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.