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Post by Dashe on Jun 3, 2011 13:34:11 GMT -5
You've gotta look at the straight-up animals that have appeared in the series so far. The only one that didn't look very realistic was Paprika...the rest pretty much moved and looked like PS1 versions of real world animals. Well, except those two-polygon birds. Then again, there's always room for exceptions, but keeping the style in mind it doesn't seem like anything that isn't at least partially robotic would fit into a potentially marketable mascot role.
Just because something isn't totally organic doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a Reaverbot or system thing, either. Those old appliances and pieces of junk from the ruins art revealed with the cutscene storyboard of Aero yelling, and the stuff Pic finds all over the place...it could look like a heap of sentient, adorable scrap, and just be something another digging team threw away for whatever reason (as long as it isn't sappy or anything, and it'd be funny if they had a pretty good reason for leaving it down there).
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Post by General Specific on Jun 3, 2011 13:36:31 GMT -5
Maybe it doesn't need to be resemblant of a bat at all—the name "Bright Bats" is a clever name as it shows that the team is young and optimistic, but also ready to be mischievous and cunning and ready to compete with the other Rebel Riders for fun and reputation. Having a lil' critter that can have these traits is a reasonable way to go, and it doesn't even have to be a bat. Having something that shapeshifts and has no distinct form that players can remember is also a big flaw in the design of a cartoon character, as then they have no reference from where they can say "Hey—this guy just changed to a more intimidating form!".
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Arne
Fritto
Ghost Zakobon
Posts: 64
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Post by Arne on Jun 3, 2011 14:19:07 GMT -5
Shape shifting can be restricted to just a few forms though. It works for Pokémon, Inspector Gadget, T1000 (of Terminator) and RepliCarter (of Stargate). In my example, there would be a mystery form and a cute form, e.g. #201 Unown to #41 Zubat, where the Unown form is seemingly abandoned by the entity after the first interaction. Shape shifting also adds suspension, since the player will know that the cute form is just a facade. You could also pull tricks to upset the player, such as "mistakenly" flickering a new form, showing a completely different side of the entity that it has been trying to hide.
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Post by Loken on Jun 3, 2011 14:20:34 GMT -5
Does taking a Reaverbot and putting people clothes on it count as adorable? Dashe, it could be an automated spotting machine someone bought, that was useless and abandonned in the ruins. It's jaw could be hanging out, missing an eye and sparks flying out of it's eyesocket constantly. It could float, or maybe have a helicopter blade on it's head.
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Post by tominator on Jun 3, 2011 15:19:54 GMT -5
I agree that overly elaborate and confineing back stories should be avoided. However, I believe some is called for to shape the character. Also in the contest we are told that we are to come up with why the character is in the ruins to begin with, that requires some back story. (actually, is that a requirement? It's in the introduction section of the contest but not in the submission guidelines. I guess it wouldn't hurt to put it in). Something else to keep in mind is that this character is to "act as Barrett's partner and confidant." I unfortunately don't know how important this relationship is, but it seems that the main interactions of this character will take place with Barrett (so maybe it should be designed with this relationship in mind). While on the subject of flying mascots, maybe it's my wasted childhood on Sonic Adventure 1&2 but I do have a fondness for helicopter-headed characters a-la omochao Some random musings: If the friendly reaverbot approach is taken, how about it being damaged? As someone stated the reaver eye is a little off setting so how about it being broken when they find it and the mechanic (or other member) replaces it with something less intimidating (I know the bat signal!!! ). The servbots and Data are male characters how about one with a female personality instead? Though personally I think mysterious female is harder to pull off than mysterious male (there are just less pre-conceived stereotypical character types to choose from). For some reason I like the idea of the Bright Bats mechanic consistently trying to do some sort of cosmetic modification to the mascot much to its chagrin, at which point it forcibly removes said modification. For example: "We decided to weld on some bat wings onto your body because, you know, we're the bright bats; isn't that great?" -at which point the character rams into a wall to snap them off As another origin possibility: how about a (mechanical-ish) character of carbon origin that survived the previous carbon reinitialization by running into the ruins only to become deactivated for some time until discovered by the Bright Bats.
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Arne
Fritto
Ghost Zakobon
Posts: 64
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Post by Arne on Jun 3, 2011 16:22:41 GMT -5
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Post by General Specific on Jun 3, 2011 18:10:46 GMT -5
Some people have submitted human-like mascots which, while an interesting concept, often have more complexity to their form, are done less cartoony and more in the image of a humanoid, and are thus more distracting. Data is an example of a good mascot character: cartoony design, instant appeal, and has the right balance of simplicity with complexity. He has enough mystery to him to make him interesting, but not too interesting. That's what I don't see done well in Arne's submission, unfortunately!
Having Barrett try to put Carbon articles on the lil' bugger could make for an interesting scene.
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Post by Loken on Jun 3, 2011 19:59:51 GMT -5
Arne, I would have been happy with just a floating cube . I think that connecting the mascot to the Elder system is a mistake, we don't really know what they plan for the mascot, but I don't think tying it to the Elders off the bat is going to help your chances of it being picked. I really do like your design though, and the fish lips. P.S. did cute form make a dooty?
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Arne
Fritto
Ghost Zakobon
Posts: 64
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Post by Arne on Jun 4, 2011 16:20:54 GMT -5
I was worried someone was gonna call it a "blackface". It actually is. I colored it blue to dodge the fact. Kid Icarus left deep impressions on me. I didn't want to compete in what I thought would be the largest pool of entry types, so I decided to: A, Take the risk of being ballsy/presumptuous with my story. B, Not do a regular cute animal. This strategy is a gamble of course. The benefit is reduced competition, and the price is a reduced fitness chance. Also, I have a soft spot for Lovecraft and Hellraiser (Looney Tunes I find obnoxious tbh, but each to his own). The "dooty" is a hover swirl Could be a dooty though. I didn't expect so many to draw human mascots.
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Post by General Specific on Jun 4, 2011 17:36:08 GMT -5
Funnily enough, someone recently did a Cyber Elf mascot! And, to top it off, the guy traced the Zero nurse design, split into two halves, and called it a freaking day with a blatant Zero connection.
—However, there is something I think we can salvage from this design: split halves.
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Post by MegaTuga on Jun 4, 2011 17:51:06 GMT -5
I'm thinking either a toad, a furret or a mii-tan XD
And I also have awesome names for them.. now I jsut need to draw and think of a story.
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Arne
Fritto
Ghost Zakobon
Posts: 64
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Post by Arne on Jun 5, 2011 11:31:23 GMT -5
Shotgun strategy. Draw lots of random stuff, hope something will stick. I think they would need to be split into separate submissions though.
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Post by Chiz on Jun 6, 2011 4:20:03 GMT -5
With MLT's help in producing images, I've done a submission; Vampere, the Bat-Bat-BulbThe write-up can be seen on CapU. Totally not a joke submission! :12:
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Dream
Zakobon
Still Thinks It's Christmas
Posts: 123
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Post by Dream on Jun 6, 2011 9:33:23 GMT -5
If you all come up with an idea you like (and would like to do another group submission) let me know and I can make a 3D model of whatever you'd like.
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Post by Dashe on Jun 6, 2011 10:41:19 GMT -5
If we're going to do a group submission, we ought to hurry up and figure out what we're doing soon. Right now we're pretty much all over the place as far as ideas go.
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