This feature is brought to you by Infinity CEO, Roderick Blackmore.
One of the foundations of a wrestling federation, whether real, or based online, are championships. Its what online wrestlers more often than not strive for. This blog entry will go into detail about the creation of Infinity's four unique championships and will reveal some concepts never seen before!
We will begin by showing you the four championships in all their glory, first revealed at Immortalis in this lovely poster.
The four Infinity Championships, together for the time time forever in one photo. Revealed at Infinity: Immortalis. From top to bottom: World Championship, Singularis Championship, Purity Championship, Harmony Championship.
About the Infinity Championships!
Infinity World Championship
This title needs
little explanation; the IWF Championship represents the top honour in the
Infinity City. Out of all of the four championships on offer the world title is
the most traditional in how it will be defended. However, that doesn’t mean it
will be the easiest to get your hands on, quite the opposite actually, the
contender-ship is based off overall progress in Infinity and a reflection of
your hard work. The potential for matches is unlimited for the championship, so
is the potential with storylines, and these are the reasons why the IWF
Championship is the perfect personification of what Infinity stands for.
Infinity Harmony Championships
So, you think you know how tag teams in online
wrestling do you? Think again friend.
Throughout
the introduction of the Infinity shows we will begin unveiling our evolved tag
team formula. Yes you are right to believe tag-team wrestling is about two or
more individuals teaming up to win matches, but that is also what is so cliché
about the tag team division of most federations. Teams win championships, then
what? They can defend but they don’t really evolve after that. TCK is pushing
for a revolutionary tag-team division in the Infinity City, and without giving
too much away his announcements will focus on how the Infinity Harmony Championships
will reflect a new and innovative form of teamwork.
Cooperative Promos
You may have
read something already about cooperative promos somewhere in the Developmental
guides, to elaborate again this style of promo are when two superstars write
and combine their two promos into one unified promo. This is favoured upon
management as it shows the true heart of tag-teams, where your story is one and
so is your effort. Traditional tag teams win because they write two promo
scripts for a match, which is still great, but so typical and well, stale and
shows no innovation that we strive to achieve in Infinity City. By working
closely with your partner to create a unified and non-contradictory promo you
get a distinct advantage over your opponents in tag team matches. For more
information inquire with IWF management about questions you have on cooperative
promos.
IWF Singularis Championship
The Singularis Championship is a title that means only extraordinary and ballsy
competitors can fair at competing in the division for a shot becoming the
champion. At Infinity HQ we didn’t want another typical ‘Hardcore’ division,
and this is not about being that at all. The Singularis title represents
singular and daring efforts to showboat yourself to becoming the most
outstanding champion you can be, a high-risk, uncertain division that anything
can happen. There are two major rules to the division, number one is that
standard ‘one fall’ matches do not occur, and secondly the match will not end
until there is a definitive winner. This league is about breaking down walls,
coming out of your comfort zone, and being encouraged to do absolutely any and
all things to become the singularity of the Infinity City…the person who has no
limit, the person of infinite possibility.
‘Singularis’ Stipulations:
· Conventional/standard matches will never
take place when then the Singularis Championship is involved
· Until a definitive winner of matches has
their hand raised the match will continue, there is no escape from a match involving
the Singularis Championship
· In a kayfabe manner, in order to contend
for the championship your character must bring something to the table in a
manner of speaking, this is a high-risk all reward division if you are
successful
· Types of common Singularis matches to take
place will include:
o Wager Matches: Bets on things, like
Infinity creations, nicknames, finishing moves, rights to things, anything
really. A winner takes all system.
o Stipulation Matches: A participant,
or both, have a stipulation to include for the upcoming match
Infinity Purity Championship
And finally
the crown jewel of the Infinity City, the IWF Purity Championship. Out of all
the titles made for the Infinity City this is the exemplification of Infinity’s
purpose to provide an ever changing living story. The name Purity
reflects the way that pure champions arise to mantle of vanguard of the
Infinity City, and protect it from show to show. Shaped in a particular way to
show that the Purity champion is on the forefront of all things Infinity,
in-and-out of the ring, check below for some stipulations and cool benefits of
being the IWF Purity Championship.
‘Purity’ Stipulations:
· Getting a title match is not necessarily
because of winning matches, contender-ship to the Purity title is predominantly
based upon innovation in the Infinity City, IWF management will announce the
stipulations are each show for how to become the next contender for the Purity
title. There are unlimited reasons why you might be awarded a title match, here
are a few examples:
o Recognition by management
o Democratic votes for innovative ideas
o Invaluable input into storyline
o Unparalleled character development
o Infinity City contributions & creations
· The Purity championship will be defended
every single show, no if’s or buts, so those who want to dedicate themselves to
being champion will need to be committed for this period
· After 5 successful matches for the
championship (including the one match you won it) you will be awarded an IWF
Championship match in the future
o If you choose this option you will be
vacated of the IWF Purity Championship and you will have guaranteed your world
title match
o If you choose to reject this option you can
remain Purity champion, but you can always cash it in at a later date providing
you are still Purity champion
o If you lose your status as Purity champion
you will not be legible for a world title match, you must ‘cash in’ whilst your
name is on the belt
No Second Takes!
The two belts which didn't need second designs were the Singularis and Purity Championship. Below we'll go through the thought process for both championship belt!
Purity Championship
Infinity management struggled long and hard over the name of the Purity Championship. TCK was the one really pushing for the belt to be called Purity, whereas I, was looking for other words to play around with. I wanted to call it many things, but the theme I was most heading towards was being a champion of the city: Vanguard, Custodian, Warrior (and their Latin equivalents to fit the Infinity theme).
TCK agreed that the theme needed to fit around being a defender of the city, somebody who would always defend the championship. He sold me eventually on why Purity was the right name, I liked it initially but was out there searching for a second way, turns out we didn't need to. Initially we thought about having the belt look like a series of towers to depict a city and I then wanted to just have a shield with no strap. Just a shield. Settling is a bad word because it suggests that we sacrificed what is best for what is suitable, but in this case we think we nailed it when we combined the shield onto the title belt.
As for the two empty side plates, in time those will be filled in with the great champions, and who knows, is Neal Powers is successful at Infinity #5 he may very well find his Blood Family emblem (when there is one) or his name, on the shield.
As for the big red shield's colour, we wanted each title to have a different colour and red was our obvious choice because we had already decided on gold and silver for the World and Singularis. Below is a series of photos at potential Purity Championship themes.
The Purity Championship (pictured above) in its final design.
Purity with a space theme background.
Purity with a purple theme.
Purity with a blue space theme.
Purity with a black theme.
With the red and silver of the championship we thought it be best if there is a dark colour that makes the red stick out and the royal blue with ribbed dots was the best suit, but who knows one day in the near future that may very well change. This is a belt of evolution and with it will come certain change as time passes, but for now this is the belt, pure and without a conqueror (though Neal is incredibly close to breaking that so early on)!
Singularis Championship
Above, we describe the Singularis Championship as a title of risk and reward, an all in championship, but it took us over a month to get the right name, thank god we weren't in any kind of a rush because otherwise this aptly named title wouldn't be named this.
Our collective brainstorming left us with a host of words that we came up with, here are a few that gave us inspiration for the eventual name.
Hazard, Danger, Risk, Threat, Peril, Menace, Warning, Risk, Fortuity, Luck, Break, Kismet (fate, fortune), Windfall (bonanza), Bravery, Parallel.
We eventually drew the name from the word Singularity, meaning 'the one', and we knew we had the name. To spice things up we added the Latin for Singularity, Singularis, and we knew it fit the mood we wanted for the ultimate risk and reward championship.
I made this championship third and believe it or not, it was the easiest to make. As there is only two colours, silver and black, it was easy to colour manage, though the layers I originally used weren't silver, they were red. On Photoshop it's relatively easy to change a colour (Layer - Layer Style - Black & White, did the trick for me, followed up with a series of Colour Balance layers), but getting the contrast was hard. The silver eagle is a different tone than the rest of the silver, and that's deliberate, we wanted the Infinity eagle to stand out and be center-point.
Also, another fact, the Singularis Championship has the longest strap, the title would be huge if it was really made, and even shinier!
Also when designing it we went with a regal theme - silver is a regal, time old colour - and has nothing to do with the idea that it's a "second best" championship to the golden coloured World Championship, because it's not. I searched the internet long and hard for resources to use for this belt and I think I stumbled across a similar resource that the WWE used when they designed the new WWE Championship. See below what I mean:
The gold and black shield above the WWE logo is also used on the Singularis Championship, those cheap gringo's wouldn't splash the cash and used a free internet resource. Tsk-tsk.
This title is regal because we wanted it to be a symbol of retention, a title that doesn't lower its values and looks down upon ordinary single's matches with disgust. A title that looked the part for a title that means serious business. I made only one other concept, and I made the belt in golden also, just to see what it could look like. I can also make the title in any other colour, but for us silver was the real deal.
The Singularis Championship (pictured above) in its final design.
The Singularis Championship, coloured gold.
Chris Michaels was the first to claim this title as his own, we hope he and the rest of the world enjoy it as much as we do, and hope that in Infinity Wrestling we get some kick-ass, unique matches for the Singularis Championship!
Achieving Harmony!
Whereas production on the other three titles had finished long ago, later June-ish, the final version of the Harmony title was not finished until early September. After three attempts to make the title I wasn't satisfied with what we had for our premier and sole tag belt. As the Harmony Division only has one belt to represent two wrestler's it's important to us that the belt is a standout. With a gold, silver and red title in the ranks, we wanted a championship to complete the contrast, and it finally happened.
Much like the Harmony Division, achieving Harmony has taken a long time, and though storyline's suggest that Harmony is still a long way away, at least the belt has done just that.
The first design of the Harmony Championship resulted in this, another shield based championship. It was scrapped after the creation of the Purity Championship.
The first ice-theme championship, it has not seen the light of day until now.
With an abundance of shield PNG's at my disposal the first two drafts of the Harmony title was another couple of shield's but bad-guy-TCK was hot on my heels saying that we didn't need two belts with a shield. TCK wanted, and still wants, a championship that combines fire and ice with a giant explosion in the middle, a theme of polar opposites coming together for one prize, not two.
Yes that would be awesome but my patience wore thin on the idea because it would take substantially longer to make, though I would love to do it some day because the idea is awesome.
Pictured below is the second design for the Harmony Championship and it put me a long way on the road to nailing its final design.
The second design of the Harmony Championship also featured the eagle in the middle but also a globe and the word 'IWF Harmony Championship'. The side plates, the stars (also featured as the star for the Immortalis logo) has remained in the final design.
I really felt the title didn't feel as unique as it could have been, hence a third design. The shape of the title has not changed but the main plate has, and now at last I am contented. The blue colour scheme is just what I was looking for and TCK now digs the look of the belt (though don't lose your pipe dream Copycat, your version of a belt may very well be made one day).
The Harmony title was one of two, including the World Champiomnship, to be unveiled at our first PPV, Immortalis, and it was fresh off Photoshop when it was finally unveiled to the champs, Harding & Casanova. But before that James Jameson made his own rendition of the title, and I now fear they will use them on the Infinity broadcasts.
James Jameson's take on the unveiled Harmony Championships are down-right creepy, and in no way are we responsible for its creation, but in a city of infinite possibilities, who are we to stop the champs using them?
This leads us to Immortalis and the no show with Over Rated. From day one we always factored in these belts being associated with JC & Blair, but that was not to be the case, leading to a change of storyline. TCK was going to unveil the belt to JC and Blair should they have won, but in the end we had the sole promoer, Joey Harding, unveil and carry the championship, getting the better of TCK in the process. This is the sole belt Harding carried out of the arena that night, the final design.
With a slight change in colour scheme and of the main plate, the Harmony Championship is now a lot crisper and appealing to the eyes than previous designs.
On the pages of Infinity Mondays, Harmony may not yet have been achieved but the division now has the title it deserves.
The Road to Gold!
Naturally the World Championship was the first title I attempted to create, and yes it took me the most amount of time and effort solely because I was new at making titles, so in practice it was my first go at making a World title from scratch.
It was always destined to be golden, of course.
It is our representation of a city of infinite possibilities, the title where anything and everything is possible.
But the road to such an achievement has been long and at times, frustrating.
Creation of the title started long before the thought of Infinity, long before our old stomping grounds, Bebo, ever closed down. I wanted to start a new fed with a twist, a fed where everyone had to use new gimmicks, and these were the first designs of the title I made for a federation called 'Battle Zone Wrestling' (BZN - The Battle Zone Network - and its name was inspired from my long-standing idea)
Below you get to see what a title looks like without several layers of colouring and editing, down to its bare bones.
The first ever draft of the title featured an eagle and was code named 'Crows Nest' because of the side plates.
Fact: At one point the BZW logo was in fact the Infinity Eagled logo, though BZW never materialized.
The first draft belt after it had been coloured.
After the idea of BZW faded into nothing a few months passed until me and TCK talked about a real return, on a real website. We knew that the federation might have been a hit or a miss and these titles were made during the point of the process where I was creating the website, which in total took four weeks of hard work. The website is now easy to maintain but the initial making of graphics was time-consuming and strenuous. Currently I have over seven hundred Infinity related photos and that number continues to grow, but with more time to create one photo or an album worth at a time I can really create top quality graphics to further improve our graphical output (because it's a major part of the game, of course).
Below is a series of photos with the first World Championship designs, one of which is what I released via my Twitter: @BlackmoreIWF
The initial idea for the Infinity World Championship was to change the colour of the strap to whatever the champion wanted.
The World Championship was hard because I had TCK constantly breathing down my neck asking for 'buttons'... Buttons this, buttons that. BUTTONS!!! Eventually I caved and went on a big resource hunt and when I found the main center plate I was overjoyed!
Below is the next versions of the World Championship, this design took a few solid days and a sleepless night.
The second version of the title featured the original design from the first draft belts, though it was dropped in favour of the big globe.
Essentially the World Championship, minus the coloured part of the golden main plate.
For a long time, even when Infinity got underway we were unsure how to address the title. Originally it was the 'IWF World Heavyweight Championship' and then the 'IWF Championship' but we have now settled on the 'Infinity World Championship', dropping IWF and Heavyweight parts to the belt (and all belts for that matter. Firstly in a city of infinite possibilities we didn't want to limit the title to 'heavyweights' and also the federation is also a lot better represented online as 'Infinity' because there is another fed out there called 'IWF' and though we are not embarrassed at all to call it 'IWF', the title 'Infinity' better suits the titles.
But do not fear, the promotion within Infinity City is still called - Infinity Wrestling Federation - and we're proud to be known as IWF.
Below is a picture of the Infinity World Championship in all its glory!
The World Championship was the first created by Roderick Blackmore, and is currently held by Adrian Flynn, its first ever champion.
Click below to see the Championship page on the Infinity Wrestling website!
A Quick Q&A about championship belts!
Why are there no name plates on the Infinity belts?
There is no need. We have a page for championship history and based in Infinity City, everyone can already distinguish the belt for the belt, and not the name holder. Also it's a lot of upkeep, especially with the Purity Championship, to change a nameplate. I wanted to do it, and still can with the Harmony Championship, so we'll see.
How long does it take to make one belt?
I would say a few days for each, and when I meant a few days I mean from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep.
How did you make the belts?
A lot of online resources, Google searches and trolling through tons of photoshop related sites until you have a lot of resources. I'm not a pro at Photoshop (I use CS3 for those wondering) so it's the illusion that matters, I spent most of my time colour managing the titles.
What's the key to making belts look good?
Make them shiny, and add buttons, it really matters. Essentially don't be half-assed and just edit a title from WWE or TNA. I'm not too fussy but the little details go a long way for a perfectionist like me.
Where do these belts rank up in terms of the wider online wrestling (e-fedding) scene?
Show me a better championship, if not, I'll stand by my claim that we have among the best, if not thee best, titles out there. It's not ego or bias, it's just an opinion after scouting the online wrestling scene and what a lot of feds have to offer.
What is your favourite Infinity belt?
The World Championship, followed up by the Harmony Championship, but all four are great if you ask me.
What is your favourite belt in WWE?
The World Heavyweight Championship, it's a classic.
What is your favourite belt in TNA?
The Tag Titles are great on the eye, but they are in need of an update, and by that I mean repairs, not a full-out slaughter like what they did for the X Division belt. P.s. I hate the world belt, it's horrible, half of the belt isn't attached and get irritated when I see the belt sticking out when someone is wearing it over their shoulder.
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