Fatale Conduit is an RPG In the vein of Final Fantasy and Bravely Default that I started concept work on in the summer 2 years ago.
The conceit of the game is this: You play as a run of the mill farmboy, who discovers he can communicate, and fuse with certain ghosts, gaining their power. The ghosts he fuses, or "conduits" with, all say they were killed, but only have a foggy recollection of their killer... So you set out to find their killers and bring them to justice.
Also, I did not misspell "fatal," I do mean fatale. All 9 of the ghosts you are conduit to are girls.
Now, question might be: Why all girls? Simple answer: more interesting. If they were all guys, they'd just be job classes like in Bravely Default. If it was a mix, there is still the same problem with the guys, and players may avoid conduits with the female characters. All women opens up some interesting story possibilities
When you conduit with a character, you take on a mix of their appearance, and their abilities. Multiple conduits at the same time are difficult, but not unheard of. Right now, still in the deciding stage, but the game will have 2-3 different slots for conduits, giving the player 36-120 different forms. The key to combat will not be just "what is super effective" but what is also most useful, or fun, for the player.
Now, I know one of the immediate thoughts someone might have reading the synopsis... "Another hero's journey with a magic possessing teen? Le sigh..."
I do have some assurances:
1. He is not a kid, he is 19; old enough to not be a naive idiot.
2. Conduits are not rare, but uncommon.
3. I get sick of those stories to, I'm not just gonna play all the tropes straight, I plan to have fun with this.
But anyway, I am going to be trying to update this blog on a regular basis with game development updates. They will for the most part be art updates, as that is my biggest hurdle right now.
For right now, concept art is my biggest priority, beginning with the characters.
Concept Art
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| Derrick Evison, the farmboy (Design NYF) |
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| Celeste, the blind hunter (Design NYF) |
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| Ivory Ives, artillery expert and mechanic (Design NYF) |
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| Queen Leland, (Design final) |
It should be clear that of the four here, I am most proud of, and and most sure on the design, is Queen Leland. The art is a bit poor, but the design is just right. In it you can also see a couple of the references I used, mostly for the hair.
Ivory Ives I am unsure about everything below the hair. I like the hair, and love hte bandana, but don't know about the rest of it. May go back and do a redesign of it.
Celeste... Honestly my only thoughts with her were that a hunter in the forest would probably want protection, so I thought leather with metal plates riveted, but... ehh. I like it the least of the 4 here, and the first one is the most boring!
Derrick's design plan was simple: poor farmhand. Goal achieved obviously, but something is missing...
Also I admit I am not a fan of the style used here. The heads are too big, which can partially be attributed to my developing art skills at the time. Before diving into sprite work, I'm likely to redo a few of these and work on a better style.
Before this blog posts concludes though, I have something amazing to link.
DesignDoll is an amazing program for creating character builds, pose references, just about anything you need as an artist.
I've been using it to create different body types and poses, primarily because one of my problems as an artist is in getting a pose and angle just right, in addition to proportions and vanishing points...
Some samples created from it:
Yes, you can also create objects in it as well!
The free version has no time limit, albiet it has the strange limitation of not being able to open saved files. You can save characters and poses, but you can't open them again. The program sells for $80, and I am admittedly quite tempted to purchase it. The full version also allows user to import models, poses, and objects, allowing them to be posed with swords and other items already proportioned.
It is very tempting, but the free version is amazing on its own. I completely recommend it.
(It is not available on Mac currently, only PC)
