The Full Story
Khasis and its Stories
When building the supercontinent, I had one vision in mind - "solarpunk nomads". From there, the world began to unfold.
Early Khasis
Khasis - originally called "Solar World" - began as a small-scale supercontinent with five major point of interests; New Nyx, The Deltas, Weshire, Yorn, and Hallos. These were the only five settled civilizations and it was intended to feel like weeks or months worth of travel to get from one city to another.
​
This early rendition of the map, however, not only wasn't in the style that I wanted for the final concept, but also made the continent feel much too small and far too empty. So, I made a redesign with more POIs, more context, and more in the style of an older nautical map.
Khasis Reimagined
This version of the world map came to be towards the end of the creation of Mechionic. With the addition of POIs like the Leak Points, Ioni Caves, lakes and more. The smaller city icons made the world feel so much larger and gave me space to add things I hadn't considered before in the world. Things like rivers, lakes and other environmental biomes I hadn't thought to include previously.
Meet the Cast!
The characters you see before you are the earliest renditions of the characters we see across the majority of the stories that you are about to read about. The art style I went with at the time was the style I was most familiar with and leaned towards my inspirations in comics/manga.
Harlynn Sauna, also known within New Nyx as the "Unroyal Queen", is the overall ruler of Khasis. She leads her people with kindness and is the person people turn to when things go dark. She has a team of people from all over the world to help her maintain the peace.
Zander Ruhne is a greasy young animechanic hailing from the Delta. He owns the single most famous animech repair and modding shop on the continent and has lines of people waiting for his services for months at a time. His shop and his people are his pride and joy.
Nore Wellstone is a short-tempered woman coming from the desert city of Hallos. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised by the Crutch. As she aged, her anger issues alongside her lack of religious belief eventually led to her exile from the city. She has been a fighter on the run since then.
Tora Hournde, also known as Hound, is a young adult that comes from the north-most Winrer Glacier village. When they came of age, their tribe's trial began, only to end catastrophically and force them to flee for their safety. Now, they are one of the very few survivors from the Winrer Tribes.
Haddock Brickhide was born and raised in the mountain fortress of Yorn. Haddock came to find early in life that he was not a fighter, but was a fiercely protective person. So when they were on a hunt at the base of the Yorn mountain range and a young child approached, being chased by a monster, they couldn't dare turn them away.
Over the years...
These characters have changed and evolved to better fit their role in our stories. Where as Zander began as a teen, he now is a young adult. Nore began as this worlds equivalent as a nun and has morphed into what she is today. Below are just some of the sketches, redesigns, concepts, and illustrations I've made to explore their designs over the years.
Fun fact! Iciris, the overarching "big bad" was initially going to be the Collector, who was out to steal important artifacts and unique creatures/people! Similar to the MCU's Collector!
This was an early concept for Harlynn's Coronation outfit. I scrapped it because it felt too "mature" for how old she was at that point in her life.
The Latest and Greatest
The Main Five's most current designs at the point in time of Mechionic: Liberation!
Making Mechionic: Liberation
Mechionic: Liberation, in its infancy, was nothing more than an expansion to another story in my NDD. It was supposed to be the story I told after I'd made another game from this world. However, when it came down to the final project for the class I was creating this in, I realized making that first story the experience I wanted it to be, was not feasible in my current educational state.
​
So, I opted for the expansion. Of which I began the idea for a choose your own adventure novel first, then later became an escape room style board game. The game in its earliest phase, had key "chapters" that worked as checkpoints in the story, as well as a combat system inspired by the game Inscryption.
The battle system was the hardest to implement by far. At first, I went for a basic turn-based "damage to enemy, damage to player" system. If you've played Inscryption, it was essentially that.
​
In playtesting, though, it didn't ever feel high stakes or risky. So from there, we tried out ability cards and character-based abilities. This addition raised the stakes in specific battles, however the players still felt these were too easy. So we added a "randomized targeting system" where each time an enemy attacks, a dice is rolled to determine the player it hits and if the ability activates.
​
This was the best route I found in the time I had and I was pretty happy with it!
​
As the demo stands now, I am proud of what it is. It was the first time I'd ever properly attempted a board game. It was challenging in a way I hadn't experienced yet.
That being said, Liberation Version 2 is well on it's way! I am taking what I learned from this experience and applying it to a new and even more improved story experience! Things on the way are: Completed story, new combat systems, replayability, ability systems, and so much more! I am excited to launch Mechionic: Liberation in December this year!
