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Back we go again, into the long long ago. I say long ago, it was the beginning of last year but a lot has changed since then. Much like the last blog I’m here to show a breakdown of the evolution of our cast of characters in Rooftop Renegade.

This time the gunners take the stage

As with our protagonist, Svet, the gunners had humble beginnings. Their first iteration being the second thing on my priority list back at the game jam; there was a lot less time to work with.

Alex had this idea floating around from when we were trying to come up with logos for our company, which was a silly looking head with an oversized army helmet. This became my basic art direction for the gunners.

In the interest of rapid production during the game jam, the first gunners were basically just a head on a torso with arms and a massive helmet, I did give them a super quick face before moving on.

When we started full time production, I had the chance to overhaul the design; I had to answer some questions, mostly what their bodies would look like.

While at uni, I had worked on a large muscley orc character and just for a quick test I dropped his body in with the gunner head to see what it would look like.... ridiculous was the answer and not the intentional kind.

After getting some feedback from a few people, what I needed to do was push the stylisation and not just throw a hulked-out body on it just because I had one on hand. Amusing as it was, the fast ideation certainly helped with seeing what would and wouldn’t work.

Thus, Grunt was born.

Some of the things that I wanted to convey with these characters were the paramilitary aspects. Globacorp is a big evil corporation that has hired these goons to enforce their whims on the world of Rooftop Renegade; so, a lot of the designs we re based on special tactics police forces and military outfits and equipment. These decisions followed on with some of the other elements like their vehicle which is basically a flying SWAT van.

Next up, some design decisions and discussions lead to the idea of multiple gunners.

Back to the cheekily 3D rendered concept page for paint overs.

As a child of the 90's, I couldn't resist giving a little 90's action hero vibes from some of my favourite films.

Meet Sly, Jean, and Wes.

I’m pretty happy with the progression and overall design of the gunners; I still want to add a little more flair to them individually to finish them up, but that is on the polish list at this stage of development.