Hello here,
We're starting a series of development updates about our upcoming game Haven. We will share some information on how we are working on the game. For the first one we tell you about the character design of our two heroes in Haven.
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Yu and Kay character design
Haven is about two lovers escaping to a forgotten planet. Character Artist Koyorin joined our team to design the characters and their complete range of expressions. Their art is a perfect fit for Haven because they manage to communicate a lot of nuances in the characters expressions, even in a simple portrait.
Research for Yu and Kay’s everyday life on Haven – by Koyorin
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Koyorin - Mini Interview
Hi, I’m Koyorin. I’m a freelance character designer and illustrator, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with The Game Bakers as their character artist for Haven.
– What makes a good character design?
From a purely subjective standpoint, the most effective character designs to me are the ones that are not over-designed and mostly avoid functionless parts or patterns. While I’m not a purely function over form person myself, I do think there’s a threshold for that haha. A design being both simple and effective helps it to be more memorable, in my opinion.
– Can you tell us a little bit more about the design of Yu and Kay?
It was intended to carry the look of “researchers”, hence the primarily white outfits which were mean to be reminiscent of a lab coat, or people who work in a research environment. And yet, they also needed to have the look of “otherworldly” and “adventurous”, which were aspects I took into consideration when creating their overall designs. A few early drafts of them were even more otherworldly and even somewhat alien-like, but we reeled it back to keep them in more relatable territory.
– What is your secret to make them touching?
When I draw people by themselves or interacting, I think subtleties say a lot about a character’s feelings and inner mood. A lot can be said with very little, and on certain occasions, even subduing things says as much about the mood as exaggeration does. Body language and gestures are very useful tools for this purpose.
– Who are your favorite character designers?
A few of my personal favourite character designers are Akihiko Yoshida, Hideo Minaba, Rui Tomono, Shigenori Soejima, Shunsuke Saito, Yusuke Kozaki, Yuya Nagai, and many more! I also love a lot of illustrators who don’t necessarily focus on character design (or even characters!) but the list could then go on for a long time haha.
More of Koyorin’s work on Twitter Instagram Artstation or their Patreon.
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The first time we...
Yu and Kay are already together when you start the game. They have lived a lot of adventures as a couple before. In particular they’ve been through the first times that are never forgotten in a relationship: the first kiss, the first fight, the first night… Here’s their first pillow fight, it wasn’t the last!
Feel like changing your wallpaper? We will make the First Time Pictures available here in wallpaper format. The Pillow Fight is already available.
Check the timelapse video below to see how the art was drawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=Ia2RKHfdLJc
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Join our Discord and receive the Newsletter
If you'd like to receive these dev updates on a regular basis, to share with our community of players, to ask us some questions or give us feedback don't hesitate to:
- Register for our newsletter: http://www.thegamebakers.com/haven/
- Join our Discord server hhttps://discordapp.com/invite/thegamebakers
Cheers!