Before designing the characters

Every character in Ravenous has a background story to establish who they are and develop their place within the story. I start off with some simple questions like:

Name and age?

Where are they from?

How do they earn a living?

What should they look like?

Nothing of this is final and the characters change as the story gets fleshed out for example: 

Dr. Wallstonecraft was originally and old father figure yet he evolved into a younger version to better suit the story.  This being a game the story itself isn't set in stone since things need to serve a purpose and users need certain level of control as to how and when events take place.

Characters

Ash; the main Character. A young guy turned into a Vampire by accident while trying to save his sister from and Evil Vampire. Now he is out for revenge but needs to understand his vampiric abilities and gain enough dark gifts in order to face an Elder.

Escher; the Antagonist. An Elder Master Vampire, He has total control over his powers and has dominion over many Monster clans.

Dr. Erasmus Wollstonecraft; the Inventor. He is a young crazy scientist Ash's best friend and the only character whom Ash risks going to for help.

Lynn, the side kick/love interest. Ash saves her from being burned at the stake for witchcraft and she helps him locate items that will help him on his quest.

Other names for supporting characters:

Bram, Shelly, Dandridge and Marlow

9 Act Structure

Setting: France 1760

1. Main character: Ash; Living normal life in his village.

2. A savage attack takes place upon ash and his family.

3. Ash awakens as a Vampire and must adjust to his new reality.

4. Dr. Wallstonecraft and Lynn help Ash.

5. The old Vampire proves his superiority over Ash.

6. Ash must defeat a series of monsters.

7. the search for power takes him to other lands.

8. After a long journey Ash is in Paris ready for Revenge.

9. Ash must decide whether to rule as a vampire or perish.

Trying to follow the structure of the Monomyth or "heroes journey" the bulk of the game takes place in steps 6 and 7 but there are quests in every step for player to get to know the characters and be able to experiment with the new powers. Ash's Village is also a Hub were he goes back to rest and recuperate.

3 act structure:

1. Main character becomes a Vampire.

2. He gathers power in order to get revenge.

3. Liberate the area of monsters or rule over them.

This is the overall plot of the story how things get set into motion, then the bulk of the game play and the result depending on player choice.

I've already begun sketching out characters and powers.

Vampire Game

This blog is to post my progress as I develop a game that has been in my head for the last 2 years. I've always been a fan of traditional Vampires, the ones that don't like sunlight and need to drink human blood to sustain that undead state. The vampires we can read about in Dracula and Carmilla were they are supernatural monsters.

Well, I decided to take that love of the vampire myth and develop it into a 3D platforming game. bring something dark and foreboding into the realm of Mario. When I was a game design student I had this awesome idea for a puzzle were you had to avoid the sun light in order to get around the environment. That idea is the spark behind this game I'm building.