Recreating East Asia creatures that exist in mythology as RPG fantasy characters

Abstract

Today, MMORPG Games (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) are one of the most popular games in the PC online game genre because users can enjoy the game with other players. They can also choose their own characters and control the character`s avatar. Wide selection of characters available is one of the most important elements in the game. These characters have to be well-designed to draw the user`s attention.

These characters, which appear in fantasy MMORPG (World of War craft), and their special features originate from Western myths and ancient stories. Likewise, East Asian has a long history with many myths and ancient stories. Creatures appear in these stories that have interesting features similar to Western creatures. After realizing the unique and interesting features of the creatures in East Asian myths, led to the idea of creating them as MMORPG characters

For this project, Dokkebie (Pa-in Folk painting Research Institute) and Haetae, which are creatures that appear in Korea myths, were chosen because of their special and interesting elements that can be implemented as MMORPG characters. Dokkebie has a huge body, big canine teeth and a horn on the head in addition to similar features to humans. Haetae has the same form of a lion, skin of a fish, and two horns like a giraffe. In this project, their special features were recreated as important parts of the characters.

The following thesis report is about the technical and artistic process of making these characters. For this project, characters that exist in East Asia myths and tales were created as MMORPG characters.