Design by: Nate Horsfall
Much Pre production went into FVR. Despite there being no storyboards, the backgrounds needed to be created, and model sheets made, and so on. Here are some drawings to showcase that fact.
Background:
The concept for the background was to make it a futuristic abandoned military base. And also to place this in Red's world, Xen.
This was a hard balance to strike. Between too advanced and not advanced at all.
I went through many pages to get down a good design I was happy with.
Images are shown in order of creation. The final image is the final background sketch.
Character Buttons:
The buttons on the machine are very small, but In fact, I did do quite a bit of work on them. I went for a semi-cel shaded look, but really sylized. There will be more buttons to be added later on. Top row is my characters, bottom is one of my friend's
Game Interface:
This was made after creating the selection screen. To keep a sense of continuity, pieces from the actual selection screen were cut up and used here. Also, it acts just like a machine as well.
Character Design:
Both Fox and Red were characters I had already refined down to how their design works. I've had them for years, so there was nothing new here. The only new part was to make them as precise as possible to model from.
It should be noted that Fox is drawn here with no scales, but that was only to make it easier for Eric to model him. The scales were not to be modeled, so having them on the character design sheet would just overcomplicate matters.
System V Game Interface:
Since the new concept was to make a real game (or make it look like one), I had to create a Character selection screen at least. Originally, it was just a cool design, but then I got more ideas to make it into an actual working machine. From there it just pretty much got out of control, but the end result looks pretty slick.
I actually made the title screen after the selection screen, but it was easier because I had my new concept in mind: A machine.
The Name had to come first, which took quite a bit of brainstoming. I eventually ended up with System V (Versus) and from there, the large task of making a logo for the game. This also took a long amount of work, but I ended up with something I was happy with to take into photoshop.
A short bit of playing with that, and I had my concepts to take to the game and make my screen. The next task was of course the hardest, and my main goal was to get everything you would use for a game (controls, modes, etc) all on one screen. This took much experimentation, but after a few days I had something I was happy with.
The VS Intro Movie Screen came last, expecially because it was never in the original plan, but after creating Fox's Intro Movie, it was a must that it was included. This took even more experimenting, and was 2 days of back and forth work until I finally got down a concept that I was happy with. The final frame you see there, has a picture of Fox on it. Thats because it would go right into his movie, at that point. And then Red's, when she's ultimately done.
The funny part about the game is that it's not real, but I still conceptualized it like it was. I made real game modes, fake controls, and all sorts of things. If anyone ever came to me and said they wanted to make this into a real game, I could spring on it immediately.
Images are shown in sequence. This is the concept, so the final will actually animate, and have much more variation than lights turning on all at once, and so on.
These buttons are drawn and owned by Ali Floyd, a friend of mine who also offered to help out.
All characters are his own creation, and they relate to a storyline called DRF we've been doing for over 7 years.
Buttons All Colored in Photoshop by myself.
