Hello to all the gamers! Long time no see.
There’s been a ton of stuff happening behind the scenes, including work on Episode 4 of Muffles’ Life Sentence! Character design is usually pretty early in the process and has been on my mind A LOT, so why not talk about it with y’all today?
It’s time to make some misfits! Or produce some people? Illustrate some inmates?!
Methods to the madness
First off, what do I mean by ‘designing a character’?
I’m talking about the art, personality, plot arc, and relationships that a new character has. Some of these things evolve over time (just think about Shatter), but a surprising amount gets figured out before they’re even put in the game!
I don’t just use one method to design new characters. But new characters tend to be created out of one of three major categories:
1. A specific need in terms of plot
2. Messing around with character art
3. Influenced by other media
Now, there’s a ton of overlap within the three in terms of the process of MAKING a character, but it gives a good idea of where the design process STARTS.
The plot demands it! (Best way)
It is my overwhelming opinion that the best way to design a new character is by having a need, and then tailoring a character to fit that need.
Have you ever been playing a game with lots of characters, like an open world adventure game, and there’s characters that have no point to them besides filling empty space? If the game has a town, it should probably be filled with people, right? But because gameplay isn’t focused around knowing the people of the town, the people end up being more set dressing than anything else.
Now let’s take that same example for Muffles- I’ve designed a few towns over the course of three episodes! The first was Blind Eye- an old timey western style town in the middle of a desert. I needed characters to live in the town, but the new setting really demanded something new and interesting, while at the same time not taking me a ton of time (dev work takes so much time).
And thus, cowpoke, miner, and fancy clerk Pettys were born! They fit the context, had a reason to be at Blind Eye, and made it really easy for me to create new and interesting dialogues because they were baked in with ideas.
Another example would be Director Suzan. I needed a character to act as an antagonist early on who would represent the sort of harsh prison reality Muffles’ is waking up to. If she was direct and absolute and angry, she would be the perfect person for other, more lighthearted characters to play off of (Dee).
And so I started playing around with character art revolving around one eye, I made her dialogue all caps, I gave her a vendetta against Dee, etc. Because Suzan was occupying a specific role in the plot, I could figure out the role she needed to fulfill, and then have a ton of fun filling that space.
Starting with the arting (okay method)
Sometimes (rarely) I work on art without a particular character or plot need in mind. I’m just sketching out ideas, making my interpretation of a piece of reference art, or just doodling in pixels.
The amazing thing about creating characters this way is they come to life without any preconceived notions or plans. Your subconscious plays a role in art creation, and this seems like the truest method to let ideas and concepts rise up without you trying to pigeonhole everything based on preconcieved, arbitrary criteria (pursuing ego instead of a truth, or whatever).
This means new characters can break the mold and be super unique! A great example of this in Muffles would be Dee, who I drew before the game was even a solidified idear in my mind. Marcelo would be another good example- as I worked on his smug little face and beady eyes, and kept leaning into that direction, I routinely asked myself ‘just who is this guy?’ And then when an opportunity for a problematic jailer arose, he was the perfect fit for the job.
Drawing from your influences (the worst way, imo)
I think using a lot of reference and media influences to design your characters is hard to do well. When you think about fully formed characters that you REALLY like, it’s hard to be objective about them, and to pull out specific pieces of them to make your own, unique thing. The danger is you copying wholesale, but more likely you’re making something derivative. That in itself isn’t awful, but it can be a disservice to yourself and the new world you’re trying to create.
OFF is a huge inspiration for Muffles, and to bring up Director Suzan again, there’s definitely a bit of Dedan going on as an influence. Another example could be making Constant an Analyze-able character based on loving Paper Mario, where your first character is a studious little Goomba who can analyze enemies and NPCs.
Feel inspired and follow that feeling
Everyone’s going to have their own process, but for me I tend to:
Write characters into my initial episode script based on whatever shenanigans are occurring
I’ll find good visual references and collect some interesting ideas
Then I draw them up with some interesting expressions
When I add them to the game I feel it out and change things a lot to fit the moments I’m making
It’s worked well for me thus far, and with the number of characters in MLS, I needed a good method to keep the characters coming!
In other news…
Life’s been so busy. It’s good, but… I’m looking forward to some slowdown soon. Some big announcements are upcoming.
I’m so thankful to all of y’all who believe in Muffles, believe in me, and believe in positivity and hope and spread those things in our discord. Thank you.
I know at times things can be frustrating, and sometimes you don’t feel heard or respected, and that really sucks. But I believe in you and I believe things get better with time and effort.
Until next time~