Hello, I’m Matteo “Masa” Facchini and I’m leader of narrative and storytelling team, and also co-founder, at Potato Killer Studios.
Today I’m here to talk about concept: from the birth of an idea to the drafting of documents that will guide artists and illustrators drawing the first sketches of a character.
Everything starts with a need. Let’s say, for example, that we need a new boss that will dwell in a dark cave. How can we find a creature that can be both functional and, above anything else, unforgettable? First, we need to follow the rules of the world we built: Fangold is set on the island of Britannia, where myths and legends of our world are fused in a mix with unique features.
Our boss will have his roots in myth or folklore? That’s the first possibility we will verify without any doubt. Anyway, if every creature is chosen with this method, we would have a dull bestiary. So how we can choose? This time we could start from an iconic monster and adapt him to the location, and that’s the moment when an idea is starting to crawl in our mind.
A giant spider could help our cause. But now a new problem rises: this is the same old creature we saw in any fantasy game that can be called like that. How can we give some originality to it? It’s tame to write a draft, to help ideas to came out from our head and shape themselves.
So, what if our big spider has big human phalanx instead of its segmented legs? This is a new element that can distinguish our creature from the mass, but is it enough? Not yet: every new element has to be blended with the setting, a cave in this particular case. So we continue asking ourselves questions about the spider: how is its nest shaped? How can it see in the dark? How does it hunt its preys? The last one is an interesting question.
What if our old spider has a way to lure gullible adventurers in his lair, in the dark, and only then it will strike them? A new idea to add up to the others. The spider could have a phosphorescent pigment on its head, fangs and abdomen, shaped like a little human figure: the only thing visible in the cave’s darkness.
From afar, the intruder would only see a little figure: a lost child, a sprite, perhaps. It will be too late when he will notice he’s in front of a giant spider!
That’s the idea we were looking for, it’s original and visually effective. This is the characterization we needed!
Once we get to this point, me and the other storytellers review notes and drafts and reorder them in the most synthetic and neat way possible: it’s time to send our concept to illustrators, who will draw the concept arts that will be sent to 3D artists. That’s how our ideas come to life!
That's all from Matteo, please keep following us here on Indie DB for more insights on our job here at Potato Killer Studios, and don't forget to vote for us in the "Indie of the year 2016" award by clicking on the widget below this lines!
See you soon!
