Creative Brief: Secret Boss Hyperion
Challenges & Research
This exercise poses several challenges for me to solve. First, can I develop a creative asset that has the narrative implication and complexity of the Hades developed by Supergiant? Two, I must articulate his asset in a way that all parts of development can understand clearly. Three, work within a constraint of 250 words as a brief should be brief and not an essay.
So, I began my process by focusing on what narrative threads within the Greek mythos that carried substance and had yet to be used within Hades. The titans became an attractive target as no asset within Hades is a titan. There’s a reference to their blood but never their physical forms. The following step was deciding which titan and whether it would be a simple NPC that provides lore or a deadly foe for the player to battle with.
At the time of writing this creative brief, Hades II the sequel to Hades, is currently in early access. Taking that fact into account, my research led me there first. If they implemented titans, I could not use this idea if they included all of them. Supergiant had used four titans within their early access Chronos, Hectate, Prometheus and Selene. This would leave me eight titans to use for this brief. I sifted through the remaining titans, Hyperion spoke the loudest to me.
The Hyperion mythos depicts him as the titan god of heavenly light and father of two free Olympian gods, Helios and Selene. He also fought alongside his brother Cronus until the Olympic gods cut him up and tossed him into the Tartarus pit with his other siblings. This is where I had a lightbulb moment. What if Zagreus inspired Hyperion to escape from hell as well? Hyperion’s reason for escaping hell was the same as Zagreus’s — to see the family he loves. That idea could be the narrative weight that could intrigue a team into creation.
That’s when I thought, what if I could make him want the same thing Zagreus wants? Could Zagreus’s constant escaping place the idea into Hyperion if he was watching every attempt? Then, combine if Hyperion’s want is to escape hell to see the family that he loves; that could be the narrative weight that would energize the team for creation.
First Iterations
I developed two unique documents for this exercise. An expansive document, which included details for each aspect of a development team. The reason behind this decision was the lessons from a previous exercise Screenplay: Cloud Meets Kratos In Valhalla where giving directions to other teams can be helpful for the development process. Then I made a simple document, which focused more on narrative with character details and left other ideas to their imagination and did not overstep any boundaries.
Expansive Creative Brief
Simple Creative Brief
Feedback #1
The lightweight word count made it easier for peers and seniors to review both and give meaningful feedback. These documents had many eyes pass over them, so I will generalize what both parties said.
Peers
My peers really enjoyed both versions of my document along with their styles. They complimented me on the use of formatting within the expansive document more than within the simple document. The simple document got praise regarding how easy it was to digest the information. My peers also believed they could see this exist with Hades, which was nice to hear very high praise. A common critique I received was expanding Hyperion’s narrative lore if possible, as his want was so interesting they wanted to hear more about that.
Seniors
The senior developers were on the same wavelength as my peers. They loved how much thought that was put into the exercise and how I could take an expansive idea and construct it in only 250 words on each document. I got back two important critiques that I found impactful. First, the expansive document was written in a creative director role rather than a narrative designer role. Writing in such a way could take away creative freedom and exploration from other departments. The goal should be to inspire, which leads to the second critique, which was about my simple document. The simple document felt flat; it lacked a narrative punch or any inspiring elements for the other departments that would be substantial enough to use as an asset.
Second Iteration
As I approached my second iteration, I knew at minimum my concept for this secret boss was good, but I needed to adjust the document. First, I kept the styling of the simple document, and then I attacked the lack of inspiration for the team’s overall direction. I attempted a more poetic style with gameplay examples to give the inspiration my senior mentors asked of me. I used the first paragraph to define character, narrative and art. The second paragraph defines gameplay aspects and environmental art, and the last paragraph as an example of a gameplay scenario which takes a bit of everything from the two previous paragraphs.
Second Iteration Creative Brief
Feedback #2
In the second round of feedback, a different senior mentor reviewed it. He did not do the first round of feedback. This was probably not the best choice, as the first rounders would have a better reference point of where this exercise document began. Regardless, the mentor found the creative brief fun, compelling and complex because of how the narrative blends with the raw gameplay nature of Hades. The fun comes from the rogue-like thrill of possibly missing this secret boss, since randomized runs and the challenge of clearing rooms at fast speeds will affect most players. Compelling because we can see Hyperion’s journey reflected onto ourselves and complex because of the inner struggles associated with being locked up by your children but maintaining this intense love that brings him to escape from hell just to be with them once again.
He nitpicked out of curiosity the asset name “Hyperion, He Who Watched From Above”. It felt awkward, and he was not sure if he had missed the interpretation. I clarified to him that the intention of the name was to have a playful reference to his name and the game's situation. Hyperion's name translates to “Watched from Above” or “He who goes above”. Hyperion’s situation reflects that if he is always ahead of you, he is “Watching you from Above” and he once used to be above everyone as a god of Light “Watched from Above”. He found that enlightening and asked if on my third iteration I could find some way to integrate that playful writing into the asset details.
His final feedback focused on asking me to incorporate narrative stakes for the player to have during the gameplay experience. He made a brilliant point of having the player at odds with defeating Hyperion. Defeating Hyperion and letting Hades return him to Tartarus would give Zagreus / the player more time to reach the end. It asks if the selfish desires of our player’s wants and our character's wants imposed onto Hyperion are fair if we both struggle for that need of family warmth.
Third Iteration
The third iteration was about reorganizing and making small additions to bring the document up to par. I need to add the narrative stakes for the player to wrestle with after they made their choice. While doing this, I also needed to still maintain room for inspiration. So, I changed the purpose of each paragraph. Paragraph one is to focus on who Hyperion is and what he wants. Paragraph two is to set a foundation of what he does when Zagreus attempts each run. The last paragraph is about setting stakes, like my senior mentor suggested, depending on gameplay choices and conveying it to the team well.
Third Iteration Creative Brief
Final Thoughts
This exercise was a test of articulation. This exercise asks for clarity when I am trying to communicate asset ideas to other colleagues who specialize in different fields. I sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed in communicating, because I would either go overboard with creative choices or provide too little. I needed to find an equilibrium of creative narrative choices. This exercise helped me learn effectively how to find that balance.