Giant wall of text incoming.
I've been worried about my character design, I've never been terribly good at it but I've been trying to improve.I try to make characters that are wholly plausible but still unique. I kinda failed with my last project, according to some, since the main character was just an average looking dude. He's the only protagonist from any of my finished games that I didn't include in my banner because he isn't really that interesting.That being said, I've been trying harder with Settle. I've gone with a fairly different art style than I usually go for, and I'm trying to work colors/features into character design to be representative of personality and role.Here's three characters from Settle:
And just for why not, with a Photoshop filter that I use to judge how well I shaded:
The first character is Sid, the main protagonist. I tried to go with unorthodox apparel, to make the characters seem more unique, since clothing is the most common way to express oneself. Sid wears trip pants, and has a silly hat and a scarf. The blue is representative of 'the good guys'.The second character, Carah is more plain looking, and bears a color more neutral to the good vs evil idea. She's generally serious and doesn't take sides, but she does put effort to resolve the overall problem. The concept behind this design is to make a character that the player has to make an effort to like. She's not just a blatantly likable character, which I thought was an interesting idea.The last character, Lionel, is an unlikable, selfish jerk, hence his red coloration, which otherwise is exclusive to enemies. Lionel treats Sid as an underdog and Sid treats him as a rival, which makes for interesting dynamics in the case of a pressing alien abduction. They have to work together, but the player will usually hate him.The last protagonist is a 10 year old girl, Carah's sister, who I haven't designed yet. She's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I want the player to be able to sympathize with that.I just posted this to see what criticisms/suggestions you guys have for these designs.If you think there was something down here, you must be mistaken.
The characters are pretty cool, and their personalities, although simple, make an interesting dynamic when they're all technically protagonists but have some disagreements with one another.
Thanks. :D There's more to their personalities than what I wrote, I just included the reasoning behind their visual design.
OH SHIT, you're that guy that made that game with the dudes with the different jobs and it was all black with white eyes and one could climb and one was tall and all that. I thought I knew you from somewhere.
Or is that someone completely different and I'm just making shit up right here.I like sand.No that's me. I posted the picture I made for you for Lobster Fight on one of your blogs when I realized who you were. XD
Fucking Lobster Fight. I'm still considering making LBZ one day, if I get more than like 2 people into sending in new lobsters.
they have no eyes or faces. therefore i can only be so emotionally attached to them.
they're very well pixeled though, if that's what you mean.The style really reminds me of something, but I can't say what. For some reason, I imagine Lionel looking a lot like collegehumor's Streeter.
hel has a point. Facelessness makes every character look like a soulless survivor in a decaying world. Not sure if that impression works out well in your game, but it might.To me when a character is faceless I interpret them as emotions or "puppets," rather than real people. I'm not sure how others will think of them or if that's what you were going for.
They have faces, they're faces are just very dull; They're noses are just a highlight and their mouths are just a shadow, and their eyes are obstructed. The face is implied, for lack of a better word, for two reasons; The size of the sprite would make it look awkward, depending on how much detail I put into the faces, and human faces are a dime a dozen, it's the context that counts. At least that's how I look at it… maybe I'm a sociopath.
Yeah, I feel like faces aren't entirely necessary to form a connection.