RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

With all the stuff that’s been flying around the site recently, we thought it might be fun to give our readers a bit of a look behind the scenes. In the process of starting up our current, somewhat rough look, someone suggested a rotating banner with some NPC mascots, to give the site a bit of flavor. So here’s a closer look at some of the official art I put together for the site’s grand opening, and a closer look at some of the mascot characters you’ve seen already.

The first character I created for the site, this guy’s as generic as generic can be. Of course, the peasant look is essential for an non-player character, as is the stylish Link hat. I’m kind of sad that his knobbly knees didn’t make it into the banner, ‘cos I think they really make the character. Still, a banner with just a pair of knees? I don’t see that being too memorable. But anyway, this is also the point at which we had to decide on a color scheme for the site, since each character’s coloring would have to work well with the overall site’s look.

After putting the first character together, I realized I had something of a problem – how do you create four memorable NPCs? The general idea being that they’d have to be memorable enough to serve as mascots, but if they were too memorable, they wouldn’t feel like NPCs. This sexy lady came out of the idea that perhaps shopkeepers and general class characters, like Mages and Knights, could help solve this problem. Overall, the end result seems to have worked pretty well.

Much in the same notion, next up is the Chemist, or the Item Shopkeeper. She seems to be everybody’s favorite – certainly the one people comment on most. Frankly, I think it’s the triple sexy bonnet, or possibly the unidentifiable flask. Obviously, she’s based on the Chemist class from Final Fantasy Tactics, though there’s bits and pieces of FFT and Disgaea running through all of these characters. At any rate, she’s probably my favorite, too, so enjoy!

The last of our mascot characters is the Knight, who I actually based off of a picture of Roku. Naturally, the final product looks nothing like him at all. Oh well. At least the costume came out well, I think.

And last but not least, a bit of a treat. This last picture is the raw art I put together for our special Halloween banner, which people really seemed to like. As you can see, I tried to do a bit of perspective work here, in my own clumsy way. Not that you could really tell in the banner, but it still came out pretty well, I think.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed a bit of a peek behind the curtain, and keep your eyes peeled for new changes in the site as we go along. ^^