Research
Research Proposal:
18/10/2020
Schedule
19/10/2020
Market Segmentation:
20/10/2020
Geographics:
Geographics help to divide up the certain regions in which products may be sold. Usually, areas are broken down into rural, suburban, and urban. Rural areas mainly contain either a high amount of farmland or have a sparse population whilst suburban areas have a higher population but are not considered hubs of activity. Finally, urban areas have the highest population density being containing cities and towns but lacking large areas of farmland.
Demographics:
This is based on dividing consumers into age, gender, lifestyle, income, etc. This has become obsolete as of late due to the fact that many people can have broad interests, so as a rich business owner might play a lot of sports games, so might the cashier working at one of his shops.
Demographics really took off with the production of television and radio, making it a lot easier to help draw certain consumers to certain products thus helping to establish a general categorisation of who bought what product.
Psychographics:
Psychographics are used to divide consumers by their personality traits, interests, lifestyles, etc. This can be useful since it would allow marketing to be a lot more specific since personality traits and beliefs rarely change throughout a person's life, making it easier to maintain a certain market that does not fluctuate as much as the others might.
Behavioral:
Like psychographics, Behavioral market segmentation relies on the general actions but, more specifically on how a certain group of people interacts with a company. This would prove useful because it would allow a marketing team to keep their advertisements relevant to their consumers, failure to do this would cause a disconnect between consumers and suppliers making it difficult to create an effective means to advertise their products.
Technographics:
Technographic segmentation is based around the usage of various pieces of software and the ownership of hardware, this also follows how the software and hardware are used making it easier for software and hardware companies to make changes to their software to make it more appealing to consumers with having to make unnecessary updates thus saving money and increasing their consumer base.
Questions that could be asked to help gather data:
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How old are you?
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How long have you been playing games?
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What is your opinion on [Genre] games?
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What would you say is the biggest strength of the game?
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What would you change if you could?
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Do you prefer to play with friends or on your own?
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What is your favorite genre of games?
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What is your favorite game?
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Do you prefer games that rely on the story instead of the mechanics or vice-versa?
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Why is this?
Audience Persona:
20/10/2020
Themes Research:
20/10/2020
In this lesson, we worked on listing the properties of certain themes filling out what is usually found inside of these themes. the ones we chose were Horror, Mystery, and Sci-Fi.
We also worked on a combined list of different themes and a few examples of games or movies that are in the field of that theme.
The main properties that we picked out when looking over the horror theme were that there is usually some form of unknown element to the bad guy of the story, whether it be the fact that they mysteriously survive things that would normally kill someone or that their appearance makes them look superhuman due to the height of them or due to some horrible disfigurement that they have suffered. These traits can be drawn from films like Friday The 13th's Jason: A New Beginning (1985) who is shown be covered in various boils and scars to give him an animalistic look.
When discussing the mystery theme, it was typically divided into two categories, a horror mystery where the protagonist has to try and find a way to escape some great evil that they couldn't hope to take head-on or, a detective story where the main character attempts to unearth a crime or shading organisation this category is typically placed in the early 1900s due to the lack of technology making it a lot more of a challenge to discover the root of the issue.
Apart from the horror theme, the Sci-Fi theme was our most discussed due to the wide variety of media that has stemmed from this specific theme. The main things that we picked out were that the big bad is almost always some form of all-encompassing evil that is trying to either wipe out humanity or the galaxy as a whole. another common practice in the more drama-esque media was that there is usually a dashing rogue who is morally grey but ends up putting aside his shady ways to help the young and upcoming hero is his quest to defeat the bad guys.
One-sheet
21/10/2020
Researching My Genre
Sanctum:
One of the biggest inspirations for potential mechanics for my project was the game Sanctum 2 (Coffee Stain Studios, 2013), a tower-defence game with aspects of a first-person-shooter. Sanctum's story is based around defending 'cores' which are used to purify the air for the last remnants of humanity whilst the Lumes are attempting to destroy them. The majority of the gameplay revolves around placing blocks on a marked grid in an attempt to slow down the Lumes as well as creating towers to destroy them before they reach the core.
I felt that these mechanics as a brilliant example of how to blend genres to make a game more exciting for the player, with the Tower-defense gameplay to stretch a players strategy capabilities but the FPS system prevents that player from getting too bored whilst they are unable to place any towers.
Dungeon Defenders:
Dungeon Defenders (Chromatic Games, 2010) is a third-person tower-defence game with RPG and action elements. The campaign for this game follows an array of heroes as then attempt to protect a crystal that is being continuously being attacked by waves of various enemies, from wyverns to orcs and goblins.
The main aspects I wanted to take inspiration from this game was the idea of having a 'hub' that the player could use to interact with parts of the game that did not require continuous action, this would allow the player to relax as they made decisions that would affect their gameplay without the need for urgency
Divinity: Dragon Commander:
Dragon commander (Larian Studios, 2013) is a unique game which sports a mix of real-time strategy, turn-based strategy and 3rd person action. The game follows a bastard prince who, with the help of his father's advisor, plans to take the throne for himself whilst fending off his multiple siblings who are also vying for the throne themselves. The mechanics of this game focuses on a blend of turn-based strategy which is used to maintain the various countries that you have captured, each of which has a race that controls the majority of the territory. The previous turn-based mechanic also lends into the political system which has the character make various decisions to govern the various aspects of their ever-growing empire for instance, whether contraception should be legalised or if the government should pay for healthcare.
The inspiration that I want to take from this game was the way in which the choices that the character makes will affect the difficulty of the game, this would provide an element of replayability to the game due to the fact that a player could purposely make certain decisions to give them a higher level of challenge.
21/10/2020
Researching My Theme -28/10/2020
Orcs Must Die
Orcs Must Die (Robot Entertainment, 2011) is a third-person action/Tower Defence game developed by Robot Entertainment which is centred around a wizard's apprentice who is left with defending the various dungeons after his master died during the defence of one of these dungeons.
I felt heavily inspired by the art style of this game due to the fact that it would help to create an entertaining environment for the player to explore whilst they were playing the game. The art style would also help to draw in younger audiences with the cartoon-esque look of the character and environment furthermore this style would also make it suitable for these younger audiences due to it only involving cartoon violence.
Lovecraft
I was greatly inspired by the designs of H.P.Lovecraft's descriptions of monster that were portrayed in his various novels, with the majority of them coming from the darkest depths of the ocean. I wanted to tie these designs into my game by having the various enemies that the player defends against having the style of those that came from the ocean this would be done by giving the creatures barnacles and tenticle-like appendages as well as some of them making reference to many other sea-creature that come from different mythologies, this would to give the enemy a settling appearance helping to establish to the player that these creatures are evil.
Theme/Genre Idea -29/10/2020
The theme that I want to create for my game is a high fantasy setting which runs with the idea of dwarves, elves and goblins as well as the use of magic. I think that this theme would be suitable for my game because it would allow me to create an environment that would be dripping with atmosphere thus making it incredibly immersive as well as giving me more freedom with the designs of my characters and towers.
I wanted to use the tower-defence genre mixed with elements of first-person action to create a perfect blend of high adrenaline combat whilst allow those who prefer to tailor the perfect defence to enjoy the game as well. The genres would also work well with the high fantasy theme due to the interesting towers and character that could be developed with these in mind.
Game Title Design -03/11/2020
We were advised to think about what the title of game would look like as well as the effect that different titles have upon the player. I started by looking at previous games that run off of similar concept to my own, I believed that doing this would help in the long run due to the fact that preforming the extra research would allow me to draw connections between all of these titles as to how they attempt to draw specific emotions from the consumer.
In conclusion, my research has unearthed that these titles will typically have a flourish or exaggeration to the letters to give an abnormal look and represent the general environment that can be expected in the game. The titles also contain colours of gold, red, silver and blue which helps to reflect that the world that is contained within this game is one of regality and war, with the gold used to present the older-fashioned state of the world since an avid player of games would be able to associate the colour of gold with one of the most well-known tropes in fantasy, the use of gold as currency. The silver and blues, on the other hand, can be associated with the colour of steel and metal in general since the majority of fantasy games contain a vast army of knights or unending hordes of orcs all brandishing weapons made of these colours.
Game Box Art Design-03/11/2020
When coming up with designs for my box art, I looked at a few previously created games so that I could connect aspects that were similar between them.
From the box art that I looked at, I have found that the majority usually have the main character or most popular character on the front cover at the centre of the art. The main threat is also seen in the art, usually placed in the background to help to establish to overpowering nature of the enemy and to help reinforce the necessary to beat them.
Audience Research-04/11/2020
The audience that I am planning on using for my game will range from 12-16, I plan to use this research to draw comparisons between the two and decide which would be more appropriate for my game. The two games that I will be using in this research are Ark: Survival Evolved and, The Simpsons Game.
The Simpsons Game was developed in 2009 by Electronics Arts as a platformer game starring the popular TV characters, the game has a PEGI 12 rating due to the use of cartoon violence as well as the non-realistic art style making it more suitable to younger audiences. This PEGI rating would prove advantageous because it would allow me to market my game to a wider audience helping to make it more successful although, this would also limit what I would be able to do this the game's difficulty since I would have to make it easy enough so that any younger audience member would be able to enjoy the game without being put off by puzzle being too difficult or the enemies being too complex to understand. furthermore, it would be difficult to create a realistic art style since I would be harder to create no-realistic violence in a life-like environment.
Ark: Survival Evolved, a game created by Studio Wildcard in 2017, is a sandbox survival game with elements of multiplayer and first/third-person action. Ark's rating first decided by it's multiplayer since multiplayer must at least have a PEGI rating of 12 but on top of that, it has realistic violence which moves it up to a PEGI rating of 16. Due to its PEGI rating, Ark uses this to it fullest by expanding upon its realistic elements, having the character hunting to gather food as well as rendering various animals unconscious so that they may tame them.
After reviewing these titles I feel that a PEGI rating of 12 would be suitable for the game idea that I have in mind since I would be easy for me to develop a game that did not rely on realistic graphics or heavy amounts of violence, I also considered have an option that removed the choice system in the game which would make it easier for younger audiences to enjoy the game without causing too much confusion over specific aspects of the game.
Sonic in 3D vs Sonic in 2D-05/11/2020
For this lesson, we looked at the differences between Sonic Adventures 2 and Sonic The Hedgehog, the main things we looked at was the ways in which the player is introduced to the mechanics of the game or lack thereof.
Sonic Adventures 2 (Sega, 2001) uses its first level, Escape From The City, to slowly introduce the player to basic mechanics at the start by main character sliding down a street with limited controls to help the player get used to how the character's side-to-side movement works. The game also has a few rings which are placed directly in front of the player at the start of the level which are almost completely unavoidable forcing the player to pick them up, this helps newer players understand that there is some form of reward in collecting these rings. The player will then be able to see a few more rings further down the street slightly off to the right of the player, this gives the player the choices to either move to the right to collect the coins or to go past them. This way of introducing the player to the game's mechanics works well because it allows newer players to adapt to the control scheme without there being too much pressure on getting it right the first try since missing a few coins does not leave much of a difference in the long run.
Sonic The Hedgehog, on the other hand, does not have a tutorial for the player to follow but simply places at the start of a level and leaves them to figure what to do, they are not left in any trouble, to begin with, since ahead of them is are slow-moving enemies and a few pitfalls that are no that difficult when you have an understanding of the controls. This way of teaching the player can be useful due to it inspiring the player to go about their own way of the traversing the level but, this can prove detrimental because it can turn away newer players who don't have much of an understanding of typical 2D platformer. This way of introducing the player to your game would be much more effective in an environment with players who have a more in-depth understanding of how the genre typically work but, this would prove useful if you do have this environment since it would be more interesting to those players since it would allow for more control on how they wanted to play your game, giving them a sense of freedom and not feeling pigeon-held.
Research into Game Level Tutorial Design -05/11/2020
During this lesson we were also asked to research the first level from a game of our choice, the game is chose was Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders (Blueside, 2004) or better known as KUF. KUF is a 3D person real-time strategy game with elements of hack-and-slash combat. I used a video by DE235 on YouTube to provide examples and reference quotes from.
The first level opens with the main character's unit searching for a dragon tomb which is used to create some conversation between the main character (Lucretia), her lieutenant (Cirith) and her overseer (Morene) to help establish the aggressive attitude between the three characters. Once the opening cut-scene is concluded, the player has full control over their unit and is instructed by their overseer in dialogue, "press the 'a' button to move. Press 'b' to halt. get it?" this is a running theme with the tutorial as the overseer will often instruct the player how the game works through sarcasm with the main character usually responding with an annoyed tone. This method of teaching the player is a very good way to introduce the basic controls with having it seeming too out of place, furthermore, it also helps to create more of a bond between the player and the characters around them.
Further on once the player has completed some tasks that require moving around the map, they will enter another cut-scene discussing the statue that the characters have managed to locate after they player's unit will be attack by a basic enemy to help them get used to the combat, this is battle is designed so that even if the player struggles to grasp the combat mechanics, they will still win the fight.
Player rewards/Level analyse - 12/11/2020
In this lesson, we looked at how players may react when givien a certain reward through ammo boxes, collectables etc. and how it can affect the pacing of a level depending on what they are and how they are placed. Furthermore, we looked at a level of our choice from any game and were tasked with compiling a list of challenges and rewards that are presented, we then had to analyse them and explain how the player is affected by them.
The level I chose is the Halfling Homes from the game Overlord developed by Triumph Studios and Codemasters in 2007.
Rewards:
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Gold - This reward causes the play to divert from their original path to collect the gold, this item is usually in a large bag making it hard for the player to miss, it also has a distinct sound to draw the player's attention.
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Minion pillar - This reward is a collectable and is one of the first the player gets, it is used to introduce the player to the look of these items so that they can gather more of them later on.
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Lifeforce- a common item in this game which allows the player to be more liberal with the use of their minions make the pace of the game speed up.
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Minion items- these do not have as much of an impact to gameplay but it gives a sense of customisation to the player's army, this can lead to the player collecting as must of this loot as possible to arm their minions to the best of their ability.
Challenges:
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Broken spoke wheel- this challenge encourages the player to explore different parts of the map to be able to collect the pieces that are needed to help open the door linked to the wheel.
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Enemies- the level is scattered with enemies that the player must deal with to be able to progress but they are able to sneak past sleeping enemies if they know how. This challenge allows for different ways to complete it for newer players as well as those who have a better understanding of how the game works.
World Bible Research References/Examples - 16/11/2020
Note: A lot of inspiration involving Greek myths was aided from the book Mythos by Stephen Fry.
Another great source of information was game Smite (Hi-Rez, 2014) which help with a lot of the mythical aspects as well.
Climate:
I started my references by looking at real-world examples that I would use in designing my virtual environment.
The first place I found was in Ontario, Canada which contain a lot of crowded forests and snowy clearing which would create an excellent area for the player to defend since it would help to create a natural stage. I also feel that the snowy aesthetic would help in the design of the placement of corruption through the different areas of the world.
For the Swamp areas of my game, I looked at the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, US. This area contains dense tree lines and patches of land that I think would prove an excellent setting, allowing for a few dispersed tribes to be place on the small collections of land as well as lending to the aquatic nature of one of the factions that I have in mind.
Another place I looked at was The Black Forrest in Germany, I think that this place would be a good setting for my game since it would make it easier to blend the various biomes on the continent as well as allow me to add more variety to the places that the player will go to.
Races:
Lizardmen:
When designing the environment and aesthetic of the lizardmen, I look to some of the common designs that have been previously done. Two of the biggest inspiration were the Lizardmen from the fantasy series; Warhammer Fantasy (Creative Assembly, 2017) which has the lizardmen as a swamp-dwelling Aztec-esque civilization, the second inspiration was the Argonians from the Elder Scrolls games (Bethesda Studios, 2011) which once again have the lizards residing in a swamp environment. I wish to follow suit in these ideas as I believe that this environment is well suited to the aquatic nature of the lizardmen, this is reinforced with the idea that I would prove a strategic advantage to the lizardmen since they would not be disorganised or slowed down by the water-heavy land.
Wood Elves:
I decided that it would be a good idea to add elves due to the fact that they are a staple of the fantasy theme, this would cement the theme to anyone who may not have as much experience with fantasy races.
The designs for this race took inspiration from the Mirkwood elves from the Lord of the Rings series (2001) as well as the elves from the Kingdom Under Fire games with elves gaining a lot of their power from the forests they live in, helping to solidify their reason for remaining in the diminishing forset around the land as well as their environmentally motivated actions.
Orcs:
The majority of orcs in fantasy appeared to mainly be of a brutalist nature follow the rules of 'might is right', I wanted to stay true to this classic but give it a spin than gave more meaning the actions of the race. through some of the research that I performed on previous mythoi, I discovered that one way that this simplistic nature can be somewhat subverted is the idea that the various factions contain with the orc race follow a tribalistic lifestyle with the use of shaman and spiritual chiefs. examples of this idea are the Uurks from the previously mentioned Warhammer Fantasy mythos with the 'Savage Uurks' have a shaman faction leader as well as the usage of spiritual warpaint.
Undead:
I felt that the typical design of the undead was a bit repetitive with them simply being evil creatures that were hell-bent on taking over the world and I wanted to do something a bit different to make them more interesting. Upon performing some reviewing a few fantasy-based games that I personally own, I found a game called Brütal Legend (Double Fine, 2009) which gives the undead known as the "Drowned" a high gothic style to their buildings and units. I also wanted to give some possible ideas to the races that were based around the concepts of life and death. To help with spiritual ideals of such a race, I looked at the undead from the game Divinity: Dragon Commander which had the undead as a race with old fashion ideals due to their naturally long life as well as the traditional manner that they act due to this.
Dwarves:
The design of the dwarves was inspired by the looks that could be found in multiple sources in the fantasy theme but, the most inspirational was the dwarves from the game Overlord which, put them in a much more wicked light, show how their greed for gold has caused devastation to the areas around them. I feel that this race would make an excellent addition to my game since that provides a stark contrast to the naturalistic races whilst also showing their misanthropic behaviour due to how they appear to be a lot more technically advanced compared to the other races around them.
Traditions
Felix Morte- Undead (Latin/Kemetic):
I based this tradition off of The Day of the Dead evolving a week-long celebration of those who have died and now returned, I also look at aspects of the old Egyptian religion; Kemetism which has a lot of spiritual connections to death and the life after, finally I felt that it would be appropriate to use terminology from Latin since I thought it would meld better with the gothic aesthetic that I want to use for this race.
Hawl yr hen ddyn - Orc (Celtic/Norse/Danish/Welsh)
I came across the idea for this tradition when researching Norse and danish traditions, where it is believed that a warrior would not be able to go to the hall of Valhalla unless they were to die in an honourable way. I also took inspiration from a Scottish ideal know as 'Chibbing' which is based around getting scars upon one's face. This tradition is formed into a month-long event every five years where the oldest of the tribe must fight any who challenge them, in the hope that they die fighting instead of due to old age.
Chalaemate-Elf (Gujarati):
Inspired by Pagan beliefs, mainly involving communing with nature (more specifically the trees that they reside in) this practice also has inspiration from some old Celtic ideals, mostly the gods Cernnunos the Gaelic god of woodlands and Dagda, the god of life and death. this ritual has elves meditating in an attempt to bond with the spirit of the tree that has chosen them, giving them insight into the role that they may play in the greater scale of things.
Tävling med stenhållare- Dwarf (Swedish-ish/Germanic):
A tradition that I was inspired to create mainly by the book series The First Law by Joe Abercrombie (2006) when a certain collection of character who lives in the north earn their names depending on a certain trait that has been noticed by those around them. The active side of this tradition drew inspiration from an English sport called the Atherstone Ball Games which revolves around a ground of people all competing to maintain hold of a ball until the time runs out.
Slangeskal-Lizardman (Western Frisian):
I gained the inspiration for this tradition from two sources, the first was a Spartan tradition be sent to be trained at a young age in the ways of their people, the second source of inspiration was from the Sci-Fi series Warhammer 40K where a legion known as the Death Guard would be made to survive in an incredibly hostile environment to prove that they were worthy to become a space marine.
Landmarks
Ti-an's Crater (Elf):
This landmark was inspired by two stories. The first was a story from Chinese mythology, the story of Chang'e and Hou Yi who are forever separated unable to reunite with Chang'e being the moon and Hou Yi shooting down the sun. The second story is of Persephone who is bound to visit Hades every six months causing distress for her mother, Demeter, causing the sessions to change as Persephone returns and leaves.
losgadh thràillean (Orcs):
this landmark contributes to a belief that the orcs hold. The desserts where the orcs live is very unnatural since the edges of the area are surrounded by snow as if there was no heat at a certain point. This leads to the orcs believing that any that do not die in battle are forced to push the unrelenting sun further on so that is can continue to hamper the orc tribes' prosperity. I drew the inspiration for this idea from two sources, the first being from the Greek story of Sisyphus who is forced to roll a boulder uphill until he can reach Olympus but failing every time. The second thing I took inspiration from was the Egyptian god Khepri who is responsible for pushing the sun across the horizon.
Oprolde-berch (Lizardmen/Dwarves):
The inspiration for this landmark came from the Danes that would come travel in longships during the 8th century, they would typically have different animal head statues adorning the front of their longships to intimidate the locals of the areas they were invading. For the design of the landmark, I was heavily inspired by the Norse monster known as Jormungandr, a monumental serpent coiled around the oceans that is said to swallow the world during the end of the world which was also known as Ragnarok.
Somnus Palatia (Undead):
I got the inspiration for this landmark from the Paris Catacombs as well as The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China. The Paris Catacombs were created in 1785 to help accommodate the every growing public health issue that was caused by the normal cemeteries located through-out Paris. The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is a 76-metre tall tomb which took over 38 years to construct for the Emperor Qin Shi Huang and over 7000 of his warriors as well as horses, chariots and various weapons.
Flora
omearmje (Lizardmen):
This flower is inspired by the story of Narcissus, a boy from Greek mythology who was believed to be the most beautiful man alive receiving praise from the gods themselves. By the end of the story, Narcissus died due to seeing his own reflection in a pool drowning as he tried to be with it. For the visual aspects of the flower, i took inspiration from a flower called the 'Meadow Beauty' which is known for it's vibrate colours ranging from pink to purple.
Stelkramp (Dwarves):
The inspiration for this plant came from the way that tumble weeds travel across lands by detaching their roots an rolling to a better location. I also used the idea of the plant being able to disguise itself as a rock to help blend with its surroundings which was inspired by the use of the Cloaks of Loren from Lord of the Rings.
Vrksa Apavum(Elves):
I got the inspiration for this piece of flora from the Norse mythological story of Yggdrasil, The World Tree. It is believed that Yggdrasil connects all of the realms from Asgard, the home of the gods, to Niflheim, a realm of cold, fog and, darkness. The second inspiration for the trees was the tree of Athel Loren, A ancient being that gives power to the wood elves in exchange for the protection of the forests that make up the territory of Athel Loren.
dormiens perspecta (Undead):
The inspiration for this flower is from the Ancient Greek belief about Pomegranate fruit, the fruit representing Persephone and the underworld of Hades as well as the ideals of rebirth or fertility I took the visual aspect of the plant from the flower Wisteria which is native to Asia and the United States. Wisteria is a flower that is a plant that typically grows through the process of climbing objects that it has been planted near.
Gal (Orcs):
Gal is a plant which takes inspiration from the mushroom known as Fly Agaric which was ingested by Dane warriors called Berserkers to cause a trance-like state known as Berserkgang. Not much is known about these berserkers but it is commonly believed that the intake of these mushrooms after being parboiled would cause inhuman strength and an unending rage. I wanted the visual design of these mushrooms to fit in with the badlands that they would reside in so, I found a mushroom called Podaxis Pistillaris which had a very rugged appearance as if it was naturally suited to an extremely inhospitable environment like the badlands.
Fauna
Boiteag (Orcs):
When working through the way in which these creatures would behave, I took inspiration from the Graboids the main antagonist from the movie series Tremors (1990). The Graboids would hunt and detect prey through the use of vibrations instead of sight or smell, making it easier to remain underground thus making it harder to defeat them. For the visuals of the Boiteag, I looked at the mythical monster called Charybdis the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. Charybdis would inhale great quantities of water to create whirlpools to drag ships under the waves to consume them.
wjirmtakke (Lizardmen):
The inspiration for this creature came from two sources, the first being the Acklays from Star Wars (2002) which have the appearance of six legend bugs with three eyes and several rows of needle-like teeth. The second inspiration for the Wjirmtakke was the Venomthropes from Warhammer 40k, a collection of creatures that produces a cloud of poisonous spores whilst using their multiple sets of tendrils to pull prey into them.
Mors Ossa (Undead):
The inspiration for the Mors Ossa came from the various visual representation of 'Undead Colossus' from the fantasy card game Magic the Gathering as well as the design of many different undead creatures from the fantasy genre. A lot of the aesthetics of these creatures involved multiple skeletons or corpses being fused into a hulky monstrosity that wiped throngs of people at but a flick of their bulging arms.
sten-orm (Dwarves):
The influence of this creature game from real-world and fantasy. The chameleon provided inspiration for the way the Sten-orn moved and the ability to camouflage itself, I felt that these traits would also work well with the physical attributes of a Wyrm, a snake-like creature measuring from 30ft to 70+ft that is actually a sub-species of dragon despite its appearance.
Vana Rasaka (Elves):
When Creating the visual aspects of the Vana Rasaka I took inspiration from the Ents of The Lord of The Rings series, ancient treemen that resided in the forests of Fangorn, that were the protectors of the forests that they lived in. I wanted my creature to have a more menacing appeared making then seem more like beasts instead of a sage race that was older than all others, so I also took inspiration from the Graug which also comes from The Lord of the Rings who are monumental creatures that are incredibly top-heavy giving them a permanent slouch that helps to show off their harder and spiny backs.
