03 May 2025

CHARACTER DESIGN PROCESS

Enrico Kanutè

The journey from the initial concept to the finished character is rarely straightforward, making it endlessly fascinating. Each character emerges through this collaborative dance of creativity, technical problem-solving, and narrative purpose—ultimately becoming someone players will remember long after they've put the game down. And that, after all, is the accurate measure of successful character design.

Character design is never truly finished—it evolves through continuous refinement. As our game development progresses, we adjust designs based on gameplay testing, narrative developments, and technical considerations. Sometimes, a character who works beautifully in concept needs adjustment compared to the actual game environment.

This iterative approach keeps the design process alive throughout development. When playtesters struggled to connect emotionally with Aurora, we revisited her facial features and added subtle elements that made her expressions more readable during gameplay conversations. When her winter gear proved too similar to another character's silhouette, we modified distinctive elements to improve player recognition.

Iteration and Refinement:

The Path to Excellence

Throughout this entire process, we constantly balance artistic expression with gameplay functionality. A character design might be visually spectacular but problematic if it creates gameplay confusion or technical limitations. Our most successful characters emerge when artistic vision and game mechanics harmonize.

For our Northern Norway project, this meant ensuring characters were visually distinctive while maintaining a cohesive world aesthetic. It also meant creating culturally authentic designs that still read clearly to players unfamiliar with regional specifics. Finally, it meant developing visual hierarchies that help players understand character roles and relationships instantly.

The Balancing Act

With approved designs, the production phase transforms 2D concepts into 3D realities. I collaborate closely with our modeling team as they build the character meshes, offering guidance on maintaining the concept's essence through the transition to 3D.

Texture artists receive detailed notes on material properties—how the worn fabric of Aurora’s clothes should capture years of use or how the repaired tears in her weather gear tell stories of past challenges. When the rigging team prepares the character for animation, I advise how his movement should reflect her physical and psychological capabilities.

From Concept to Production

Our setting demanded characters who felt shaped by their environment. Northern Norway's dramatic landscapes—the jagged mountains, isolated fjords, and unforgiving sea—influenced every aspect of our character designs.

We developed visual stories of adaptation for Aurora and others in our cast. Their gear incorporates repurposed industrial materials from abandoned oil platforms alongside traditional insulation techniques. Their skin shows the effects of wind and reflected snow glare. Even their postures reflect people accustomed to bracing against coastal winds.

Northern Norway:

A Character of Its Own

As our concepts solidified, practical considerations entered the conversation. How would Aurora’s layered clothing work with our animation system? Could players recognize her silhouette at a distance during gameplay? Would her design remain readable in the low-light conditions that dominate our game's winter settings?

I worked closely with our technical artists to ensure the design balanced artistic vision with technical feasibility. We adjusted the bulkiness of her cold-weather gear to accommodate movement animations and modified some color choices to ensure she remained visible against snowy backgrounds.

Technical Considerations:

Bridging Art and Gameplay

A visually striking character remains hollow without psychological depth. Working with our writers, I developed visual cues that hint at Aurora’s internal conflicts. Her carefully maintained hair and the one decorative element on her otherwise utilitarian clothing speak to her effort to maintain humanity and dignity amidst the chaos. The Wolf talisman she wears on her arm reflects her commitment to preserving cultural identity even as the old world has vanished.

These visual storytelling elements create immediate recognition and emotional connection for players, even before dialogue or animation brings the character fully to life.

Narrative Integration:

The Character's Inner Life

Character design is never linear. My process involves creation, feedback, and refinement cycles that gradually shape the character. For Aurora, my initial sketches explored different body types and postures, trying to find the silhouette that instantly communicated her background and current role.

After sharing these early explorations with the team, we gravitated toward a design that balanced physical strength with visible age—someone shaped by decades of physical labor but showing the toll of post-collapse leadership. Each iteration refined her features: the deep weather lines around her eyes, the practical but personalized layers of clothing, and the tools attached to her belt that tell stories of daily survival.

The Iterative Dance

With purpose defined and research in hand, the conceptualization phase begins. This is where artistic intuition merges with gameplay requirements. For Aurora, our former fisherman turned community leader, I started with mood boards that captured the weathered resilience I wanted to convey—photos of fjords in winter abandoned fishing equipment, and makeshift repairs on traditional buildings.

Rather than creating characters in isolation, I work closely with our narrative team to understand each character's emotional journey. Aurora’s story of loss and reluctant leadership informed subtle design elements: the careful preservation of her father's fishing knife, the makeshift repairs to once-quality gear, and the way she carries herself with authority and visible exhaustion.

Conceptualization:

Where Imagination Meets Intent

Research is the invisible foundation beneath every compelling character. My research phase took me down fascinating paths for our Norwegian post-apocalyptic setting. I spent weeks studying traditional Sámi clothing and how it evolved for extreme weather conditions, modern Norwegian outdoor gear, and how materials might be repurposed after a societal breakdown.

I interviewed Norwegian colleagues about regional dialects and mannerisms, collected hundreds of reference photos of weather-beaten faces from coastal communities, and even studied how different fabrics degraded over time in harsh conditions. This research doesn't directly appear in the final designs, but it informs every decision, giving our characters the authentic texture that players subconsciously recognize.

Research:

The Invisible Scaffold

Every character begins with purpose. Before my pencil touches paper, I understand exactly what role this character will play in our game world. Will they be a protagonist navigating the frozen wastes, a mysterious ally with knowledge of pre-collapse technologies, or perhaps a hardened survivor from an isolated fishing community?

For our Northern Norway project, we needed characters who embodied resilience against both natural elements and post-societal challenges. Our lead designer wanted personalities who felt authentic to the region while reflecting the dramatic changes a collapse would bring to cultural identities and survival priorities.

The Foundation:

Understanding Purpose and Context

The morning light filters through my studio window as I settle at my desk, sketchbook open, and tablet powered on. Today marks the beginning of a new character design journey for our post-apocalyptic survival game set in the harsh beauty of Northern Norway.

As a character artist, these first moments before creation always feel sacred—full of possibility and the exciting challenge of bringing new personas to life.