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Early designs for video game protagonists

The only damn difference with Aloy is that she looks a little more mature and real. Not an anorexic Disney cartoon.

Y'all are just crazy.
Pretty much. I haven't played Horizon yet, but those concept designs look way too soft and clean for a woman born and raised in a post-apocalypse where she has to fight robot dinosaurs.
 

Maledict

Member
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?
 

Mendrox

Member
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

I like ripped Aloy more. Looks way more mature and well... grown up and beautiful.
 

Linkark07

Banned
Edit: Oh shit, I forgot this was about protagonists. Ah well.

Saren from Mass Effect.
Code:
[img]http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lefo224ngn1qg03leo1_540.jpg[/img]
[img]http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lea9aaMvWF1qg03leo1_1280.png[/img]
[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3b/b1/45/3bb1451332b3f3c6d1c68cf3d454eac4.png[/img]

I dunno but the black clothes and the cane makes Saren look more evil.

As for me, I recall in my Atelier Arland artbook that Totori had a different design in the early stage of the game, like the hair or clothes. Gonna post them after I return to my home since I can't find pics on the internet.
 
Lara didn't deviate much from her early designs, but her features were a lot harsher in the early days.
D6FBefk.jpg
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?
This, on another note considering her upper body strength, I hope they make her even more muscular in the next game.
 

lazygecko

Member
Lara didn't deviate much from her early designs, but her features were a lot harsher in the early days.
D6FBefk.jpg

Those are just oozing with that kind of comic book edge you used to see in the latter half of the 90's. The middle one kinda reminds me of T2 Linda Hamilton.
 

OmegaX0

Member
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

People don't like ugly designs, what a surprise.
 
Lara didn't deviate much from her early designs, but her features were a lot harsher in the early days.
D6FBefk.jpg

I remember in the mid-late 90's there was an issue of PC GAMER that had the tomb raider demo on disc. The far right picture was on the disc sleeve but partially so you didn't see the decapitated heads.
 

DemWalls

Member
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

I don't have a side on this matter, but now you have to tell me what's sexualized, even slightly, about those early sketches.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Would have brought the crap out of horizon if she looked like this. Hits that nice sweetspot of cute and confident. I hate the graphical realism focus in games nowadays. The current Alloy design is boring compared to this.
Agree
 

NimbusD

Member
And that's not even really scratching the surface.
It's awesome seeing them nail down the look, but my God that artist needs to fix his head ratio. Those heads look like peas on top of gangly mannequins.
People don't like ugly designs, what a surprise.
Alloy is ugly? I mean she's not a Disney princess like the concept art but calling her design ugly is disengenuous. Weird to see the change from people lauding her as the best female character design in that other thread to people getting googly eyed and saying she sucks once they see her with cartoon proportions.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Ah i missed those tidbits, that's awesome tho i remember playing the bouncer as a kid so i always had that comparison in my mind.


Gives me some Disney like vibes looks awesome better than the current design imo.

That would be thanks to the stylings of Loish :)

Halua in Nier started off as alternately a moeblob and equally moe dog/bird-person, which eventually changed to be a much more naturalistic child in the final game alongside the now-iconic Weapon head.

Halua-2.png

Oh wow. This design is wonderful.
 
Oh wow those Bayonetta design slayed my whole existance.
If we get a Bayo 3 I would love if she appeared in different looks, but then again that wouldn't really be marketable to the same people that just wanna stare at her curves in her regular tight outfit.

Also I always have to think of these early designs for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

concept%20sketches.png
 

Servbot24

Banned
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

I dunno, they're both very fit and borderline models - I don't get the claim that Aloy is just a normal-looking person. If you saw the final Aloy in real life you would would still be taken aback by her looks. The concept art is just portrayed in a Disneyish style because the girl who drew them is associated with Disney.

Also it's kinda uncomfortable to be shaming skinny people :/ Just because someone is fit doesn't mean they have a disorder.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

Or you know, everyone has different preferences and that's perfectly OK?
 

woopWOOP

Member
FFX

1452693172053.jpg


i think there was a dark haired tidus at some point too
Auron's (?) super chill expression always makes me smile
I remember seeing a video of black haired Tidus. I think they were showcasing some sort of internet feature where you could connect and do a map search for treasures in a dungeon. I remember it because even back then I thought it was so utterly stupid

Halua in Nier started off as alternately a moeblob and equally moe dog/bird-person, which eventually changed to be a much more naturalistic child in the final game alongside the now-iconic Weapon head.
Halua-2.png
Bahaha, what the hell? That's adorable! Actually looks more like a cow/bird-person from this angle. Anyway, I want a game with that protagonist
 

AAK

Member
That Aloy concept art does not fit at all with the plot. I don't want to play a 12 year old cartoonish girl murdering 100's of bandits.
 

nillapuddin

Member
People forget about how different face types exist when it comes to women.

They Mass Effect Andromeda'd her. Oh no, we chose an actress who is too conventionally attractive, we have to bring her down a peg.

I see no reason for Aloy, an obviously strong and fit avatar to have those oddly puffy cheeks, women that are fit dont look like that in the face.

The first thing when we got out of wonder woman u asked my wife how she felt about gal gadots "look" and she immediately said very strong and etc etc. You can have a woman with a thinner frame and still show strength.

Meanwhile in actor -> digital conversions. More hair, more muscles, sharper features, "manlier" in game presence. They actively enhance their avatars.

This is a new trend in this generation imo and it doesn't apply to every game, but it does happen. Traditionally women were dialed up too high, but now some games are going opposite.

17vhmye0fwbqyjpg.jpg


Chief looked comical in early sketches compared to the (glorious) walking tank he is now.

giphy.gif

Goat concept
 

Myriadis

Member
Early Aloy's design looks damn good too, but would fit better in a more cartoonish game. The Aloy we have now is the perfect fit for the game she's in.

But appearently we're only supposed to like one or the other, or what?
 

Servbot24

Banned
They Mass Effect Andromeda'd her. Oh no, we chose an actress who is too conventionally attractive, we have to bring her down a peg.

I see no reason for Aloy, an obviously strong and fit avatar to have those oddly puffy cheeks, women that are fit dont look like that in the face.

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.
 
It's really depressing seeing all the posts which prefer the original design of Ally.

We get an incredibly well designed, realistic, female main character whose a joy to play - and people prefer the anorexic, slightly sexualized, oh so blandly typical Disney Princess pictures here?

You can prefer the design they went with, but this is not the way to do it. And if those designs are slightly sexualized, I don't even want to know what other puritanical views you hold because that's laughable
 

nbnt

is responsible for the well-being of this island.
I would've vastly preferred original Aloy to the one we got, if it also meant an overall cartoonish look to the game. Would've certainly helped with some of the metal attire worn by super realistic looking humans, which just looked goofy to me and it kinda made me not take the game seriously at times.
 

zoukka

Member
A woman that hunts monsters with a bow all day shouldn't look waifish. It really does feel like people think a woman that has even the littlest bit of actual muscle is ugly.

True. It all depends on the game world and art style in the end. If they wanted a believable and down to earth feel to Horizon, then a skinny, cutesy Aloy wouldn't probably do it. I haven't played it so I don't know how realistic the game feels.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
In this one. Removing that rat's nest of a mullet would go a long way in fixing it.
Don't think she had time to go to the salon during her time in an apocalypse. But it looks fine and her design doesn't need "fixing" It absolutely fits the context of the game incredibly well.

They Mass Effect Andromeda'd her. Oh no, we chose an actress who is too conventionally attractive, we have to bring her down a peg.
This isn't an actual concept at all and the fact that you even remotely think this is what happens in modeling says a lot about you as a person. It's more, "let's make this character actually fit the context of the game's world."

I see no reason for Aloy, an obviously strong and fit avatar to have those oddly puffy cheeks, women that are fit dont look like that in the face.
This is an absolutely insane and irrational generalization that actually proves my point. Do you not realize how bodies work?

The first thing when we got out of wonder woman u asked my wife how she felt about gal gadots "look" and she immediately said very strong and etc etc. You can have a woman with a thinner frame and still show strength.
Aloy doesn't have superpowers. And she's about the exact same as Gal Godot in terms of frame and muscle size:

Meanwhile in actor -> digital conversions. More hair, more muscles, sharper features, "manlier" in game presence. They actively enhance their avatars.
Yea it's almost like they made her fit the context of the game world or something.
C3gFiIlXUAEnMd-.jpg


Literally nothing manlier about Aloy compared to her model.

This is a new trend in this generation imo and it doesn't apply to every game, but it does happen. Traditionally women were dialed up too high, but now some games are going opposite.
Yea there's a new trend of making women in games look like actual women instead of same face caricatures.
 

kromeo

Member
Her hair's a lot better in those older pictures but that's about it. That last one in particular she looks about 12
 
Don't think she had time to go to the salon during her time in an apocalypse.

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
 
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