Using stories and environments to send a message
Creative storytelling is one of my favourite things. The story for Pressure is apart of a much larger story I want to tell, but I still wanted Pressure to be a complete piece of media without having to know all the other background information.
The game takes place aboard a submarine called The Philosopher, a vessel of pure myth within the piracy and anti-piracy communities alike. Said to be a prototype Russian super-computer equipped submarine that went rouge and disappeared, its coveted for its elusive technology seen nowhere else in the world. The protagonist of the game is a currently unnamed mercenary going by the moniker Lionfish who’s dragged in on a plot to board the Philosopher by her mentor figure who is leading the expedition. Things go sour when the Philosopher fights back, and even worse when a mysterious private army calling themselves the Légion du Soleil. Left as the only survivor with only an A.I. companion to talk to, the protagonist must rush to the “brain” of the ship and release her boarding vessel to escape before she’s killed.
The Légion du Soleil (Legion of the Sun) are currently unmodeled and have no concept art. My vision for them is still wavy, but they serve as the main antagonist of the game and are locked in a race with the player to the brain of the Philosopher. The story of the protagonist is meant to be a trial similar to biblical stories, where she must confront her past actions and current attitudes in order to live past the conflict on the ship. Lionfish is a brash, selfish merc who’s origins as the daughter of a US senator were erased by her father himself to not risk any chance at election, leaving her bitter and cold towards the world. Raised by her mentor and the harsh conflicts a war-torn Africa, everything she knows will be pushed by the Philosopher and its origins.
Thematically I really want everything to feel alien and alive, really making both the player and protagonist feel uncomfortable with how strange everything is. Super-soldier ninja cultists and giant Russian war robots are what the player has to go up against all to rush to a room, then rush all the way back to the start to escape the submarine.
I don’t ever want the player to feel hopeless though, despite how bleak the story may seem. This guiding light is manifested in the character of the player’s translator of all things, an AI used to read and understand the Russian tech scattered all over the submarine. Despite it’s humble origins, it manifests itself to the protagonist to try and guide her to an exit. Gameplay wise, the AI acts as almost a general player’s thoughts and feelings which would be answered by the protagonist. Any questions about guns or naive assumptions on them get answered by the natural dialogue between the two.
I always had a somewhat vivid image of what I wanted the mc to look like, but Grace’s concept art really helped me more than I can put into words. To really rest my skills, I decided to try and 3D model an entire human character. This was extremely challenging, by far the most complex thing I’ve ever done in my years of 3D modelling. All of my models have been intentionally simple, most of them being robots so its not necessary to go over the top, but modelling a human is a lot different.
For the first time ever in my entire time modelling, I modelled a face. This is massive for me since I’ve never really given it a go, and given that its my first time trying I think I did an amazing job. Unfortunately, the model isn’t finished and I can’t show it fully, but I am extremely proud of myself for being able to model a head that well for my first time. Another issue that I’ve run into is the design of the actual 3D model for the protagonist. I originally modelled a realistic low-poly head, but I’ve decided to switch to a more basic doll-like head that I can then overlay eye and mouth expressions on to make my life a lot easier, especially since I’m still learning.
Getting help from an artist to help make concept art and textures has been a ginormous help. I don’t know how to draw, so being able to get a look at everything in a way I wasn’t able to before is extremely helpful.
