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Early designs for video game protagonists

nillapuddin

Member
What does fitness have to do with puffy cheeks? Go to the gym, fit people have all sorts of faces.

Also this has no relation to Andromeda, those faces looked terrible due to botched execution, not an attempt to sabotage the good looks of a character that they themselves designed. Lol.

There is a relation to Andromeda, you and i are not talking about the same thing.

I'm early versions of the game the female main character was much "more attractive" looking, then somehow before launch her face morphed and became less angular and more round. She also now bares no resemblance to her source model, yet the male character looks the same. Peebee also somehow between prerelease and final had the same chubby cheeks protocol applied to her.

Dude ryder looks identical, female ryder was apparently too hot. There's no denying it.
 
You can not like the current design of Aloy, but calling it ugly is a bit much.

Not that I'm on the bandwagon of hating The Tidus we have. Fits the athlete that he is in that time line. But that early design of him is really good
 

Gulz1992

Member
Sir Daniel Fortesque from MediEvil

dansketches.jpg
 
Not completely different, but the original Corvo Attano designs for Dishonored had a much more Thief-like element. His iconic mask is replaced with just a shroud that covers his face, and the more setting-appropriate outfit is replaced with just black robes.

3UcQyxs.png
 

Dec

Member
That Gordon Freeman would have been great. I want to be the crazy bearded man hitting things with a crowbar while people are having serious conversations.
 

Servbot24

Banned
There is a relation to Andromeda, you and i are not talking about the same thing.

I'm early versions of the game the female main character was much "more attractive" looking, then somehow before launch her face morphed and became less angular and more round. She also now bares no resemblance to her source model, yet the male character looks the same. Peebee also somehow between prerelease and final had the same chubby cheeks protocol applied to her.

Dude ryder looks identical, female ryder was apparently too hot. There's no denying it.

Seems like you're jumping into conspiracy theory land way too fast. Many male models are already muscular. Many female models are not that muscular. Therefore in an action game, a female character may require more deviations from the reference material than the male character. And it is only that - reference material. A few games specifically want to feature the actor, but most games want their own identifiable face for the series rather than a notable actor, so the face receives some modifications. Not to mention the reference material is chosen to support pre-dev concept art, not the other way around.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I found this kind of funny considering how braided her hair is anyway. That poster just has a preference for a different hair style, but let's not act like the one she has is any more practical and wouldn't take a long time to style as well
It absolutely is practical. It's not braided in a way that looks perfect or very direct, and has a ton of split ends and loose strands. It looks like an effort made over the course of a few years.

Here you go:
CD dodged so many bullets goddamn.
 
It absolutely is practical. It's not braided in a way that looks perfect or very direct, and has a ton of split ends and loose strands. It looks like an effort made over the course of a few years.

And if someone preferred a different hair style that one would somehow be less "practical" or require a professional styling when her current one didn't?
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
And if someone preferred a different hair style that one would somehow be less "practical" or require a professional styling when her current one didn't?
I'm saying I disagree with the idea of removing it since it's absolutely crucial to her design. I think people also miss the point where these designs have to be translated into 3D. For instance, young Aloy has some similar elements to this piece of concept art with the bangs and such.
C60hvoQWoAQl73y.jpg

nzX6f5e.png


it would look incredibly goofy on her as an adult.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
You thinking it's crucial doesn't make it crucial.
Considering how prominent her unkempt long hair is in literally every piece of key art you can find of her in the artbook and the stuff posted online by the concept artists, yes, pretty sure it's safe to say that it's crucial to her character design.

I think they all look pretty cool and unique, with the exception of the last one's hairstyle. But yeah, that artist whose name is worse than a tongue twister has a very particular style, I understand not liking it.
They look so obviously like video game power fantasies and nothing like how Geralt is described, (like why would his hair be spikey?). Not to mention look very antithetical to his dancer like fighting style.

Damn if only Witcher looked like that.
They made the right choice in the end:
mmmmm
 
Elza Walker, a character in Resident Evil/Biohazard 1.5 that in the final version of Resident Evil/Biohazard 2 ended up becoming an entirely different character, Claire Redfield. Despite being two different characters, their designs still share several similarities:

Elza Walker:

9453bafe8f35c3a3cdf2fcab3415089f.jpg


Claire Redfield:

latest


Also, here's a handy image that compares the in-game models for both:

f8b1eed9466452f2931eb9bca294ea0fcc19e149_hq.jpg
 

Jocund

Member
They look so obviously like video game power fantasies and nothing like how Geralt is described, (like why would his hair be spikey?). Not to mention look very antithetical to his dancer like fighting style.

A poster said he wasn't meant to be Geralt at that stage, so those more off-kilter designs really aren't that bizarre. I'm glad they did go with Geralt in the end, though.
 

Toxi

Banned
Metroid Prime's original Samus design seen at Spaceworld was pretty rough. The worst part by far was the stubby arm cannon.

Gz4I1Af.jpg
 

Gin-Shiio

Member
It is precisely because Aloy just looks like an everyday woman that she is beautiful. You guys admit it yourself when you say what we got ended up being more realistic. She's not meant to be a barbie on display.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Damn. Rather have this. Stylized >>>>> realism. Ugh if I wanted realistic, I would just go outside.
........


Anyway....I find the concepts of Connor from AC to be interesting because they were constantly trying to find a balance between the influence of the colonialism of the era and his native American culture:

A poster said he wasn't meant to be Geralt at that stage, so those more off-kilter designs really aren't that bizarre. I'm glad they did go with Geralt in the end, though.
Oh ok. Still doesn't fit the aesthetic of The Witcher imho. But then again the aesthetic of that series didn't hit it's stride until the second game.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Metroid Prime's original Samus design seen at Spaceworld was pretty rough. The worst part by far was the stubby arm cannon.

Gz4I1Af.jpg

Dear god that is ugly, lol

The way Metroid Prime turned out seems like such a complete miracle. Still can't comprehend how it happened.
 

Deft Beck

Member
This is a great thread, but please stop bickering about Aloy and retreading the same arguments about female character designs found in every other terrible thread about character designs. It's getting very tiring.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Then they fucked up.

ejW8NaH.jpg


it's not that Aloy is ugly, it that she looks blaaaand.

Seriously? If Aloy walked by in real life every head in the room would turn to her. Maybe y'all are hanging out with Victoria's Secret models all day, but in most settings Aloy would be stunning compared to most people.
 
I wouldn't even call it a different design for Aloy (apart from the hair), it's the same character just rendered in a different style. Compared to those sketches, her final look in the context of the game is slightly older, slightly less waifish-- less of the cartoon princess vibe. It's entirely appropriate to the game and people saying that they deliberately "made her ugly"-- just yikes.
 
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