The Real Mob: Mascot Characters for Mafia-Era RPG
The Challenge: Creating Characters for a Leading RPG Platform
The Real Mob is a world renowned RPG that allows players to emulate the life style of the Mafia era with an online playing environment.
Players move through rounds of different challenges progressing through the RPG. With over 150,000 members, TRM is a leading RPG platform in it’s genre.
This project required:
- Multiple characters: Representing various player roles
- Mafia era authenticity: Classic yet modern look and feel
- Visual language: Unique branding for the platform
- Character development: From concept to final digitized artwork
Brand Strategy: Immersion and Research
TRM came to Spellbrand to help them create a set of mascot characters that would brand their platform with a unique visual language. The characters would represent the various roles that players can choose to enter that world. The characters had to be classic and still have a modern look and feel about them.
Having worked on dozens of mascot character design branding projects in the past, the Spellbrand team immediately went into an “immersion” mode that is the starting point of all character design projects that we undertake. During this phase, we research the context of the character to learn as much as possible about the character and how it interacts with its world view.
We researched the history of Mafia starting from the prohibition in the 1920s all the way up to the current incarnations. We gathered hundreds of reference photos of real life characters from the early periods to understand their clothing, accessories and look and feel.
This research approach works because:
- Historical accuracy: Research from 1920s prohibition to modern era
- Visual reference: Hundreds of photos inform authentic design
- Context understanding: Learn how characters interact with their world
- Classic yet modern: Balance historical accuracy with contemporary appeal
Brand Solution: Pencil Sketching to Digitization
We then started sketching the characters on paper with a pencil. Mascot characters that are sketched in pencil always tend to come out better compared to the characters that are created directly on the computer. This could be because the sketching process helps refine and fine-tune the subtle characteristics of the characters and give them a more natural look while still retaining their “cartoon” like base.
We ended up with dozens of pencil sketches for the 10 different characters. Working with the client, we fine-tuned each sketch to arrive at the final mascot character design branding which was then rendered in ink and then digitized on the computer by scanning the sketches and converting them into vector shapes.
The final step was the coloring phase which involved applying colors in layers starting with the base colors and then ending with accentuated effects and shadows for depth.
This process works because:
- Pencil sketching: Creates more natural, refined characters
- Client collaboration: Fine-tuning ensures character accuracy
- Inking phase: Renders final line work
- Digitization: Converts to vector shapes for scalability
- Layered coloring: Base colors to effects and shadows create depth
Results: Characters That Brand the Platform
The mascot character design we created for The Real Mob successfully brands their platform with a unique visual language. The 10 different characters representing various player roles combine classic Mafia-era authenticity with modern appeal, creating memorable mascots that help players identify with their chosen roles in the game.
Today, The Real Mob uses these mascot characters to attract and engage players in their world-renowned RPG, positioning them as a leading platform with over 150,000 members that allows players to emulate the lifestyle of the Mafia era through authentic, well-designed character representations.
