It’s time I make my first appearance here. In case you didn’t read the first post I’m Florian and among other things I’m responsible for the art of the game. Last week we took a closer look at the playable races in Starshard. Today I would like to talk a bit about how the designs for some of those characters came to be.
It’s my first blog post ever so bear with me it can only get better from here on.
The Eldran Evoker
The first concept I did was of the Eldran Evoker. She was originally not intended to be an Evoker (since they didn’t even exist at the time) but rather just a random mage. Over time as we developed the classes further we saw that she actually fit the role of the Evoker pretty nicely so she got the job.
Eldra are the smallest and most delicate of all races. I intended them to be cute and childlike. At the same time however I wanted them to seem like they could be quite mischievous. I often draw a single fang on Eldran characters to put emphasis on their playful nature although I never really decided if that should be an actual anatomical feature. Since the ears of the Eldra are so long they are used for communication through body language. Folded down ears bear just as much meaning to an Eldra as a frown.
The Daeva Footpad
After that point we had all the base classes planned out and I started designing characters specifically to fill in those positions. The Daeva was a real challenge for me since I don’t really know how to design handsome characters. Yet the Daeva Footpad was supposed to be a handsome and charismatic character that charms you while taking all your belongings behind your back. So I had to find out what a typical good-looking guy could be (let me know if he actually is attractive). His genus is mostly similar to a Nephilim appearance wise other than the horns of course. The layers upon layers of cloaks, mantels and vests he wears provide plenty of room to hide whatever he doesn’t want to be seen. After the first design iteration was done we added the card in his hand as well because it just fit and he seems like he would be a gambler.
The Nephilim Wanderer
Finally we come to the Nephilim. The Nephilim are the tallest of all races and the most technologically evolved ones. They are often pretty stuck up and think themselves better than others. Since they are so clean and organized we gave him a uniform looking outfit. Their appearance is loosely based on angels. To put emphasis on that I gave him a halo. The halo is actually just a display for information. Think of it as the Nephilim version of a name tag. Of course their weapons have to match their level of technology. While a bow seems like a pretty archaic weapon this one actually utilizes energy stored in the power gloves to shoot projectiles of concentrated energy (which obviously is much more sophisticated). He also has a small device on his cheek which is used for communication.
So those were the original concepts for some the sprites you saw earlier. What do you think about them? In the future I will go more in-depth on the designs and appearance of the different races in general and post about more concepts so look forward to that!
