Banshee

Banshee concept - I want to show I range of villainous characters and creatures that could inhabit the woodland area outside the city walls where I imagine alot of the time this game would be set in. I also wanted a system where these evil characters actually help each other out in some way so I had the idea that the Banshee could act as a way of capturing or killing victims for the witch of the forest so that she can poses/curse them.

Before designing the character I looked at a lot of old banshee stories and myths. The stories change depending on the origin of the story, some believe the Banshee to be a beautiful woman with a cry of sorrow that sounds almost musical. but then you have the stories on the banshee with an ear piercing scream who appears as an old woman. I've taken the latter as inspiration for the design however have thought of a way to incorporate the sad musical cry into the game play.

Game play - The forest becomes silent the birds stop singing, instead they rustle in the trees in discomfort. All forest life seems to disappear as you're left alone. Then the player starts to hear a faint sound that builds up into a chilling sound of sorrow. When hearing this sound it means you have been spotted and will continue to be followed by the Banshee as she stalks you through the forest. To stop the Banshee the player must look around and spot her in return. However when Spotted the Banshee will let out a blood curdling scream. Three screams, if the player hasn't used their musket to damage the Banshee within that time she will lash out and attack. Three screams seems like enough time to land a shot but the player will loose vision and focus during a scream giving them the space in between to line up the shot before it's too late. If the player fails to do so they can fend the banshee off with a melee weapon but considerable damage will be inflicted on the player in hand to hand combat with the banshee.

if the Banshee flees due to a well landed shot a trail will appear for the player to track the injured creature so that they can finish the job if they wish. or they can carry on with their previous task.

I chose to add this character in as a way to make the forest more daunting and intimidating. it's a place where hunters go in and don't return from so I wanted a horror threat to make the player feel scared and in danger. it's a place you have to prepare to go into and shouldn't be taken lightly. Instead of having the forest filled to the brim with creatures I wanted to have characters like this that could build suspense and make the player feel small and alone in a large woodland area.

I started this banshee concept while working on the Forest Witch. I wanted to maintain the same style and presentation in this design as I had done with my other character so they could be presented nicely next to each other. I used the same gradient background and presentation layout for this character to help achieve this. Because both characters had similar materials such as cloaks and long veils/masks I was able to jump between concepts and paint them a similar way to help speed things along and keep a form of continuity between my work.