Extreme Makeovers! | rv_el | Kane- Blaster Master

[rv_el]

Extreme Makeovers! | rv_el | Kane- Blaster Master
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_thubnails/33-game-concept-art-273-1182450242-thumb.jpg

rv_el has entered the competition!

[Klockwerk]

Sweet! Glad you decided to enter. Man bringing it back with this one.

[rv_el]

Ah damn, i read that Jason Frudnick was the character in Master Blaster, then later i double checked on Wikipedia and it looks like Kane is the original character for "Metafight" which is not the localized one for the US. GAH this always happens. Its basically the same exact character.

I will be including the battle tank in the scene ofcourse!

I have some ideas brewing.. will be a little while before i can get to them.

Klockwerk. YES. .thanks for telling me about the comp. This should be fun. M.Bison is a kick ass choice. Made me want to pick my fav SF2 char Guile

[rv_el]

Soooo.. Am i the only guy whose played Blaster Master??!! Wow. Its a great game for the NES. A little back ground, i played a ton of Blaster Master back in the day and even a little in later years - though i have never actually played any of the ones past the first nes one (supposed to be crappy). I also read the book!! The only other person i've ever ran into that has read the book is on this Comp (GorillaGrin - Cutman).

I have some really initial sketches - more like scrawls. I'll be doing a lot over the weekend. Right now i'm swirling some ideas around.

Some basic ideas are

Steampunk(ish) / Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome
80's dirt racing / Baja 1000 (Class A buggies and Truggies) (racing suit with armor)
Primitive armor, big bolts, easy construction (Metal Slug / Steam Punk)

Megas XLR (if you dont know.. thats ok, hehe)
Younger spritley kid - Happy go lucky, yet hefty and, well, "cornfed"
Dirty and grungy

I actually have a bunch of stuff written down. Its hard to describe with out some images so i'm best to just hop to-it. I'm really rusty :o


Edit: oh, and don't worry, the frog will be worked in.. oh yes..

[gorillagrin]

rv_el... I'm in your house... post drawings or I'll throw this water bottle at the back of your head.

[rv_el]

allright allright :). heres the basics. I went through a few things but the ones in the outline are what i'm leaning towards. I have a lot of little ideas and details to make him pop, but its not worth putting them in at this stage.

http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/basics.jpg

[rv_el]

Some heads here.
http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/heads.jpg

[mellowsmoothe]

cool. nice presentation. k i didn't play the game but what is the significance of the frog? would be cool to know more about that so i can make better crits. anyway i like the second from the left on the bottom row, since you were talking about a motor-cross style of armor. its just feels light and his thinness says "motor-cross" more so than the others. it could be cool to contrast that thinness with touches of bulky armor here and there. in addition maybe you could choose the thumbnail you like and do some black and white tonal variations with the stripe and suit to see what direction could be the best.

the faces are hard for me to crit because i'm not sure what kinda disposition he is suppose to have. can you tell me what your thoughts are on him? it could be cool to try various helmet/hat designs and maybe even ones with varying googles, some integrated into the helmet, others seperate. anyway just wanted to help you out. good job so far and i look forward to your next iteration.

[Marcus Dublin]

I remember playing blaster master religiously as a kid on the NES and just the mention of it brings back memories of a kid spending hours in front of the tube, ahhh the good old days, hehe. Anyway one thing I’d suggest is including the helmet, it’s a trademark feature of the original character “ maybe due to the size of the sprites on screen” and it would be cool to see a revision with it. :D

Marcus

[Klockwerk]

I like the top right, I like the bulky feel. He looks like hes gonna drive a dunebuggy version of his ride. It gives him a nice silowette. The whole jumpsuit is nice. The cage thing around his head could be really cool. To be honest it looks like he might have a neck injury on the current design. Maybe toning it down and redesigning it in a way to connect to the vehicle so the character and the vehicle has some sort of unity.

[rv_el]

Ok, for those of you who don't know, here is the story. This is no joke at all. The game is known for being one of the best Nes games of all time, but having one of the most rediculous stories.

OMG i found this animated gif!!! perfect! Let me describe what your looking at. Because at first you might be like "W T F?"

Kid (Jason Frudnick) has a pet frog. The frog escapes and makes its way out to the front yard where it JUMPS ON A RADIOACTIVE BOX.. then it starts emmediatly growing very big. Then it jumps down a giant hole.... in your yard. You chase after him and fall down the hole. When you hit the bottom you happen to find an f'ing Battle Tank (Sophia 3rd) and a suit that fits you. You take off in the Battle Tank and start fighting mutants. Apparently to save earth from the mutants.

http://www.n-philes.com/m/news/ttns/cp/blastermaster/blastermasterplot.gif



This is a back view of the battle tank taking off for the first level. i fyou look in the animated gif you can even see the sky etc.. for the first level.
http://tuxnes.sourceforge.net/snaps/blstmstr-snap-0001.gif

First Level: Sky? Also Trees? Werent you just underground? Yep, they didn't care at all. The levels are also themed like an Ice Level and a Gothic one.
http://pressthebuttons.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/blastermaster.png

You spend a lot of the game jumping around in that tank and shooting things... launching homing missles. You can also hop out of the tank for some things.

Other parts of the game you have to hop out of the Tank and go in-doors and shoot more stuff and fight bosses like so

http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/nes100/blastermaster.png


The game was non linear, you could go back and forth between levels, which is even required to move forward in many cases (ala Metroid and the like). The whole getting in and out of a tank (that jumps, yay!) and going indoors was excellent. The game had a mix of gameplay seen in quality old games that you just dont get in todays games.

-------------------------

So i'm using the randomness of the story to come up with my own stuff but take some of the cool/different elements. For instance my Jason is just an overweight happy-go-lucky kid who stumbled upon the Battle Tank. He's not really trained or anything. He just moves along Blasting shit and taking many breaks to eat junk food and look at his porno mags. :) The frog is worked in for nostalgia and will show up as decals etc.. to show his facination of frogs. The whole frog-character i did was a "what if he was radiactivly mixed with the frog at the same time" deal.

He will match his Battle Tank in style and look. I just have not had time to get to that yet. But i have an idea for it.

He will have a helmet, its in the drawings, but in the images he will be holding it instead of wearing it so i can show his personality and character. It will be all White and Red like the game.

Klockwerk, the neck thing is taken from racing suit reference. I could try to thin it down. Maybe its just too bulky and thick. I'll play with that.

[rv_el]

Ok heres some of my reference. I dl'd a ton. A lot of ideas and stuff from ref is not in the images yet cause it would be a waste of time. But as you can see there is going to be tons of labels on everything. patches... etc.. A lot of Baja 1000 reference and racing suit stuff. The lunch pail will be in there etc...

http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/ref.jpg

[Dario]

very nice sketches yet! but i would like to see you using the helmet from the original design as its the most recognizing part of the whole character. otherwise i really like your style. :)

[rv_el]

http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/BMPose2.jpg


This is the final. If you know the game, then you know that Jason often leaves his battle tank and takes short round trips to power up areas and bosses. Here he is ready for a mutant-splattering-action trip with his gear and junk food.



Turns
http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/BMOrtho.jpg


High resolution concept
http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/BMFullConcept.jpg


This is an action shot i did for fun that shows some of the gameplay action and tank jumping action etc...
http://www.pseudo-pod.com/temp/BlasterMaster/BMGame.jpg

[scorn-maniac]

Damn. This is sweet. U really thought a lot on his gameplay and tank stuffs. His tank is like a hybrid of a train and harvester that jumps. haha!

The final render really come out sweet. i was just taking my time looking an I saw the small details like a coke can in between the grenades and the chocalate bars on his belt. Nice!

Good luck!

[Dario]

aye, i didnt see that one coming! cool impressions of a cool game. you did well, so congrats and respect. i like pictures you can explore through...

[mellowsmoothe]

wow. i see a new concept artist on the rise. great work man, you have improved leaps and bounds. this is a very clean piece with lots of thought behind it. you make me proud man, what can i say. congrats and i'm sure you will do well.

[gorillagrin]

Ditto. This turned out awesome. I love how the tank really feels like a new design, but still retains that same springy jumping of the original. Think you did a great job of really making this character your own but still retaining some of the original spirit.

.....frogs.