3D - concept, modelling and game development

Jurgen

I am currently conceptualizing character designs for a fighting game I want to make :) I am also exploring the visual style of the characters.

I made this character in a cartoony style:


This one a bit more realistic:


and this one based on the previous character, themed darker:


A question I have is:
What to you makes a fighting game character cool?

Any comments and or critique welcome :)

Tuism

That's a really broad question that will get you all kinds of answers from "because I like the art" to "flashy design" to "I like that they have good representation" to "boobs". Fighting games range from Blaz Blu to Tekken to Super Smash Bros to Dead Or Alive to much much more...

I like Tekken for the mechanics, the character designs are super outlandish. Customisation was fun, I made a Cloud Strife out of Lars. I like Street Fighter's art style. I like SoulCaiber series' weapon play.

Not sure if these answers help you? What kind of game do *you* want to make?

Jurgen

@Tuism, thanx for the reply :D Cool, they definitely help :)
One of the games I frequently play, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, has quite a bit of movement freedom. Like one can run around, get distance, preform ranged attacks and there is close quarter fighting as well.

Recently I thought a lot about what has importance to me and what I was passionate about.
Some years ago I came up with with a character called "DragonBoy" and his nemesis was an evil emperor named Kagekishi.

The idea of a boy who was a celestial dragon inside, striving to get stronger and better at fighting still interests me greatly.

To answer your question :), I want to make a 3D fighting game with :
- freedom of movement
- close quarter combat
- ranged combat
- a roster with good and evil characters
- use of abilities and spells

In terms of look:
- A theme that speaks of a dark realm with hope in it. Hope is embodied by the good characters and destruction is embodied in the evil characters.

Tuism

So then work towards that :)

Jurgen

Here is another character concept:


and here is a character wheel:

Tuism

I'm gonna repeat something that gets said so often that it might be tiresome, but I would really start with prototyping the game first rather than designing characters first. Without gameplay, you have no idea what your art requirements are. Games that are close-up like Tekken needs character designs that are very different from games like Dragon Ball Z. Designing the cart before the horse means you'll go back to make the horse and then discover that your initial cart designs were all a waste of time.

Unless of course you only want to focus on the art only. In which case, enjoy designing characters.

Jurgen

@Tuism, thanx :D I guess one could say "Form follows function" :)
Here is some animation practice I did in Blender using the Rigify addon:

Jurgen

Here is a GIF of my progress in Unreal Engine 4:)



I'm working from the side, like a 2D fighting game for now. Later on I can change the camera and movement controls to suit the game-play better :)

Jurgen

Progress update:

Jurgen

Movement update:

Here I implemented moving in relation to a cylinder :)