Let us introduce you to Agatha, our main character as well as Graham and Edwin, Agatha's father. They are three of the characters that you will meet during your journey and they represent quite well the esthetics that we wanted to achieve with their design.
In this case, even if the world of Rinlo has a realistic look based on our own world, for the characters we opted for a more cartoonish style that will allow us to exaggerate their facial features and motions and make sure it’s more straight forward for the player to read what they are feeling at every moment.
In VR we don’t play with the same distances, sizes, or resolutions as in a flat-screen game. It is crucial to make the player understand at all times what the characters are feeling through their body language and by exaggerating their expressions. This design invites you to sympathise with the characters and identifies yourself with them.
Making them feel real
Designing the character’s looks and expressions is not enough to create a connection with the player. We need to make them look like they really can think and walk on their own independently. To achieve this we use different techniques. Some of them inherited from the realm of animation and others more grounded in the video game industry. One of these techniques is the use of Secondary Actions. Different possibilities that give the characters simulated individual choices. Eg: If you don’t move any of the controls for a while, Agatha will sit down on the floor and wait for you.
We hope you have learned something new about our game! If you are curious and want to learn even more we have an entire ‘Behind the Scenes’ webinar about the techniques and pipelines that come together in creating Rinlo!
