A little ramble...

For a while now, I've been wanting to work on my own original IP that tried to focus all my interests into one neat little package. I've struggled with this sort of stuff for a couple years now and with each failure I learned a little more about what it is I wanted to do. I had trouble with over thinking stuff or spending too much time fleshing out the stuff that wasn't that important. So, I took a step back and focused just on the characters. Their personality, hobbies, interests, history, goals, etc. Once I had that sort of stuff for my first bunch of characters, I then tried to fit them into a sort of world and narrative that included as many of my interests as I could.

I mean, I like a lot of stuff, and a lot of it crosses genres. So, whatever I decided to do had to include: action, adventure, combat, armies, war, medieval politics/law, drama, relationships, sex, relatable characters, monsters, magic, technology, guns and mechs. I want kingdoms, monsters, magic, exploration, adventure, monochrome computers, cassette tapes, WWII firearms and diesel punk mechs. That the world be modern but not so much that Big Brother's always watching. That there's still enough of an uncharted world that exploration could exist almost in your own backyard.

In the end, I ended up looking a games to help reference and mood board what I wanted. It was games like the early Final Fantasies (VI, VII, VIII), the Elder Scrolls series, Dragon Age and Fallout. And after a while, I settled on enough of an idea to start conceptualising and writing.

So, here's one of the characters, Spinelli. The first idea behind her that that she was a "warrior" class, or whatever the more contemporary equivalent is. I originally looked at modern ballistic armour (as you can see with the sketches) but thought it looked too sci-fi and instead went for the WWII plate armour and fatigues.

And a little character history...

Spinelli's smart, resourceful and idealistic but lacks any real ambition and has a quick temper. She left high school with good grades but had trouble finding work. Her parents supported her but she always felt like a burden, living off her parents' money. Her parents weren't exactly poor but they weren't well off either. She once took out a loan to kickstart a more independent lifestyle but this came back to bite her in the ass and she ended up back home, lumping her debt onto her parents. Luckily, they continued to love and support her despite her bad decisions. However, Spinelli became depressed, feeling guilty over being such a drain on her parents. Losing a little self worth and out of desperation, she joined a mercenary band. At the time, it seemed like the best option; it was good money and, even though it was dangerous, she got to travel and wouldn't be a burden on her family anymore. She'd just send the money back to her folks and live independently. After about 5 years, she'd paid off her debt, but mercenary work was the only thing she really knew how to do anymore. Now she works alone, working on commission as a soldier of fortune for just enough to get by.