30 Day Drawing Challenge – Day 3
Today’s prompt was “turn-of-the-century Europe.” At first, I thought of drawing some historically accurate woman’s dress or something like that, but the second (and way more exciting) thing that popped into my head was the 1997 PC game, The Last Express. Nick played it as a kid, and we bought a downloadable version a few months ago and played it together. At first it was hard for me to give in to the detail and complexity of the game, which requires profiling lots of people, eavesdropping in on conversations, and learning a confusing map, but it was an amazing ride once I did! The game is set just before the start of World War I, on the last journey of the Orient Express before the war. The game was one of the most expensive productions of it’s time and kind, with beautiful graphics, amazing voice acting (so many hours worth, and in languages from around the world), and over 800 pages of script. Unfortunately, the game’s marketing department left the project just before its release, and it came to be one of the biggest financial failures in gaming history.
These days the game has become something of a cult classic, and it’s easy to see why. Even over 10 years later, this game is like a breath of fresh air. It’s not often that a game seems to excel in every area – gameplay, plot, characters, dialogue, graphics, music, and general aesthetic. Augh, I just love this game. And rumor has it there’s a movie adaptation in the works!
Enough of my love letter to The Last Express, on to the drawing! I drew the dashing lead of the game, Robert Cath. I’m not sure I met the prompt’s requirements, since this game is set at the very end of the turn of the century, and Cath is American. But who cares! This was so much fun to draw =) I really like Cath’s character. Even though you play Cath primarily from a first-person perspective, he is constantly interacting with other passengers on the train and you really get to know and enjoy his suspicious and adventurous personality. At the same time, the game doesn’t have Cath constantly talking to himself throughout the game as you click on things either. I think they struck a nice balance between developing the character for you and letting you play the game realistically.
Oh no, another love letter! Anyway, this is Cath hanging off the side of the train, as he is wont to do! (And I did spend a little extra time on this one!)
