Poster nearly complete

Just need a few more touch ups and it'll be ready for printing

-Taylor

Cyrus Turnaround - Timelapse

A time-lapsed recording of Steve Lynagh's incredible art for Cyrus. Sped up to 5000% speed!

Profile - Empress Elexis

Name: Elexis Tehrani
AKA: Elexis the Vindicator, The Ruiner, The Tyrant
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 71 kg
Occupation: Empress of Asrodin
Description:
Empress Elexis, daughter of Atash, was born to the Asrodin empire throne. She was an only child, to the bane of her father. Complications during Elexis' birth made it seemingly impossible for her to ever have a brother and for her father to ever have a son. Due to his resentment towards her, Atash was distant from Elexis in her upbringing, teaching her only the basics of leading a kingdom; teaching her not as a father, but as a harsh master. Elexis grew exceptionally close to her mother in her teenage years as she began to reciprocate her father’s resentment. Sixteen years she lived in the palace with her mother and father; every servant assuring her that one day she will make everyone proud as empress.

The Miracle Son was born four months after her sixteenth birthday. Elexis’ mother died in childbirth and Atash had since grown obsessed with the newborn watchfully protecting his only son and legacy of his wife. The child had taken Elexis’ loving parent and the throne; her only way of proving herself. Elexis daydreamed dark and twisted fantasies of taking her revenge. When Atash finally left the child’s side, she acted on impulse, seizing the chance and smothered the Miracle son in his crib. Her short-sidedness allowed her father to walk in on her after the act. Stunned with the scene and his good-willed nature left him vulnerable and she killed him too, in haste. 

In the sixteen years since, under the guise of searching for her father's killer, Elexis has ruthlessly called for war against any and all foes. The Empire lives in constant fear. Elexis is ever searching for greater power, the Scroll of the Fallen most of all.

Finished Sketch

After tweaking and editing, the final sketch has been made for the poster of the game. Here is the A3 version of it.

-Taylor

Making the Vision World

As Cyrus escapes the Great Prison in Level 2, he must escape across a rope bridge to get back to the city. The guards block him off on both sides and cut the bridge as he crosses. Cyrus falls down the chasm between the city and the prison.
As he falls, Cyrus enters a dream-like world, stopped in time. The world he enters is misty and confused, showing past, present, and future simultaneously. In the vision, Cyrus meets the mystic figure that released him from his cell, the ghost of Emperor Atash. He receives the Scroll of the Fallen from this world and when he awakes, he is on the shore of the chasm-bed river with the Scroll in hand.
This sequence was originally planned as a cinematic or cutscene, but was expanded into a fully playable level due to the opportunities it presented in gameplay.

To begin the level, we wanted to make the player feel like there was a lapse in time or just that there was something wrong; we took Cyrus' house from level one and mirrored it to make it feel off. After the player wanders around the closed room for a while, the house dissolves into the misty landscape and Cyrus falls to a floating platform below.
The level is quite abstract in design, full of floating assets from Cyrus' past and future. Throughout this level, the player is unable to take fall damage. In the first section, before the temple, the gamespace is capped on the two verticals with a thick white mist that will cause the player to fall from the sky if they fall off the level. In the second section, when the player obtains the scroll and meets Atash, the thick white smoke is a black smog which will kill the player when touched.

Recently, it's been decided that the third level will be the end of the demo we're producing. The player be shown one final cinematic and credits will roll.

Marketing drafts

So after assisting a team member with texturing, I have been tasked with doing designs for the poster that will be displayed on showcase.

Here is a few I have made today and the decision was the first one with adjustments needed.

-Taylor

Profile - Cyrus

Name: Cyrus Kajiya
AKA: The King's Smith, The Hammer,
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Height: 182 cm
Weight: 112 kg
Occupation: Blacksmith
Description:
Cyrus Kajiya was a halfborn of Asrodinian and Akrotahn descent. He was born in newly conquered slums of Akrotah and fostered at a young age into the large Asrodinian family, the Kajiya’s. He soon became a blacksmith, following in the footsteps of his foster father. His skills were such that he quickly found a name for himself in the empire and was soon by the side of Emperor Atash.

When Atash and his newborn son was murdered, Cyrus was a key suspect in the crime and was forced into hiding. Since then, he has raised his only son alone in the offroad pits and slums behind the great markets, still performing his art in secret to make a living.