Logo

I thought it would be nice and make the game feel more real if we had a logo, which would also be useful for the title page in our presentation/game design document. We earlier decided on a title for the game: Haku Hiva, which is the name of the Island we based the map of the island on. I also felt it was fitting as it was almost like an onomatopoeia, it sort of sounds like 'hack and heave'.

The logo is primarily based on the club that we used an out initial inspiration for the game (and as one of the weapons in the game) and with the text creates the form of a skull, which I felt reflected the tone of the game quite well.

first iteration

This was the first version of the logo, the main difference is that the 'eyes' are white in this version, my group felt that it looked too overbearing and 'hypnotic'.

Back Tattoos

I took the tattoo drawings and tried to incorporate them into the back in a way that made it instantly clear that the tattoos will be filled in.

I added a 'border' around the area where the back tattoo would branch, giving a sense of a 'goal' for the player to achieve by filling the empty area. I also tried to illustrate the difference between the different branches of skills and finally a back with the tattoos complete.

Tree paintovers

I did some paintovers on a model of a cross section of the environment including a tree (that was modelled for this purpose) The purpose of the paintover was to show the varying degrees of the fungus' effect on the environment, as the player gets closer to the Spirit gods in the infection zones, the fungus will become more severe, effecting the ground as well as the atmosphere, the worse areas will be darker and covered in a mist of spores.

I think I may have been too restrictive and working too zoomed in so I may have another shot at this but try and take full advantage of the scene and really try and go a bit wild with the infection.

close up of the bottoms of the tree.

Weapons silhouettes

I created intended to do some silhouettes for some potential weapon stone modifications, but I ended up kind of just creating an image for each potential variation. I decided that perhaps each stone has a certain quality that is reflected in the stats of the weapon, for example a deer stone would give the weapons it’s ‘power’ form which would be cumbersome but powerful. A bird stone would give the ‘range’ form which elongates the weapon and makes it more effective from a distance. A turtle stone would make the weapon ‘defensive’ which would simply give the weapon a shield for blocking and perhaps some other defensive measure.

Another thing I've proposed would be the idea for potential context-sensitive controls depending on the equipped stone. For example when the 'Power' stone is equipped the control does a powerful but slow attack, typical in hack and slash games, but when using the 'defensive' stone the button would simply act as a 'block' that would otherwise be unavailable. This feel like this adds incentive for players to switch up their play style from area to area, and possibly have to go back after a failed attempt at a boss with a different play-style, maybe the defensive style would be best for one boss, but the stones can't be changed on the fly, the player would need to go back to the nearest camp in order to change their set-up.

Infection progression

These images are all of the same bear at 3 different stages in the infection process starting with stage one, with some minimal fungal growth and some hair loss, the second image will be a bit more further along, with severe hair loss, fungal growth and excessive bone growth piercing the skin in the chin shoulder blades and spine. as well as excessive growth in the teeth, this stage should really have more hair but I intended it to be the final form, I continued working into it though creating what is now the final stage. The fourth and final stage the bear is almost unrecognisable, with severe fungal growth all over the body and further excessive bone growth now notably in the brow ridge, cheek bones and the nose, giving the bear a more threatening and deathly aesthetic. 

Throughout the stages of infection the bear is also contorted into more horrifying form by the continued growth of the spine which can be made out by the silhouettes, the bear becomes more stiff limbs and bent out of shape the further it progresses into it's infection.

Character back

I needed to create a drawing of the player character's back to illustrate the tattoo progression system.

When we have more of a solid idea of what the tattoos look like I will add them to the image along with step by step how they will upgrade.

I will also use this image later to create a front view using it's silhouette as a base.

weapon upgrading

I briefly mentioned earlier how the Spirit Gods would drop an ore that the player would use to cast a stone that would use to improve their weapons, the stone would modify the effectiveness of the weapon as well as it's appearance. The idea was in part a way of adding a range of weapons to the game without actually having to design lots of different types and different material weapons as the actual weapons used at the time were severely limited, and as a game with heavy Hack and Slash elements I felt it would be important to have a range of different weapons in the game.

I think before going any further into designing these I want to do some more rough iterations, maybe using silhouettes. I just wanted to illustrate how the stone would affect the appearance of a weapon.

I'm not particularly happy with this but this was a quick-sih paintover I did of one of the 3D models.

I think the main problem was that I was very limited by the fact that the bridge and the small island took up the entire fore and midground of the composition so I was severely limited in how I could add the island into the image, I was kind of restricted to adding it in the background and as a result it just kind of looks lazy, I'm going to attempt another paintover probably without the bridge/river and with the village more in the foreground.