Industry Practice: Character Development: Memory

Production Timeline:
22/10/24: Created initial sketches. 

5/12/24: Created a set of varied thumbnails based around the rough concept of my character, informed by foundational research in to the subject matter of self-reflection. I presented these to my group and asked for feedback regarding favoured designs.

28/01/25: Created 9 more detailed character concepts based around ideas for my character that had been agreed upon and liked. I asked for feedback from my group regarding the design and created numerous colour variations based around a dull, beige and orange colour palette.

30/1/25: Created another rendition of the character made to more fit in to the creepy/cute art style of our project. 

09/02/25: Created several rough sketches showing how Memory may sit in his scene.

11/02/25: Created final design and turnaround for Memory.


DESIGN PROCESS - MEMORY

Memory (previously named 'Anemoia') is my character in our project, a 'Spirit' representing the idea of self-reflection, introspection and self-forgiveness. They are analogue to a therapist, though make no such claims to be so, and act in a neutral manner that pushes the protagonist forward into a space of self-forgiveness and acceptance. They are seen before and after every 'path', and act to be the character that the protagonist is telling these past experiences to; the protagonist is describing the events of the Intrusive Thoughts, Health Anxiety and PTSD paths to Memory, recalling the past in an effort to better understand and accept it. 

In this, Memory represents a facet of mental health and well-being that the protagonist is not all that familiar with, that being acceptance and self-forgiveness. As the protagonist is unfamiliar with these feelings, in my mind they do not have a 'face' to attach to Memory: they are an enigma compared to the other Spirits, unfinished and unsettling - more unsettling than the harmful emotional responses that the other paths describe, which have been given a more concrete form in their familiarity.



When I first designed ideas for Memory, I leaned in to this idea of an unfamiliar spirit, someone who looks incomplete, dishevelled or weak as a result of their lax physicality. I played with the idea of Memory looking wounded or sickly, working with hospital motifs across their designs: a wheelchair, an IV drip, a hospital gown draped over their form. I also experimented with how obscuring the face would impact the design, wrapping them in bandages or draping their silhouette in hair, hunched forward so that it drops down their face.



Peer feedback indicated that the wheelchair design was the most favoured, as it added some bulk to the silhouette whilst filling out the idea of the character being sickly. As such, I produced a set of variations based around this design, which I then presented to the group for feedback. 



I then created several colour palette designs based around this feedback, which I then presented to the group. i also created a more simplified sketch of the character made more in accordance with the creepy/cute art style we are striving for. 

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In the group meeting commencing 31/01/25, the design of my character was discussed. Though we liked the bandages around the face, we felt that we should change the design to be more mysterious in nature, having hair obscure the face and otherwise shrouding it in total darkness.

In the group meeting commencing 7/02/25, we discussed how characters may be drawn into the background, with character sprites in Ren'y being merged to the background scene and displayed as a "Scene" image. We chose this as we believe that it could allow for greater interaction with the scene as a whole, letting characters pick up or interact with objects in the scene, and be displayed across the scene in different positions, such as leaning against the wall or sitting at a desk. As such, I created some very rough sketches showing how this may look on Memory in his scenes. These also included a rough sketch of his background scene, which is a makeshift office.



I then created a final design based on this, completing a turnaround reference sheet of the character. 



Sketches exploring potential avenues for design in Memory's scene:

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