Dragon Age: Mark of the Assassin Outfit Rantings
psdo:
One of the reasons I really like the costume design in Dishonored is that they very very mindfully steered clear of anything that they knew they couldn't make look good without sinking undue hours into it. No one wears skirts because video game skirts look terrible. Any additional volume in the sleeves (like Jessamine's) is kept trim and either above or below the elbow, meaning it won't look fucking terrible when the arm bends and it won't be completely ridiculous when it doesn't billow or move. Characters are bald or have short hair/updos because otherwise physics.
I feel like a lot of the time Dragon Age (thus far) has thrown its hands up and said "screw playing within our limitations!" or alternately, sticking their fingers in their ears and going LA-LA-LA WHAT LIMITATIONS, thereby making said limitations stand out all the more as far as characters are concerned. The dresses are inflexible lumpy tubes and yet they 1) make more dresses and 2) decided to have Isolde sitting down in MotA for some reason even though it makes the skirt mutate into a tumor. We know and they know that visible neck seams are a problem, but half the time they do things to highlight it in the worst way instead of designing to hide or diminish it, and here comes a bit of needless snark but seriously, people are going to notice the abundance of dog collars a lot sooner than they're going to notice a lack of variety in necklines.
Take Tallis for instance, and the token Dragon Age dog collar that doesn't look like an accessory so much as a sleeve into which they slipped her dismembered neck like the socket it is. There's more than one way to hide a neck seam, and not every outfit that buttons up to the neck looks as uptight or fussy as they must think it does for the lengths they go to avoid it.
Original | Integrated | Because I have a sleeve fetish and am procrastinating
I am really bothered by this stuff because what a character wears is really important to character, and Bioware is the company with the characters right?!?!/1/
And really? That's supposed to be a billowy gathered sleeve? You can pretty clearly tell where different modelers were involved by how much they understand how fabric works. Take this blue outfit for example, and compare it to the outfit worn by Hawke on the left.
It may not the greatest fabric as far as digital fabric goes — it can't be, because the engine behaves like a bitter high school freshman writing nihilistic poetry on notebook paper warped by his eyeliner-tinted tears [can you tell I've been watching a lot of Yahtzee lately] — but it has some nice small gathers by the shoulder and big folds towards the elbow i.e. it's slightly more fabric-like than the puckered tubes* that are Tallis' sleeves, and orders of magnitude more fabric-like than this utterly broken and inexplicably art deco shit Hawke is wearing.
Here are some more thoughts on that outfit that cleverly change from constructive criticisms to incredulous mockery halfway through, and here is where I tried to redesign it in the spirit of the original for funsies.
So if I knew that there are factors involved that could result in the model not looking at all like what I've designed (time constraint, certain modelers, certain lighting, crappy engine, no cloth physics) I would design something that would look good in those circumstances. Time permitting, I would also see what could be done to get that outlier modeler to shape up, because a little birdy told me you're only as good as your weakest link and the weakest link was allowed to dress the protagonist.
I consider myself to be at the very front of the line to give Bioware my inconsequential fan!pardon since I can sympathize with the hardships of game development. There are certainly people who think the stuff I am annoyed by the most are just insignificant details… on the other hand, the details are often where Bioware games shine the brightest… and suck the worst, so seeing some details carry on sucking and twiddling my thumbs waiting to find out if these things can please finally stop sucking in the next game is, to put it mildly, frustrating. I sure can yap about it all I want on the internet but who knows if that accomplishes anything besides making me feel better.
FOR EXAMPLE I AM WORRIED THAT THEY THINK THAT IS WHAT A CORSET CAN LOOK LIKE AND/OR CAN DO TO A BODY
For the benefit of certain parties, here is Corsetry 101 put together by yours truly for the blog run by yours truly. It should also be noted that corsets can only reduce where it is anatomically possible to do so, i.e the space between the ribs and hips which can include the floating and lowermost ribs, oh and the point of a corset is waist reduction and bust/back support, not… whatever this is doing. YOU CANNOT COMPRESS THE STERNUM. Here is a video demonstrating how to put on a corset which is kind of important for knowing how they work and what they do. If you are in the market for designing weird body shapes don’t look at corsets, which can only reduce what’s already there; look at additive structural undergarments like crinolines, panniers, bustles, petticoats, hoop skirts, and so on.
So help me this outfit is actually BALLS-DROPPINGLY, BRAIN-MELTINGLY GORGEOUS but if this farce of a corset isn’t fixed, the whole thing is moot.
*Just imagine Yahtzee saying 'puckered tube'. Pah-ked tchyoob hehehehghghfhg
At first I thought, no, it’s too snarky to post here. But then I thought… it’s exactly as much snark as is deserved, and Bioware, please get it together.
Unlockable concept art in Remember Me!
Unlockable concept art in Remember Me!
Video game clothing porn aka The Witcher 2. [via MarcinB on...
Video game clothing porn aka The Witcher 2.
[via MarcinB on CGHUB]
Hello! My name is Maria and I draw a webcomic in my free time....
Hello! My name is Maria and I draw a webcomic in my free time. Thank you for your blog - it's awesome, it made me think about a lot of things. Your rants, tips and critiques were really helpful and I like all your examples of good costumes and clothes. And I think because of you my armors became much more better than before.
So… I wanted to show this to you and hear(read?) your critique.
Umm… this character is my token sexy lady who likes to mess with people and has a "WTFisthis" sense of style (Her casual clothes look like this http://i.imgur.com/YbnXk.jpg ). So, I wanted to make her armor feminine yet practical, and since she's more dexterous kind of warrior there's no heavy armor plates.
Thanks again,
-Maria
I love it as is! It's ridiculously cute. I just had a couple of thoughts that you can take or leave at your leisure :)
Hi there! I'm really bad at drawing so I don't have anything to show yet but I was wondering if you could help me with a character. I decided that maybe it would be easier to first decide his fashion sense before creating the specific outfit. He lives in a Firefly-like setting, but with cool magics ~o3o~ I'm trying to go with something that shows his graceful silhouette without neglecting his street-like personality if that makes any sense? I'd love if you could point me in the right direction!
Hmmmm… I would give him pretty trim, fitted (but not new or super fashionable) clothes and a long coat on top. The fitted clothes will give him a sleek appearance that would allow you to appreciate his graceful motions unimpeded. Now imagine a coat or some kind of long accessory almost like the trail of a lightbike in Tron or the trails of light from a car in a slow exposure shot. Things hanging off of the character move as a reaction to the motions of the character. If the character is moving smoothly and gracefully, the coat would compliment and highlight that.
That's quite a lot of touchy feely stuff but I hope it makes sense!
How do you feel about the armor designs for the Monster Hunter games?
amydentata: batchix: whatifthewolvescome: characterdesign101: ...
Principles of Problematic Character Design, the Second
Shrodinger's Breasts
The tendency of costume designers (esp. of the video game variety) to sacrifice sense & logic in order to show some part of the female breast.
After all, if we cannot see them, are they really there?
——-
We already knew this one, but it's not a list of problematic character design elements without it!
I'm naming my punk band Shrodinger's Breasts.
Damn it! costume designers? concept designers? More like the producers, directors and studio execs.
You constantly get direction like, "Make her more sexy." "make a sexy nurse." "The one girl isn't sexy enough." "That guy looks too girly. Make his muscles bigger."
Stop blaming the lowest man on the totem pole.
In the games industry, the actual artists are just cogs in the machine, made to churn out assets as fast as possible. Art directors and producers are generally older, more affluent, invested in the status quo, and by extension, douchier. They also call the shots.
Yes, thank you, I am in the same industry. I also happen to be quite low on the totem pole. And not everyone down here is completely blameless.
Plenty of these cogs in the machine have sexist, objectifying tendencies all on their own. It is a concept artist's responsibility to provide creative solutions to the needs of other people and departments, and those people may demand sexist crap, but sometimes, all on their own, the only solutions the concept artist provides are ALL overtly and excessively sexualized or gratuitous. That is a problem. Even though final decision lies with the higher ups, complacency on any rung of the ladder contributes to the problem. You know what's even more sad than a bunch of soulless execs deciding to use the sexualized, gratuitous character designs? When not a single damn person on the food chain had any inclination to do it any other way.When these ridiculous character designs are the only ideas on the table. It may not be a problem that can be solved by one person at the bottom of said totem pole, but when no one is trying and, in fact, when artists are excused from having any responsibility to try, what changes are ever going to happen?
Here is another concept artist's perspective.
Season 2, Ep. 16 - Graphics vs. Aesthetics This week, we...
Season 2, Ep. 16 - Graphics vs. Aesthetics
This week, we discuss the important difference between the often-confused "graphics" and "aesthetics."
psdo: [full size][full size] Now with another part :0 Still...
psdo:
Now with another part :0 Still working on it. The rendering takes the longest.
[Dragon Age fan character]
Some advice, some touchy-feely quasi-philosophy, lots of WIPs.
femfreq: This is the second in a series of three videos...
This is the second in a series of three videos exploring the Damsel in Distress trope in video games. In this installment we look at the "dark and edgy" side of the trope in more modern games and how the plot device is often used in conjunction with graphic depictions of violence against women. Over the past decade we've seen developers try to spice up the old Damsel in Distress cliche by combining it with other tropes involving victimized women including the disposable woman, the mercy killing and the woman in the refrigerator.
Due to the nature of the topic, this video comes with a trigger warning for violence against women.
For more information and a full transcript visit: http://www.feministfrequency.com/2013/05/damsel-in-distress-part-2-tropes-vs-women/
DEFINITIONS:
The Damsel in Distress: As a trope the damsel in distress is a plot device in which a female character is placed in a perilous situation from which she cannot escape on her own and must then be rescued by a male character, usually providing an incentive or motivation for the protagonist's quest. This is most often accomplished via kidnapping but it can also take the form of petrification, a curse or demon possession. Traditionally the woman in distress is a love interest or family member of the hero; princesses, wives, girlfriends and sisters are all commonly used to fill the role.
Damsel in the Refrigerator: A combination of the Women in Refrigerators trope and the Damsel in Distress trope. Typically this happens when a female character is killed near the beginning of a story but her soul is then stolen or trapped and must be rescued or freed by the male hero. Occasionally time travel or some other form of resurrection may be involved in the quest to bring the women in question back from the dead.
Disposable Damsel: A variant of the Damsel in Distress trope in which the hero fails to save the woman in peril either because he arrives too late or because (surprise twist!) it turns out she has been dead the whole time.
Euthanized Damsel: A combination of the Damsel in Distress trope and the Mercy Killing trope. This usually happens when the player character must murder the woman in peril "for her own good". Typically the damsel has been mutilated or deformed in some way by the villain and the "only option left" to the hero is to put her "out of her misery" himself. Occasionally the damsel'ed character will be written so as beg the player to kill her.
It's back up!
Is it acceptable to submit more than one design in a single submission for critique, if they're related somehow (same world, or different projects but similar design goals)?
One character at a time is better. You can always submit multiple characters.
Click the submit button :D
Click the submit button :D
Real talk: I’m sitting on a bunch of crits I need to get to, but I can’t really get...
Real talk:
I’m sitting on a bunch of crits I need to get to, but I can’t really get excited about some of them because I have to wonder if I’ll be spending more time on the crit than was spent on the art itself.
Because of this, I’ve added some submission guidelines. For anyone who has submitted art for a critique and wants to resubmit based on the new guidelines, you’ve got a week to do so since I will be postponing crits until next weekend. Busy work week ahead (and behind; sorry for the relative silence this week).
If you have questions, you know where the ask button is :)
howtonotsuckatgamedesign: Great question and super helpful...
Great question and super helpful response regarding designing all-black dressed characters (need to be dark for stealth reasons): http://costumecommunityservice.tumblr.com/post/51411818563/what-advice-do-you-give-for-an-outfit-thats-supposed
I'd also like to add that an interesting silhouette really helps with an almost completely dark character. Check out Batman's sil here, the blades on his wrists, the pointy ears on his hood, the batwing style cuts on his cape.
And you could add a dynamic color element. Like something that needs to be covered to go into stealth mode. Think of an interesting face for the character for example and then hide it when stealth is need. Or lights to turn off. ect
Cheers.
Thank you kindly!
how do you feel about the costume designs from the latest fire emblem game? I especially love how the promotion classes feel like a logical progression in armor and clothing, but I'd like your opinion on the clothing of classes like the dark mage (tharja being a specific example) and the feasibility of the armor worn by cordelia!
I've never more than glanced at a Fire Emblem game, but looking at the art for the latest installment, I'm not really excited by it but it's also better than I would have expected.
Tharja's outfit is… special… and Cordelia's is cute but has boob cup armor and "garters."
I ought to write a post about how evoking the idea of lingerie or bikini armor is just as tiresome as actually dressing a character in lingerie or bikini armor.
What advice do you give for an outfit that's supposed to be all black/very muted and desaturated colours? The dark colours are an almost ninja/batman type thing were the darkness is needed for both stealth and a mysterious imposing figure. Breaking the outfit up with colour isn't really an option, is there anyway to make it visually appealing?
Use different materials with different textures and specularity (shininess)! This critique touches upon it and has examples.
howtonotsuckatgamedesign: psdo: Whatever it takes to get a...
psdo:
Whatever it takes to get a person thinking about their design existing in reality instead of a video game. You can't fudge things as much when the graphical fidelity lets you see every stitch. There needs to be an uncanny valley chart for clothes…
"Cosplayability" is a neat measuring trick.
Also:
Sometimes artists just make very basic outfits or put too much of the character's iconic features into the drawing style. I tell my students to imagine their design as a cosplay so they make sure it's iconic on its own.
My students then find ways to make the character instantly recognizable and distinguishable from other designs even if it is a regular person just dressing up as their character.
Teacher approved trick! Try it out, see if it makes a difference :)
Maria Dolores Fernandez (marilola678)
Maria Dolores Fernandez (marilola678):Maria Dolores is using Pinterest, an online pinboard to collect and share what inspires you.Seriously the biggest and best sorted collection of references for concept artists and costume designers I've seen so far.
Really, that's damn impressive and a super helpful ressource.
Holy hello yes. If you're ever at a loss for how to embellish something, check this out.
And in honor of the game coming out shortly after Remember Me,...
And in honor of the game coming out shortly after Remember Me, the protagonists of The Last Of Us, Joel and Ellie.
Releases June 14. (PS3 exclusive)
i understand you drew a "how to undress lutece properly" piece and i commend you for your talent. but i think if it's fanart, then the person should be allowed to dress rosalind however he/she wants to. i don't think you need to force people to be historically accurate. i mean i guess you get a weird laugh/kick out of seeing inappropriately designed material, but let people draw as they wish!
Well, I didn't draw it, so you can send your comment to the artist… who actually designed Rosalind in the first place, and who (unless I am mistaken, but I doubt I am) merely intended to provide a resource for people who might rather draw historically accurate underthings.
Additionally, expressing one's preference for things to be done a different way hardly amounts to forcing.
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