Project #1 - Conclusion

So these are the four character designs I completed for this project. The theory being explored is the influence of culture on a character and how to maintain their essence.

After feedback, I learned that each of my redesigns do fit within their game spaces, adhering to the cultures of the games, be it fictional or real.

In the earlier posts I've already discussed what changed and what didn't, and the conclusion that I can draw from this project is that the culture of a game space has a direct affect on the appearance and attitude of a character. However a character should have a noticeable uniqueness that transcends cultures, to be relatable to more players.

Lyall changed most dramatically within a stylised world - even having to change race for Okami! Even though, he maintained certain aspects that left him recognizable:

• His patch
• His bag
• His weapon (although it changed according to game)
• His hair
• His colour palette. 

All in all, it is in the detailing that makes a character unique, regardless of their culture. Thus, a culture doesn't necessarily directly influence the player. 

Project #1 - Part 4

The final one!
Lyall was actually incredibly easy to redesign as a pirate-y type character for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

There wasn't particularly much that needed to change in terms of his clothing design,or his colours whatsoever. I just desaturated them. Actually, he didn't take that much development at all before I found a design I was happy with.

And when I asked for feedback, I was told that it fit pretty well. Sometimes you just get it right :P
(It was painting the mother-****** that was a pain. I'm really not good with realism. Semi-realism, fine, but realism just gets me)

Ahem. Anyways. I just made his boots a little more pirate-esque, just gothed up versions similar to his originals. I was glad, because they were intended as a distinguishing feature, and they were lost a little bit in the stylised versions of Skyward Sword and Okami.

I tried to make him look a lot grittier as well, a bit of a hardier attitude about him to suit the unforgiving environment in Assassin's Creed.

As a result, I think he suits the Pirate Culture pretty well.

Project #1 - Part 3

I actually had fun with this one!

As stereotypical as the entire of Okami seems, it's a positive stereotype. It was interesting to put a character like Lyall into this world, given that the characters are all Japanese and he obviously isn't.

Again, the first thing I considered was the art style. The whole of Okami is Japanese based, right down to the style of the world. It is based on traditional Japanese art, and to get to play around with that was enjoyable. The issue with this one though was trying to keep the essence of my original character, while making him believable within the world of Okami. 

 

 

 In the end, while his palette stayed essentially the same, the colour of his jacket is green as opposed to brown, as he did not feel as though he fit the game space with a brown jacket. Most of the characters in Okami are quite bright. I tried to design his jacket/kimono as a cross between his own and clothes that the characters in Okami wear- to try and keep the feel of Lyall there.

Looking back at him though, what is the most recognisable is his dark pants and his unusual hair style. Again, he still carries his bag.

Project #1 - Part 2

Part 2 entailed the integrating of Lyall into the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

This was actually fairly difficult. The only things, even after researching, that were immediately apparent to me was that his art style would immediately change. His colour palette would be brighter to suit those of the characters of Skyloft. Those are mainly design related and don't have much to do with the game space and its culture.

Well, beneath the skin it turns out that most of the characters are based on birds, either by name or by their colours in fact. So their colour palettes are a part of the fictional culture.

I already knew that to change Lyall's colour palette entirely would take away from the character himself. I approached it a different way, in that I changed the brightness of his palette instead, knowing that the Skyward Sword is a much brighter one.

His outfit obviously changed to suit their culture too.

Ultimately I tried to adhere to the art style, although I don't think I did a very good job of that. 

Project #1 - Part 1

For my original character, I did play around with style a little bit, but I decided that, for the purpose of this project, it would be best to stay with the default way I usually paint. At least I knew it would be fairly simple, not too over the top and well, mine. 

(My scanner sucks!)

I deliberately set my character in a world that was different to that of each of the game spaces I chose for the redesign process. So, I made for a scenario set in the future. I wanted to try and portray a character who still retains essence of the present day however reflects the dystopia in which he is intended to live. 

Exploring different modern clothing

Ultimately, I wanted him to look a little medieval in a way, but in a subtle manner, and thus chose to go with the tunic style top and the makeshift backpack/satchel he ended up with in his final design. 

 

Name: Lyall

Age: 25

Year of Birth: 2215

Family: Deceased

Bio: Lyall was born onto a dystopian Earth,where technology has been lost after acatastophic war and the modern world is entertwined with a new coming of primitive life. People must fend and huntfor themselves here. 

Lyall depends on very few people in this world, having lost his family fairly early on.
To those few allies he has, he is fiercely loyal - although he prefers to travel alone.

 

There we go, a quick overview of Lyall. The challenge was how could I make him believable in other game spaces?

Project #1 - The Brief

So I've been really bad at keeping on top this. Been and done and finished the whole of this exploration without even blogging about it. Had some issues so finishing this up took longer than expected and I never managed to get started on my second and third projects until just before Christmas,then realized that I left those pieces of work on my PC. In Preston. While I'm down in Wales. Woops.

ANYWAY, the real matter at hand is actually explaining the first project I completed.

The Brief:

To investigate the essence of an original character through placing them into existing environments. Does the culture have any significance? What must change in the character and what stays the same?

So, the first step was to design an original character.
Following this, I picked three particular game spaces that I would redesign into.

Part 1: Create original character.

Part 2: Redesign this character into a game world with an entirely fictional culture; recognizable art style. 

Part 3: Redesign the character into a second game world with a radically different culture to that of the character.

Part 4: Finally, redesign the character into a more realistic game world.

For these I chose Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Okami and Assassin's Creed VI: Black Flag.


Simple as that. Or so I thought. It took longer than intended because it was actually more difficult than I had anticipated!
The next post will document the development process I went through.