At the time I really didn't think much of creating a character with personality. I was just after something or someone that I could use to showcase the game's mechanics. Hell my first idea was just to use an arrow or rod and the game required directing it round the level. I then thought no. That's a little bit too easy, why not have something that's a bit more with the theme of the game, with the whole hexagon style and suit the environment of a computer mainframe.My next idea was to have a hexagonal dice as the thing you controlled, where it rolled in the right direction. That seemed fine at the time until I realised a true hexagonal dice is impossible, because there's no gap between hexagons when they join. With that realised I was back to thinking again.
And then, as often times good ideas spring into your head without warning, I thought of something. This game's key theme is hexagons, they fit together efficiently and can also split apart in various way. Was it possible to create a humanoid character made entirely of hexagons?
Straight away I was pen to paper, drafting. The image here is my rough sketches that I did when I got this idea. They're basic and scruffy but one image is worth looking at; the grid of hexes on the left. It seemed logical in my mind that a humanoid figure could be made from connecting hexagons, so my next thought was, 'if it is possible, then can it be created in way that it's aesthetically pleasing as well as true to form?Through doing those sketches I realised a lot of them failed, because the image I had in my mind wasn't completely clear. The hexagon grid was what I came up with for the character in a flat form, that could bend at various edges between the hexes and the transformation would result in an upright humanoid figure. I'm a real sucker for things that can transform, always have been, and if I could do the same thing with this character, it would be perfect. I'd have the character for the game.
Now thankfully I'm good with crafting paper shapes, thanks to endless hours of constructing nets for Graphics in Year 11, and I had the net drawing I needed to make it thanks to the grid on my draft sheet. From that I drew out the shape on card, cut it out, folded it in various places, and this was how it turned out in the pictures below.
Do you know the best thing about it? Even as a 3D model, it could stand upright on its own provided the feet were taped down in place.
Another thing I should mention is that I also wanted to draw a proper image of this figure. This was my other excuse for creating this paper model. As you can see from my drafts, I couldn't draw him just using my head. This model served as a template that I could refer to while I was drawing. On the right is the result of my first go at drawing him in pencil, and then adding strong lines and rough shading with biro pen.
Two things to note in this picture. One is the fact that his limbs are still rigidly stuck to his head and pelvis, due to drawing him straight from the model. At the time I thought it would be excusable, but since then I made the choice of detaching the limbs and instead having them connect up invisibly to the main body.
The second is the name above the character - Mobo.
Now up until this point in his design, I hadn't actually thought of a name for him. In fact the name he has now wasn't even my idea. The names I thought up were all your standard generic names -
- Hex Man
- Hexaguy
- Circuit
I was kinda stuck, so I asked some people in my Media Class on names, and then one name really stood out, and that was Mobo. The word Mobo itself is actually a slang term for Motherboards in computers, but by itself it also sounded kind of hip and cool. It just fit the bill perfectly, so much so that the name of the game itself was changed as a result.
There is one other thing to mention is that I also experimented with faces for Mobo. Since he was humanoid I decided he should have some personality to accompany his design. As such I started thinking up faces for him. Fortunately I knew exactly what sort of personality I wanted him to have.
My direct sources of inspiration came from two different characters from other game franchises. Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, whose personality is one of a cool, with-it, and somewhat snarky colour. The other source came from Splosion Man, from an Xbox arcade game of the same name. He and Mobo share a few parallels, physically at the very least. When I was designing Mobo's facial features, Splosion Man was the main image I had in my head whilst doing so.
Below are a set of different facial expressions I came up with for Mobo. I knew from watching animated media that facial expressions and moods were most prominently featured through the eyes, the mouth and the brows. As such they were the only key elements I gave represent the moods.
Finally to round this off I'd finally got myself a fully designed character to incorporate into my game and serve as the showcaser in my advert. You can look forward to seeing him fully rendered and animated in my trailers. In the meantime here is Mobo, fully drawn and coloured, how he's set to appear in the game.I choose that blue black colour to reflect the fact that he's made from the same material as the other hexes found in the game.
Thanks for viewing. Look forward to more stuff in the future and if you haven't already then take a look at some of the other concept pages back on the previous page.
Dice Picture
Sonic the Hedgehog Picture
Splosion Man Picture
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