Combat Arms Dev Blog (9/03/13)

Hello, I am MiniBeast. The mercenary I want to introduce today, Mikhail Zharkov, is a veteran mercenary more widely known as the "Brown Bear." Much like his namesake, he is over 6 and a half feet tall and weighs over 220 pounds. Also like his namesake, he tends to appear behind his enemies in the forest to attack them.



Mikhail Zharkov recently joined the mercenary corporation Warcorp after Anderson Hoffman, who had once saved his life, referred him to the group after coming out of seclusion to work as a training officer.

The relationship between Zharkov and Hoffman goes back over 20 years. Zharkov was an orphan not yet 10 years old when he was kidnapped by a crime syndicate. He and the other boys were forced into dangerous jobs. When the syndicate got out of hand, the military, along with a mercenary force called the Hounds, was called in to wipe out the whole group.

Hoffman was the commander of the Hounds at the time and he could not bring himself to execute the children. He changed their tactics to reduce casualties. Zharkov and the other children were saved, but Hoffman lost an eye in the escape.

Zharkov, to show his appreciation and respect for Hoffman, has worked to become a mercenary as well. Like Hoffman 20 years ago, Zharkov will take on any risk to save the weak. He wears sunglasses to hide his kind eyes but as Hoffman created Zharkov, Zharkov too will create others like him.

I'll turn it over to Designer K for the design concept.

Hello, I am Designer K.

Zharkov's initial concept was a one-man army, well-trained in survival and combat skills, who can carry out missions on his own through rough terrain like forests.

Initial Concept
Our concept was to have Zharkov feel more like he was part of the regular military. This is because we wanted to show his background in the army, and also to differentiate him from the other mercenaries (Prior mercenaries had more of a casual feel to them as far as their outfits). We also wanted to emphasize that he had knowledge of the military and that he was part of many operations.

His clothing is wool to keep him warm in cold areas, and the camo design and Russian vest make him feel like he was part of the regular military. Again, the focus of this was to show him as a veteran in military tactics, survivability, and infiltration.

Detailed Concept
We added in some character identity to Zharkov that fits his background and fill in the initial concepts. This is when the character's appearance became more masculine and his hair got shaved. We also decided to give him sunglasses to protect his eyes from the cold areas he hails from. We also believed that since he was the first character to have sunglasses, the character would feel different from others.

We wanted to differentiate him from previous characters and we wanted to add in the concept of "Brown Bear" so we added a tattoo of a bear to the back of the head. We believed this also adds more character.

We gave him a large hunting knife to give an image of a military expert who is skilled in survival, and we gave him a bluish camo to make him feel like part of the regular Russian military. I hope you enjoy Combat Arms with the new mercenary character, Zharkov the Brown Bear.