Diir Chra: The Royal Tea Party
Back to Index
“I’m just a lucky one chosen by the magic, I’m no doctor, I just… had to use it to change the tragedies I saw.”
19th century, Victoria Kingdom. The fast revolution of industry had brought sources of magic into the ordinary people's world by an accident. Before most of the people can even get a chance to realize that it was more than some new astonishing technologies and inventions, they are already living and working with magic, breaking the rules of nature.
Character Design
Tohco
Tohco travels throughout the country after discovering the existence of an outlandish magic that manipulates the rules of life. She sensed a calamity brought by the magic, and so she took it outside to discover its truth.
She heads to Nournold, the metropolis, hoping for a solution while realizing the possible threat that can be brought by the magic if it gets to the wrong hands.
Sadly, while helping suffering people to cure on Tohco’s journey, she also drew unnecessary sights from scientific eyes, becoming the center of a “witch hunt“ called by the association of physicians ...
Costume showcase + Color variations
Prop design & further revealing drafts
Costume Development
Development Overview
In scene illustration
Siadeo
Tohco’s mysterious first patient and travel companion, Siadeo has suffered some kind of experiment to have high density muscle with illogical strength, while that body of hers slowly breaks down.
Although never mentioning her own story, Siadeo surely seem like she’s from a noble family with her consistent smile and elegant moves.
To find a way to cure her body, Siadeo put the bet on the “witch“ and her magic. She helps Tohco with her journey, and in exchange, Tohco promises to find cure for Siadeo.
Final design draft
Costume showcase / Color variations
Process showcase
World Building
Inner City, Nournold
The starting idea of building up the main stage for this chapter of story is just to make a “charming steampunk city“, but that was not quite enough to make the creation inspiring. Then it gets more specific — the city needs to be not only charming, but also crazy, showing the point that human is getting too far with a power they don’t even know of. And at the same time, showing that these technologies are already so deep into people’s lives, that it would appear to be so natural to the citizens, and nobody would notice the deadly threat within…
Nournold is a city in the center of everything, and has its answers for everyone. The newest built district of the rapidly growing metropolis Nournold, the existence itself behoves for the kingdom to be the mightiest nation on earth, while inviting people from all over the world to its diachronous creations at the incoming great exhibition. Giant frames of glass wall covers the whole district, makes it always sunny and warm, keeping all the rain and fog surrounding Nournold outside.
Revealing Draft
Color / Lighting experiments
Environment in scene: Haner's Reach Station, Nournold
Environment in scene: Hyden Street, Nournold
Environment in scene: Heaven Valley, Nournold
Architecture study sheet 2 & explorations
Process Showcase
Overlook design: Ste'anne
Revealing Draft: Ste'anne
The Verdant Abyss, Grien Ma’deem
Beside working new concepts on the newest chapter, I also tried to create an iconic key image for the project. Here we travel to a stage of realization — ruins sunken deep in the forest, the source of Tohco’s magic, where Diir Chra, the magic book was written. The central idea of designing The Verdant Abyss was to create a sea abyss with woods, while speaking of a kind of “silent rage“ within its shapes.
Grien Ma’deem (“Deep green ocean“) An ancient civilization that was pulled into a giant rift for angering the will of life. Although many Victorian archaeologists has deep interests about it, nobody has ever stepped into its cities, for a mysterious force guards its secrets with the maze of woods. The will of life had given Tohco a pass into the deep, a chance to know the reasons of magic, a chance to see who she really has became.
Halfway value revealing draft
halfway draft
Color variations
Process overview
Alternative key image thumbnail
A Rehearsal
Here is a role-playing game mockup for this last development chapter, Shade of Hatred, to test out the storytelling presentation after a while of concept art development. Note that quite a bit of the settings have changed since this project, and will change again if anything isn’t looking right!
UI / Extra
UI: Gameplay & Experience Design
This section contains my current sight and explorations of how “Diir Chra“ will be presented, read and felt by the audiences.
The imagined media for the stories of Diir Chra is an action role-playing video game — an ideal form of storytelling in my opinion. Tohco, the main character of the story, will be the controllable character for the player for the most part of the story, uses the forbidden magic to cast healing. Yes, in a world full of conflict and unknown forces, combats will be unavoidable. But Tohco has a promise to keep, she will not deal a single bit of damage, as she fixes the problems in the right way.
Process showcase