3: Fear Without Agency

Another common issue is the overreliance on anxiety-based communication.

Typical Examples to NOT use :

❌ Risks.

❌ Death tolls.

❌ Hospitalization rates.

❌ Threat scenarios.

❌ Panic tone and agressive color palettes.

While awareness of danger is important, excessive emphasis on fear can lead to:

❌ Message avoidance.

❌ Emotional fatigue.

❌ Desensitization.

❌ Feelings of helplessness and despair.

When individuals are repeatedly exposed to alarming information without being offered meaningful ways to act, they may disengage altogether. This phenomenon is particularly relevant among adolescents, who often respond more positively to empowerment than to fear.

4: Information Without Storytelling

Humans naturally remember stories better than instructions.

Yet many public health campaigns communicate through lists, directives, and procedural explanations which sounds like lectures or sermons:

Typical Examples to NOT use :

❌ Wash your hands! (Without explaining Why)

❌ Wear a mask! (Without explaining Where)

❌ Keep your distance! (Without explaining How)

❌ Limit exposure time! (Without explaining When)

They tell you What… but they don’t tell you Why.

And, most of the time, abandon you on your own without much information. Leaving you to deal with an unknow menace which brings only more anxiety and confusion.

These recommendations are scientifically valid but lack narrative structure.

Without characters, symbols, metaphors, or memorable narratives, information remains difficult to internalize and transmit socially ; especially if the government or the official organizations transmits a message which sounds like they are avoiding their responsability and are doing the bare minimum without really caring.

Storytelling transforms instructions into experiences: Superpowers, recognizable faces, strong personalities, equipment and adventures.

Symbols transform recommendations into identities: cool looking logotypes, vibrant colors, classy superheroes suits matching existing superheroes’ references.

Part 2 : The Solution of Comics Codes

Heroic Figures as Characters transform abstract concepts into relatable models of behavior: mnemonic mottos, pitches or quotes; iconic fighting scenes; emotional investment and identification through diverse representation: male, female and the 4 main ethnic groups.

Thus, as an author-illustrator, I have noticed the abovementioned difficulty of transmitting to the young generation of 17-12-year-olds (and over) the safety information necessary to fight the pandemics. Therefore, I have decided to use an effective communication grounded in the genre of stories, full of “punchy” graphic codes, which can attract teenagers: the world of Super-Heroes, such as the “Avengers” or the “X-Men”.

Such a story would allow the younger generation to identify with the characters.

They would no longer suffer the anxiogenic circumstances of the pandemics, but, on the contrary be offered the opportunity to act, and react, fundamentally become empowered, as heroes …

Therefore, I created 4 Super-Hero Characters, each of them embodying one of the 4 essential Preventive Measures, all starting with “M” and forming the “4M Supergroup”, namely:

• Hand cleaning is embodied by Miss Mano.

• Wearing a mask is embodied by Mister Mask.

• Physical distancing is embodied by Mister Meter.

• The duration of virus exposure is embodied by Miss Minute.

Since, between infantilized communication and technocratic communication, lies an opportunity:

A form of health communication that remains scientifically accurate while embracing the visual and narrative language familiar to adolescents.

This includes:

✅ Strong visual identities: I replace government official iconography or approximate puerile symbolism with mature, efficient and vibrant graphic charter.

✅ Symbolic characters: I replace generic, anonymous or interchangeable daily-life figures with strong, iconic and powerful characters.

✅ Memorable slogans: I replace reading sentences, boring sermons or moronic “falsely funny” sentences with mnemonic heroic mottos.

✅ Storytelling: I replace simplistic situation or -most often- NOTHING AT ALL with comics based epic adventures.

✅ Humor: I replace administrative boring tone or child-like gags and stupid jokes with subtle, straight-to-the point, corrosive and sense-related humor.

✅ Empowerment: I replace anxiety, helplessness and self-defeating thoughts with power, evolution and storytelling propagation.

✅ Positive action: I replace passive obedience, submissive conformity and pessimistic resignation with optimism, vigilance and efficient prevention.

Rather than presenting young people as passive recipients of health information, such an approach invites them to become active participants.

Part 3 : World Architecture – How to Apply Narrative Systems Design

Creating a visually compelling campaign is not simply a matter of designing attractive characters.

To create a system capable of transmitting information, generating identification and encouraging behavioral change, every component must support the others.

For the 4M Project, I needed to build:

• Archetypes.

• A symbolic logic.

• A visual grammar.

• A mnemonic system.

• A transmedia universe.

Each element had to function independently while also reinforcing the overall narrative ecosystem.

The objective was not merely to create four superheroes, but to create a coherent symbolic framework capable of transforming abstract health recommendations into memorable characters, stories, symbols and behaviors.

To achieve this, I methodically identified the different layers that would need to be designed simultaneously in order to build a complete and scalable universe.

1: Concept & Narrative Foundation

The first challenge was not visual, but conceptual.

How do you transform preventive measures into characters people can emotionally relate to?

Health communication often presents information as instructions. Stories, however, present information as actions.

Instead of asking teenagers to memorize rules, the project sought to transform those rules into heroes, symbols and adventures.

Each preventive measure therefore became an archetype, each archetype became a character, and each character became a vehicle for identification.

The objective was not only to explain prevention, but to make prevention meaningful.

Therefore, I did structure down the project first in:

• A mnemonic Motto : To embody both the function of the preventive gesture and also to make a “cool character slogan” symbolizing the hero which would be easy to remember. Similar to “I am the Night” of the Batman©.

• The Core preventive principle : Which would be determining for the “style of superhero” I would have to develop visually and how it would embody this principle within the superhero mythology already known by the teenagers.

• The Superpowers : I needed to blend subtlety actual scientific protection and data with a magnified “superhero mythology” and humor to ease communicating the message towards teenagers. This part would define the behavioral empowerment synergy of the character.

• The Equipment : ​​Similar to Superpowers above, I needed to borrow to the actual scientific recommendations and data to base my concept on real life gear required to face a true pandemics. Thus, creating a form of “science-fiction equipment” mixed with humor, it eases communicating the message more efficiently towards teenagers concerning wearing or using such actual medical gear. This part would match the responsibility synergy of the character.

• Ethnicity and Genders : I needed two males and two females, one from each continent to show globality of response towards a worldwide pandemic:

Miss Mano

Mnemonic Motto :

“Touch with your heart……not with your hands.”

Core preventive principle :

Miss Mano transforms hand hygiene into empowerment.

Ethnicity, Gender and Superhero inspiration :

• Super Mood Board Inspirations : Hellboy©, Ironman©, Klaw©, Mister Fantastic©, Storm©, Thanos© (and his Infinity Power Glove), The Vision©.

• Ethnicity : Black and representing Sub-Saharan Africa and/or Afro-Americans and/or Aborigine Australians.

• Key Words : Endurance, Power, Resilience, Strength, Superstrength. She is the Power Blaster type.

Powers :

1 – Giant Gauntlets of Purifying Power : Emit at will beams of purifying energy, which destroys all the viruses she might have at hand… incidentally serves to present the obvious: “You see what a very clean hand looks like?”

2 – Coronavision : Supervision capable of detecting all the surrounding viruses – except computer viruses: “You can’t be perfect all the time…”

3 – Superstrength : To clean superstrongly, scrub superstrongly, destroy the Covid Queen’s Troops superstrongly, well … do everything superstrongly…

4 – Aura of purification : Aura of constant protection destroying all surrounding viruses – “Don’t even try to mutate on me!”

Equipment :

A – Built-in air purification system : …with a bit of lemon flavor, please.

B – Reserve masks : Contained in a removable compartment that purifies them, cleans them in less than a minute and Ding! Served.

C – Power Armor : Fueled with Optimism, along with a Heart of Gold and more energy than it takes.

D – Hydroalcoholic Gel reserve : To deal with all unwelcome soiling.

Mister Mask

Mnemonic Motto :

“True Heroes… …wear a mask.”

Core preventive principle :

Mister Mask transforms mask wearing into identity.

Ethnicity, Gender and Superhero inspiration :

• Super Mood Board Inspirations : The Batman©, Daredevil©, Darkman©, The Phantom Stranger©, The Shadow©.

• Ethnicity : Caucasian and representing Europe continent and/or White Americans & Australians.

• Key Words : Adaptability, Concealment, Dexterity, Precision, Stealth. He is the Vigilante Infiltrator type.

Powers :

1 -Pistogel and Pistomask : Weapons of Massive Creation that project at high velocity a Mask and Hydroalcoholic Gel altogether in order to protect any innocent passer-by. “Plop, masked! Plop, purified! Plop, protected!”

2 – Mask-Cape : Polymorphic trench-coat cut from a giant mask, allowing to wrap oneself in a protective cocoon resistant to viruses. Incidentally, allows you to fly, to manipulate objects like a tentacle, to imprison enemies and to look super-cool…

3 – Superdexterity : Allows to throw very precisely the Maskovids to mask all the unmasked passers-by in the perimeter… “If you want to be nosey… put at least a mask on it!”

4 – Maskovid : FFP 1000 quantum mesh mask to resist all sizes of viruses: “Because size does not matter! …”

Equipment :

A – Creation Gloves : Allow to create quantum mesh Maskovids at will and project them like shurikens on all exposed faces to protect them. “In your face!”

D – Hydroalcoholic Gel Cartridges : To never run out of ammunition, Gringo.

C – Extraordinary Leap Armor : Allows to jump and land unexpectedly – and without damage – near any ongoing contamination to bring it to an end. “Viruses! Put your spicules up! This time, you won’t end up in Cells!”

B – Armor of Dexterity : powered by Vigilance… by Prudence…by Safety, even.

Mister Meter

Mnemonic Motto :

“Become the Master…… of one Meter.”

Core preventive principle :

Mister Meter transforms physical distancing into mastery.

Ethnicity, Gender and Superhero inspiration :

• Super Mood Board Inspirations : Deadpool©, Deathstroke©, The Flash©, Psylocke©, Quicksilver©, The Silver Samurai©, Tarantula©.

• Ethnicity : Asian and representing Asia and/or South America continent and/or Polynesia and/or Natives.

• Key Words : Agility, Martial Arts, Nimbleness, Superspeed. He is the Speedster Striker type.

Powers :

1 – Katana of the Great Ruler : It is both a weapon for hitting very hard viruses and a telescopic ruler with a base length of One Meter. It starts to glow red as soon as you get a little bit too close to contamination distance… “This distance is too small for both of us, Cowboy!”

2 – Superspeed : Allows you to get away really, really fast from any aerosol projections, splutters, sneezes and to practice Superphysical Superdistance… “Nasal spray is from outside to inside, not the other way around! “

3 – Martial Arts Mastery : Unbeatable in melee with either humanoids or viruses, his unparalleled agility allows him to practice physical distancing with the grace of the heron, the strength of the tiger and the calm of the bonsai. “My Kung-Fu is stronger than your Kung-Fu… and, more important, it is way farther.”

4 – Ninever Suit : Insulating suit made out of proteiform molecules. NEVER lets viruses through, NEVER gets dirty and NEVER tears. Incidentally, allows to blend in the shadows to get medieval on the viruses … “Ninja one day, Ninja always!”

Equipment :

A – Shao-Lin Symbols : …based on arrows which remind us that the average length of an adult arm from shoulder to wrist is about 50 cm… “Elbow grease to escape with ease!”

B -Armor of Speed : ​​fueled by Iron Will and Nerves of Steel.

C – Masks Discs : Sterilizing compartments containing an inexhaustible supply of masks to help all the ninjas wannabes around …

D – Boots of Non- Encounter of the First Kind : Nonskid and Antifriction, these high-tech boots grant the ability to NEVER meet the First Kind coming, nor the Second and even less the Third, in order to avoid any unknown infection…

Miss Minute

Mnemonic Motto :

“Spend but One Minute……to avoid the Final Hour.”

Core preventive principle :

Miss Minute transforms time into foresight.

Ethnicity, Gender and Superhero inspiration :

• Super Mood Board Inspirations : Access©, Chronos©, Kronos©, Magik©, Nightcrawler©, Professor X©, Raven©, Tempo©, Tron©, The Wizard©.

• Ethnicity : Middle Eastern and representing Middle East and/or North Africa.

• Key Words : Dimensional Travel, Teleportation, Time and Space Control, Wisdom, Willpower. She is the Polyvalent Support type.

Powers :

1 – Time Mastery : Slows down, accelerates or freezes Time to stop all viral propagation. “The Future of my Present depends if I get Past this meeting…”

2 -Superwisdom : Allows to appraise the quantity of viruses present in the air, accumulating as time passes within an enclosed place and why I should really leave now…

3 – Preventive Gesture : Power allowing access to dimensional pockets across space and time to recover and generate any protective equipment from the past, present or future: stolen masks, hoarded hydroalcoholic gel, lost vaccine dose, etc …

4 -Spatiotemporal Portal : Allows to open dimensional portals across the spacetime continuum to instantly teleport out of reach from cluster formations and clubbers’ temptations…

Equipment :

A – Silver Time Armor : Once Upon a Time on the Chest. Because Time is Money, this armor allows all available funds to be transformed into infallible actions by managing time efficiently…

B – Invariant Clock-Disk : Projectile moved by willpower, which sticks on any surface and allows to create bubbles of frozen Time where the virus can no longer act or mutate, or might even regress to its previous mutation state. “O Time, suspend thy blight!”.

C – Time Zone Suit : Tight Suit which material changes color in the presence of excessive exposure to the virus. “My suit gets a blush to tell me when to rush…”

D – High Chronology Armor : …powered by the energy of Life, when there is not a minute to lose and many lives to gain…

Phase A: Story

As mentioned previously, I had the idea to develop the 4M in 2019-2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When I observed the lack of effective communication from authorities regarding youth, I had the idea to create superheroes to counter this global threat.

All the elements of an epic comic book scenario were there: a global threat, terror, a clearly identifiable enemy with unknown “powers”, the upheaval of a civilization… It is in times of crisis that the greatest heroes emerge : thus, I conceived this group of superheroes.

Phase B: Concept

However, these superheroes needed to be paired with real and effective public health recommendations. And since there were four “barrier gestures” (social distancing measures), I had the idea of ​​creating a group of superheroes… rather than one or two individual heroes: this allowed for unification in terms of storytelling, visuals, branding, and mnemonics.

So I decided to limit them to four (like the Fantastic Four©) and give them simple, memorable names, all starting with the same letter: “M” – for Mano, Mask, Minute, and Meter. Simply embodying basic precautions in terms of a pandemic.

The 4M were born.

Later, working for a foresight and warning website, The Red Team Analysis Society (LINK), and being personally involved in the repercussions of climate change and its role in pandemics, I decided to extend this concept to all pandemics because, with little adaptation, the concept of preventative measures embodied by the 4M could be applied to many pandemics.

Phase C: Costume Concepts

Color should NOT be decided at the end, once all the elements are in place: it must be decided at the beginning – or at least – very early in the design process, because depending on the chosen artistic direction, the design may be affected.

I wanted a very diverse and syncretic group of heroes in which every teenager could see themselves. So I decided to have two males and two females. And each should represent a part of the world. Because, since the pandemic is global, the 4M would be necessary on every continent of the globe.

So in the end, I settled on a Caucasian, a Black, an Asian, and a Middle Eastern.

I wanted a unified visual style that would link all the heroes together. A uniform indicating that they all belonged to the same group, but with an additional unique color for each character that would personalize them and allow us to thematize the preventative measure they represent.

Phase D: Methodology – From Sketches to Final Art

Since I had drawn up a design guideline based on the Silver Age, after deciding beforehand on all the components of the characters and costumes mentioned above, I began developing my methodology according to these criteria for each character:

Miss Mano

The main idea was to focus the design on her hands ; as she was supposed to be the “power blaster” of the group, I decided to focus her power on her hands, which I oversized by means of “giant gauntlets of power” crackling with energy. A purifying energy instead of a destructive one.

As this character is expansive and powerful, like a power blaster, I chose a central position that is both very confident and dominant: “I will destroy all viruses” and reassuring as well as if she was saying: “Look how clean my hands are, rest assured.”

This gives the character a reassuringly powerful stance. Therefore, representing her with legs and arms spread in a classic comic book “power display” pose was the best choice.

Mister Mask

This character being the stealthy one of the group, due to his mandatory role of being masked, it was necessary to give him the stature of a Batman© or a Shadow©. Reinforce his “bad boy” side while giving him a certain retro elegance.

So I decided to transform his trench coat into a cape made from the materials of surgical masks, which could adapt and fluidly change shape, reinforcing the character’s shadowy aspect.

This character is depicted in a classic vigilante hero pose: leaping from a rooftop or skillfully bounding out of the shadows or blending into them before launching a ranged attack. “I withdraw from the contamination before counter-attacking.”

And in this very “Batman” spirit, the living trench coat/flowing cape comes to life in a large part of the background of the composition as the character throws his masks like shurikens, not to destroy, but to protect the unmasked innocents.

Mister Meter

As the speedster of the group, I wanted to add an artifact to the character so he could “measure” distance at any time.

Therefore, I decided to give him – in addition to his super-speed of distance – a “giant ruler” that he could use as an offensive or defensive weapon.

The idea of ​​a sword linked to Speed ​​immediately made me think of a Ninja-type character, making him a Martial Artist, which reinforced the idea of ​​disciplined behavior.

To ensure the viewer encounters the group’s speedster “as quickly as possible,” I deliberately shifted him to the left, contrary to the reading direction, to reinforce the idea: “You don’t gradually encounter Mister Mask: you bump into him…”

I chose a very dynamic running pose combined with kata and ninjutsu sword positions for the arms. Forming a contrast between the upper part of the character (refined and complex) and the lower part (powerful and fast)… giving this ambiguity of a super-fast ninja character.

The free space in the center and on the right of the image allowed me to more clearly showcase the graphic effects of superspeed as well as the “saber ruler katana.” The running effect also allowed me to work graphically and elegantly on the traditional ninja ribbon floating behind his hood.

Miss Minute

This character is of the “wizard,” “mystic,” or “psionic” type. She relies more on pure power and knowledge than physical strength.

As a time and dimensional traveler, it was necessary to embody his power through easily recognizable energy halos in accordance with precise gestures – almost like spellcasting.

For this magical and mysterious character who travels through time and space, I wanted to give her a regal and spellcasting stance. To illustrate her power, I had her emerge from a dimensional portal.

I gave her a refined and complex right-hand and finger position evoking spellcasting and/or a delicate manipulation of realities. The left-hand gesture also has a double meaning: it signals the start of a countdown, and it’s also a gesture of caution and attention-grabbing, like “pay close attention to the time remaining…”

Base Costume Colors

Individual Costume Colors: The Symbolism of the Characters and Social Distancing

Since I wanted these heroes to more closely resemble the “silver age” style of superheroes developed by DC and Marvel, I opted for a more “high-tech” style and less of a “full tightsuit with a cape.” More subtlety was needed for a teenage audience already familiar with the world of branding and complex technology.

The individual colors therefore needed to be sufficiently prominent to fulfill their signage role, yet discreet and elegantly arranged to allude to a branding message and symbolic abstraction perfectly understandable to the younger generation.

In the end, I chose colors that were complementary to each other, but also colors that would harmonize with the base of the costumes described above. Since the color base of the costume (blue, turquoise, and white) are within the range of cold colors, I logically chose warm colors to warm up the overall look, but also to create a contrast that would make the individual color stand out more easily.

After many trials, the most judicious choices were the following:

Miss Mano

Yellow : Optimism [#fdda3d]

As the only primary color, it suggests a very explosive, power-blast vibe. It energizes the base of the costume without being too flashy.

It highlights Miss Mano‘s dark skin, which also gave me the idea of ​​making her blonde to complement the golden yellow of the costume. Blonde hair dye is quite popular among African-American and African populations.

Mister Mask

Mauve : Vigilance [#a673ff]

It was bright enough to contrast with the base of the costume, but not so bright as to suggest the character’s “stealth” nature as this violet-based color is somewhat deep, introspective, insightful -almost mystical- and discreet. Complementary to Miss Mano‘s yellow as a secondary color.

Mister Meter

Orange : Willpower [#ff665e]

Since blue and yellow were already taken as primary colors, I could have used red, but it would have been too aggressive and clashed too much with the blue of the base costume.

So I used blue’s complementary color : ​​orange. Bright and dynamic enough to play the role of red and match the evocation of the character’s superspeed. It contrasts sufficiently with the base colors of the costume without creating a visual clash.

Miss Minute

Magenta Pink : Vitality [#ff66cc]

Since I decided against using red for these characters, I was left with only two colors harmonious enough to contrast with the costume and distinct enough to theme the character: soft green and magenta.

They both had their advantages aesthetically and practically no disadvantages: each could complement the three.

The other characters’ colors were used harmoniously. Green was a cooler color that complemented Mister Mask‘s mauve, and the bright magenta/pink possessed the same dynamic qualities as Mister Meter without the drawbacks of red, and was sufficiently distinct from orange.

In this type of dilemma, the narrative and semantic vision takes over: green is a vegetal, soothing, healing, and regenerative color. But this character is “Miss Minute”; her role is precisely to be in a state of urgency, not serenity, similar to Mister Meter moving away in space, Miss Minute moves away in time.

Consequently, her color had to be as dynamic as Mister Meter‘s: I therefore opted for magenta. The added value of this choice is that bright magenta/pink is a very… “girly”. And the “girly” look is very popular among young girls eager to express themselves through a slightly “edgy” and assertive femininity (as per Barbie©, Sentai-like squads like Power Rangers© et al.)… so it was the right choice.

Costume Trim and Graphic Charter Reinforcement

With the aim of developing a costume that offers the same characteristics as a uniform while allowing for significant personal customization, I had the idea of ​​adding another touch of customization to each character’s tightsuit: an asymmetrical geometric trim running the entire length of the costume.

This trim extends along the entire left side of the character, from their ankle, down their leg, torso, arm, and to the wrist.

It offers an elegant and graphic asymmetry that reinforces the idea of ​​a sporty jumpsuit, a uniform, while being characterized by a color and pattern unique to each character.

The principle is that this trim is a colored line adorned at intervals. regular repeating geometric patterns specific to the character; thus creating the combo: unique geometric pattern + one color.

This reinforces the visual message of each preventative measure for each character:

• Miss Mano : Circles.

Evoking the crackling of purifying energy around her hands.

• Mister Mask : Squares.

Evoking the shape of the mask.

• Mister Meter : Triangles.

Evoking speed of movement.

• Miss Minute : Pairs of opposing arrows repeating an hourglass pattern.

Evoking time.

Stage 1: Selection Criteria – The Consultant’s Decision

Stage 2: Pre-selection – The Typographer Eye

I therefore pre-selected 186 typefaces that met these criteria. Then I divided them into 5 categories, in order to select from these categories the ones best suited to the defined criteria as well as a degree of typographic intuition:

• Geometrical typefaces (3 typefaces)

• Modern typefaces (28 typefaces)

• Official Superhero typefaces (4 typefaces)

• Sans Serif typefaces (29 typefaces)

• SciFi typefaces (39 typefaces)

• Technological typefaces (83 typefaces)

Stage 3: Broad Selection – The “Cool” Factor

From these 186 typefaces, I then selected 42 that met the initial criteria.

But to see, understand, and feel the impact and relevance of each of these typefaces, I now needed to insert them into the final illustrations to see how they “reacted” and “interacted” with the characters.

In other words, the superhero names written with these typefaces had to generate a “cool factor” in me that would make me say, “Wow! Yes, it works!”

So I created 42 Photoshop mockups with each of the 42 typefaces, illustrated in the sliders below:

Android Italic

Team Typeface research : Android Italic

Android

Team Typeface research : Android

Astral

Team Typeface research : Astral

Auto Mode

Team Typeface research : Auto Mode

Avengeance

Team Typeface research : Avengeance

Balox

Team Typeface research : Balox

Bonk

Team Typeface research : Bonk

Bord Demo

Team Typeface research : Bord Demo

Cyberfall Italic

Team Typeface research : Cyberfall Italic

Cyberfall

Team Typeface research : Cyberfall

Elasis

Team Typeface research : Elasis

Formula One

Team Typeface research : Formula One

Ganymedian

Team Typeface research : Ganymedian

Gin Rai Italic

Team Typeface research : Gin Rai Italic

Gin Rai

Team Typeface research : Gin Rai

Hi Jack

Team Typeface research : Hi Jack

Hyperhelix

Team Typeface research : Hyperhelix

I Am A Designer

Team Typeface research : I Am A Designer

Interceptor Italic

Team Typeface research : Interceptor Italic

Interceptor

Team Typeface research : Interceptor

Mandatory Plaything

Team Typeface research : Mandatory Plaything

Mechfire Italic

Team Typeface research : Mechfire Italic

Mech Fire

Team Typeface research : Mechfire

Monster Mech Italic

Team Typeface research : Monster Mech Italic

Monster Mech

Team Typeface research : Monster Mech

Montalban

Team Typeface research : Montalban

NFS Font

Team Typeface research : NFS Font

PBIO

Team Typeface research : PBIO

Raider Crusader

Team Typeface research : Raider Crusader

Renegade Moons Italic

Team Typeface research : Renegade Moons Italic

SF Sportsnight

Team Typeface research : SF Sportsnight

Sharp

Team Typeface research : Sharp

Space Madness

Team Typeface research : Space Madness

Space Quest Italic

Team Typeface research : Space Quest Italic

Space Quest

Team Typeface research : Space Quest

Star 7

Team Typeface research : Star 7

Subspace Italic

Team Typeface research : Subspace Italic

Tokyo

Team Typeface research : Tokyo

Velocista

Team Typeface research : Velocista

Voyage Fantastique Laser

Team Typeface research : Voyage Fantastique Laser

Voyage Fantastique

Team Typeface research : Voyage Fantastique

Zerohate

Team Typeface research : Zerohate

 

Then, after analyzing each of these screenshots, I then classified these 42 Typefaces again into 3 categories, according to the degree of intensity of my “cool factor”:

• No : Typeface rejected. Satisfies only the typographical criteria but does not work neither the image and/or the composition and/or not having a satisfactory “cool factor”.

• Maybe : Not completely bad… but not completely good either. Requiring further examination.

• Yes : Satisfies both typographical criteria, works well with image, composition and has a satisfactory “cool factor”.

• Preferred : Same as “Yes” above. But Evokes an intrinsic “vibe” which allows us to anticipate the 4th Phase below: Refining the Vision.

Stage 4: Narrow Selection – Refining the Vision

By eliminating the “No” category from the previous Phase, I had reduced the choice of typefaces to 27.

I therefore reviewed these 27 images three more times ; I narrowed them down again and again, classifying and comparing them using the same filtering system as before: No / Yes / Maybe.

Until I manage to select the 12 best candidate typefaces, from which I can choose the final(s) typeface(s).

Stage 5: Semifinal Selection – The Experimented Intuition

The 12 candidate typefaces were as follows :

• Auto Mode

• Bonk

• Cyberfall Italic

• Elasis

• Ganymedian

• Gin Rai Italic

• Monster Mech

• Montalban

• NFS Font

• Space Quest

• Voyage fantastique Laser

Auto Mode

Team Typeface research : Auto Mode

Bonk

Team Typeface research : Bonk

Cyberfall Italic

Team Typeface research : Cyberfall Italic

Elasis

Team Typeface research : Elasis

Ganymedian

Team Typeface research : Ganymedian

Gin Rai Italic

Team Typeface research : Gin Rai Italic

Monster Mech

Team Typeface research : Monster Mech

Montalban

Team Typeface research : Montalban

NFS Font

Team Typeface research : NFS Font

SF Sportsnight

Team Typeface research : SF Sportsnight

Space Quest

Team Typeface research : Space Quest

Voyage Fantastique Laser

Team Typeface research : Voyage Fantastique Laser

 

And from these 12 typefaces, I used my years of experience as Art Director and typographer to summon my “professional intuition” enabling me to finally select two… because of the “choice of hybridization” that I talk about in the last stage below.

Stage 6: Final Selection – The Choice of Hybridization

The typeface I chose to represent the 4M was therefore the NFS Font. It was the best candidate, perfectly meeting all the requirements I had set:

• It was sans-serif.

• It had a modern, slightly high-tech/sci-fi look and was geometric, yet maintained excellent legibility without being too whimsical or fantastical.

• It was slanted, giving the dynamism and sense of strength and urgency I was looking for.

• It was original because it mixed sharp, dynamic bevel shapes on some glyphs with softer curves on others. These shapes interacted harmoniously within a single word. Certain combinations of glyphs formed almost like lightning bolts in the spaces without affecting readability.

However, despite all its qualities, the NFS had two flaws :

• The “M” was perfect for the first part of the hero’s name: “Mister” or “Miss” but wasn’t impactful enough for the hero’s “Proper Name” which I really wanted to stand out from the other glyphs… And above all, I wanted connect it to the shape of the Group Logo, which I had already designed to be much sharper, with vibrant beveled shapes and almost a “lightning bolt” appearance.

• The “K” tended to be read as an “H”. Particularly in the case of “Mister Mask” : it appeared as “Mister Mash”.

For the first point, I therefore used the Elasis typeface for the initial “M” of the hero’s proper name – Mano, Mask, Meter, Minute – which I had reworked in Illustrator to give it the same weight and slant as the NFS Font. I also slightly increased its size so it stands out a little from the name, to symbolize that each hero is an “M” among the “4M”.

For the second point, I also modified a “K” in Elasis to give it the same slant and weight as the NFS Font, as well as its glyph boxing and kern : and it worked perfectly: Mister Mask now reads as such and not as “Mister Mash”.

1: Player Characters

Since the game user had to instantly figure out his character in any given level, whatever his evolution stage would be, we decided the following :

A-He must have his own and exclusive color code.

We opted for an unique combination of Blue and Yellow that would never be reused for any other asset, to avoid confusion with the multiple non-playable assets around.

B-The character must look unique throughout all his “avatars”.

We decided that the PC would have his own sympathetic face along a recognizable feature : a blonde lock of hair that would be present in every stage of his mutation.

C-Each “strength” level must be embodied with a “real life” fish equivalent.

Which makes sense when visually comparing the size and power of each. For instance, the Level 1 fish must be inspired by a tiny, harmless real-life equivalent and, logically, the Level 5 fish must be larger and more imposing. It would be illogical to start the game with a Level 1 big Wolffish and end up with a Level 5 tiny Goldfish…

“Smily” – Player Character 1

“Strippy” – Player Character 2

“Moony” – Player Character 3

“Spotty” – Player Character 4

“Chubby” – Player Character 5

 

2: Non-Player Characters

To help the player to sort out Edible NPCs from Non-Edible Enemies I suggested that the NPCs’ types of fish would be the same as the Player Character’s, with the following alterations :

A-All NPC must have different colors.

We wanted the whole game to look bright and vivid, as if we were swimming in a Caribbean ocean ; ergo, even the opponents of the PC must have attractive colors, we cannot give out a grim and dark atmosphere that would contradict the “light and cartoon” feeling of the game.

So, even if each NPC was typically “the dark side” of the PC of equivalent strength, I made sure I used colors different enough from the PC’s color code, but bright enough to make them attractive yet and to sort them out between each other. Only the PC would keep the same color code throughout the game.

B-They must look “grim”…but not too much.

Since we were aiming more at something like “Finding Nemo” than “The Call of Cthulhu”, I came up with a variety of facial expressions which were sticking to the cartoon’s codes… basically “fishes with an attitude” which would be contrasting with the sympathetic look of the PC.

I stretched that principle to some extent when I came to design the Traps, later on in the game, for they should look much more scary and increase the Player’s heart rate…

“Grogne” – Non-Player Character 1

“Mmmh” – Non-Player Character 2

“Lil Tiger” – Non-Player Character 3

“Moody” – Non-Player Character 4

“Bloatty” – Non-Player Character 5

 

3: Enemies

As aforementioned, the Enemies are the Non-Edible mobs : Level 6 strength opponents that the PC would never be able to eat or overcome, whatever his level of mutation would be. In addition, these Enemies would be able to destroy NPCs as well if they would come in contact with them, thus, it was possible for the PC to lure a NPC or an Enemy into each other if he would be daring and tactical enough. In addition, each Enemy mob would have its own AI behavior depending its type which would add a level of challenge for the PC when dealing with them.

Consequently, since Enemies were supposed to be extremely different in both shape and color for the PC being able to identify them immediately within any given level. The points explained below would be the axes of Art Direction :

A-They must have a radically diferent appearence from the PCs and NPCs.

An Enemy Mob is no longer restrained in shape to “match” any of the PC or NPC appearance, thus I had full liberty to conceive each of them independently of the previous fishes researches or “series” visual connection. I was planning to introduce completely new races of fishes then.

B-They can look “Scary”.

Since these Enemies mobs were supposed to be much more dangerous (for both PCs and NPCs around) I did allow myself to make them a bit scarier than the NPCs and my inspiration stemmed from the predator or poisonous fish types… still treated the cartoon way, nonetheless.

C-Their color codes must be radically different.

Their color codes must be even more different from both PCs and NPCs. Counting back, between the blue/gold combo of the PCs and the 5 different color codes of the NPCs there were then 6 main colors that I could not use or even approach to avoid any confusion between the categories. I had to be careful that any “blue” or “yellow” I would use would be different enough from the PCs, or any “red” I would use would be different enough from Level 5 NPC, etc.

“Barrac” – Enemy 1

“Wolffy” – Enemy 2

“Lampion” – Enemy 3

“Stingy” – Enemy 4

 

4: Food

Initially, we were planning on 3 types of Food. As far Art Direction was concerned, it needed to fit the following criteria:

● Each Food type must be very small, yet, immediately identifiable.

● Each Food type must have its own simple behavior that the Player would be able to anticipate to develop his own strategy towards food. The appearance of such Food type would then require to reflect this behavior and/or the area of the game surface that it was supposed to inhabit and/or move within.

These criteria being set, we did expand furthermore on the rules set concerning the 3 types of Food that we needed:

A-The First food type.

It would “fall” slowly from surface to bottom throughout all levels of water, allowing the PC to catch it by swimming around the main surface of the level.

It was supposed to have a very basic nutritive value (BNV) as it was the easier to catch and was available over almost the whole surface of the game level. Typically, each stage of mutation the PC would be able to achieve to next level of mutation was equal to : [current PC Level] x 10. The Type 1 food had a BNV=1. Meaning a Level 1 PC would need to eat 10 Level 1 foods to achieve mutation to Level 2.

The most logical choice for Type 1 Food was then a Plankton: a small shape falling slowly, yet floating erratically horizontally sometimes, throughout water from surface to bottom.

B-The Second Food type.

This one would stay completely still to make it easily accessible for the PC. Yet, it was placed in an area which would make its access more perilous than for Food 1: the difficulty to access it would lies in the fact that it would be concentrated exclusively on the bottom of the ocean (eg : the bottom of the screen).

That area would be more dangerous than the surface or middle waters since the speed of the PC was halved there and Traps/Enemies would be more present (see “Traps” below).

To illustrate that balance between easy access of a stilled Food with a dangerous area in which that Food would be set, we gave to Type 2 food a BNV of 2. Meaning a Level 1 PC would need to eat 5 Level 2 foods to achieve mutation to Level 2.

The most evident choice for Type 2 Food was then a Starfish: an immobile small shape set at the bottom of the ocean. We were aware that Starfishes normally move, yet very slowly, but we decided that these kind of Starfishes were somewhat too asleep, lazy or under illegal substances to even move around…

C-The Third Food type.

It would move quicker and more erratically than Food 1. Being able to move back and forth within the most dangerous area of the game, which is, once again, the bottom of the ocean.

The Type 3 food had a BNV=5 as it was the most dangerous kind of Food to be caught. Meaning a Level 1 PC it needed to eat 2 Level 3 foods to achieve mutation to Level 2.

The most evident choice for Type 3 Food was then a Crab: a small shape being able to move slowly, then very quickly, before suddenly changing its direction without a warning, over the ocean bottom’ scenery.

It is important to note that each type of Food would disappear after some time, whatever its type would be. E.g.: Plankton would disappear when it would reach bottom of map, Starfishes would fade away after some minutes of existence and Crabs would go off map once they would have reached one of its borders.

5: Traps

The last type of Mobs we designed would be the most dangerous one: Traps. The gameplay difference between Traps and other types of mobs were as follow:

● The Traps would destroy anything they touch: whether they be PCs, NPCs or Enemies, whatever their strength would be. If it would happen a Trap would hit another Trap, they would mutually destroy each other.

● The Traps would appear according certain circumstances and/or would trigger their own events or set of changes in the gameplay.

According these criteria, we came with two different Traps, based on the most iconic sea predators:

A-Mooray Eel Mob.

It would inhabit exclusively within the small caves set at the bottom of the ocean. It would not exit completely from its cave but would rather spring out from its starting point like a coil spring, devastating everything in its path before slowly coiling back to its lair.

The AI behavior was supposed to trigger the Mooray Eel with various stimuli: a PC/NPC of a certain strength coming too close, if there were too many Food types around, etc. That behavior would change randomly during the game level, thus making the Mooray Eel Trap highly unpredictable.

B-Shark Mob.

This one would swim randomly across the whole game map, destroying everything around for some time before leaving the map. As for the Mooray Eel Trap, its AI behavior would change randomly during its appearing : sometimes he would loiter “gently” around, sometimes it would chase in turn PCs, NPCs or Enemies, etc.

We also set the gameplay for the appearing of the Shark Trap instantly make Enemies and NPCs alike to move away from it… resulting, sometimes, in a tricky situation for the PC in a map where all the Mobs flee in a radiating and centripetal pattern, away from the Shark’s path.

From here, the AD was quite easy: make these assets the bigger and/or scarier of them all… learn more on Traps on their individual descriptions below.

“Moris” – Trap 1

“Sharky” – Trap 2

 

Player Character 1 – “Smily”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

Even if the initial direction was approved, the final stage of the character has yet to pass the final test of pre-game ; that includes a simulation in a simple background with a simple engine to see how each asset interact and relate to each other. Initially, “Smily” was our Level 1 base PC, the base of “evolution”. He needed to be quite small and simple, hence his initial simple shape which would prevent that too much animation over his body would blur the comprehension of the character because of his small size.

Yet, even if the initial model design was working, we chose to refine the character to make it more like a goldfish and I worked with another senior artist until we finally got the correct model with his “sympathetic” added value overall look.

In the end, every model was supposed to have all his fins and tail being animated, we finally managed to have a good compromise between outlook and animation functionality. I finished the coloring and vectorized the whole, adding more yellow to the fins to have their movements more easily spotted and voilà, our final Level 1 PC was ready !

Player Character 2 – “Strippy”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

Initially, Level 2 PC was supposed to be a small fish like an angelfish, just the size above the initial “Smily” character. Though, since our Level 1 PC had his design changed to something more substantial, we could not keep this direction as the chance of confusion between the two different stages characters would be too high.

Thus, I reworked the whole concept to propose something more elongated and less spherical as a shape, integrating the features of different fishes : mixing altogether elements from a carp, a codfish, a cichlid and an imperial arowana to end up with something radically different from PC Level 1. I added some stripes to increase even more the difference with the spots of “Smily”, which led me naturally to baptize him “Strippy”.

Player Character 3 – “Moony”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

Going along the principle of changing radically each PC’s shape with each mutation, I initially gave to Level 3 PC a disk shape, much chubby, to indicate that the player was starting to have a consequent power in the food chain. “Smily” was a little sphere initially, but his fins were enough to distinguish him from a mere ball, yet the initial design of the Level 3 PC was not refined enough to make him an original character. Consequently, I modified his initial design as a sergeant major fish or a flame angel fish to go more toward a kind of moonyfish or a sunfish.

The idea was to have a neat round shape for the body with neat defined shapes for the fins, to avoid any confusion with “Smily”. I wanted to keep the tiger-like stripes from the sergeant major fish but made them different enough from “Strippy” to avoid any confusion. And “Moony” was born.

Player Character 4 – “Spotty”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

The initial name of this Character was “Blubby” and he was loosely inspired by some form of not-too-scary humpback anglerfish, to symbolize that the PC was now pretty menacing to all the other mobs. I totally dropped that idea and, even if I managed to make him look sympathetic, his appearance was too weird and spooky to be kept in line with my own art direction ; I needed something big, yes, but still with the flourished appearance of surface fishes, and leave all the “alien-looking” fishes of the abyss for villains and enemies. That would add a visual help to the Player to sort out the “good guys” from the “bad guys”.

Thus, I chose to go with something more elegant, as a reward for all the efforts the Player had to get through, and designed a fish based on the Betta Siamese fish and the Mandarinfish. The large elaborated fins and his particular body shape would make something definitely different from all the previous stages of the PC. I deliberately inverted the color code to make the yellow prominent and keep the blue as pattern, as an allusion to the initial spots of “Smily”, hence the final name of “Spotty”. The dominant yellow color was also there to give the player a “gold reward” effect.

Player Character 5 – “Chubby”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

For the ultimate Level 5 PC, I wanted something really imposing and massive to give the player the feeling he was now (almost) dominating the food chain and eventually evolved into some kind of predator himself. Yet, as always, I needed to keep the “sympathetic” look and not make him a kind of horrible, devouring monster.

On the elaborated sketch phase I planned to make him a globefish which would inflate while swimming, but I dropped the idea as the animation would be too confusing for the player, especially that a size change while playing could severly impair the PC if he needed to tactically swim between a group of opponents…

Ergo, I kept the “massive and fat” idea to apply it to a “cool-looking” wolffish ; basically the good natured “Chubby” guy that you still don’t want to mess up with in a bar… The proportions of the wolffish were ideal to keep his fins range to a minimum, thus enabling the player to focus essentially on his basic shape mass when moving without being concerned about big fins confusing movements or sudden shape/size changes.

Non-Player Character 1 – “Grogne”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

The first NPC mirroring our Level 1 Player Character Hero. Remember that the NPC mobs, contrarily to the Enemies and Traps mobs, can be eaten by the PC, provided this one is of Level strictly above the one of the NPC (Level 2 PC can eat a Level 1 NPC, etc…). Therefore, the model base used for the NPCs must be the same as for the PCs for their strength level to be clearly identified by the Player ; yet, they must have a completely different color code to avoid any confusion with the PC fish character.

Once all the final shapes of the Player Characters have been determined and validated, it was quite easy to apply colors different enough to the NPC, as much as a “grim, grumpy” face expression to these baddies.

That is why I baptized the first Level 1 NPC “Grogne” (“To Growl” in French) to emphasize that matter of fact. I chose a vivid magenta pink/bright orange combo to make him a clear opposite to the blue/gold color code of the PC line.

Non-Player Character 2 – “Mmmh”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

When we came to that Level 2 NPC, I finalized the pale green/dark green combo fast enough. We just had a moment of latency before giving him a name.

I made a small brainstorm session with the creative staff, discussing about the “personality” of that green fish. For some reason, I designed him as looking quite haughty and arrogant, the “fish with an attitude” kind of character who looks down on you with a despising “Mpf…” comment.

For the time of the session I was trying to voice out his personality to the staff by mimicking his face while saying “Mmmh” (as in “Mpf! You are SO inferior…”) whereas everyone around was saying “Mmmh” as well, unsure about how to eventually name him (as in “Er… Mmmh… how to name that guy… Mmmh… let’s think about it … Mmmmh…what to find…Mmmh…”).

So, in the end, we all agreed to name him “Mmmh”.

Player Character 3 – “Lil Tiger”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

For the “dark side” of “Moony”, I already had his name and colors in my mind since quite some time. Actually, when I designed the tiger-like stripes of “Moony” to distinguish him enough from his previous avatar, “Strippy”, the idea of a little, sympathetic tiger went into my mind. But since I wanted to have a form of consistency with the PC names-which are all ending in “-y”- I did not want to name the PC “Lil’ Tiger”, so I saved it for his NPC equivalent.

Starting from that point, the orange/brown color code alluding to the tiger was an obviousness.

Player Character 4 – “Moody”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

Since PC Level 4 “Spotty” was so bright, beaming and shiny in his bright yellow golden skin, I used the opposed, complementary color for his counterpart and therefore used a light violet/mauve for the base color and a light blue for the spots ; the spots pattern needed to be of a relative light hue to not give the impression the mobs had “holes” all over his body.

And since “Spotty” was so smiling and bright, the idea of a sullen, depressive fish led me naturally to the “Moody” name.

Player Character 5 – “Bloatty”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

As NPC Level 5 was the strongest NPC opponent, he needed to be designed as being quite dangerous at first glance and immediately identified as such through both shape, color and expression altogether. Hence, I saved the use of bright red color for this very character, even the bright pink color of the stripes were there to make a “shimmering” effect, a “red flash warning” of sort to tell the Player : “Warning! Big danger ahead!”.

And “big and nasty” was the very idea behind the design of this character, I really wanted to give out the dangerous Wolffish feeling with this one, even if Wolffishes are not really of that color. Red color in the animal world always indicate a form of impending danger and I used that idea for “Bloatty”… Therefore, I allowed myself to give into the process that I did cast aside for “Chubby” and, indeed, designed a kind of horrible, devouring monster- all-bloated and ever-hungry, ergo the “Bloatty” name.

The bright pink stripes are small enough to not confuse the reading of the shape, yet they “flicker” enough to enhance the dangerous feeling while still keeping the cartoonish, lighthearted concept of the game.

Enemy 1 – “Barrac”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

We needed one of the Enemy to be of the “fast seeker type” : a Mob which would be able of sudden burst of speed towards the PC when this one would come in its zone of detection. Initially, that type of Enemy was fitting perfectly a Garfish -temporarily named “Orfi”, since “Orphie” was the French name for this fish.

Later on, I realized that the proportions of this fish were posing a problem: it was very thin and narrow with not much surface to design or animate, as much as its face was too small for the proportions of the game. Consequently, I entirely dropped its design to create a Mob from the Barracuda fish instead : it had the same speed allure and profiled look, plus the added value to look more dangerous than a garfish. I added some “zigzag” pattern over its body to evoke a kind of “quicksilver” symbol, as if it was the speedster of the oceans.

Therefore, “Barrac” was created. And before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with Barrack Obama…

Enemy 2 – “Wolffy”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

PCs and NPCs Level 5 were already derived from the “Wolffish” type of fish; yet, I surmised that I did not used all the aspects of that very interesting, massive fish and I wondered if I was being able to create another Wolffish type without confusing it with the PC/NPC sort. I then focused on its “grudged” expression that I enjoyed creating on the elaborated sketch stage.

Focusing more on its facial expression than its massive body, I used a violet color as an allusion to the colors of both Level 5 PC and NPC. This Mob had the most erratic AI behavior of all the enemies : the algorithm was cycling regularly between the 3 other types of Mobs’ AI; ergo, it could be sometimes a “seeker ” as “Barrac”, a “voracious” as “Lampion” or a “curious” as “Stingy”, making it a very unpredictable kind of Mob.

Enemy 3 – “Lampion”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

As the production was progressing, I realized that I did not have an “abyssal fish” yet and I really wanted include one in the game, since their shape, colors and overall aspect is so weird and bizarre ; plus, the fact that one of the area of the game map was called the “abyss” (the lowest one, logically…) it was just making sense to have at least one of them. If I could, I would have added much more of abyssal fishes but the production manager told me that we already reached the maximum amount of fishes that we were supposed to include and he was satisfied with all the design of the actual fishes…. Too bad… perhaps in a future expansion.

It was difficult to choose amidst all the wonderful abyssal fishes that do exist, but I finally opted for an Anglerfish as it had the most delirious variations leading to something both scary and completely bizarre in design.

I took the obverse option of the “dark colored” abyssal fish as this opponent was scary enough in its design, so I colored it bright pink to tune down a little bit its scary appearance, as much as to make it looking weirder even.

Its AI was the “voracious” type : meaning he had a very short detection zone, but a very large aggression zone, eg : as soon it was detecting a PC it was chasing it for quite a long time, making it an opponent quite hard to get rid off once it spotted you.

Its name came to be “Lampion”, as it means “Paper Lantern” in French, alluding to the little light topping its fleshy “stem” used to lure preys in darkness. As soon the PC was spotted and “Lampion” was starting its pursuit, that light was supposed to blink constantly for as long the PC was kept as a target. A fish-warhead of sort, so to speak….

Enemy 4 – “Stingy”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

For the last Enemy, I really wanted something flamboyant ; a form of “beauty of the devil” opponent which would reflect the gracefulness we can see in some Caribbean fishes, despite their dangerousness. And since the last AI behavior was of the “curious” type, something as beautiful and as poisonous as the Lionfish was completely appropriated.

I did many researches and tried many different designs before coming to the final form. Since “Stingy” was bearing many colors, the difficulty was double : I had to harmonize these colors in a way which was not making the model to be confused with another Mob; also, I had to be sure that the stripped pattern was not preventing the overall shape to be deciphered, yet paying homage to the Lionfish’s elaborate appearance.

Eventually, I came with this base of pure white, enhanced by this blue-purple-magenta gradient streaks. White color having not being used yet, it was completing efficiently the totality of the color palette used thus far, the gradient being used within the same range of colors it was neither too flashy or incongruous to not blur the shape. For the gradient, I purposefully used the blue tones on the lower parts and the red ones on the upper parts, since it was linking visually the shadowed bottom part of the model with the darker parts of the bottom map and the reddish ones with the surface and, consequently, the sunlight.

Initially, I wanted its fins to have some transparency, but it was consuming too much of the game’s engine rendering process to display it and I finally made them opaque, it was unjustified to cripple the rendering speed of the game for just one model.

The “curious” type AI granted “Stingy” with a large “detection/attraction zone”, meaning that he could detect the PC from quite a long distance, gently loitering towards him but not “attacking” before he was really in close contact, to balance things even. Basically, “Stingy” was relatively easy to avoid most of the times… Provided you keep him constantly at the corner of your eyes, making his presence in a level map a very pestering one, tactically speaking.

Food 1 – “Max”

Early concept sketch
(Click to enlarge )

Since all Food Mobs were the tiniest ones, I could not overload them with a lot of details. The “plankton” type 1 food was just a small green ball with two blinking eyes, seeming to say : “What am I doing here?…”. I used a matching colored outline for all the Food types, as their small sizes would have blurred or smeared their respective colors if they would have been outlined black ; they needed to be spotted and identified by their colors immediately despite their tiny size.

Of course, I named that Plankton “Max”, related to a deplorable wordplay on “Max Planck” and his work on the smallest scales of the quantum theory. Ergo, a “Max Plankton” particle having the smallest “scale” of the Mobs sounded appropriate for a game about fishes…

There has been a special “easter egg” or “perk” hidden rule stating that if the PC would reach Level 5 mutation exclusively by eating plankton, a quantum superpower would be triggered which would shrink all the NPCs, Enemies and Traps of the game to a plankton size, allowing the PC to eat all of them, regardless of their nature or level, for a short amount of time, increasing the PC’s score. A bit like the “power pellets” of Pac-Man enabling it to devour the ghosts.

Food 2 – “Ringo”

Early concept sketch
(Click to enlarge )

The nearly immobile Fishstar type 2 Food had no eyes initially. But it was making no sense that all the Mobs of the game-including Food- would have eyes except this one. So, I added this confused gaze, not only for AD consistency but on the Game Design level, as well : thus  helping the Player to identify positively that asset as something to interact with and not as an unimportant element of decor/background.

Evidently, I named that Mob “Ringo” for “Ringo Starr”… The “easter egg” effect would state that if a PC would reach Level 5 mutation exclusively by eating Starfishes, the Beatles’ song “Yellow Submarine” would play and a random type of Mobs present in the map would start to accomplish some dancing ballet or synchronized swimming (like all the Level 3 NPCs or all the “Barrac” type Enemies for example) ; during that dancing time, these mobs would be completely inoffensive as much as edible (as Level 0 Mobs) and the PC would score triple points if he would eat exclusively these mobs.

Food 3 – “Nebula”

Early concept sketch
(Click to enlarge )

To be sure about gender equality, I decided to make the type 3 Food a female Crab Mob. Of course, that doesn’t immediately jump out as an evidence since gender determination of crabs is a delicate task. Once the gender determination was done, it was easy to come with a female name which made sense on the gameplay level : “Nebula” ; of course as a reference to one of the brightest nebula type ever observed : the Crab Nebula set in the Taurus constellation.

“Easter egg” effect : If the PC would achieve Level 5 mutation by eating exclusively Crabs, then all the Crabs Food Mobs would grow to a gigantic size, reaching Level 7 strength equivalent (overall, big enough to reach the “abyss” lower part of the game map) for a short amount of time.

All the NPCs, Enemies and Traps would be instantly destroyed (the PC would be unaffected by the giant “Nebula”), exploding in a myriad of little “Nebula” Mobs that the PC could consume normally, increasing potentially his score. Tactically, it was interesting for the player to modify his gameplay to attract and lure opponents mobs towards the giant “Nebula” to benefit from their destruction.

Trap 1 – “Moris”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

As stated earlier, that Trap Mob was a stationary one; yet, it was no less dangerous as the player had no idea about the springing range of this Moray Eel model and the reasons of its triggering before some time of observation. Indeed, each “cave” set in the bottom of the map might have a random type of “Moris” whose PC detection, agression and springing range was determined randomly at each map, as much as it was able to attack randomly a particular type of NPCs and/or Enemies as well. Therefore, the unfolding reaching movement of this Trap would vary between 1/10th to 1/3rd of the width of the map.

As soon the PC would enter the detection range of “Moris”, its evil eye would start to glow within the shadow of the cave, leaving only one second for the PC to swim away before this Moray Eel would spring out in its direction, destroying everything in its path (except “Sharky”).

Visually, I designed it as an “Alien/Xenomorph” type of Mob, bringing it on the fringe between cartoon and semi-realistic styles, as I wanted it to look really nasty and scary, as much as its AI behavior.

The model itself was set in three separate parts which were articulated and attached to each other to simulate the unfurling movement, as much as for the developers to calculate the range of the spring. Consequently, the developer was attributing such or such coordinates to the different parts to know at which point of the model they had to attach to each other : one for the model at rest and one for the model fully deployed; the animation of the unfurling movement being calculated between these two states.

Initially, this model was named “Elvis” (for “Moray Eel-vis Presley”) and its initial design was displaying him with a Pompadour haircut. Though, since the design evolved into something more scary, I dropped that name to baptize him “Moris” (for “Mor-ay eel”).

Trap 2 – “Sharky”

The different stages of the Concept Art
(Click to enlarge each picture)

Certainly the deadliest opponent in the game, “Sharky” was the most massive of all the models. Initially the design of this Shark was rounder and shorter, but gameplay wise, it needed to take more space in length and less in height to give the player more space to avoid him, since the game map was set on a vertical configuration and not an horizontal one.

On the visual aspect, I did not want him to look too much as “Bruce” from Finding Nemo, especially that our shark was not vegetarian at all. I really wanted to give him the profiled, steel aspect of a killing machine, enhanced by his “scoring tattoos” painted on his flanks, as if he was a form of war pilot shooting down his preys one by one.

To help further the PC about the impending arrival of the “Sharky” Trap, a sort of “Jaws” music was played announcing his arrival. Since “Sharky” was so massive and that he was to trigger a fleeing pattern in all the mobs of the map, we made him to have a relatively low speed for the PC had a chance to set a dodging strategy…

Now, the fact that “Sharky” was going through the map level so slowly was, as well, meaning that the AI behaviors of the other Mobs was changed for the same amount of time ; up to the player to use that knowledge to prepare an optimal dodging strategy.

● Final elements of the Game’s First Level

1: Game Models complete display

Below are represented the final models and their respectful sizes within the game map.

2: Game Background screen

The settings of the First Level of the game named “Sunken Galleon”.