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KHI makes a KH game! Discussion #2: Characters and Character Design



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Shamdeo

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I'm glad to see that we got a lengthy discussion going in the previous thread, but since a week has elapsed I thought we'd get going on the second topic. So with our story themes in mind that will hopefully get narrowed down soon, let's get talking about characters and character design. So like the first discussion, we'll tackle this by having you guys answer a series of prompts.

This week's theme is:
Story, Narrative, and Themes Design
Characters and Character Design
Art Direction and Interface Design
World and Level Design
Gameplay and Battle System Design
Character Growth Development and Encounter Design
Tertiary Gameplay Design (Mini-Games)
Analyzing the Total Experience


The second half of this discussion will also allow you to post some of your sketches and doodles or color palettes that you come up with.

Also I'll add more prompts as the come up or are pertinent to the discussion. Enjoy!

Characters
+ Who are the main protagonist and antagonist? What is there background and motivation? How do they develop over the course of the game in their roles?
+ Aside from your main protagonist and antagonist, what characters support these two and in what capacity? How do their roles play into the themes of the game?
+ How much is too much? Do you have many support characters or just a few? Do these characters have a defined personality and character arc? How do they play into the themes you've established in the game?


Character Design (Post your sketches if you will.)
+ What about your protagonist or antagonist's design makes them look and feel like a protagonist? What design characteristics do these character's have that could send the right signals to the player that you want to establish? (ex: A mysterious character having concealing clothing.)
+ What color palettes would you like to use for your characters? These are the primary colors that you can define the character's look and clothes by.
+ What about your character design sets it apart and yet complements the Disney-style characters that will be in the Kingdom Hearts games?
 

Box_ghost

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Characters
+ Who are the main protagonist and antagonist? What is there background and motivation? How do they develop over the course of the game in their roles?


I don't know about everyone else, but I still feel Sora should be the protagonist. As for antagonist, I feel someone contrasting to Ansem - Seeker of Darkness, but contradictorishly complimentary. Maybe the villian ASoD didn't get to become?

Aside from your main protagonist and antagonist, what characters support these two and in what capacity? How do their roles play into the themes of the game?

Clearly Aqua has to show up. Ven and Terra can if others want. Possibly the others' of the Organization's more nicer members like Lea and Demyx's other. But need more OC's that aren't connected to the Xehanort Saga. Also, every story needs a Biggs and a Wedge.

They could be specific world support. Like a party member you don't have to switch out for but could hel your/party/each other if in close proximity of each other.

Crtain characters activate by other events in he game. Hell, some could even be choice exclusive.

How much is too much? Do you have many support characters or just a few? Do these characters have a defined personality and character arc? How do they play into the themes you've established in the game?
Anyone brought in from the Xehanort Saga would probably just be a cameo. 'Sorry for all that mess X amount of years ago Sora. Thanks for helping me get my body back. Later!'

Character Design (Post your sketches if you will.)

I will post an older Sora later. And maybe an antagonist. If I can think of one.
 

Comoman

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I don't know about Sora being the main protagonist. It's hard for us as fans to keep Sora's personality true and not do whatever we want with it. But if we were to make our own protagonist it would probably be easier not to screw things up.

And about the sketches, are we just drawing whatever idea that comes into our heads or are we going to try and fit them with some of the idea discussions? Maybe it's just me but I don't think it would be such a bad idea to have something directly to go on.
 

JerRocks2day

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What kind of roles are we gonna boil it down to? You know in terms of involvement? I know there's writers, character designers, etc. But what about Creative Consultants, prop designers, layout artists, etc?
 

FormMaster715

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If we were to create a completely new KH game, then I think it would be better to create new protagonists that are parallels to Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Even different character designs would be cool to think about, too! Anyone else agree?
 

kingudamu

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yey, it's C.D. week!! //happy g00ber :3



ne, is it too soon to post sketches? if so, im just gonna leave it like this:

Spoiler Spoiler Show


critisim is much loved here <3


im leaving this too^^
Character Creation Form
Character Creation Form
Character Creation Form-Blank by ~Yumiko-Shinobi on deviantART
some basic chara creation forms^^
 
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Wehrmacht

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Some heartless doodles idk (drag the image to another tab for full-view)

instead of giving them an insignia i went ahead and just gave them heart shaped holes with visible ribcages to make them look more visceral

critisim is much loved here <3

Too lanky, too tall. Muscle, friend; humans have muscles.
 

kingudamu

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^^^i like the heartless sketches to the left
it got stretchedT^T i have 2 different comps and when i transfer one pis to the other, it does this. ima try and post it from the computer at the libary tomorrow.after i do more color.
so....are we also doing FF and Disney characters as well? or are we leavign them alone for now..?
 

Wehrmacht

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you can do whatever you want i suppose, if it'd be in the game it's fair game (lol)
 

Relix

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I'll try to post up sketches of characters and enemies like the heartless during the week. I'm diggin' those heartless sketches tho.

I'm thinking of creating an enemy close to the heartless in appearance and nature, but I'm gonna change their background, how they are formed, and their intellect.
 

Tenyas

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Blech, I need more direction than just 'draw imposing things that would freak you out in game'.

Perhaps more mature/scarred things are in order. :B
goddammitIneedascannerfek
 

Zen

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Blech, I need more direction than just 'draw imposing things that would freak you out in game'.

Perhaps more mature/scarred things are in order. :B
goddammitIneedascannerfek

The one to the left looks like that alien cockroach from MiB.

I'll try to post some doodles when I can. Probably just heartless designs since I still need more practice with human proportions, clothing and whatnot.
 

MATGSY

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I wanna repeat my nomination for new Head Disney Villain since it's more appropriate here. Maleficent worked fine in her role but as the series goes on & is especially apparent in Coded, she a bit lacking in the mastermind department. Part of this is due to her being from a medieval world & thus can't fully comprehend concepts like computers. But a bigger downfall is her personality: the ego, the sense of entitlement & worst of all the impulsiveness.

She didn't get invited to a birthday party (why would she even care?) so she swears revenge against an entire kingdom. The kids in Halloween Town remind her of Oogie Boogie, so she decides spur of the moment to resurrect him. The heck did she even expect him to do that she Pete or the heartless couldn't have done? Why not some bigger thought-out plan for reviving Disney villains instead of just this one-off occurrence? Hell, the plan to get rid of Santa Claus is equally spontaneous. MX tells her about the PoH & she's all "oh, kidnap them & I'll rule the galaxy!" I seriously doubt she stopped to think that there would even be a step past opening the door.

Take away the magic powers & dragon form & she's basically Jesse from Team Rocket, a comic relief villain with a highly overblown ego. So I say she dies for good in KH3 & a new bad guy from the Disney animated canon takes her place. Someone a hell of a lot smarter & capable of truly rivalling the main villain.

Hence, I nominate......
Xanatos.JPG

David Xanatos from Gargoyles. The man with so many plans, TV tropes has about half a dozen pages named after him. Granted he's from a tv show which might hamper the odds of Square ever utilizing him but hey this is our game, no worries here.

Xanatos seeks immortality & will certainly do anything to get it. This would put him smack dab in the center of the game's conflict, trying to get his own share of ultimate power. He always plans out his schemes in a way so even if he's "foiled" he still gained something from it, effectively making him impossible to ever completely defeat. He's a genius of the stereotypical mad scientist level (I.E. knowledgeable in whatever field the plot demands), having made killer robots & clones alike. He can be a direct threat when need be, trained in martial arts & wears powered armor.

But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of him is his disapproval of revenge. If it suits his goals, he can completely drop his feud with the heroes & make peace, as he's done in the Gargoyles show. This alone is a refreshing change from Maleficent. It also could be an interesting exploration of Sora's character: He was way too quick to forgive Riku for trying to kill him. It be interesting to see a villain that tests the limits of what Sora will forgive.

Oh, & his name starts with X, dude's basically Xehanort before there was a Xehanort!
 

JerRocks2day

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I could go for Xanatos as the main Disney villain in a Kingdom Hearts game. :) I actually envisioned that his role in KH would include Radient Garden; at the start of the game, he would make an alliance with the Hollow Bastion Restoration committee and help rebuilt Radient Garden, but has a hidden agenda of his own. Eventually, Sora and co learn that he's been hiding Gargoyles [Manhattan Clan] in his newly established Enterprise tower (similar to that in the tv show).

I have more ideas for this, but this is just a starter. What do you think?

To continue on, since we're considering Gargoyles involvement in the KH universe, how would this sound: TifaXGoliath pairing! I haven't played FF7 or any game involving Tifa (other than KH2), but from my experience of KH2 and from what I've read, I think she would make an excellent stand-in for Elisa Maza in the KH universe; they're both tough fighters; they both have a soft, caring side; and they certainly know what to do in any situation.

Thus, Tifa and Goliath would make an excellent couple.

My only concern of including the Gargoyles in the KH universe is how are Lex, Brooklyn, Broadway, Bronx and Hudson gonna give themselves their names when the setting's not in New York?
 
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MATGSY

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To continue on, since we're considering Gargoyles involvement in the KH universe, how would this sound: TifaXGoliath pairing! I haven't played FF7 or any game involving Tifa (other than KH2), but from my experience of KH2 and from what I've read, I think she would make an excellent stand-in for Elisa Maza in the KH universe; they're both tough fighters; they both have a soft, caring side; and they certainly know what to do in any situation.

Thus, Tifa and Goliath would make an excellent couple.

My only concern of including the Gargoyles in the KH universe is how are Lex, Brooklyn, Broadway, Bronx and Hudson gonna give themselves their names when the setting's not in New York?
Um, what? I don't think Tifa really even alive in KH, just an embodiment of Cloud. & her with Goliath is just too random. Let's just have a Gargoyles world for all the characters of the show while Xanatos himself pops up in multiple worlds.

Typing up the Xanatos post gave me tons of inspirations for new characters, mainly the main villain & other characters connected to him. I'll be back in about a day when I have it all sorted out.
 

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Remember that we can more or less disregard the original games anyway; if you want to repurpose a previously used character, there's nothing really stopping you. Also remember that we're trying to stay away from reusing original characters like Sora and co. in favor of our own main cast.
 

Faris

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Is there anyway to look at what has been decided story wise and try to make some characters around that premise? Or are story aspects still in the open, in which I should just try to make some characters around sort of any KH premise.

+ Who are the main protagonist and antagonist? What is there background and motivation? How do they develop over the course of the game in their roles?
~ Just going on an idea I had about a prequel type game for KH, sort of around the origins of the keyblades, it would be pretty cool to have some characters who are the 'builders' of the original key blades. Basically I think they're should only be a few who need to build them to fight off the darkness, I.E - when worlds started falling into darkness. Gameplay wise it would be pretty cool that as the game progresses, the (3) protagonists keyblades improve until a final finished product at the end by visiting different worlds and seeing what they are doing to fight off the darkness. Basically then, the motivations for the protagonists through out the game is to create a weapon to fight off beings of darkness. The end result being the keyblade. With this concept, you could also develop a sense of urgency, the protagonists need to create the weapon, the keyblade, otherwise everything will fall to darkness. This in turn could lead to concepts of courage etc reminiscent in the actual KH games.

As for the antagonists, I dunno. I like the idea of their not being a key antagonist but rather a fight against the darkness, rather than one being.

+ Aside from your main protagonist and antagonist, what characters support these two and in what capacity? How do their roles play into the themes of the game?
~ Stick with disney and square games, or is there legal issues? If so bummer, if not well it could fit into the protagonsist visiting other worlds to see how they are defending themselves from the darkness. So basically and disney, or square based world could have different technologies, powers etc used by key characters from both Square and Disney
 
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