Secrets of London
“Secrets of London” is a project I had to do while in school where we had to create a video game / story concept and create the characters, props, and overall design aesthetic. For this project, I wanted to create the concept for a visual novel where players play as the protagonist Eliana and follow her as she tries to uncover the secrets of London with an unlikely acquaintance named Henry. For my deliverables, i had provided character designs of both Eliana and Henry, as well as Eliana’s “dark side” which can be encountered depending on the choices made by players throughout the story. I also created the props of the secret society that is responsible for the mysterious events occurring throughout the town.
Story Synopsis
After entering back into society after facing scandal, Eliana finds that the streets of London aren’t what they used to be. Members of high Society are disappearing one by one, and she finds herself having to work with an unlikely acquaintance to uncover the secrets behind everything, even if that means engaging in the dark magic she had sworn not to seek out anymore.
Media: Digital Visual Novel
Genre: Mystery
Location: London
Era: Victorian
“Secrets of London” is intended to be a visual novel where player’s choices affect the outcome of the main character. A secret society stands behind the scenes of London, intending to take out London’s elite one by one. The question is, will Eliana discover the truth with the help of Henry, or will she fall to the dark side and engage in forbidden magic to benefit the secret society, Veiled Phantom?
I have included my character designs as well as the props created for this project below in which we had to put in a presentation format that followed the overall theme of our ideas.
When designing the character Eliana, I wanted her to have a unique look about her. I wanted her hair to stand out in a bright shade of red and followed “Steampunk” style to design her outfit. Instead of creating a character in victorian era clothing for a story that takes place during that time, I wanted the outfit to be a bit more modernized and have an overall unique look about it. I had a lot of fun in designing everything about her and tried to stick with my cartoony style!
When designing Eliana’s “alter ego”, I wanted to take the primary colours of the secret society and implement them into her attire, appearance, and magic to signify that she has been fully taken over by the power of the secret society. I wanted to make her skin paler to show the weaker state she is in and provide minuscule details such as black veins around her eyes and the change from green to gold in her eye colour to really demonstrate how the dark magic has taken over her body. This “alter ego” would only be seen by players if they had decided to take the dark magic route.
When designing the character Henry, I wanted to convey his lower social class through putting him in a more “run down” outfit. I had planned his character to be somewhat of a thief n the story and wanted to show that by adding accessories such as daggers on the side of his hip and worn out gloves on his hands. I enjoyed trying to communicate his personality through experimenting with facial expressions and had a lot of fun doing so!
For this project, I had included props from the secret society to demonstrate their colours and the overall aesthetic that they emit. i had included a cloak (as seen on Eliana’s alter ego), the letter that is sent to those who are sought out by them, two pins that can be worn by those apart of it, and the crest that is seen at their home base.
A quick illustration to portray the overall style I was going for also used for the last slide in my presentation.