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[akachan ningen]

Character design is everything about a character: appearance, personality, voice, behaviour, backstory/history and so on.

It's not. The character is the culmination of all those things.

 

[Yagharek]

It's not. The character is the culmination of all those things.

Without all those things a character is just a drawing.

 

[temp]

Without all those things a character is just a drawing.

Yeah. The visual "design" of a character. The word "design" would be totally redundant if you think "character design" and "character" mean the exact same thing.

 

[akachan ningen]

Without all those things a character is just a drawing.

no shit. who's saying you should leave them out?

 

[Yagharek]

I'm not going to enter into a back-and-forth over what should be a fairly obvious point.

GlaDOS was an established character before you even got to that final room.

 

[Sharkington]

Character design entails more than just aesthetics, but at the same time, it seems pretty clear that the intention of the thread was to discuss visual design.

So you're all right, and you're all wrong. Now can we get out of the pointless semantics debate and get back to talking about characters?

 

[ProudClod]

Who's the dirty chick people keep posting?

 

[akachan ningen]

GlaDOS was an established character before you even got to that final room.

who's saying she wasn't?

The word "design" would be totally redundant if you think "character design" and "character" mean the exact same thing.

exactly.

Character design entails more than just aesthetics,

no

but at the same time, it seems pretty clear that the intention of the thread was to discuss visual design.

yes, that's why he called it "Best/Favorite new character design of this generation?"

 

[Sharkington]

Who's the dirty chick people keep posting?

If you mean "dirty" in the literal sense, I assume you're talking about the close-up of Lara Croft's face from the upcoming reboot.

 

[Sharkington]

no

I'm not sure what's wrong with you that makes you think that design always means visual design. You can deny your wrongness all you want, but it's never going to make you right.

I'm going to bow out until this semantics bullshit is over and the thread gets back on track.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

These two gentlemen

One of these is a woman.

 

[akachan ningen]

I'm going to bow out until this semantics bullshit is over and the thread gets back on track.

You should have done that before you embarrassed yourself.

Character design is visual design, exclusively. Everything else defines the character, not the character design.

 

[Rikyfree]

 

[akachan ningen]

she looks like

 

[AniHawk]

Not an entirely new character, but Bee Mario is the cutest goddamned thing ever.

Nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all!

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

Say what you want about the game, but Niko's design was great.

 

[hateradio]

Unfortunately he was terribly underused in the game.

 

[Mdk7]

 

[AAK]

I love the Tekken 6 alternate outfits

 

[Lucius86]

I'm certain these have already been posted, but for me the top ones are:

I am also a fan of the new Tomb Raider art, but if it carries through with character into the game remains to be seen.

 

[ArachosiA 78]

I more like him for his personality than aesthetic design, but 'Splosion Man...

And the cast of Left 4 Dead is very well-designed. They look ordinary and believable, and are memorable at the same time. Great personalities and face designs, too.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

I would have to vote for the casts of Mass Effect and Team Fortress 2.

 

[revolverjgw]

she looks like

I think she looks like Bret The Hitman Hart

 

[BGBW]

AGENTS ARE GO!

 

[Requeim]

AGENTS ARE GO!

Damn, i want a 5 second youtube vid of that him saying that in the game.

 

[djtiesto]

My favorite character designs this gen:

(this one if you dress her up with the glasses and change her outfits)

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

I think she looks like Bret The Hitman Hart

she looks like

I think she looks like Yvonne Strahovski

 

[LakeEarth]

she looks like
http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/8/8b/8bb20784_htf_imgcache_16115.jpeg

Uhhh... joke post?

 

[Dizzy-4U]

No contest for me...

 

[Horns]

Gaf hates Niko, but what a great character.

 

[Nazgul_Hunter]

 

[Esch]

Yessssssss, best design for an enemy type for sure.

but i still gots ta g with:

:lol :lol

 

[Solo]

I think in terms of overall "Idea-to-execution", whomever the hell at Ubisoft designed Ezio's Assassins outfit deserves some kind of medal. It's an excellent example of how to design a character when presented within incredibly specific parameters: "It has to look like Altair's costume, but evoke the popular fashion trends of the Italian Renaissance so it doesn't look out of place in the time period. It also has to have the same hood, but two wrist blades...and don't forget to toss on the big Assassin's guild emblem. Oh, and it can't look completely retarded, or you're fired." Probably my favorite character design of this gen.

An honorable mention, because I just dig how simple the design is:

Winner on both counts.

 

[Oxx]

 

[JohngPR]

Nathan Drake is one of my favorite characters from this generation, but I wouldn't necessarily say he's one of my favorite designs. Despite the fact that the everyman quality he has is appealing, it's not exactly original.

 

[captmcblack]

The best ones are in here already: Altair (Assassin's Creed), Faith (Mirror's Edge), Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes), Super Meat Boy, Splosion Man, Professor Layton, the characters from the Ace Attorney series, Lightning (FFXIII), C. Viper...those are my favorites this gen.

I actually also sort of like the redesigned Bionic Commando from the new HD game...but yeah. :lol

 

[badcrumble]

Big Daddy, Faith, Ezio, Isaac, Bayonetta, Sackboy, the Helghast in general, and yes, practically the entire supporting cast of the Mass Effect games. Notice that a lot of these have to do with characters that mesh perfectly with their respective games' art styles.

 

[IoCaster]

Lots of good ones in this thread, but my #1 favorite = Emma Honeywell.

She just really clicked for me and I thought her fight with the Conquerer was awesome and

Spoiler

sad ;_;

.

EDIT: I have to add Khrynia as a favorite just because she's a cute character and she's funny.

 

[Zoramon089]

It's not. The character is the culmination of all those things.

Exactly! People are confusing character and character design. While the design can give hints at the personality, that's only because they're interrelated. The CHARACTER is the culmination of design, personality, etc, but the design is...just a design

 

[Twilight Princess]

 

[Kinyou]

Miranda Lawson is the gorgeous Yvonne Strahovski with raven hair (my personal preference) in tight white space latex. C'mon. You can't make an eye candy design much better than that. Besides some uncanny valley in motion and some weird angles and lighting, she's genetically perfect indeed. I didn't really care for her personality though.

Wrong Picture

Bonnie MacFarlane (in contrast to Miranda from ME2) is the most raw female design this gen. Bonnie is a late 20 something year old, that's been worn down by the old west. Rockstar didn't pass on Bonnie when they hit every character in that universe with the ugly/dirty stick(well, she was just lightly tapped). She doesn't look like a super model who's been photoshopped to appear pristine, she looks like a moderately attractive woman who gets her hands dirty on a ranch. She looks real..

Completely forgot about her, I think she is actually the most believable female character ever displayed in a videogame.
A shame that she didn't get any more attention after the first third from RDR

 

[Alx]

+1 for Altair.
The design is simple enough to look realistic in a game with strong historical background, and yet it looks "cool" and is easily recognizable. Very nice work.
I don't think Ezio is as good though. When I first changed the character from his renaissance outfit to his assassin's clothes, I immediately felt it was out of place. I understand that they had to mix the iconic white hood with the Renaissance flamboyance, but the result is not really convincing. Still good looking from a gamer standpoint, but a bit excessive for realism.

Sackboy is a good contender too. Simple and cute. I still don't understand how it hasn't become Sony's official mascot, yet.

 

[FStop7]

This. "What the FUCK is that thing? Why is it apologizing to me? Oh God how I have to fight it?!"

Honorable mention goes to

 

[Granger Danger]

Rosalina
Midna (imp form)

= GameCube = last gen

Best Zelda character ever, but doesn't belong ITT.

 

[Anth0ny]

Between Old Snake and Travis Touchdown for me. This gen has had some pretty damn good designs, now that I look at this thread.

 

[Nert]

Ezio, Sackboy, 'Splosion Man, Faith, the Big Daddy, and Mordin are my favorite character designs this generation. I also really like the design for just about every alien race in the Mass Effect universe; the Elcor and Hanar, in particular, are a real joy.

 

[Femmeworth]

Ema Skye from the Ace Attorney series. I would also say the Ace Attorney cast in general (they count damn it, at least in North America).

A shame that she didn't get any more attention after the first third from RDR

After the mission where you

Spoiler

rescue her and she abruptly leaves the story

, I was sad. I checked a walkthrough to see if she would have any more involvement in the story and was disappointed. It's not too surprising that I stopped playing the game not too long after that.

 

[GamerSoul]

Lots a good ones already.

Most of us wanted it at one point in time.

 

[ultron87]

Lots a good ones already.

*Recon Pic*

Most of us wanted it at one point in time.

EVA Helmet for life!

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Travis Touchdown and Sackboy

Travis has the bonus of also being an awesome character, aside from just his design.