I wanted to make sure that for Mercedes, she would convey an aura of a dutiful knight, who has upheld her obligations for many, many years. I kept in mind that for this character, I wanted very angular, sharp shape language. Looking back at the concept art for TEKKEN 8, specifically the one for Leroy Smith, I wanted to emulate that style in a sense, by keeping my concepts loose, whilst still conveying the character’s intended personality and essence.
I looked to different sea creatures once again as reference for tweaking the different parts of her outfit, whilst also playing around with the colour combinations that I would use for the character.
I like one particular silhouette, and then tweaked it slightly whilst aiming to lean more towards my using a marlin for reference, as they had very angular and sharp elements to them.
I envisioned her to be the guardian of a larger power/primordial creature in the depths of the Abyssal Hollow called ‘the Heart of the Sea’, so, her first and main encounter with the player would be underwater. I developed on one of the designs that I experimented with, picking this particular one because it exuded the intimidating, ominous aura that I initially wanted her to have, along with having a refined and almost formal danger to it, that I thought would be well-suited to her ruthless and dutiful personality whilst also remaining true to that ambiguous nature, like ‘Lady Maria’ from Bloodborne and the Darkmoon Knightess from Dark Souls , subverting from the usual gender-conforming feminine characters shown in many video games, but also relaying a slight femininity without being too gaudy. I temporarily omitted her weapon within this stage as concepting the weapon separately would add more clarity to both concepts. When experimenting with the designs, I used different types of fish for inspiration- the base and foundation being a marlin for their sharp and angular features. Though the encounter would be underwater, I gave her a lot of flowing cloth in each rendition not only for an elegant look as they would naturally float within the water, but also to mimic the fins of a betta fish. I also looked into other types of fins that fish had and decided to reflect that into the scarf/cloak of her design. I also gave her other elements that would float underwater as I thought it would be very visually interesting underwater, and give her a more other-worldly silhouette.
I imagined that in her fight, she would have many moves where she is suspended in the water, which would make these flowing elements stand out more.
PRIMEVAL ILYTHIUM AND ILYTHIUM DEVELOPMENT
Lorewise, the Kingdoms of Sol, Selen and the ocean were all previously united, and thus, a special metal-alloy would be made, embedded with the scales of the aforementioned ‘Heart of the Sea’. This certain metal, called Ilythium, or in its purest form, Primeval Ilythium would be used to make armours that could traverse waters effectively without rusting, and could provide extremely protective measures against the original threats of the sea. I experimented with different ways in which pure (Primeval) Ilythium can shine and the overall colours of the metal so that I can apply it to not only Mercedes, but the Tidal Soldier as well, as I planned for him to also have armour in Primeval Ilythium, as it showed his connection to the old civilisations of Sol, Selen and the ocean.
All the other soldiers that work in modern Old Sol’s coast do not have armour made of Primeval (Pure) Ilythium, as it is much rarer to gather the scales of the ‘Heart of the Sea’ due to the lack of ties to the Sea, and the broken ties between Sol, Selen (now the Eclipse Domain), and the Sea. Only the most elite, or more ancient soldiers from the time before the ultimate separation have armour made of Primeval Ilythium. When the player (the Tidal Soldier) explores the Sea and the Tidal Hollow, the player can freely traverse due to their Primeval Ilythium armour, and can even walk.