[Char] Marshall - progress

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

This should be the right place to post this thread as I'm not the actual modder. (Whether I would take part again is still up in the air...) You can think of this as an info-dump which everyone can see. Perhaps if I can work on a bit, then it can garner proper interest.

Okay, so I've noticed that Gad has been digging around the ruins to necro-raise my then representative character - Marshall, and there's been some talk about alternative versions that is closer to my original one. I'm definitely honoured, either by the design or my personality (or both), to have inspired users to make a character based on more or less a concept by me. However, since it's meant to be an in-game personification of me, I think it's fair to a certain degree that I have expectations.

Marshall_f by YinYin, which was based on an avatar I've been using since 2003 made by neo_w43:



Kim_Bo has previously done a sprite sheet of it actually, and he's free to share it with pf, who made this:


To ensure that the crux of this "me" doesn't deviate too much from what I had in mind, here's all the information that have formed over the years.

This is the one I have done many years ago, which obviously lacks refinement, but I think you get the idea.



Those who are familiar with "Marshall" may know that later renditions of it have fur collars based on an outfit I used to sport.
by Una
by xFire

Background:
Used to be a Demon Hunter during the younger years with Nanaya's father and Forraska, which is also the period when he lost his left hand. A scythe was installed later, and it has been forged with magic so that it can stay sharp forever as long as it's fed with blood.

There was once he was operating alone where he fought a fire demon and both of them ended up on the verge of death. A symbiotic creature on the demon jumped ship and latched on to Marshall for survival, coupled with his extremely weak physical state, it took total control of Marshall's mind and body, causing him to lose his consciousness. He did, however, gain access to flames from the depths of the Underworld.

For a few years, Marshall lived like a demon and managed to avoid capture with his already deadly skills and agility plus new found powers as he slaughtered his own family. Finally, Marshall regained control over himself when the sorceress Yuse drew a rune on his forehead to seal the symbiotic creature's evil, but it has left plenty of gaps in his memory.

Fighting style:
close combat / hit and run type
No projectiles, but plenty of scythe slashes and flames


Hardly the most original, and not the most creative... but I am fond of it.



EDIT:
Move idea 1:


Move idea 2:
i.imgur.com/UmcX08v.gif

[YinYin]

Love it. Screw 'originality/creativity' - integrity counts. And this has so much style and character.

Is his demon fire like that in the background (bright/purple) and does it actually burn - or is it regular red/orange?

Also I'd love to hear what you thought of the whole masked deal :d (I see loose ends in his story - there could be lots of motivations he acquired it).

[kimbo]

What kind of attack would this char use. Like Wolverine in Marvel Super Heroes, or more like Zasalamel from Soul Calibur??

I will put the original sprite sheet here later in case it will be needed.

[Arcane]

also love the backstory of the char!
I'm getting all fired up by reading ur post

kimbo: even if its not "needed" it would be nice of u posting the sheet u made for analysing purposes

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

Apr 21, 2015 1:11:04 GMT 2 YinYin said:

Is his demon fire like that in the background (bright/purple) and does it actually burn - or is it regular red/orange?

Also I'd love to hear what you thought of the whole masked deal (I see loose ends in his story - there could be lots of motivations he acquired it).

Yes, it's purple. A rational part of me tells me it's a bit against the colour scheme of the eyes and rune, plus it won't fit the regular orange burning frames perfectly. The emotional part of me won out though. Purple just seems more enigmatic and it adds a darker edge to it.

Masked deal? Are you talking about the three-eyed mask that Gad gave "Marshall"?

Apr 21, 2015 9:31:13 GMT 2 kimbo said:

What kind of attack would this char use. Like Wolverine in Marvel Super Heroes, or more like Zasalamel from Soul Calibur??

I've played Marvel Super Heroes once when I was at a friend's birthday party oh so many years ago. I realised that fact after finding a video of "Marvel Super Heroes Wolverine" on youtube =P

While I've played Soul Calibur IV before, I've always preferred using Ivy / Tera, so again, I had to look for videos of Zasalamel.

Anyway, Zasalamel's scythe seems rather unwieldy and always drags the opponent around, whereas Wolverine has a lot of air combos which isn't really my style. What I had in mind might be a combination of those swinging motions and agile slashes. Then again, that's just 60% correct as there's also the other hand with the flames to contend with.

I'll try and find some time this week to erm... try my hand in some stick-man frames to see if I can illustrate what I have in mind so you guys can have a better idea.


Thank you for the compliments on the background story (=

[kimbo]

not to much, but here it is:
marshall_0a.bmp

[YinYin]

Apr 21, 2015 21:05:07 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

Yes, it's purple. A rational part of me tells me it's a bit against the colour scheme of the eyes and rune, plus it won't fit the regular orange burning frames perfectly. The emotional part of me won out though. Purple just seems more enigmatic and it adds a darker edge to it.

I like it - and I think the different colour is highly needed - if everything is red you just never know when he's doing something special (my main problem with Gads redesign). Also from the looks of that gif and it being demon fire it'd be cool if it never really soaked an opponent through (as normal burning frames appear) and instead used some nifty cpoints to replicate a different type of fire that pearls off things like water on a lotus surface (could avoid setting team mates on fire - have it spread more easily - etc).

Apr 21, 2015 21:05:07 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

Masked deal? Are you talking about the three-eyed mask that Gad gave "Marshall"?

Yes. I can take it off the revamped projects list (and/or add kimbos sheet) if you like.

Either way I've never really been aware of the firey aspects. However this and the other differences to the redesign are perfect as I see tons of possible connections. Some questions before I barf that up:
Has his skin/appearance always been this dark? If not, did it turn that way when he lost his hand, the scythe was installed, the demon symbiont possessed him, he got sealed or gradually from one of these points onwards? Does the demon/symbiont have a name? The family slaughter is quite tough, does he remember that after getting the seal? Does he have any intent to fill his memory gaps? Does the scythes thirst for blood wear him down?

As you might've read I imagine the masked 'Marshall' to have an entirely new body, with only the seal marking (maybe that's become part of his soul/essence?) and his general physical appearance (dark skin/red eyes/hair style) being recreated every time. This body recreation and yellow/spikey energy signature is the power of the mask. Ditching the old body with this power has obviously/sadly made him lose the scythe (but hey, two hands again) and possibly even the symbiont.

Now why ever go from a pretty imposing/powerful demon fire scythe body to this seemingly unstable masked mess (constantly ditching bodies, ech)?

• Maybe he tried to find a way to regain his memories (and the masks power promises that?)?
• Maybe some (via other means) regained memories revealed to him how his blood thirsty scythe has lead him to kill far more than he ever intended (and the masks power promises getting rid of it/gaining a new hand?)?
• Maybe regaining memories (via other means) also weakens the seal of the symbiont (and the mask promises memory gain while keeping the symbiont well sealed?)?
• all/some/none of the above?

Following up all that - this body recreation power, while at first only used to regrow a hand, could potentially lead to a whole new mess:
Upon fully creating and switching to a new body (accident/necessity?) the symbiont might be left alone in his original body - without a seal. Oops.

Apr 22, 2015 9:16:34 GMT 2 kimbo said:

not to much, but here it is:
marshall_0a.bmp

I knew it was yellow bright energy on this sheet!

[kimbo]

I knew it was yellow bright energy on this sheet!

I just add the darkness into whole sprite sheet. This yellow color was in the sprite sheet already when i got it. So not sure if Marshall would like to use this ;D

@topic
i feel this is getting serious (it reminds me when we all sprited the Harlequin's char

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

>I like it - and I think the different colour is highly needed
Good

>it'd be cool if it never really soaked an opponent through
sure. It's not natural fire, so it can defy usual physics

>Has his skin/appearance always been this dark? ....
No. It occurred (along with the red eyes) after the possession by the symbiote as the symbiote's previous host was some fire demon. You can say apart from the Underworld fire welding ability, some of the other physical characteristics carried over from the demon by the symbiote. After being sealed by the rune, the dark complexion became less dark, and the eyes became less red. I actually want a move where he sort of goes darker and the eyes glow redder to indicate a temporary power-up (which also means unleashing the inner power along with the demon in the process). It's not a transformation. It's more like a brief animation before the move. Haven't had a good idea what to do after this power-up / charge animation though.

>he got sealed or gradually from one of these points onwards?
The seal was almost immediate, though you can say the memory loss was caused by some sort of power struggle between the symbiote and the rune + the host's mind, before the rune and / or the host won out.

>The family slaughter is quite tough, does he remember that after getting the seal?
Not properly. There are memory flashes from selected individual scenes, but not the whole process and not for each member. I didn't take inspiration from Wolverine, but I think it's a bit like that. He remembers random bits and pieces, and have a general sense of pain and loss but not knowing exactly what.

>Does the scythes thirst for blood wear him down?
The intention was to keep drinking demon blood to maintain its sharpness. I have never thought about being worn down by it... but since reading your new masked interpretation, I might have an idea to meld our ideas together:
The scythe's magic was working against the symbiote as the magic was "programmed" to be bloodthirsty against demons, which the symbiote happened to be affiliated with one before possessing Marshall. During the takeover, the symbiote was able to suppress the scythe's powers as it pretty much had the sole possession of the host. Since the rune's suppression, the symbiote can no longer ignore the scythe's internal magic and Marshall's body changed from a comfortable host body to a trap that it needed to get out of.

So essentially, getting out of "Marshall" has spawned a new "Marshall". What do you think? o.o

>I knew it was yellow bright energy on this sheet!
It was just a placeholder haha

[YinYin]

Apr 22, 2015 20:12:55 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

>Has his skin/appearance always been this dark? ....
No. It occurred (along with the red eyes) after the possession by the symbiote as the symbiote's previous host was some fire demon. You can say apart from the Underworld fire welding ability, some of the other physical characteristics carried over from the demon by the symbiote.

That begs the question: has the scythe always been red? If not what colour was it before? Regular metallic?

Apr 22, 2015 20:12:55 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

After being sealed by the rune, the dark complexion became less dark, and the eyes became less red. I actually want a move where he sort of goes darker and the eyes glow redder to indicate a temporary power-up (which also means unleashing the inner power along with the demon in the process). It's not a transformation. It's more like a brief animation before the move. Haven't had a good idea what to do after this power-up / charge animation though.

Ah, I did want to ask if the rune glows along with the demon power and forgot. Have you played Jun? He has a general power up/down of his whole move set (neither a real transformation).

Apr 22, 2015 20:12:55 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

The intention was to keep drinking demon blood to maintain its sharpness. I have never thought about being worn down by it...

Didn't know it was just demon blood.

Apr 22, 2015 20:12:55 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

but since reading your new masked interpretation, I might have an idea to meld our ideas together:
The scythe's magic was working against the symbiote as the magic was "programmed" to be bloodthirsty against demons, which the symbiote happened to be affiliated with one before possessing Marshall. During the takeover, the symbiote was able to suppress the scythe's powers as it pretty much had the sole possession of the host. Since the rune's suppression, the symbiote can no longer ignore the scythe's internal magic and Marshall's body changed from a comfortable host body to a trap that it needed to get out of.

So essentially, getting out of "Marshall" has spawned a new "Marshall". What do you think? o.o

So essentially Marshall would somehow lose the demon fire and get rid of the symbiont? But would the symbiont trick/push Marshall into a mask created body to fully steal the original (including once more suppressed scythe) or would it rather jump ship and steal the mask to have a self owned body (and how, with that rune in place)? Either way would Marshalls colours turn back to original?

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

>has the scythe always been red? If not what colour was it before? Regular metallic?
When it's sharp, it's red, as in after the blood drinking. There's actually a name for it in Chinese that literally translates to Blood Dripper. But I swear it sounds less kitsch in Chinese, because the special agents from Imperial China had the same name at some point =P
Wikipedia link

>Have you played Jun? He has a general power up/down of his whole move set (neither a real transformation).
I don't recall playing that character before. Anyway, it's not meant to power the rest of his moves. It's just a temporary power release animation before a move.

I need more info on this mask actually. Who initiated this idea, what's its function etc. So I can meld both story lines better. Try anyway. Dunno if the current story blend is okay =P

[YinYin]

Demon blood is red as well then? Blood Dripper, or just short Dripper, sounds fine to me.

Temporary power release is simple enough then. Don't mind looking for Jun yet - I hope to give him another polish before he finally goes onto my site.

All I know is that Gad sprited this redesign at some point (and mfc tried to do the data - but neither really finished their work) - no idea yet where he got the idea of this mask from (if it even is one - I just interpreted it to be one haha; and I really like my vision of it: somewhat skull shaped dull/rough messing) - should ask him for details.
When I revamped the material that existed I couldn't help but fuse everything I had available. Which is my previous ideas of what this character would be like and the new sprites I worked with.
My previous idea of this included the bright/yellow energy and a Firen like explosion called Luk Boom :p (it would have him disappear like Rudolfs dodge/Julians mirror image before reappearing inside the explosion - the concept came from the name: Luk - disappear into shadows - Boom - explosion).
Beside dropping scythe/cape and adding the mask, the new sprites also had an empty husk of body and head - which I think was intended to create a decoy on being hit. I figured having this available, lots of details from the original concept dropped and my old idea of a dodge explosion: this mask must have regenerative powers - thus tying the old concept to this new sprite and finally getting to create an enhanced version of my Luk Boom idea (now with smart body husk bombs that fight along side you till they explode). I did imagine the energy to be more voluminous for the unmasked version - but I went for spiky explosions because this one otherwise does a lot directly through the gaze of the mask.

Now knowing the original Marshall uses purple fire I really like the idea of this yellow spiky energy being purely from the mask (and subsequently also all the created body husks that are housing/pretending to be Marshall).

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

>Demon blood is red as well then?
uhh... many different types of demons, so they have different colours =P

>just short Dripper
Dripper sounds surprisingly good actually. I'm happy with that

>Don't mind looking for Jun yet - I hope to give him another polish before he finally goes onto my site.
I did check your site earlier to see if I could find Jun haha

>Luk - disappear into shadows
Subtle dig at me lol
I really like it to say the least. To go along with the story, it can be like the symbiote reproducing. What do you think?

The unified purple scheme sounds good.
Now it's finally weekend! I'll try and see if I can do some stickman frames to show my move concept

[YinYin]

Apr 25, 2015 6:16:01 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

To go along with the story, it can be like the symbiote reproducing. What do you think?

That could even leave Marshall in his current state - as the symbiont abuses the mask to reproduce and send a part of him off (stealing the mask during the process) - Marshall could be left with the original symbiont and demon fire, still forever sealed in his body. Will the masked symbiont offspring attempt to break the seal then?

Apr 25, 2015 6:16:01 GMT 2 Marsh00ki Fantini Moton said:

uhh... many different types of demons, so they have different colours =P

Rainbow sharpened scythe!
lol

[Marsh00ki Fantini Moton]

>That could even leave Marshall in his current state - as the symbiont abuses the mask to reproduce and send a part of him off...
That's a really neat idea as it ties up everything nicely.

>Will the masked symbiont offspring attempt to break the seal then?
Probably, since it will make the inevitable Marshall VS Marshall happen

>Rainbow sharpened scythe!
Immediately thought about nyan cat >.>

As promised, I've just done this animation for an aerial melee move which I've had in mind

so the sequence would obviously be dash -> spin and slash -> land
It sounds super dry with words, that's why I felt compelled to try to make an animation.
What do you guys think?
I personally think it's simple in idea, but I haven't really seen it done before. Then again, I've been out of touch with mods and the new characters that have been coming out in recent years, so I might be wrong =P