The story of the mythical Achilles is familiar to many. He's a hero from Greek mythology, an outstanding warrior who became famous during the Trojan War. While developing the initial vision of the game, he was an ideal candidate for becoming a protagonist.
When we started working on the game we wanted to have a model of Achilles ready as soon as possible. That's why we unconventionally approached this task. It was created without a concept, and during the creation process, things like the look of armor or helmet were decided on the go. Only later we concluded that it was time to create a proper model of the main character.
When we created Achilles, we wanted to show him as a mythological hero, and we also wanted him to be unique to our game. That's why we've approached the look of Achilles in such a way that during the attack on Troy he wears armor and uses a shield inspired by Greek mythology. However, in the latter stages of the game, there is a change, and the player gets completely new armor which is unique to our game.
The first step was to prepare a series of basic concept sketches showing only the silhouette of the hero. We wanted just one glimpse of a character that not only looks like a powerful and experienced warrior but also instills fear in the souls of his enemies. Then, having the basic silhouette, the details of his armor and helmet were worked out. The concept artist had full freedom in building the character, the most important thing was to make him unique and expressive.
The final concept of Achilles in our unique armor
The finished concept became the basis for the design of a three-dimensional model. At this point, it is often necessary to verify the artistic vision with the appearance of the character, which will eventually appear in the game. Although it was a very labor-intensive process, thanks to the experience of a talented graphic designer, we were able to translate Achilles' design very faithfully into a three-dimensional environment. It was important to preserve the proportions of the body so that our character would not be "exaggerated" but would at the same time feel like a real hero.
First, a base geometry was created in Modo. Then the model is sent to Zbrush where the whole High Poly model is created. The High Poly model is the base for the creation of the Low Poly model that will be implemented in the game.
A completely separate process, in which we had to put a lot of effort, was to prepare a model of Achilles' head. At this stage, we had to remember that it will express different emotions and each of them must look as natural as possible.
The whole process of Achilles' creation - from first concept sketches to final 3D model - took us 3 months. We are proud of the final effect and we are convinced that you will like our vision of the Greek hero.
Until next time!
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