Cop and Thug and more Character Heads

Heres the last of the digital painting concepts I worked on for the Cyberpunk game idea. There's a few more different variations of the cop and thug in my portfolio.

 

Here's a few more heads like those I posted a while back. Getting to like this format, maybe I'll do something similiar with the next thing I'm working on.

Project Terminated

A few more character concepts: (l-r) Our thug, this time with a gun, An operative of Quince Technologies (the evil world domineering corporation in the game)in regulation uniform, Rigger type character ready to call in the drones, Some kind of sexy assassin wearing a leotard (as they do).

Pretty much out of time for this project as I have got other priorities right now. So consider this an image dump. Maybe I will come back to this later, got to take care of the paying jobs first

Greyscale Photoshop Concepts

A Few greyscale concepts I have been working on in Photoshop. Struggled a bit to keep the policeman identifiable and yet have him seem a little futuristic. I can imagine this guy would be a pain to model - so much easier just to have him wear a high vis poncho. I intended this character to have some kind of stun gun, but I suppose I just got carried away.

I gave the generic thug a similar treatment, but there's a few areas I want to resolve before I post him.

A few of the heads I sketched out a few days ago - trying to get a feel for the amount of variation and character I can get into the more common types in the game.

Leaving the colour out really lets me get to grips with the form, but at some point I will be trying out a few different colour combinations to see what will work best.

Beat Cop

"Ello, ello, ello, what's all this then? I suppose you have a license for that Cobra Assault Cannon mounted on your mini? Westminster Borough Council takes a pretty dim view of that kind of thing..."

I've noticed that there's a definite bias against cars with visible wheelwells in science fiction works. Well here's my response

Detective Inspector Bilgewater

Another character idea. A no nonsense detective assigned to the Metropolitan Police Cyberpsycho department. Doesn't hunt replicants.

Cyberpunk Soho Environment and NPCs

Another, more detailed view of the alley environment. I pictured this as back doors and garages of some low-rent shops and fastfood joints on a main road. Maybe there is access to apartments above these businesses. The area will likely be littered with fast food containers and heavily graffitied.

None of these doors will be accessible and its likely that this backdrop will fill the screen in the game - there won't be any room for sky.

Few more character sketches - I like the idea of NPCs who could give the player clues, and help them solve puzzles within the game.

Not sure how well this fits with the horizontal beat-em-up genre. Probably not too well

Alley and Bystanders

A Different view of the alley - just ignore the assault rifle at the top (that was a silly idea). Our intrepid player will fight his way through this mean back alley of soho until he reaches McStarbucks Corporate Office where he will have a showdown with the CEO.

Still trying to figure out how I can make this environment more London looking - maybe some red telephone kiosks masquerading as data-terms.

These are ideas for some generic bystanders that will run away at the first sight of violence.

If accidentally mown down they will drop a tescoMetro bag with a random amount of power ups.

A cyberpunk 2020 era generic thug

Here's the basic goon. Still weighing up whether or not he should have a hood. The benefit of this would be to make the character a little more generic and mysterious.

If I give him a distinctive hairstyle its not going to be too plausible for there to be twenty guys running around with exactly the same hairstyle.

On the other hand if I make the character too generic it risks becoming boring. Getting back to how this guy would work in a game, he's going to have a knife or something rather than a gun (at least to start). Sorry there are no crow-bars in the future - except digital ones.

The guy standing next to him looks a bit like Christian Bale in a flak vest - I watched some batman movies to help steer away from the Bladerunner references.

The original idea for this game was a Streets of Rage style beat em up - not sure how this will play out in the Cyberpunk London of 2020. From what I can remember, somebody ought to be kidnapped by Mr Big, and the player must fight his way through an assortment of thugs in order to save his loved one.

Would be nice if this game had more of a puzzle element and maybe some character interaction (which was not really a feature of 80s arcade games). Seems pretty clear that the amount of shooting in this game needs to be limited.

So far, I've designed a basic goon, who will also stand in for the player, while I get the game mechanics finalised and deal with a basic environment.

Dipping into a few environment concepts - this one is supposed to be a back alley in Soho, where there are some fast food stands, skips, and a lot of neon. Difficult not to accidentally keep referencing bladerunner. Hover cars have not been invented yet.

This guy runs a synthetic burger stand in the alley, but maybe he also sells some black market datachips. I would have him sell noodles but that would be too Bladerunner. Next on the agenda: some more environmental details, bystanders, city skyline...

A few extracts from another sketchbook page

Drawn a lot of bulky pleather jackets at this point, but am starting to get a feel for the environment and the kind of people that hang around in it.

Also, been working a little harder on the technology aspect of this, and how this stuff could be visualized in a game.

This last one is as close as I've got to a character so far.

Feel like I made some progress with the generic thug guy, though really the 'technology' is the weakest part of this concept. Any ideas? I am lucky enough to own a copy of the CP 2020 rulebook - the illustrations are dreadful, but the backstory is giving me a few hints.

I fear I may be overplaying the 80s influence from CP 2020, as this guy looks like a cross between Patrick Swayze and Bono! Somebody in the future stumbled upon a vat of hair gel (You weren't there man)

Cyberpunk Thug

Started with some initial sketches for a cyberpunk themed game that my brother suggested. This guy is going to be a generic thug that you will meet very early on in the game - he is supposed to be a junky, or cyber burn out eager to earn some money.

Looking at this kind of character in a real game, they are pretty generic looking - the challenge is to get enough information across without it looking like 'one' specific character. So if I give this guy a distinctive nose or a scar on the left cheek it doesn't really work. So if I give the bloke a hood and shades (which seem to fit in the CP universe) it solves a few of those issues.

With that in mind, the biggest issue at this point is keeping the futuristic feel in the character, which I don't think is really coming across right now. The CP game was originally published in the 80s and set in 2013 and 2020, so it has a definite retro-futurist slant. Lots of characters seem to wear mirror shades and fingerless gloves.

Lots of ideas for actual characters, but I'll try and stay focussed and get the generic guy done first. The game is set in London, so I need to find a way to carry this concept in the characters.