For the 3D Character Design assignment, I wanted to create a character design that I felt I could comfortably make whilst also challenging myself with certain aspects of their design. Additionally, I wanted to challenge myself to step away from my comfort zone, as I typically design male characters.
The inspiration for this character stems from my personal inclination for dystopian games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 by CDPROJEKTRED, Ubisoft’s The Division and the Deus Ex games made by Eidos Montreal, with the example games featuring visually interesting characters with distinctive styles and backstories that help to flesh out the character’s motives, beliefs and actions. The character is designed to be an NPC to support the player on their journey.
CHARACTER PROFILE – YASMINE COMPTON
Link to Character’s Padlet Moodboard: https://padlet.com/rjusher/2jw0a35k0gpevh4h
“Yasmine Compton was raised among the sprawling concrete jungle of The Shades by her mother, a mercenary who took on every possible gig that she could to give her daughter the best life she could. During the hours and days that her mother was working, Yasmine was raised by those around her. Raised and looked after by the local gangs, the local fixers, the veterans and the grandmothers who spent their days watching the streets out of their windows, Yasmine was a well-protected and well-loved child.
Yasmine’s mother didn’t return; The general assumption was that the gig had overrun and she needed extra time to complete it. One extra night turned into two, two into a week and still no call from Yasmine’s mother as to whether she was alive. Investigations from fixers and scouts from the local gangs brought back no results from searching the location of the gig. There was no body that could be brought back, no camera footage that could have given an indication as to what might have happened – it was as if her mother didn’t exist. As if she had been wiped from existence.
Yasmine remained in the same apartment building, being raised by those surrounding her. The bank account tied to the apartment still had a substantial amount of funds in it to allow for Yasmine to keep a roof over her head whilst she grew old enough to start earning for herself. With the countless hours of teaching and training she received from the local veterans and gangs, Yasmine started to take mercenary work. In addition, she started to modify her body in order to give herself the upper hand during combat, with one of the first large modifications she bought was a cybernetic arm.
In order to separate her work from her home, she started to work under “Compton” rather than her full name. They didn’t need to know her full name, all she was here to do was the task at hand and get paid. Yasmine Compton and Compton were two separate people as far as she was concerned and she didn’t want the two to mix paths; Yasmine is the girl raised by the community, who listened to the Veterans who taught her how to punch without breaking her knuckles and how to hold a gun, who learnt how to bake bread with the grandmothers on the weekends. Compton is the mercenary known for getting the job done.
She still looks after those in her community, playing with the younger kids during her downtime from her work and continuing to listen and talk to the grandmothers and veterans in her building. Yasmine still wonders what happened to her mother on that day. Did she leave The Shades? Was she taken? Will she return one day and act like everything’s fine? If she did, she’d be met with an entirely different girl. Only her inner circle gets to interact with Yasmine, the rest get Compton.”
BASIC CHARACTER DETAILS
| Race: Human |
| Age: 29 |
| Gender: Female |
| Body Type: Athletic |
| Character Likes |
|---|
| History and Mythology (Stories from Veterans/Grandmothers that Compton was raised on) |
| Home Comforts (The switch between “Compton” and “Yasmine”; Baking and talking with people allows her to relax from her profession) |
| Helping others with training (Compton sees this as paying forward the kindness she was shown as a child) |
| Character Dislikes |
|---|
| Dishonesty (Compton’s line of work requires trust and honesty with information, otherwise it becomes dangerous) |
| Disrespect (A subsequent product from the teachings of the veterans and grandmothers) |
| Being alone for extended periods of time (Compton has a fear that she will be left again by those she trusts, just like her mother) |
PERSONALITY AND VISUAL INSPIRATION
Yasmine Compton is a calm, protective and calculating individual who is designed to be an NPC in a cyberpunk/dystopian-inspired game to support the player on their journey. I didn’t want to create a character that would take the metaphorical spotlight away from the imagined player character, but rather accompany them and support them during narrative moments.
I knew that when developing this character, I wanted the character to portray to the player that Compton was someone that the player could depend on, both for combat and for any information that they may need. Compton’s body shape draws inspiration from characters such as Abby Anderson from The Last of Us Part II, Vi from Arcane and Lara Croft from Shadow of the Tomb Raider as the characters are visibly shown to the player their strength in the character model.
In addition to this, I also wanted to add an element of mystery and intrigue to the design, which led to the addition of the mask obscuring the lower half of her face. A common aspect of cyberpunk and dystopian genres is often the addition of face masks, supported by narrative reasoning such as an airborne disease or to keep an identity hidden to a certain degree. As an example, in Ubisoft’s The Division, the player’s character wears a mask when moving through infected areas and the Dark Zone, whereas in Arkane Studios Dishonoured 2, the player character wears a face mask to obscure her identity from patrolling guards.
As Compton is a mercenary, I felt as though the addition of the mask to obscure the lower section of the face was a necessary detail in relation to the character’s backstory. I feel as though partially hiding her face whilst only showing her eyes allows for her personality to be shown through facial expressions (for example, raising an eyebrow to show surprise at an action or to show disapproval) and body language. I created two designs for Compton, a base design that I class as her everyday mercenary wear and a “Poncho” design that I imagine would be worn when facing inclement weather. The base design is clean, with each item of clothing visible to the viewer and what I am planning on creating my 3D model from, whereas the Poncho design would hide aspects of the clothing and raises the question of whether it would animate correctly.
References:
Clement, C. (2018) SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER: LARA. ArtStation. Available online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KaORd9.
Johnson, D. (2016) Dishonored 2. ArtStation. Available online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Ra8ay.
Theuillon, C. (2022) ARCANE – Vi – Texturing. ArtStation. Available online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/b505vm.
Tzeng, F. (2020) The Last of Us Part 2 – Abby. ArtStation. Available online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9mevRQ.
Wells, W. (2016) The Division: Season Pass Keyart. ArtStation. Available online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yE58J.