SENIOR THESIS PART 1- Rocky the Unruly Canine Companion/ Possible Harbinger of Apocalypse

I love canines, maybe more than a rational person should.  Once I knew that the city's mythology was going to be inspired by Norse mythology (which I haven't gotten into here, because frankly this game is hypothetical and nobody wants to actually read it in depth) I knew that I HAD to make the terrifying wolf of destruction who brings about Ragnarok, Fenris, a main character.  (Hence, "Rocky."  Budum-ching.)  My very early concept for this character was much more wolf-like.  I thought of him as a stoic animal companion.  Maybe a stray, who would mysteriously appear and join you on your quest, similar to Red XII in FF7.

(At this early stage I was still trying to chose between a flat or rendered style.  I'm glad that I experimented during the summer)

Quickly, I realized that the tone of the game was quickly becoming less serious and I decided that Rocky needed to be more dog like and goofy, to contrast his very serious and high-strung owner, Maroon.  I quickly injected him with some Scooby-Doo essence, and was careful to not make him TOO cartoonish.  He still needed to tear monsters apart.

I also did some gestural studies of wolves in motion, mostly for fun.

Rocky only gets one final form because his fate has pre-determined...He is Fenris, bound up in the form of the dog, and will "break free" towards the end of the game to help the party defeat the final boss.