What went into creating John Obituary?

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The first step in creating our main character was trying to design a their clothes. The main idea was to create a "futuristic" and sleek looking suit, that would stand out to the player and from the environment, while maintaining that retro-futuristic look and feel.

The two main (and biggest) inspirations for the suit came from the Vault Suit from the Fallout series, and Morgan Yu's Transtar suit from Prey (2017). Designing the suit, something [mostly] skintight felt like the best direction to go. However a baggier suit was also sketched, although that felt too out of place, considering the setting and the retro futuristic style of the first level.

Transtar Suit | Prey (2017)

Vault Suit | Fallout 1 (1997), Fallout 3 (2008) & Fallout 4 (2015)

Next, it was up to the team to decide whether to go for a Male or Female protagonist. The consensus was that the suits looked better on a Male protagonist. And following that - variations on the suit. The further explorations were to push the suit further into the retro-futuristic style, and also to determine a plausible use for it in the setting. The white and red colouration would serve to make the character stand out from the environment, the white being in contrast to the colours of the background. The final suit was designed with the use for cryosleep in mind - something that looked comfortable. Padding lines the sides, the arms from the elbows, and the lower legs. The upper torso/ neck area of the suit was designed to have a sort of neck brace- imagined to be used in emergency situations where the ship lost pressure. This would be where the wearer could attach a helmet to the suit, acting as a temporary/ emergency space suit. The wrists also have metal rings around the wrists, where the user could attach gloves, with the same emergency situation in mind.

The character's face was sketched out with the intention of having a serious look to him. His face changed slightly with the different variations - a softer look was tried, however the more serious, or "stoic" look was chosen over the others. The messy hair/ mullet was inspired by the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3 (2004), Naked Snake.

Sketches

Variations

Turn Around

Model

Model Rigged