Essence of the Past Windows game

We are the Brainless Bunch, a Portuguese game developer team.

Welcome to our third article about the game we are developing, Essence of the Past.

Essence of the Past is a game about a woman going back to her abandoned childhood home, initially with the intent of selling it.

Our game explores the perspective of someone struggling to reconnect with her past and going back in time through memories captured by Polaroids scattered around time and space.

It's been a while since our last devlog but until now we've been working on a bunch of stuff regarding the start of the production phase. Nevertheless, today we are here to present to you the initial progress of the character concept part of this phase, done by our artist!

Character Concept Research

We've already talked about the main character involved in this little game of ours, and now it was time to start giving them a face and a body to better tell the story! For now, we decided to focus on the main character, Laura, and her mother, Margarida!

• Laura (Family and Entertainment)

Laura, during the game, despite being an adult, is only shown in the Polaroid photos as a young child. Raised during the 80s by her self-centered (but deep down loving) mother, Laura is a reserved child who tends to be misunderstood by the adults around her as an attention-seeking troublemaker.

• Margarida (Family and Inspiration)

On the other hand, Margarida (Laura's mother) appears on the Polaroids as both a teen and an adult. Raised during the 60s by her mother and a community of neighbors, she was a rebellious teen, bound to misbehave and think only about herself. Growing up, she becomes a very judgmental woman, often berating Laura for her "childish" behavior.

Character Thumbnails

After doing some research regarding their appearance, we ended up with a couple of options. These were expressed in thumbnails that outline their general shape and transmit the kind of vibe the character is meant to have.

• Laura

For Laura, we wanted her to maintain a youthful but calm air, since despite being perceived sometimes as a problematic child, she was truly just upset over her mother's treatment of her.

• Margarida

Margarida, having been somewhat of a special case among her peers, stands in contrast to the more "prim and proper" aesthetic of the others her age. She was a rebel and a true troublemaker, an idealist and individualist above everything. As such we settled for having her pose more confidently.

Brainless Bunch