Capstone - Quietus: Through The Cracks

 Quietus : through the cracks

This concept idea is my final year project that aims to conceptualise the characterisation of death throughout cultures and fantasy in all senses. However, there is a twist the goal is also to study the toys to life genre and seeing why it disappeared and how could it be brought back better in a fresh form to begin a new life cycle of trial and error. However, for more information on what Quietus actually is I shall explain Quietus is an adventure game that allows you to explore the underworld using character cards that the player can scan using a device which will allow you to use different Keepers which are all different depictions of the death throughout the world’s diverse range of religions and cultures. Furthermore, Keepers use an elemental class system similar to other card games like for example ; Pokémon or Digimon and these elements decide how achievable levels will be and how much of the story you discover for example, if you enter an area within the map that is inhabited by lost souls your Spiritual essence characters will be stronger, and the Celestial Fighters would be weaker in these areas. Furthermore, each Keeper has their own abilities which allows you as a player to unlock hidden areas and locked areas which prevent you from progressing the adventure.

Pitching The Project

Artistic vision:

The artistic style benchmarks for Quietus was Skylanders and Little Nightmares because these are both games that mean a lot to me as they have inspired me as an artist to get into the video games industry and train to be the person I am. The Skylanders characters typically follow the design choices of miniature's where they have oversized hands and bigger feet due to being so small these areas must be exaggerated but seeing this visually for character models is so fascinating to me so I aim to replicate this throughout my work.

Furthermore, Little Nightmares is game that features small characters within these grand upscaled environments which ever since I played started playing the series in 2021 it stuck with me so much over the years and inspired me so much within my academic work. Little nightmares by Tarsier Studios is eye candy galore it has a beautiful visual style with its use of colours and stylisation which is reminiscent of dr seuss work with a usage of slightly warped objects to tell a story and cause a feeling of uneasiness. So, that's the reason I wanted to fuse Skylanders and Little Nightmares into something new. 

 

To gather my references for the Keepers I searched all over google for the best and most visually impactful depictions of Death that I could find. I spent a lot of my time going through blogs that documented different countries folklore and beliefs that surround the characterisation of the "Grim Reaper" so to speak. Originally, I wasn't looking for any specific depiction I wanted to keep my mind open and figure out if the vibe of the selection of characters I would choose for the Keepers was constructed well enough for them to exist within the same world I created for them. Furthermore, some were very traditional such as Sante Muerte who is based on the day of the dead a massive mexican cultural tradition that has been carried out for centuries.

However, some were more symbolic such as Danse Macabre who represents the dance between life & Death and did not have such a fixed set design for himself which left a lot of room for artistic interpretation. Additionally, I found it very helpful to explore religious art and cultural celebrations such as the the previously mentioned Day of The Dead as it helped be faithful to the world's' cultures and also help find any visual motifs. It was less about copying anything directly and more about building a visual library I could draw from when sketching out the Keepers, so they’d feel rooted in something familiar but still unique to the world I was creating.

 

9 Character cards : Depictions of Death

Now that you’ve seen all nine player cards, I wanted to give a bit more context about what this project is really about. Quietus: Through The Cracks is all about exploring how different cultures imagine death—not just as something scary, but as a figure, a guide, or even something strangely beautiful. I’ve always been fascinated by how death is portrayed around the world, so I wanted to take that idea and turn it into a set of unique, stylised characters.

The cards show the final results, but further down below you’ll get a peek at how some of them came together. I’ve picked these four characters Mictecacihuatl, Danse Macabre, Sante Muerte, and Lord Yama to break down in further detail my design approach for this project and you’ll see where the ideas came from and what parts of the world inspired the designs to try and mix tradition with something more personal and creative. Moving onwards, from here displayed before you is the isolated designs to showcase the Keepers in a better light.

Mictecacihuatl: Aztec God of death

The goal with this design was to find a middle ground between high detail and the bold, heavy stylisation you'd see in something like Skylanders. Mictecacihuatl was a really interesting figure to explore because he’s been portrayed in so many different ways over the years—some versions lean into skeleton motifs, while others show him more as a decayed anatomical figure with bits of flesh. What stood out most to me during the design process was the consistency across all those versions. No matter the style, certain elements kept showing up: feathers in the headdress, exposed muscle, and wrapped bandages. So I made a real effort to carry those features through each design pass to keep it all feeling cohesive, even as I experimented with different shapes and stylisation.

  Santa Muerte : The Mexican lady of Death

Designing Sante Muerte was a completely different experience compared to Danse Macabre. While Danse felt more like a foggy concept I had to shape, Sante had way more cultural weight and symbolism tied to her from the start. She’s inspired by the Mexican personification of death, Santa Muerte, but I wanted to give her a unique spin that still respected where the idea came from. I didn’t want to just copy what was already out there—I wanted Sante Muerte to feel like a new interpretation while still honouring those traditions.

One thing I leaned into was the balance between beauty and horror. Mexico’s Day of the Dead is full of bright colours, flowers, and skull imagery, so I used that as a base but twisted it slightly. In the final design, she wears a long red dress with flowing sleeves, decorated with soft spiral patterns and deep red beads around her waist. Her hair is made of vivid purple flowers blooming outwards into an afro. Furthermore, she holds a bright blue lantern with a yellow skull l on it which contrasts with her overall muted tones I liked the idea that the lantern represents a peaceful passing, but it also casts a strange light on her face, making her feel a little off. Her hands are long and delicate, one of them always reaching out, as if offering something unseen.

Danse Macabre: Medieval England (Dance of Life & Death)

Designing Danse Macabre was definitely a challenge because most of his depictions are really vague. He’s more of an idea than a character a symbol of death which means that he doesn’t have a set look or personality. Which, gave me loads of creative freedom, but also meant there wasn’t much to go off which helped me out greatly. Expanding Further, what helped most was leaning into his cultural background, especially his roots in England since I’m English myself, and I liked the idea that medieval England had so connections across Europe and took inspiration from each other. Furthermore, I pulled a lot of inspiration from old European folklore such as Pinocchio from Italy and then art pieces of Danse Macabre, which helped really shape his whole character.

One of the main ideas I had was to make him a bit like Pinocchio a wooden puppet, but with a darker twist. I liked the idea of something lifeless being moved by an unseen force. For his eyes, I really wanted to do something different, so I imagined them as swirling patterns, kind of like the rings of a tree stump. It gives off this weird, hypnotic effect, like he’s putting you in a trance before leading you into the dance. That little detail ended up being one of my favourite parts of the design. In the end, I just wanted him to feel eerie, timeless, and a bit strangely charming.

3D Character : Designing Yama

Yama went through a few design iterations before I settled on the final character turnaround sheet. Each version explored a different style as I tried to find the sweet spot between Skylanders and Little Nightmares. In the end, I was especially drawn to the designs in the bottom left and right corners— I loved the armour and stylisation of the right one, but the body type on the left felt much more accurate to how Yama had always been imagined.

Project Conclusion:
Creating Yama was a new challenge because of his anatomical structure unlike a human he has 4 arms throughout most of his depictions and they normally protrude from his back like wings however I made the creative decision to position them on his side. Because of this, his base mesh I had considered correct was later discovered it wasn't since I had not thought of the fact due to an extra set of arms he needs a secondary set of pectoral muscles and shoulder blades as well as an extended rib cage for his anatomy to make sense. Furthermore, if I had managed my time and milestones better there would of been more time to create more 3D characters where I am stronger according to feedback and there would of been of been a chance for a low poly version as originally planned. But my ambitions were to high with this project and I had to cut down slightly on my original promised deliverables.

That being said, developing Yama wasn’t done in isolation. This project also involved designing a supporting cast of characters such as Sante Muerte, Danse Macabre or Ankou who helped define the tone, setting, and style of the entire world of Quietus. Exploring their designs further helped clarify what aesthetic I was aiming for which was somewhere between the eerie worldbuilding of Little Nightmares and the bold, character-centric style of Skylanders. Furthermore, the final turnaround sheet aimed to allow Yama to blend those influences while incorporating the lessons I learned from the earlier drafts, especially the bottom left and right iterations which stood out to me for their accurate body proportions and detailed armour work.

In the end, this project taught me a lot not just about creature design and anatomy, but also about scope, planning, and how to respond to when things don’t go as originally planned I must explore further on how I can adapt to work around it. Additionally, While I didn’t achieve every deliverable I set out to complete, I’m  still proud of the final result and the thought and experimentation that went into each stage of the whole projects journey. Moving forwards, from here I can with full confidence say that this experience will definitely inform how I approach my future projects, especially when it comes to balancing my goals and time management with realistic timelines. I think by applying Gantt charts into my process which I should have used for this project will definitely be beneficial to making progress to resolve these weak areas of my professional work ethic.

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