With the writing complete and the characters in place the next step was to visualise what these characters will look like.
I figured it will be important to keep the designs consistent across each character and that the easiest way to do this would be create a set of guidelines to keep them cohesive. At this moment in time when I imagine the game I visualise it to be pixelated, probably due to my inspiration from both Earthbound and Papers, Please. Whilst I am not versed in pixel art of anything I think it could work to my advantage due to it being quite rigid in its layout. Typically characters in this art style are composed within grid systems, typically corresponding with the game consoles capabilities. These grid systems will be a great strength for myself acting as guard rails for my designs. They typically come in 3 variations, 16 bit, 32 bit and 64 bit. I’ll have a look at each of these variations to see what will work best for me.
16 Bit
32 Bit
64 Bit
After reviewing the different styles available to myself I settled on using a 32 bit style. I feel 32 Bit allows for enough detail without over complicating things whilst also remaining quite simple in its approach. It really feels as though it encapsulates the best of both worlds. I think, unlike Papers, Please, that I will be designing full body characters and not just their profiles above the shoulders, the content writing has them coming and going so I think that the full body would work better in this regard.
Mr Boss is the most prevalent character within the story so I think it best to start by designing him. In what I presented for my critique I did have a design for this character, based on the beloved Smiling Friends character, but I feel like it wasn't a strong design for who he is within the story. I started by sketching out what I imagine this character to look like.
When bringing this sketch into figma to develop it digitally I plotted a 32x32 grid to allow me to create the pixelated look I was after. In this stage I found the shading and use of colours to be the hardest part. Whilst it was he hardest it was also the most impactful in how good the character looked I felt.
The landlord design is actually the first I had come up with. Ive carried this design the whole way through as I was really happy with the character and design. This character was used in my critique prototype and was created in the same way as the Mr Boss character.
For the PR Officer I wanted to include something to suggest that the character was actually involved in PR. After a little bit of research I decided that she could hold a clipboard and a microphone to suggest this. I felt this worked well to make her distinct as it is a role that wouldn’t be overtly obvious.
