Northern Iron - Our brand of humour

One of the fun parts of writing this world was maintaining a light hearted atmosphere despite the harsh realities of civil war and the atrocities that would no doubt be committed by all factions. Part of this comes from several visual gags that reoccur throughout the game world.

One of the most prominent visual gags is the use of billboards, often showing propaganda, or having been horribly vandalised by the marauders in inventive and amusing ways.

The use of pin-ups that depict male models in Bettie Page style poses is a common gag that was hit upon almost immediately due to its resonance with the personality of the central protagonist Rachael Chadwick. The drawing above was done by my friend Jeff Maddison after I discussed the idea of using male pin-ups as a visual gag and his been instrumental in shaping the humour of the game.

This pin-up was created by Adam who was amused by the idea.

This pin-up was created by Andy specifically for the Weapon of Sass Destruction and combines several Northern English stereotypes with an image of Bettie Page in a martini glass, swapping out the stockings for hairy legs, the martini glass for a pint glass, the skewer for a pick axe and hair for a flat cap and beard inspired by an AC/DC album cover.

Northern Iron - Nasti Moon Breweries

A key part of the Nasti Moon clan in Northern Iron is there fondness for and mastery of producing alcohol, which the other clans consume excessively. In order to represent this fully through visual narrative we need to understand what the breweries and distilleries actually look like.

Distilleries used lots of piping, valves and portholes that may be incorporated into the designs of buildings and mechs.

While this grain silo isn't actually used in a distillery or brewery, the colours and graffiti have a very Marauders feel to them.

Following my research photography shoot on the canal, Andy took one of the shots and converted it into a brewery befitting the marauders, complete with red banners and the distiller unnecessarily hanging from the ceiling.

This concept piece by Andy shows a regular brewery that had been taken over by the Nasti Moon marauders who have graffitied on the stills.

Northern Iron - Enemies, The Nasti Moon Boozebomm

After creating the Weapon of Sass Destruction, we soon needed some enemies for the player to fight, and with the marauders there were very few limits to how crazy the enemy mechs and machines could be.

While we had several rough sketches of the various faction mechs, the first specific enemy type to be designed was the Nasti Moon Boozebomm, a remote explosive fashioned from a beer keg and a V8 style engine on small tank treads that the Nasti Moons use to soften up their enemies before attacking them.

I drew this basic concept sketch to illustrate my idea in order to better describe what the boozebomm would do. I then handed it to Andy how redrew several iterations.

Northern Iron - creating the space in Unity

For Northern Iron we are constructing the game world in the Unity3D engine. While one of the game environments is based upon the existing city of Leeds, due to a divergent history, we are able to take several liberties with the placement of manmade structures and the needs of that world would be different to our own.

We opted to set much of the mission around the River Aire and canals, leading up to the train station where the player would face the end of level boss in a climactic fight. Similarly, in order to easily lay out and structure the space we divided it up into three segments. The city outskirts, the canal district and the train yard.

In the first segment, the player first discovers the Marauder's presence and fights small amounts of enemies.

In the second and longest segment, the player fights their way across the river aire, and faces multiple enemy types as it is revealed what is happening in the city.

 The player then reaches the final segment, the train yard where they face large and relentless waves of enemies until they reach the end of level boss.

Northern Iron - Settling on scale

An often overlooked part of level design by beginners is scale. However all objects in the space need to be sized appropriately for their purpose and use, otherwise they look off and breaks immersion for the player.

For our game there are two considerations we have to take when deciding on scale, the size in comparison to a human and the size in comparison to a mech. With the prominence of mechs in the world, pathways, roads and entryways will often need to be large enough to all these machines access to where they are needed.

We also needed to consider the size of the mechs themselves in regards to their operators. Indeed, we agreed that the mechs would be fairly small as far as other mechs in the genre go, but there is still a limit to how small that they would be. We agreed that the mechs need to be the size of a light tank at the smallest, and tall enough to fit a human operator inside.

The end result was that a human operator would be less than half the size of a mech, allowing them to fit inside the cockpit with the engine and other mechanisms and systems, while the mech was still small enough to easily traverse and fight in an urban environment.

In terms of the game engine, we decided to work to a 1:1 scale, with a single unit in engine roughly equating to a meter, so a human is 2 units tall, while a small mech, including the WoSD is roughly 4 units tall.

Northern Iron - Research and Development - creating the player character

Where would a mech combat game be without the mechs? To that end we needed to create a mech that the player would use, and as such, it had to fit the aesthetics of the Northern Resistance. To achieve this, the concept artists Adam and Andy would develop thumbs, which I would then give feedback on based on the aesthetic style and thematic qualities of the lore and game world.

The mech used by the player was dubbed the Weapon of Sass Destruction almost immediately, a name inspired by the personality of the pilot and my friend who had partially inspired her. This name stuck, and allowed us to develop the finer details of the mech, primarily the decals and paint scheme.

Adam's initial sketch of the Weapon of Sass destruction had the right basic idea, but felt too generic sci-fi and bulky for a Northern Iron mech. There was also a severe lack of anything to suggest it was built using 1940's technology.

Bouncing off of Adam's idea, Andy then developed a rough version of the WoSD closer in style to the 1940's aesthetic of Northern Iron.

When designing the WoSD we soon hit on the idea of using 40's style cars as the base for the design, prompting Andy to develop several thumbnails to work from.

Based on these thumbs, Andy soon developed a version of the WoSD that we were all happy with, but still required a few tweaks, made from feedback from myself.

Once we'd reached the final iteration of the design, Andy drew the WoSD from all angles that I would then take into Maya for modelling. He also incorporated a Pin-up design that would be favoured by the WoSD's pilot, Rachael Chadwick.

Once we had achieved a turnaround we were all happy with, I then set to work in Maya, modelling a rough version the WoSD, which Adam then cleaned up, making sure the actual model was closer to Andy's Concept art. The model would then be sent back to Andy for texturing.

Northern Iron - Research and development - research photographs

After figuring out what area of Leeds the game would predominantly be taking place in, Rhys and I went out to the river and canal to take photographs of the surrounding areas. Allowing us to get a greater understanding of the space when it came to modelling it in the game engine.

The images below are a sample of those taken for research, chosen due to either demonstrating a sense of the game space, or having some relevance to the game world.

Because our game is set in a 1940's style world, much of the ideal architecture in the canal area would have been demolished several years ago, however some old factory buildings still remain, allowing us to use these as a frame of reference when blocking out the game space.

Northern Iron - Writing female characters - character influence - Maya the Siren

As people who know me in person will tell you, I am a passionate fan of the Borderlands franchise, the aesthetics and light hearted humour combined with a very serious background lore, makes for a very interesting story scenario.

I wanted to emulate this in Northern Iron without being a direct copy, using a blend of humour and a tragic world with unique and interesting visuals to create a fun and interesting player experience. A big part of this would be the player character. 

Because the player character of Northern Iron, Rachael Chadwick, is female, I decided to look up good and well written female characters in other franchises for inspiration, this included the Siren class Maya from Borderlands 2.

Personality wise, Maya has a much calmer demeanour than the majority of characters within the game, although she is still prone to the outbursts of her male companions.

Aesthetically, while Maya can be considered attractive, this is achieved without over sexualising her, she shows no more skin than the other male playable characters, and is often shown in practical combat poses where she guards her vital organs, rather than thrusting out her chest and butt.

With the female characters in Northern Iron, I will attempt to maintain the same level of balance as Maya and the other female characters in Borderlands, showing a diverse range of personalities, while maintaining a sense of agency and avoiding unnecessarily sexualising the characters.

Northern Iron - Writing Female characters - character influence - Tank Girl

A prominent influence on the characters I am creating for my game world is Tank Girl. Created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin in the 90's, the comic follows the eponymous Tank Girl, a young mercenary woman and tank pilot living in the anarchic Australian outback.

The anarchic attitude of the series has many stylistic similarities to my own world in Northern Iron, mostly concerning a female central protagonist in an environment overrun by anarchy, leading to me drawing influence from the comic.

The punk-military aesthetics of the tank and Tank Girl's mode of dress have been a massive inspiration for the protagonist Northern Resistance faction. Combining military uniforms and combat boots with heavy customisations and punk hair styles, the resistance strikes a balance between the aesthetics of the two enemy factions.

Tank Girl and her supporting cast's attitudes and personality also provided an influence for the leader of the Marauders and one of the primary antagonists of the game, Anita el Draque. Much of the humour in Tank Girl comes from her crude speech and fondness for alcohol, leading to a wild child personality.

This same personality is reflected not only through Anita herself, but the attitude of the entire Marauder faction, with their erratic behaviour, poor building skills and the reliance of their empire on the production and consumption of alcohol, leading to humorous and unpredictable antagonists.

Northern Iron - Writing Female characters - character influence - Judge Anderson and Ma-Ma

In regards to female characters, a personal favourite of mine is the dynamic between Judge Anderson and Ma-Ma, protagonist and primary antagonist of the 2012 film Dredd respectively. Although the two characters don't interact directly for the majority of the film, both characters are well written and avoid cliches commonly found in regards to female protagonists and antagonists.

Judge Anderson avoids many cliches found in female protagonists due to her wearing practical well fitting clothing and by having no romance with the male lead.

While Judge Anderson doesn't wear a helmet for the majority of the film, unlike her male counterpart Judge Dredd, the reason is not for sex appeal, but because it is her character who develops throughout the story, and because of her psychic abilities which are obscured by the helmet.

Anderson provides some inspiration for Rachael Chadwick, the protagonist of Northern Iron. Anderson and Rachael are both characters who live in a very harsh world yet still maintain their core morality, acting on what they believe is right before any rules.

Ma-Ma, the film's antagonist, is the leader of a violent street gang who oppose the Judges in the tower block the film takes place in. Early in the film it is revealed that Ma-Ma ruthlessly wiped out all other gangs in the tower block shortly after taking over her own gang.

Ma-Ma shares a lot in common with my character of Anita El Draque, and has influenced a lot in how the Marauder clans operate. Both characters are ruthless and rule through a combination of fear and promise of reward.

The dynamic between Ma-Ma and Anderson provided a lot of inspiration for Anita El Draque and Rachael Chadwick. Ma-Ma and Anita are both female leaders in a male dominated world, whilst Anderson and Rachael Chadwick are both female protagonists in a militaristic profession.

Northern Iron - Writing Female Characters - Anita El Draque

Where's a game without its main villain? For Northern Iron there are two enemy factions, however for the segments of the game we're actually making, the main antagonists are the Marauders.

In keeping with the fun and light hearted nature of the Marauders, I needed a leader who embodied their primary traits. I'd always intended for the leader of the Marauders to be female, breaking stereotypes for anarchic gangs. I also needed to avoid making Anita El Draque a stereotypical female villain. With that in mind, she dresses in pirate style clothing that covers most of her skin, clothing that would be comfortable out in autumn weather and sexuality takes no aspect of her personality as a villain whatsoever.

Originally her surname was Tearwinter, however I soon hit on the idea that she would be Hispanic, and as such renamed her El Draque, both due to it being a spanish name, and the association of the name with Sir Francis Drake, who was a notorious privateer in the Elizabethan era.

Northern Iron - Writing female characters - Rachael Chadwick

Like any video game, Northern Iron requires a main protagonist, someone the player controls over the course of the game, and a person who drives the story.

In order to buck the trend and avoid cliches, I came up with Rachael Chadwick, a 21 year old mixed race woman from Manchester.

While her face and body would never be seen in game, Rachael's appearance allows me to figure out aspects of her personality.

As the main protagonist, and foil to the antagonist, Anita El Draque, Rachael serves as a sort of personification of the Northern Resistance faction, of which she is a member. Possessing a determined and stubborn attitude, and wearing punk and military inspired clothing.

In order to create the character, we looked at a diverse range of skin tones and facial structures, the only constant being her red hair.

Art by Adam Khalid

Northern Iron - Writing the GDD (Unfinished)

In order to create a game, a Games Design Document is required. This allows the developers to know exactly what is required to put into the game, and to make sure that everyone is assigned tasks.

I have had no prior experience to writing GDDs so I had to look at existing examples

Northern Iron - Story Mission - Booze Bandits in Leeds

For Northern Iron, we are constructing a playable story based level set in Leeds. On the way to visiting the royal armouries for inspiration on weapons technology of the era, I took several photographs of the surrounding area along the canals and River Aire because I noticed that they'd provide perfect architectural inspiration and scale reference. This then inspired me to set the first mission in Leeds, both due to the aesthetics of the area, but also because of our being based there, we had instant access to references for space by simply walking around town.

After deciding on a location we needed a reason for the player and their enemies to be there. While it was easy enough to decide on a reason for the player character and the Northern Resistance to be there, they were either already there, or removing the Marauders, it was a lot harder to decide why the Marauders were there, however through discussions with Andy about how the Marauders behaved we eventually settled on the idea of the Marauders being raging alcoholics whose entire empire was powered by booze, and as such had converted the city into breweries.