An Artist Perspective

Our game is special to each of us in its own way, and while I can’t speak on which ways for my group members I can for myself say that the character development is probably the most fun for me. Timmy, the main character for our game was so much fun drawing out, because as Edwin told me the story and a little about who Timmy was I immediately had a picture of him in my head. Timmy to me is a shy kid who doesn't know any better, who is scared and timid and I wanted that to reflect in physically. I remember when I was little I got teased for being a big kid, and the challenges I had to overcome because of that. Because this is an adventure for him I felt these things would make sense for him to go through so decided to make him a chubby little kid. What better way to make an unusual hero shine than have him stand out from the rest of the kids, be physically challenged being short and thick, but also have him wear glasses.

                I grow tired of almost every game hero being this muscle clad or super heroic archetype, that is just so generic and bland. I want to see more characters that don’t look like the usual heroes. Characters that the players will doubt and end up surprised at how they start to like them as they play with them. I want players to see Timmy and either mock him because of the way he looks or relate to him. Because either way they will all see his hidden talent and true heroic nature shine through in the end. For those who will mock him, they will think because he his fat, wears glasses, and is timid that he will run from everything that he won’t be able to make good decisions, that he shouldn't be the main characters. However, after playing him and get to watch him grow, they will realize that he isn't so helpless after all, that he can be bad-ass and do everything anybody else can. And for players who believe that they can relate to him, especially those who have not discovered this for themselves yet, I want them to realize that no matter how you look or what you have, that each and every one of us can be a hero when we need to. People everywhere come in different shapes and sizes and we should admire that difference and glorify it instead of bash it.

                With Timmy’s creation I want to take a stand, and challenge everybody from other indie developers to AAA game makers, even comic book creators and movie producers. I want everyone to start thinking more outside the box, we should see more Peter Griffin Sized Peter Parker's, or Wolverine as a little person rather than a big muscle clad guy. Things that keep people guessing and will get people to realize that not everyone is the same inside and out.

Patrick Noel (Concept Artist, 3D Modeler)