aptly put it. As it turned out, general comments seemed to lean towards the top middle or the bottom right designs, largely appreciating the style of the headgear/hairstyles.

With that in mind, I moved on. I played with a couple of clothing designs and explored a number of colour palettes, not forgetting that Skies of Arcadia is a bright and vibrant world with even brighter and more vibrant characters.

Honing in on a palette that felt right within the space of Skies of Arcadia was actually quite tricky. I didn't want the character to be too similar to Vyse, but show some resemblance to the Blue Rogue uniform in a way - more in the style of his clothes as opposed to colour, and of course similar eye/hair colour to indicate a relation to Vyse.

Exploring Colour Palettes

The concept of Vyse's brother is that he is an enemy character, to try and explore how this circumstance could steer the engagement between player, character and game space. The story behind the character will follow in the next post.