Kit Rae Design Studio Projects Scrapbook
Below are photos of some projects we are working on or have completed at Kit Rae Design Studio.
Contact: nasnandos@kitrae.net
Copyright Kit Rae. Do not link or copy photos or content from this website with permission of Kit Rae.
DEVIL MAY CRY RED QUEEN SWORD REPLICA - A replica of the sword of Nero from Capocom's excellent Devil May Cry 4 game (2009). This was created for United Cutlery's video game collectibles line. Beside the Legacy of Kain sword and the Frostmourne sword, the DMC swords are some of my favorite game swords. In the game back story the Red Queen was developed by Fornuna's Order of the Sword as part of an ongoing effort to produce more powerful warriors and a means of allowing the Order's knights to combat far more powerful demons than would usually be possible. The Red Queen sword was a technologically advanced demon-hunting melee weapon used by Nero. It was given to Nero by the Order, as he showed exceptional promise and an aptitude for combat unbecoming of a knight of his age and experience. The Red Queen is a slow but powerful two handed sword, with a fuel-injection system that allows the blade to be sprayed with high-octane fuel and set aflame for a short period of time. This effectively allows the user to supercharge the weapon for the next swing by rapidly revving the injector, much like revving the engine of a motorcycle. This allows access to vastly more powerful attacks after the sword has been charged.
As you can see from the screen shots below, the Red Queen sword, like most Japanese game swords, is HUGE. This would be a problem making the sword 1:1 scale due to the size (over 6') and weight. Most people would not be able to lift or hold one at full size, so we scaled it to a size we thought would be safe to hold, as well as be impressive in its scale, about 42" overall. The blade will be 31 3/4" stainless steel (false edged), with fine cast solid metal handle parts, paint decoration and details to match the red colors seen in the game, and a genuine red leather wrapped grip.
Screen shots of the Red Queen from DMC4 (©Capcom)
Original proposal art submitted to Capcom
The first step in creating the replica was to examine how the sword appeared in the game. Most game swords are a bit blocky upon close examination because they are built from blocky shapes, then texture mapped. I also looked over how the sword has appeared in the advertising art to get a good mix of the impression gamers would have of what the sword looks like. Below are the digital snapshots of the game sword, as well as Capcom's original design art for the sword.
DMC4 sword art (©Capcom)
MORE TO COME...