Northern Iron - Factions: The Northern Resistance

For the Northern Iron game, we needed a group with which the central protagonist would be affiliated. To that end we created the Northern Resistance.

The Northern Resistance are made up by the militias and militaries of Northern England, banding together after the civil war left most of the country under the control of several warring factions.

As can be seen below, the Northern Resistance are a diverse group, and combine the punk rock aesthetic with 1940's military aesthetics to create their unique look and feel that represents their determined attitude and stubborn nature in the face of the warring tribes.

Northern Iron - Factions: The Marauders!

The Northern Iron setting takes place in a Northern England ravaged by a war between three factions, The Northern Resistance, The Sons of Iron and The Marauders.

The Marauders are one of two warbands that player must fight over the course of the game's story, mostly appearing in the northern most nations, including most of Yorkshire.

The Marauders are made up of multiple smaller gangs and clans, that have sworn allegiance to The Crimson Teeth clan. (Although many clans only pay lip service to this "oath") And as such are the most visually diverse faction in the game, although they usually have banners coloured red to signify their presence.

The leader of The Crimson Teeth is Anita El Draque self proclaimed Pirate Queen. She pilots a giant fortress mech called Saltburn Castle, which is essentially a mechanised version of the Zetland Hotel.

Within the playable levels we are creating, the player also comes into contact with another marauder clan known as the Nasti Moons. The Nasti Moons are from the north midlands and are made up of ex-miners and brewers.

The leader of the Nasti Moon clan is Boozelord Huntley, an ex-miner from Nottinghamshire and brewer. He and his clan provides alcohol to Anita's empire.

Marauder mechs are characterised by their shoddy scrap built frames and poor construction.

Northern Iron - Aesthetic Developments

For the Northern Iron game we decided to set the game in an alternate history Northern England based around the 1940's with a futuristic twist. While this would inform much of the aesthetic style and allow for a distinct appearance next to other games set within a similar timeframe due to not setting the game in America, there are still many considerations to take.

Stylistically, we wanted the game to have a light hearted tone despite the harsh conditions of the game world, and as such, we needed the aesthetics to match.

To begin with, we looked at 1940's/50's Art Deco/Dieselpunk architecture, however the Art Deco style came across as being too American, and didn't connote the Northern England setting of Northern Iron.

 As demonstrated by Andy's concept art, the Art Deco skyscrapers were too nondescript and could have easily been set anywhere. To that end we began looking at 1940's images of Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham and Manchester to understand what aesthetics were required.

 Following this, Andy then developed the architectural style based on the Midlands and North English cities.

Northern Iron - Creating Characters

The Northern Iron game I am creating contains a diverse and disparate cast of characters each one an example of the attitudes and ideologies of the three in-game factions. Some brief descriptions of the central characters that feature in the story mission are as follow:

Rachael Chadwick: The main protagonist of the game and pilot of the Weapon of Sass Destruction, she is a member of the Northern Resistance and is hoping to end the war between the Marauders and the Sons of Iron.

Anita El Draque: The leader of the Marauders and Crimson Teeth clan, a ruthless pirate who calls herself the pirate queen, she wants nothing more than to lead her men on the biggest bender across the world and to claim all of the best loot for herself.

Boozelord Huntley: The leader of the Nasti Moon clan and ally of Anita El Draque, hailing from Nottinghamshire, he has converted the entirety of Leeds into breweries and distilleries in order to provide almost limitless supplies of alcohol to the rest of the pirate empire.

Because the characters would not be physically appearing within the game, at least, not outside of their mechs, we needed a way to signify their appearance while they were speaking over the cockpit radios. To that end we created character profiles that would show their face that would appear in the corner of the screen when the character was speaking.

Below are various character concepts that are examples of the three factions.

Resistance Members

Sons of Iron soldiers

Marauders

Northern Iron - Influence and Setting

Hey dudes, for my final project at uni I'm creating a game under the working title of Northern Iron with three of my classmates. The game revolves around mech combat in a top down/isometric 3D shooter, similar to games such as The Red Star, Dead Nation or the upcoming Matador.

At an early point in development as a team we decided that the game would be set in a Dieselpunk world due to the diversity of the setting and our shared interest in Dieselpunk stories. Dieselpunk is a retro-futuristic setting that takes the aesthetics, technology and themes of the world wars and the interwar period of 1912-1950 and gives them a futuristic twist.

After discussing many possibilities for gameplay, we eventually settled upon the mech combat concept, my role in the team would be the writer of the story. As such it was up to me to create the world in which the game would take place, and the characters who would populate it.

The images below act as a moodboard, combining many aspects of the world I wished to create, merging anarchic and punk aesthetics with 1940's culture and military aesthetics.