Shadowblade | Alfie Bramley

Shadowblade is a dark fantasy FPS centered around a shadow mage, hurling daggers of darkness at warped and tormented souls as they ascend a tower seeking its secrets. I worked on this game as a concept artist, environment artist, writer and level designer.

Spider Mage: A mobile ranged enemy, and one of the most commonly encountered by the player throughout the game.

Crucified Husk: A stationary turret-like enemy that would harass the player from afar, but could not move and would thus need to be sniped down.

Gameplay Design: My work on the UI, mechanics, level layout and gameplay loop throughout development.

Asset Design: My work on the different designs for architecture, style and modular 3D building throughout development.

Spider Mage

The Spider Mage began from the idea of having a mobile enemy that could maneuver itself about the level, being able to attack the player from afar with projectiles and protect itself in melee should the player get too close.

The original theme idea for the game itself was 'magical steampunk': as I am rather a fan of Dark Souls, I leaned into the more gritty side of magic and based my original ideas around ghosts and the undead. I then went further and concepted some basic ideas for how ghosts and souls could be fashioned into steampunk: quite literally, from being bound into huge clockwork gears in number 2, to being stored in vials and carried around like specimens in number 6.

The team was very in favour of my ideas: particularly, the idea of losing one's humanity. As such, 5 and 6 were selected to be carried forwards in the concepting process.

Using 5 and 6 as a base, I focused on the melding of flesh and clockwork, and I placed particular emphasis on making it look painful. I especially wanted the enemies to look as if they had been desecrated and violated: this would add a fear factor to them, but also give the player cause to wonder as to how they ended up like this.

During the process of making these concepts, I leaned into the idea of only using two colours: black for physical matter, white for magical. I especially liked the results on numbers 2 and 5: the white spectral hands are the manifestations of the poor mage's soul, all that they have left of themselves after their bodies have been ripped apart and twisted around their metal frames.

The team loved the results but suggested making them a little more 'fleshy': I was only happy to oblige.

Adding flesh onto the tormented bones of the Spider Mage allowed me to try some more interesting combinations: especially to do with whether the spider-like limbs were all organic, metallic, or a combination of the two.

Numbers 3 and 4, I experimented with the body being already mutated into a spider, and so it had been 'augmented' with clockwork spider parts in order to forcefully turn this already suffering creature into a weapon. Numbers 1, 5 and 6 focused on the spider mutations being painful and debilitating: rendering the mage unable to walk properly or twisting them out of their human shape.

The designs were lauded by the team: especially the merging of the mutated spider body and clockwork enhancements. The story of the mage was being more clearly told through their design, and all that remained was to finalise it.

The Spider Mage's final design is a culmination of mutation, clockwork cybernetics and painful neglect. Their body is frail and shriveled, hidden in the filthy tatters of their robes, and swollen into spider-like cysts. Like suffering from a plague, their limbs have almost all fallen off, leaving only one limb that is truly theirs. In this hand they wield a bladed staff, the metal as corroded and rotted as the body that holds it.

Into their painfully bloated lower body, clockwork spider legs have been inserted, around which their flesh has closed. A cruel joke by a cruel master, laughing at their deformity and then exacerbating it. Maddened by pain, and unrecognizable as a human, they seek any respite from their suffering, remembering only just enough about magic to hurl it at anything they see as a threat...such as the player. The player wields great power, and their soul shines bright. Such a tormented creature would go mindless with desire to take that soul for themselves.

Crucified Husk

The Husk began as an idea for a singular, ranged, turret-like enemy who would harass the player from afar; necessitating a stealthy approach, or allowing for the creation of obstacle courses where the player would need to be swift and decisive to avoid being sniped.

These original concepts played on the idea of the enemy being built or left behind by the master of the tower: whether intentionally built as 'art pieces', or skewered on pikes as warnings to intruders. These turrets would overlook the level like gargoyles, or be placed at the end of corridors, creating a hazard that the player could opt to either trade shots with from afar, or simply avoid.

These designs were received well, with the favoured designs being 1 and 2. Following on from the Spider Mage, the desire was to have all enemies be fleshy: I of course followed suit.

Seeking to make an enemy who could be placed in numerous different spots, I moved away from the large hanging 'chandelier' look and opted to cleave more closely to the standing 'statue' look. I liked the idea that this enemy had been 'built' wherever it stood, which in turn could lend a more brutal and painful look to them.

Number 1 was the favoured design for a number of reasons: it fit the clockwork steampunk look that had by now become an integral part of the game's aesthetic. Number 2 was regarded as a second-best, with the lighting coming from beneath it being particularly lauded for providing ambience. From a story perspective, it looked thematically similar to the Spider Mage, but could function as a 'next step' of sorts: perhaps they were the mages who lost their minds completely?

In any case, number 1 was selected as the base for continuing.

The Husk did not change much in this particular set of concepts, the main difference between the designs being specific alterations to the husk itself. My own thought was that the husk would be so twisted and damaged that it would have only instinctive control over its power: therefore, having it be fired from the mouth or the chest felt most appropriate.

The glow coming from beneath the Husk served to both provide a visual target for the player, even from afar, and to give the Husk a more sinister appearance. The glow was postulated to be either loose soul energy, or a portal through which they were pushed: either way, in terms of gameplay, it would provide a quick explanation for how there could be many of them in multiple places.

As before, number 1 was the favoured design: the reason being that one person hurt in this way would be more emotional.

The Husk's final design omitted the portal-like glow in favour of a clockwork stand, in order to truly highlight the torturous machinery that the Husk is now bound to. In going with its name, the body is frail and stretched beyond its limits, held up only by wires that pierce the body like puppeteer strings. The body is attached to more wires that suck the life force directly out of it, giving it the appearance of being bound to the very ground beneath it.

The dark hair serves to contrast with the pale body and frame the face when it fires, giving a quick and sharp contrast in order to make the attack stand out. Practically, this makes it a little easier for the player to see and react: aesthetically, it brings to mind the dark-haired antagonists of the Ring and the Grudge.

This being is all but dead: limp and lifeless, all they can do is feel pain and unleash it upon anything they sense, such as you.

Gameplay Design

The initial idea for Shadowblade as a game was a stealthy and tense game, similar to Assassin's Creed and Aragami, where the player is able to feel like a force of darkness and danger.

This initial concept sketch encapsulated an idea where the player sneaks into the residence of someone mighty and powerful in order to steal something of great import. As such, they would need to either assassinate or sneak past guardians of much greater strength than themselves. One proposal was that the sneaking routes would take longer, but would reward the player by taking them across rooftops or over rafters, into the dark and hidden places that only they would know of.

This sketch shows a glimpse of the desired atmosphere: dark, alone, privy to both beauty and fear that they alone know of. After all, who's to say the shadows cannot be beautiful?

Myself and the other artist worked hard to create a reliable reference for the style of the game: we particularly wanted to be sure we could build a reliable language through colour and shape in order to be able to guide the player without excessive storywriting. Here is our guide to the proposed three 'elements': Fire, Light and Shadow.

Light and Shadow are the polarising elements: Light is the enemy, Shadow is the friend. As such, the two were designed to be as opposed to each other as possible. Fire, however, was proposed to be more neutral: Fire provides Light, after all, but it also provides Shadow, and Fire isn't picky about who it burns.

The idea was that a source of Fire could be turned against the player's enemies just as easily as it could turn on the player, rewarding players who were willing to take a risk.

After designing the look for Shadow, the element which would be used by the player character, the logical next step was to nail the look of the player's abilities. At the stage of development we were in at the time this was made, we wanted the player to feel deadly but not all-powerful: we settled therefore that the player's attacks should be small and precise.

For the designs of these small shadowblades, I drew inspiration from the ninja and secret agents of classical media: the 'spiral blade' was inspired by shuriken. For the other designs, I leaned more into the magical shadow aspect: I particularly liked the 'arcing throw' for being pulled out of the shadows on the ground. I even suggested to the team that, no matter what shape the projectiles took, they should originate from the shadows in the environment. Sadly, it turned out that this would have been too intensive to implement, but it was a nice idea.

The proposed secondary ability for the player to possess was the ability to create areas of darkness by snuffing out existing lights. This would allow the player to avoid detection until an enemy walked past the light source, at which point they would reignite it. This was intended to keep gameplay exciting and stop players from becoming complacent. If there were many light sources, extinguishing them all permanently could make it incredibly easy to traverse the level. If there were too few to make up for it, it would make the ability effectively redundant.

My personal favourite idea was the 'snuff' and the 'shadow spirit'. I once again leaned into the idea of the shadows running along the ground, and I particularly liked the idea of the shadows being 'alive': whether as a friendly entity, or an extension of the player's own body. Sadly, this ability was never implemented into the game.

Concepting these abilities is all well and good, but to move forwards in terms of development, a concept of actual gameplay was requested, and I very happily complied. With it being decided that the 'secondary ability' would be a forward moving dash, I played around with the idea of it having a charge-up, and what visuals might play when said dash was used.

In the first example POV, I played with the idea of the left hand being gradually covered by shadows, with the dash ability being usable once the hand was fully covered. In the second, I played with the idea of the player's screen being surrounded by darkness and their vision being blurred by their movement. The shadows on the left hand dissipate upon using the ability, and would gradually return to allow it to be used again. The shadowblades would be fired from the right hand.

In order to demonstrate an alternative, or even a supplement, to watching a hand slowly be covered by shadows, I made a number of concepts for this 'blade meter'. The idea was that each segment of the blade represented a use of a special ability, up to 3 uses. When the ability was used, a segment would be depleted or taken away.

The idea that was discussed at this time by the team was that the player would start with one ability use, and as they progressed through the game they would gain access to more. This could in turn be used as a reward for players who went a certain route, or could be used as a standard mark of progression. The special ability itself could be the shadow dash, or it could even be the player's shadowblade reserves. Adopting this system would require the player to calculate their shots and would necessitate a stealthy playstyle.

To further encourage a certain playstyle, the team discussed an idea for having 'shadowpads' spawn in each level. These pads would be fonts of shadowy power, giving the player unlimited shadowblades and greatly increasing the regeneration of their shadow dash, but if the player lingered too long it would begin to drain their health. The idea was that this would allow us to build in areas that would function like arenas or boss fights, where the player is allowed to go wild and kill whatever they want, but not forever. To balance this, and to give players an incentive to move, these pads would also move, requiring a player to stay alert and be on the lookout for them if they wished to use them. This would also prevent players simply loitering at the edge of them.

My personal favourite design is number 3: leaning into the idea of the shadows being alive, and possibly even sinister.

Adding on to the idea of the player finding powerups throughout the game, we decided to try having additional powerups than the 'additional power use' and the 'shadowpads'. These powerups would be different: they would give permanent buffs and could be sorted into multiple categories, rather like the boons from Hades.

The red icon symbolises Offense: powerups under this category would increase damage dealt to enemies. The yellow icon symbolises Utility: these powerups would increase things like movement speed. The green icon symbolises Defense: these powerups would give the player greater survivability. In this way, the player would have a level of control over their playstyle, while still adhering to a core gameplay loop that would be similar to every player. Sadly, these icons were similarly left unimplemented.

With so many ideas in the air, I thought it would be best to do another gameplay concept. This time, I went a little more abstract, in order to both capture the gameplay and explain it to those who saw it.

Here, the player character can be seen beside the shadowpad on the ground, having just emerged from a darkened corridor into the illuminated room. From all around them, enemies swoop in to fight them, meaning the player abandons stealth in favour of all-out combat, hurling shadowblades across the room as they run to avoid enemy attacks.

I made this using designs I had previously created for modular wall assets and textures, throwing them together to create a diorama-esque piece. I personally was very happy with it, as while it wasn't completely accurate to gameplay, it provided a useful reference for myself and the rest of the team as to what the gameplay could look and feel like. However, I was well aware it could be added onto.

To provide a more comprehensive concept of gameplay, I used the same wall assets and the 'chandelier' concept for the Husk, and created a psuedo boss fight scene. In this scene, the player hurls their shadowblades at the huge monster, which will continually spawn enemies until the player aims at the fleshy weak spots along its chains. When enough are destroyed, the monster will fall to the ground and die, allowing the player to progress onwards. As this fight goes on, the player will be able to take advantage of the shadowpads that spawn around the room, and any powerups they collected previously will come in very useful.

For being a relatively simple composition, I was pleased with the result of this. This psuedo-screenshot ended up coming to life in the final gameplay, which itself went from a stealth game to an FPS. In a way, this 'screenshot' encapsulated that change.

Asset Design

When it came to designing the assets for the game, I relished it as an opportunity to expand upon the backstory of the game. We already had the unfortunate souls that became the Spider Mages and the Crucified Husks, but not a full explanation as to the 'how' and 'why'. When it came time to design some unique assets, I used it as a chance to create some environmental storytelling.

These statues were designed with the idea that they would be placed in various spots around the maps as decoration. Nothing especially significant about them, unless the player looked closer and compared them to the enemies they had fought. The 'Blossoming' statue, in particular, is depicting a woman whose arm is transforming into an insectoid monstrosity. Observant players would immediately note the similarities to the Spider Mages, and the choice of words. 'Blossoming' is usually a positive thing, bringing to mind beauty and new life. If the statue is indeed depicting someone becoming a Spider Mage, then was the process of doing so a celebrated thing? If so, how does that make the player feel?

This unsettling 'celebration' of the horrors is a key theme.

Further 'celebrating' the horrendous acts of mutilation and violation is this banner, the coat of arms of the great lord of the tower. As written beside it, the banner depicts the lord's power over time and mortality.

Combined with the statues, this tells a tale of a tyrannical mage

lord who wished to become immortal. He gave his people cause to believe he was a saviour, a 'leader', and 'blessed' them with artefacts that caused them to 'blossom' into the poor twisted creatures that now litter the floors of his tower. In turn, the process of their 'blossoming' grants him their vitality and power, turning him into an immortal being of incredible strength.

With this tale, the player's own role becomes debatable. Do they wish to stop this lord, or take his power for themselves?

The lord's power and influence are certainly significant, as his tower and the decorations within it are tailored to his tastes. To maintain the steampunk theme while mixing in an air of grandeur, I decided to theme this chandelier on a clock face.

This chandelier would have been used multiple times throughout the game, so I settled for not making it too grand, but it would certainly stand out, and I wanted to make it look fairly robust so it could be used as a spot for the player to walk across, or even for enemies to spawn if it was big enough.

The 12 spokes represent the hours of the day, as I fancied the lord would like the flaunt his supposed power in every place he could. Furthermore, the pointed ends would evoke a sense of weight and menace, which would be mirrored in the spokes that bind the poor Crucified Husks.

Continuing with the lord's overinflated sense of grandeur, I felt he would have a particular fondness for any mechanical installations. As such, this simple elevator platform which would go up and down, is rather ornate.

The decoration is intricate and elegant, but it ends in many sharp points and bladed edges. The centrepiece of the platform resembles spears piercing a globe, or perhaps even a heart. Throughout even the lord's most basic mechanisms, there are hints of danger and malice: his power and influence is omnipresent.

These platforms were indeed present in the final game, but in a much simpler version that sadly lacked the decoration. They do however serve the purpose of transporting the player from one point to another, so I won't complain too much.

In another example of the lord's menace being present in the very architecture, this concept for a modular staircase is fitted with a spiked guardrail.

The idea was that this staircase could be extended to be as long as was needed, and could even extend into multi-storey corridors or ramparts. Atop the pillars could be another set of stairs, or a roof, or even an enemy, necessitating swift and decisive movement through the narrow pathways presented to the player.

I found designing these assets very satisfying. Imagining how they would be built in 3D and assembled in-engine gave me great guidance on how to draw them simply: I was particularly inspired by the assets in Dark Souls 2, which look very nice but are constructed very simply with planes.

Kicking things up a notch, I concepted ideas for walkways and bridges. The top-left concept was devised by the other artist in the team, who proposed that this walkway style would be more robust. This style would be used in the lower levels, and as the player ascended the tower, the walkways would become more ornate to represent them coming closer to the lord's seat of power.

My own designs make up the lower left and middle of the page. The idea was that these assets could be mixed with each other to create curving bridges and walkways, or even simply used as guardrails against perilous edges. The decoration matches that used on the elevator platform, to easily give a sense of continuity. The curving shapes likewise give a sense of elegance, which is slightly offset by the spiked railings. The lord's presence, once again, is noticeable.

The most ambitious unique asset that I concepted was this large, Titanic-esque dome. As a quick personal note, I was obsessed with the Titanic when I was younger, enchanted by the grandeur of its decoration. The idea behind this dome was it would function much like the one on the Titanic's Grand Staircase: it would be the crown of a large room, and a grand declaration of wealth and beauty.

To theme it appropriately, I used the motif of an eye to symbolise knowledge, and the bent forms to symbolise an hourglass. I then experimented with different ways of assembling the individual parts into a whole. While I was rather taken by number 1, I felt it was too noisy and cluttered, with the key motifs being lost among the intersecting sections. I chose 3 as the pattern to construct in 3D, as I felt the eyes were suitably visible, and thus suitably menacing for the player to be under.

Finally, I wanted to conceptualise a room in which the dome would be used. Once again drawing on the Titanic, I fancied a statue-esque figure pointing up at the centre would be a suitable choice.

I felt the lord would happily commission artwork and sculpture for his tower that would make it seem grand and refined, hiding the true horrors beneath it, and so I went for a woman holding aloft a star. The star is mirrored on both sides, reflecting the duality of life and death, and I added the glow in order to reflect on the duality of Light and Shadow from long ago in the game's development.

The dome was indeed built and used in the final game, however the room it was used in was not all that grand. Given the story of its lord, however, I find that rather fitting.