Month: November 2024

Story Improvement

Right now, my main villain, Rangda doesn’t have much presence in the story other than being the one who brought Yul to life. After speaking to a tutor, he told me that the main villain needs to have a greater presence in the narrative that affects Yul’s entire world in game that drives the player to want to beat her. I took some time off of drawing her in order to develop her story more. After all, having deep and thoughtful story behind a character will give me more ideas to make her more visually interesting.

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The Rise of Rangda

For centuries, the demon queen Rangda, a master of black magic and malice, waged relentless war against Raj’Huttan, the revered forest guardian. Their battles raged across the land, sowing chaos and destruction. To end their cycle of devastation, Raj’Huttan made the ultimate sacrifice. Using his soul as a catalyst, he forged the Soulfire Lantern at the Spiritforge, a mystical artifact that sealed away Rangda’s power and kept her minions at bay. With Raj’Huttan gone, peace endured—until now.

Years later, Rangda found a way to regain her influence. Striking a deal with a greedy lord, she resurrected a stillborn child, Yul, transforming him into a tuyul, a demon servant of unparalleled stealth and skill. In exchange, the lord was to send Yul to steal the Soulfire Lantern, promising to deliver it to Rangda. But greed overtook the lord; instead of honoring their pact, he kept the artifact for himself, corrupting its essence with his tainted soul. Darkness swept the land as Rangda’s power surged, freed from the Lantern’s restraint.

Yul’s Escape and the Tutorial

With the Soulfire Lantern corrupted and the lord consumed by his own evil, Rangda turned her wrath on both her former ally and her unwilling pawn, Yul. She sought to reclaim the Lantern and crush the one who dared betray her. Yul, sensing his master’s downfall and Rangda’s looming threat, used his cunning to flee. However, Rangda unleashed her magic to ensnare him within a crumbling dream realm, a shadowy labyrinth meant to break his will and bend him back to her service.

Guided by an ethereal voice—Raj’Huttan’s lingering soul within the Lantern—Yul managed to navigate the labyrinth. The tutorial gameplay begins here, teaching players basic combat, stealth mechanics, and the mechanics of soul reaping. Raj’Huttan reveals the truth: Yul must decide whether to purify the corrupted souls he encounters and restore balance at the Spiritforge (the good path) or claim their power for himself, embracing his demonic nature (the evil path).

As Yul escapes the dream realm, Rangda’s forces descend upon the land. Her dark influence spreads unchecked, and her corrupted minions search for the Soulfire Lantern to solidify her dominion. Meanwhile, Yul begins his journey—a reluctant hero caught between the echoes of his humanity and the allure of his demonic power.

Raj’Huttan’s Role

Raj’Huttan’s soul, bound to the Lantern, serves as both a guide and a reminder of Yul’s potential for redemption. Through cryptic visions and moments of clarity, Raj’Huttan offers wisdom, urging Yul to resist Rangda’s corruption. His presence reinforces the stakes of Yul’s choices: purify the Lantern to restore Raj’Huttan’s sacrifice or let darkness consume the land entirely.

The story becomes a battle not just against Rangda but within Yul himself—a struggle to decide whether to defy the forces that shaped him or embrace them fully.

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After Thoughts

I really wanted to keep the aspect of player choice in the game narrative. I love how in the narrative of Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring, the player can choose to do good or evil acts that affect the world. In my research, I read that dark fantasy narratives tend to have morally ambiguous characters – and what is more entertaining than allowing the player to explore their own darkest fantasies?

After figuring out more of the story, I feel like I have a better idea of what Rangda’s like and what she might wear.

I also decided to name the fictional realm Varamara, Sanskrit: “Vara” for blessing and “mara” for destruction, a land of duality. Not only does the name symbolise the land’s harmony – requiring the balance for good and evil – but also foreshadows Yul’s duality in the story.

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Revised Story Timeline

Ancient Backstory

• Rangda, the demon queen and a powerful witch, battles Raj’Huttan, the guardian of the realm – Varamara, in an eternal struggle of good versus evil.
• Their clashes devastate the land, claiming countless innocent lives.
• To end the destruction, Raj’Huttan sacrifices himself to create the Soulfire Lantern at the Spiritforge, a mystical artifact that seals away Rangda’s power and keeps evil forces at bay.
• Rangda’s influence is diminished, and Varamara enjoys an uneasy peace.

Present Events

1. Yul’s Creation and Servitude
   • A grieving couple sells the remains of their stillborn child, to a power-hungry lord.
   • The greedy lord, desperate for power, makes a sinister deal with Rangda herself.
   • Rangda promises the lord the ability to dominate his rivals in exchange for his assistance in recovering the Soulfire Lantern.
   • Using her dark magic, Rangda resurrects the child, transforming him into a tuyul—a demon servant bound to the lord’s will. Not caring much for the child, the lord lazily calls him Yul.
   • Yul grows into adulthood under the lord’s control, becoming an efficient thief and assassin for his master’s ambitions.
2. The Theft of the Soulfire Lantern
   • The lord, compelled by his pact with Rangda, sends Yul to steal the Soulfire Lantern from the Spiritforge.
   • Yul successfully retrieves the Lantern, disrupting the world’s balance in the process.
   • The lord, consumed by greed, betrays Rangda and keeps the Lantern for himself, seeking to wield its immense power.
3. The Lantern’s Corruption and Rangda’s Rise
   • The lord’s corrupt soul taints the Lantern, unleashing its dark energy across the land.
   • The corruption spreads despair, death, and destruction, killing many inhabitants of the realm and even transforming some into monstrous creatures.
   • With the Lantern’s influence shattered, Rangda’s power is fully restored, and she begins her conquest to dominate the land.
4. Yul’s Escape
   • Rangda, enraged by the lord’s betrayal, destroys him in her vengeance. She then seeks to claim the Lantern and reenslave Yul.
   • Yul is trapped in a nightmarish dream realm created by Rangda, a psychological torment designed to subjugate him.
   • Guided by the spirit of Raj’Huttan, now bound to the Soulfire Lantern, Yul escapes the dream realm and seizes his first taste of freedom.

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Tutorial Section

• The dream realm serves as a tutorial, teaching players Yul’s combat and soul-reaping abilities.
• Raj’Huttan’s spirit explains the stakes:
  • Corrupted souls can either be purified at the Spiritforge (good path) or consumed to gain power (evil path).
• Yul emerges into a devastated world, beginning his journey to the Spiritforge and leaving his ultimate fate in the player’s hands.

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Main Game Narrative

1. Rangda’s Reign of Terror
   • With her full strength restored, Rangda sends her forces to claim the Soulfire Lantern and eliminate Yul.
   • Her minions spread destruction and corruption wherever they go.
2. Yul’s Journey
   • Yul embarks on a perilous quest for survival and self-discovery.
   • The player decides Yul’s path:
     • Purify souls and attempt to restore balance to the land (good path).
     • Consume souls to grow stronger and embrace Yul’s demonic nature (evil path).
3. Raj’Huttan’s Guidance
   • Raj’Huttan’s spirit offers guidance and wisdom, urging Yul toward redemption and the purification of the Lantern.
   • His connection to the Lantern reveals more of the artifact’s history and significance.
4. Climactic Showdown with Rangda
   • Yul confronts Rangda in an epic battle to determine the fate of the Soulfire Lantern and the world.
   • The outcome hinges on the player’s choices throughout the journey.

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Ending Outcomes

1. Good Path:
   • Yul purifies the Lantern, defeating Rangda with the power of Raj’Huttan’s radiant soul, restoring balance and banishing corruption.
   • Raj’Huttan’s soul finds peace, and Yul redeems himself, breaking free from his demonic curse.
2. Evil Path:
   • Yul consumes the souls to their fullest extent, using their power to defeat Rangda.
   • With Rangda vanquished, Yul becomes the new Demon King, plunging the world into eternal chaos under his rule.

After Thoughts

Initially, I assumed that I would use Canva to create my art book for my final submission. However, once I finished my E1 PDF submission, I realise that it isn’t the most professional. I found myself struggling to follow uniform formatting, leading to my presentation looking unpolished. After consulting my partner, who works for an art gallery, I found that the industry standard for magazine/book layouts were put together using Adobe InDesign – an unfamiliar software.

With that, my immediate priority is to revise my roadmap to give ample time to learn InDesign to create a high-quality art book layout for print.

Underdeveloped Ideas and Unshown Mistakes

These were the original color palettes I showed to my mentor, who said that they looked too drab. He had me take a proper look at my moodboard to analyze the colours on the characters and references I chose. This was when I learnt that serious things don’t need to lack colour. Black Myth Wukong, for example, still has bright colours despite being a dark fantasy.

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Don’t get me wrong – I really like how these blades are turning out! I will be developing these further to pair with the Soulfire Lantern.

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These are sketches I had for the Demon Queen, the final boss of the game. I love the direction I’m heading in but I just didn’t include this in my submission because it’s still not ready to be present yet.

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The working title for the Eternal Harvester was actually ‘The Terrace Guardian’. I ended up changing it from its working title since it seemed a bit too wholesome-sounding. ‘Guardian’ evoked emotions of protection and good. This boss is meant to be the embodiment of suffering to make a living. ‘Eternal Harvester’ is a big improvement because it dictates this creatures endless suffering and work. ‘Harvester’ also implies that this creature reaps more than its imaginary crops. (Cue dreadful music)

Unused Character Designs

Raj’Huttan

Currently, I won’t be including Raj’Huttan in my project because he doesn’t currently match the vibes I’m going for with Spiritforged. However, if I have time towards the end, I could revisit him and redesign him to match the dark fantasy genre of the game.

Yul In a Different Direction

Above are some ideas for Yul that I didn’t end up liking. These designs felt too much like it fit into League of Legends, which is not what I’m going for. The game’s feel is more grounded, so I needed the right balance of fantasy with reality. These sketches leaned too much into fantasy territory and by including these aesthetics into my game meant that the player would feel too powerful, making the enemies less terrifying. I want the enemies to feel like a challenge every time you face one, because no place in the fictional realm is meant to feel safe anymore.

Planning, Writing, and Initial Sketches

Spiritforged Characters & Story 

Characters 

Main Protagonist  

Bio 

Name: Yul (driven from tuyul) 

Age: 35-40s 

Gender: M 

Occupation: Slave/mercenary 

Story: 

Once born lifeless, Yul was traded away by his grieving parents, his tiny remains sold to a power-hungry lord whose heart was black with greed. This lord struck a sinister bargain with an apprentice of Rangda—a feared witch—who used dark, forbidden magic to bring Yul back from the death’s clutches. Transformed into a tuyul, a demon bound to his master’s will, Yul was no longer a helpless infant but a spectral servant, a thief in the shadows with an unearthly talent for silent murder and cunning theft. 

The lord was captivated by Yul’s abilities and, seeing his potential, assigned him the ultimate task: to steal an ancient artifact, a relic that safeguarded the world’s balance and harmony. The lord craved its unimaginable power, seeking to transcend mortality and bend the world to his will. But when he finally seized the artifact, his corrupt soul tainted its core, unleashing an unstoppable darkness across the land. Death spread like wildfire, turning the protectors of the realm into bloodthirsty beasts, corrupted by the lord’s twisted ambition. 

Left without a master, Yul experienced freedom for the first time, a feeling as unfamiliar as it was unnerving. Torn between his demon nature and a spark of humanity buried deep within, Yul resolved to reverse the destruction unleashed by his master’s greed. He embarked on a journey to restore the world’s balance, not only to honor the memory of his master but to reclaim a fragment of the life that had once been taken from him. 

*Tuyul originates from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. 

Lesser Enemy [Might not include this] 

Bio 

Name: Rangda’s Apprentice 

Age: ? 

Gender: F 

Occupation: Witch 

Story: 

One of many apprentices, this nameless enemy wanders Raj’Huttan’s forest, looking for desperate souls to recruit into the coven. 

Lesser Enemy [Might not include this] 

Bio 

Name: Pra’Kera and Pra’Yet 

Age: 100 

Gender: M 

Occupation: Watchmen 

Story: 

Faithful and loyal companions of Raj’Huttan, they fight by his side and patrol the Sacred Forest. They fell to corruption alongside their leader. 

Great Enemy 

Bio 

Name: Raj’Huttan 

Age: Immortal/Centuries old 

Gender: M 

Occupation: Protector of the Sacred Forest 

Story: 

Raj’Huttan was once a legendary guardian of the Sacred Forest, a towering figure revered by those who sought shelter among the ancient trees. With his two monkey companions, he roamed the woods, an unstoppable force of nature who defended the wild lands from all who dared to disrupt its harmony. Over the centuries, he clashed with Rangda, the feared witch whose twisted power threatened to consume the forest. Each battle was fierce, the skies darkening with their fury, but Raj’Huttan always emerged victorious, driving Rangda back into the shadows. 

But then, the unthinkable happened: the great artifact, the very heart of the world’s balance, was stolen and corrupted. The ancient power, once pure, was twisted by the dark greed of an unworthy soul. The forest trembled, and Raj’Huttan—its beloved protector—felt the corruption take root inside him. His fierce spirit was warped into an uncontrollable rage, and his once-gentle heart became a beast’s, set upon any who dared enter his realm. Now, Raj’Huttan wanders his own forest as a monstrous sentinel, his soul trapped in a cycle of blind violence, bound to destroy all he once swore to protect. 

Great Enemy 2 

Bio 

Name: Rangda 

Age: Immortal/Centuries Old 

Gender: F 

Occupation: High Witch and Demon Queen 

Story: 

Rangda had long coveted the power, youth, and beauty promised by the magical springs of the Sacred Forest. But centuries of failed attempts had left her bitter, watching as her enemy, Raj’Huttan, guarded the springs with a tireless strength. When corruption finally poisoned the land, Rangda seized her chance: she twisted the dark surge to her will, bending the mighty Raj’Huttan and his loyal monkeys to her control. No longer a revered guardian, he was now a feral shadow at her side, ready to strike down any who dared approach her new dominion. 

With her prize secured, Rangda bathed in the mystical springs, her form radiating an otherworldly allure. She sent her dark apprentices far and wide to spread her gospel of twisted magic and lure new acolytes to her growing coven. Enticing lost wanderers with her terrible beauty, she would devour the unwary, while women enchanted by her call offered their newborns to feed her insatiable hunger for youth. The springs were hers, and under her dark reign, the forest became a lure for the lost, a trap for the innocent, and a nightmare that festered in the land’s wounded heart. 

The World 

Long ago, in the dawn of creation, the Spiritforge was formed from the union of primal forces—earth, sky, fire, and water—at a sacred convergence point deep within the heart of the land. From its eternal flame sprang forth the first spark of life, a radiant force that illuminated the Spiritforge and infused it with power over creation itself. This flame was eventually harnessed and channeled into a single, powerful relic: the Soulfire Lantern. Within this lantern, the raw energy of life, rebirth, and balance was contained, giving the land its heartbeat and guiding the natural cycles of growth and decay. 

To protect the land and maintain this balance, the Spiritforge called forth mighty protectors, beings crafted from its own essence: the Sentinels. These guardians were each attuned to a different aspect of the land—its forests, rivers, mountains, and skies—empowered by the light of the Soulfire Lantern. Bound to the Spiritforge, they were charged with shielding the land from harm, each connected to the Lantern’s flame, which granted them strength and wisdom. As long as the Soulfire Lantern remained within the Spiritforge, the sentinels were immortal, their souls forever intertwined with the lantern’s radiant flame, ensuring the land would thrive in harmony. 

But when the Soulfire Lantern was stolen, the Spiritforge’s flame began to fade, and the land fell into chaos. Without the lantern’s light to guide them, the Sentinels grew weakened and lost, and corruption began to seep into their once-pure spirits. Now, with the Lantern missing and the Spiritforge waning, the sentinels are trapped in an endless cycle of decay, awaiting the return of the one artifact that holds the power to restore their bond and bring life back to the land. 

The Spiritforge 

The Spiritforge is rumored to be the place where the world’s elements first converged, a crucible of primal forces that forged the balance of life. In ancient times, powerful beings used it to shape the Soulfire Lantern, imbuing it with the power of creation itself. Now that the Lantern is stolen, the Spiritforge lies dormant, but it holds the potential to be reignited by a worthy soul, perhaps Yul, to bring new guardians into being or restore the land’s balance. 

The Soulfire Lantern  

With a flame lit by the first spark of life itself, this lantern’s light can awaken slumbering protectors, create fertile ground, and dispel curses. It binds the sentinels to their purpose and keeps the land’s cycle of life undisturbed. 

Above is some quick sketches of enemy ideas I had.

Above is a collection of work I made for tasks set by my mentor over summer. He had me experiment with and study shape, colour, and composition to improve my character design skills. Additionally he exercised my knowledge on these topics in a different context – environments – in order to test the depth of my understanding of artistic fundamentals.

I feel extremely lucky that an industry professional agreed to even 30 minutes once a week to mentor me and help me improve my work and prepare me for industry. The feedback is truly invaluable and is catalytic to the rate of my learning and improvement.

I wanted to practice illustration over summer to get myself back into painting.

I also practiced making thumbnails for a personal illustration project.

Although these projects remain unfinished, they served as a launch pad to get myself back into the flow of creating illustrations again.

Process images and more studies.

Here’s a process video of my drapery study

Welcome to the development blog site for Spiritforged – a hypothetical southeast Asian dark fantasy game. This blog features development pieces as well as unused artwork for the project. Enjoy the journey!