Lily-Just a Quick Update

Working on my digital painting. I drew concepts of what I believe the main character would look like.
I thought of her as a badass Nancy Drew character. Solvin' mysteries n'sheet.

It's from my sketchbook so it's a bit messy. Let me know what you think.

Lily's Concepts

The polluted air doesn't just only effect humans. The air causes tumorous growths and makes the animals irritable.  Attacking humans or anything near is a regular happenstance. 

What the writing says: 

- Rabbit deformities were inspired by a real disease called myxomatosis. It was a virus purposely given to them  after rabbits became overpopulated in Australia.

- Rats have become tumorous lumps. The tumors push their innards out causing their large intestine to seem like tentacles. They often swarm in large groups.

He would be a neat freak and always want to be in control. Can't stand being dirty like the other commoners.  

Here is my back story for her:

She was recruited from Puerto Rico as a nurse in WWII, this apparently was a big thing that actually happened. Never really enjoyed being treated as just a women, but an equal. Occasionally would go out and help the soldiers fight, but was never given the order to. Leg got blown off by a grenade and was sent home. She wears a simple militaristic style and doesn't enjoy being helped due to her disability. The painting is not finished yet. :) Starts off as a guide but might backstab the main character later.

The oxygen company has a "visiting center" which is actually a cemetery. When people die in this town, but not from intense pollution, their bodies are used as a natural fertilizer for the trees/oxygen. Those who can afford it get a plaque of the deceased in the visitor center. this is also where our story begins.

I imaged it to be the cross between a green house and a church. It has some stained glass designs with its most notable piece of work in the front. This would be the universal symbol for oxygen.

This goes with the concept above. The main character visits his or her parent's grave but notices a shadowy figure pulling something in the distance...

 I was thinking that something large like oak trees would be the main tree. But it wasn't until later I found there was a tree that emits oxygen day and night. So I was trying to find out what would be best for oxygen productivity. :/ There would also be a lot of those rubber plants, they are a natural filter against pollutants.

The industrial air filter was not made until the 60s. So it would have to be a filter with a little more primitive knowledge. maybe something that looked more like a gas mask. but it should have been one of the easier things to invent.

One of my team mates came up with the idea that there would be a hole that led to the arena where the inflicted fought for oxygen. This made me think that the main character would fall down that hole right into the middle of a fight.  One of the fighters would be a large, muscular man with a rhino-like appearances and the other would be lean an scraggly, with a crow bar or golf club.

Masks are used by the "gladiators" and usually have animal depictions on them. They would look more like homemade gas masks. Also used to hide infections.

I thought it would be cool to use existing propaganda posters and make it relevant to the game's world.  Victory gardens to oxygen conservation.

I'm not even sure if this character will be in there but I had a lot of fun doing it. :) This is the main character's sibling, the only fun, carefree person in the game. Full of energy and willing to take on challenges, but can get scared sometimes.

I derped and forgot to add these. Here ya go!

MORE REF!

Here's some more stuff for you guys as Remi's requested.

ps. I'm still looking for the rest of the stuff on the list.

 Cleveland, Ohio.

Drugstores-inside and outside.

I thought this would be really good for rubble reference. It has dust clouds, burning buildings. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

These are some hotels from the outside. There is also a picture of a receptionist at a hotel desk.

These are taken from a film I was watching online. A silent movie that filmed San Fran in the 1930s.

As an added bonus I was looking through a old movie blog that I follow on tumblr (http://oldhollywood.tumblr.com/). These are all movie screenshots (1930s and 1940s) that I found were a bit off an chilling. Maybe something that people in the 1940s used for horror. Alfred Hitchcock  is a good ref if you want to explore this further. also if you look at the old hollywood blog and click "archive" at the top they categorize it by era. 

I'll post more soon! Let me know if you need a good site or want me to try and find something specific for you.

Women's Fashion

A very brief history: In the 1940's fabric was rationed. So clothing became much more simple and practical. After the war there was a style made started by Coco Chanel called "the new style"(1947) that became the new fashion silhouette for the next ten years.

The site that I found these on also made black silhouettes of some of the designs from above. I though this could be useful to some.

http://www.fashion-era.com/

War Posters and Environment Refs

Here are some interesting posters for WWI and WWII. Maybe we could alter some of them for our own propaganda for the game. Like "conserve oxygen" etc. Just some ideas.

More of them are here:

WWI Posters

WWII Posters

Also I was flipping through shorpy.com and I found some interesting pictures that were in the timeline/related to our game.

Evyind Earle Abound

Pictures of canyons, barns, trees and women.

Here is a link to some of his sketches (of human faces!): http://www.eyvindearle.com/Products.aspx?type=drawing
scratch board http://www.eyvindearle.com/products.aspx?type=scratch

Miyakejima A Town With Gas Masks

Miyakejima is a small island off of japan with an active volcano. When the volcano erupted at it's worse, it released a methane gas forcing all who stay on the island to wear a gas mask. A town where everyone wears a gas mask is perfect for our story!
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/the-town-where-everyone-wears-a-gas-mask

Ideas From Monday: Details, details, details

I thought A LOT about this stuff, trying to build it with a nice background and as much detail as possible so here are my ideas of what it would be like. If you need a reference to something that I mention, just post it in the comments below! Make sure that I check myself before I wreck myself.

Quick Summary
After WWII the world is completely destroyed and America has disbanded. Everyone is on their own now, causing chaos, with only a few groups of people trying to regain order (dystopian future).  The entire world is polluted with a noxious gas, that slowed deforms animals, including people, ruins the soil and can drive a person insane.  Oxygen is a commodity now, everyone must wear gas masks when going outside. Those who cannot afford this are fated a slow painful death. This story follows the Main Character(MC), who was recently orphaned two years ago along with their younger sibling. They are forced to live at a rebuilding settlement in old hotel built into the side of a canyon.  In their small room of the old hotel, they live with crazy Auntie Mame, the only person out of their many relatives to take them in.  To say the least, their extended family is extremely dysfunctional and they characters are forced to interact with them due to the inability to survive on their own.  After visiting their parents grave like every month, they see a shadowy figure in the distance and decide to peruse. What they find is a dead body.  Asking around town, no one admits to the dead person's existence, only increasing MC'S curiosity. This leads to an adventure of conspiracy where nothing is really as it seems.

SETTING
In the US, a unspecific location (probably California).  States might not exist anymore, just rebuilding settlements.
In a canyon! Why? Since Oxygen is heavy it would be lower to the ground.  We have prefect references to take pictures of since our school resides in one.
Instead of the rich being on top of the hill, they would be located closer to the oxygen reserves.  The higher up the hill/canyon, the poorer the person probably is.  the top would be where the slums were.  Slums could be abandoned mansions (crumbling). Probably would be mainly shacks.


CHARACTERS
MC: Either a boy or a girl, we still haven't decided. Orphaned at 15, he/she is 17 or about to turn 18.  They have a deep bond with their  best friend/sibling. Currently lives in a hotel with Auntie Mame and their younger sibling. (I'd prefer a girl, haha) Very fragile mind state but when put to the task they try to over come. Depressed?
- Could be slowly going insane
- we learn more about them as they go on.
- since they have a very fragile mindset some of the characters could not turn out to be real
-only surviving member of immediate family

Auntie Mame: Insane, bipolar, manic. Moments of clarity but can lose her mind again at any moment.
- MC has suspicions that she might not be real, player would be lead to believe that she is a reflection of MC's mental state

Younger sibling: Either boy or girl, younger but seemingly braver one. positive attitude
- If going with  auntie mame suggestion above, this character could be dead all along (found out near the end) and is just a projection of the MC's mind.  Was killed along with parents.
- if alive, could have playable scenarios as this character.  From their POV the world is warped to give more of an imaginative and positive outlook.

STORYLINE


Beginning of the beginning (aka why this happened):
The society of our game, in my head, used to be a clean steam punk society. Until the diesel engine was invented in 1893, steam powered engines were used.  In 1910, diesel engines were used for mainly submarines and ship.  It wasn't until the 1930s that these engines were used for autos, locomotives, and other machinery. (a.k.a. Diesel punk era begins) Coincidentally, 1939 is where the first world war begins.  In our altered story line something changes near the end. This forces our world into the alternate future of the MC's today. (I have more to add later)
- steampunk items modded into diesel

PLEASE
post suggestions, i'd love to bounce ideas back in forth. I really enjoy doing this kind of stuff.

TONE
Steampunk: Diesel punk, more appropriate for the era, inventions abound.  Old steampunk invention could also be shown, or be modded into diesel.  I'd prefer no atomic punk! Weapons, puzzles, etc.
Horror: Deformities, mutant creatures, dystopian depressing future, insanity. Mindfucker + holyshit these things are coming after me.
Evyind Earle:  silhouettes or back grounds. main saturated colors like in mirrors edge, where key colors direct the viewer or have specific meaning. Other things have a

Lily's References