This will be a big one...

Hello again!

Since there’s been a break I'm going to have loads to talk about and plenty to show.

I think it makes most sense to start with the news that I'm now writing one of the two final climaxes of Rheeven's story. There was originally only going to be one but you can blame Requiem for a Dream (which I've refused to let X Factor ruin) for inspiring the second. Zack Hemsey's This is our Legacy also inspired a change to the idea for the first climax and it’s now even better.

I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that the story is way over my chosen word limit at a full 130 812 words. I've had to accept that the addition of a new climax scenario will force the word count up but I still intend on cutting a good few thousand out at least.

So with Rheeven's story now in the final quarter D'rosk's story is beginning to demand my attention. More accurately, D'rosk is. His personality is coming into much sharper focus and I'm finding myself very curious about him. I think out of all three, D'rosk will be the strongest main character but I have a feeling he's going attract both love and hate - either way, you wont forget him in a hurry.

I have an idea for the main twist of his story but the rest can go in several directions. As you know D'rosk's story will centre around his struggle to control a revolution while trying to assassinate the six people preceding him to one of the most powerful Empires in human existence. I would like to have a power struggle between D'rosk and one of the main rebels whilst another struggle emerges between him and one of his six targets. I had lots of exciting action scenes rushing through my head when listening to Requiem for a Dream but I found that the constraints of Laythan's story keep scuppering me. D'rosk has to be safe in certain places at certain times and that makes it hard to throw him out of his comfort zone or add any amount of struggle or peril.

So all this talk of D'rosk and yet I've still not unveiled him yet... perhaps it’s about time.

Palvan D'rosk

Palvan D'rosk for Hadron Gateway

The design for D'rosk was good fun because it gave me the chance to try to design a face that could look like both a villain for the first two stories and a hero for the last. I went with a tall athletic build that you might expect from an assassin and I think his proportions have worked out quite nicely.

I did come across a problem with his clothes however. D'rosk is the Head of State and his clothes should reflect some aspect of that, but he's not the type to wear finery - it’s far too impractical for such a practical person. And, since he’s not interested in showing off and looking rich, I couldn't go for anything too fancy. In the end I settled with his travelling attire but spruced it up with rich red, cream and gold. Overall he has the look of someone that has status but tends to be in the thick of the action.

So what do you think of him? Was he what you were expecting?

You'll also be pleased to know that I finally got Caelin sorted out so I can finally introduce the youngest member of Laythan’s team!

Caelin Tiel

Caelin Tiel for Hadron Gateway

Caelin (the redesign of the first character in on the right of Design Sheet 1) has had a bit of a makeover. As I had said with several other redesigns, there wasn't a lot of ethnic diversity amongst the cast (and as I write this I've just come to the realisation that all three main characters are white males... how boring! I wonder if there’s room to change any of them.) Anyway, I redesigned the character but I kept the clothes the same because they're great. I did have to change the colour of the t-shirt even though the blue worked better, simply because Laythan and Denji are both already wearing blue and I wanted a little more variety. I chose the natural colours of green and brown because it goes with his gentle personality.

Caelin’s face was drawn to match his kind nature and I tried to give him a look of naivety because he's so young. I went for a gentle rounded face and features, trying to avoid anything to pointy. He has the skinny weak look of a teenager who hasn’t quite broadened out and trustworthy eyes to add to his likability.

 So who likes Caelin?

I was messing around one night when I couldn't concentrate on writing and I wondered what might happen if the two hackers Caelin and Filo ever met. I decided to do a slightly couple-ish image of them together (for those who like that sort of thing). It was just a quick sketch but I'm sure you won’t mind.

Caelin and Filo for Hadron Gateway

So apart from all that, I've started putting the actual game together but I'm going to post about that in detail later because I've got loads to say about it and even more to show!