Blog2
Japanese boats and the SeaFor this blog the goal is to describe the process coming up with a design for the boat, and then drawing said design. I will also provide some reasoning and reflection regarding the design So what does a Japanese boat look like? Since the Japanese theme were one of the things that I personally liked the most about the concept, I felt like it was important to make the design as similar to the boats used in Japan during the time period we decided on. Due to this, I spent quite a lot of time researching Japanese and other east-Asian boats.
At first we were considering a slightly earlier time period, somewhere around the 18th century. So I was researching older fishing boats and Junk boats. However, most of the Japanese fishing boats from around this time were river boats or boats intended to be used in bays. As such they were ill fit to go far from the coast into the deeper parts of the ocean. This acts in conflict with the rest of the concept since the Omiboozu is found in the sea, not in rivers or lakes. Going by this knowledge, the only way to make the game take place in this time period would be to let the boat be a Red Seal ship or a Junk ship. But to do that we would have to adjust our narrative because then we would no longer be a fisherman and it might also weaken our aesthetic of mystery.
Because of that then we decided that it would be easier to make a game set towards the end of the 19th century instead. This decision would make everything apear to be a bit more industrialized. This would also make it easier to implement assets like the harpoon gun and the searchlight as these would be harder to design for earlier time periods. This change to the time period when the game takes place would later not only be represented visually, but also with the sounds the boat makes. Bellow you can see how the concept turned out.
The boat is made of mostly metal instead of wood and the crates and barrels are placed out to give the viewer a sens of scale and tell the approximate size of the boat. The stair leading down a bit to enter the cabin also helps to to describe its size. The fishing nets were added to signify that the boat is a fishing boat. Finally the lanterns were added to strengthen the location of the game, late 19th century Japan.
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