{"id":6215,"date":"2023-11-27T17:17:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cranky-kare.208-123-215-145.plesk.page\/?p=6215"},"modified":"2024-02-22T13:58:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T13:58:53","slug":"creating-character-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ctrlaltdeal.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/27\/creating-character-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Character Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When we first conceived of\u00a0Ctrl Alt Deal,\u00a0<\/em>we wanted to use procedural generation to develop lots of scenarios and characters to test the player\u2019s skill. One of our ideas was roguelike portrait selection, where NPCs would be randomly generated, including their appearance. But that would require literally hundreds of custom pieces of art\u2014both time-consuming and expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then got a great idea: roguelike portrait generation! We could take features (such as eye color or mouth shape) and mix-and-match them, Mr. Potato Head style, for an endless variety of characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, that didn\u2019t quite work out. We quickly discovered that while we\u00a0could<\/em>\u00a0procedurally generate portraits, the results weren\u2019t what we wanted. Because we had to be cognizant of head shape and position (we needed everyone to be looking in the same direction, otherwise slotting in a new feature wouldn\u2019t work), all the pictures had a\u00a0sameness\u00a0<\/em>about them. They all looked like corporate mug shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The portraits could be distinguished from one another, which was a plus, but we found ourselves not really caring which face we got. In short, the people lacked personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of randomly generated portraits, we came up with an idea we call \u201cactors playing roles.\u201d Our writing team came up with a character sketch\u2014name, background, and personality\u2014for an individual. We passed the description on to our illustrator,\u00a0Michael Csokas<\/a>, and he came up with a sketch of the character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of our first tests was Casper, a lowly scientist. Michael captured Casper\u2019s hesitant charm with his body language and expression, then added individual touches such as his glowing LED tie and mysterious neon beaker. Even the quick sketch of Casper gave us incredible depth of character and personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the base portrait was done, we received multiple iterations from Michael that set the character (the \u201cactor\u201d) in different jobs and situations (the \u201crole\u201d). In his base configuration, Casper might be a junior-level scientist. But in another configuration, he\u2019s the head of the lab, with a private office and high-tech equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, we can get a variety of pictures that appeal to our players, and we can use procedural generation of levels to select the most appropriate role for the character. We can also showcase progression this way, as a character\u2019s promotion might come with a portrait upgrade. Check out manager Casper\u2019s fancy red lab coat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creating a variety of portraits for our characters was a tricky challenge, but our solution works great. It emphasizes the fresh replayability of the game without sacrificing its personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope you enjoyed meeting one of our wacky cast of employees in\u00a0Ctrl Alt Deal<\/em>. Next in our art series: how we took these character portraits and turned them into icons for our character network screen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we first conceived of\u00a0Ctrl Alt Deal,\u00a0we wanted to use procedural generation to develop lots of scenarios and characters to test the player\u2019s skill. One of our ideas was roguelike portrait selection, where NPCs would be randomly generated, including their appearance. But that would require literally hundreds of custom pieces of art\u2014both time-consuming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-6215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devlog","tag-ctrlaltdeal"],"yoast_head":"\nCreating Character Portraits - ctrl.alt.DEAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our blog on creating character portraits takes you through the process of how we came up with our zany cast of characters!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ctrlaltdeal.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/27\/creating-character-portraits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creating Character Portraits - 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