Character designs

[Metal Nunatak]

Hello!

I've done some character designs for a school assignment. The assignment was basically to create a set of characters for some purpose (for videogames, movies, books etc). I chose to make 3 characters for a zombie apocalyptic game that would work together in this way:




I thought that every character would be dependent on the other two. So then i started doing silhouettes:



Here is the ''ninja'', i allready know that the back anatomy is slightly of, i dont know how to correct it though, so please come with suggestions on that! But also on the setup that i have chosen to pressent the character.



Here is the ''scientist''. i think his leggs might be to short, but it looks wrong when i extend the dress? As you also can se i am not done with the back on this one.



And finally, my dinosaur. The back anatomy is in this picture also a bit off in my opinion, but i dont know what's wrong! D:




Im looking for help to improve the design itself, the pressentation and perhaps some technical parts!

Thanks in advance!

[TinyBird]

I have to say that to me all the characters look like they belong to completely different games, and none of them really look like what the words "zombie apocalypse" bring to mind. Like is there a specific, logical ingame reason why the doc has very old fashioned stuff, the ninja super high tech stuff and the dinosaur has a pretty modern outfit/armor (instead of high-tech or old fashioned)? I mean if this is in the future and the doc's suit is just collected scraps, I'd figure them to still be high-tech/modern scraps and not this medieval/steampunk things.
Like how would the doc manage to survive a zombie attack or run when he's too busy getting caught with his long robe? Not to mention if the plague doctor mask is actually a high tech device that actually works against diseases (unlike the real things), then why doesn't that show at all (also I'm not sure what sort of medic he is if his belt is larger than his medic bags combined)? Would glowy lights be very useful for a ninja? Why do you need a ninja if the whole world is filled with zombies? And if the zombies (or the apocalypse) don't really affect the design or gameplay (as the designs would kinda suggest), why have that as a part of the idea?
And most importantly if you have a friken human dinosaur as their "tank", why give it this piddly 9mm gun?! That thing is practically begging some sort of plasma/railroadnail shooting BFG, unless it's supposed to be sneaky dinosaur, which doesn't make sense considering the team and the descriptions.

Also, all the guys seem to have almost similar bodytype, there's no sleekness to the ninja and there's no bulk to the dinosaur that would suggest it's much larger than a human. Without the human silhouette, I would thought that the dinosaur is the size of an average human.
Also if the Ninja gives future knowledge to the Doc, how can the Doc make upgrades to him, since it sounds the ninja knows that stuff better?

[Metal Nunatak]

Meny good points there!

Uhm, first, one kind of important thing that i forgot in the opening post was the explanation to why they are so diffrent. It's basically because they where ''chosen'' (yea, that is a klyché right there) by an other scientist during the apocalypse to defeat the zombies. So they where gathered from diffrent time eras.
I guess that explains some of your points (sorry for ambiguity).

I will correct the size of the medicbags, it looks silly now that you've pointed it out!
I also really like your idea with a bigger gun for the dinosaur, the only problem is that i dont know how to combine it with the backstory of the charracter, it doesn't really feel like a bazooka is the most fitting weapon agains riots?
About the ninjas glowing ''eyes'', i agree with you that its not logical at all, but i dont know what to repace it with? I think the mask just look dead and boring if i remove it (i actually tried that before i posted).
I appreciate suggestions about that.
And about the dinosaurs bulk, is the silhouette better than the rendered version? Or i dont really understand your point? is he suppose to be... more muscular?

And finally, thank you, i really appreciate that you're helping me!

[TinyBird]

Uhm, first, one kind of important thing that i forgot in the opening post was the explanation to why they are so diffrent. It's basically because they where ''chosen'' (yea, that is a klyché right there) by an other scientist during the apocalypse to defeat the zombies. So they where gathered from diffrent time eras.

(man, I love how people constantly seem to forget "important details" from their descriptions...)
Okay, but that REALLY begs the question "why?" Like both on design and logic standpoint, because it causes the characters to vary wildly so they can't be recognized to fit the same game and what actual ingame logic is there to gather a medieval doctor and a riot dinosaur? I mean when it comes to actual doctoring, the plague doctors are pretty much totally useless and would a guy from the past really be okay with suddenly being snatched to the future? And the future is sophisticated enough to have super ninjas and time travel, but they can't create another dinosaur hybrid?
I mean I could see the point of this if these were like, some super important people as characters (like, "we need the strategical genius of Napoleon, get him here!"), but it's hard to see these designs to be even actual people when two of them don't have visible faces, automatically de-humanizing them and one of them is a dinosaur.
It's just starting to feel that the story or concept is starting to go all over places in a way that's pretty overly complicated (time travel, zombie apocalypse, ninjas, dinosaurs, chosen ones) when you could also have all that to be in the future (like, the best zombie assassin group that dress themselves as a ninja, plague doctor and a dinosaur, combining old fashioned looks and future equipment), especially considering this is just a character design assignment but you currently need a lot of explanation and excuses to reason why the characters don't fit together at all.

I also really like your idea with a bigger gun for the dinosaur, the only problem is that i dont know how to combine it with the backstory of the charracter, it doesn't really feel like a bazooka is the most fitting weapon agains riots?

Yeah but if the character was brought to future to deal with zombies, why the hell would he still have riot weaponry? I mean in that case his gun would probably shoot rubber bullets. But if that's the case, then there are other riot weaponry (water cannons and sound cannons that have been theorized to be the future riot handling equipment) and it's from the year 2070 and it's a friken HUMAN-DINOSAUR, you totally can and should design a futuristic BFG riot gun that doesn't kill (like it shoots paralyzing goo but is too large for a human to handle).

About the ninjas glowing ''eyes'', i agree with you that its not logical at all, but i dont know what to repace it with? I think the mask just look dead and boring if i remove it

Have you tried removing or totally re-designing the mask? I mean this version might look boring without lights, but some other design might not, and like I mentioned, when we can't see the faces (and thus emotions) of any of the characters, it's harder to connect with them as people, so personally I'd try something where you can see the face, but the mask can be zipped on when needed.

And about the dinosaurs bulk, is the silhouette better than the rendered version? Or i dont really understand your point? is he suppose to be... more muscular?

Well the silhouette is more different, bulky and monstrous/dinosaur-like, which automatically gives more of the "this thing is large" feeling. There's many ways you can try giving it bulk than just muscles, like smaller head (like when something's head is small, it's easier to see the body to be large [the opposite is baby proportions where the head is large and body small], especially if the head is human-like), larger forms (more like in your silhouette, and then stuff like ED-209 or real life animals like elephants that have large "areas" that don't have defined muscles etc).

[Metal Nunatak]

(man, I love how people constantly seem to forget "important details" from their descriptions...)
Okay, but that REALLY begs the question "why?" Like both on design and logic standpoint, because it causes the characters to vary wildly so they can't be recognized to fit the same game and what actual ingame logic is there to gather a medieval doctor and a riot dinosaur? I mean when it comes to actual doctoring, the plague doctors are pretty much totally useless and would a guy from the past really be okay with suddenly being snatched to the future? And the future is sophisticated enough to have super ninjas and time travel, but they can't create another dinosaur hybrid?
I mean I could see the point of this if these were like, some super important people as characters (like, "we need the strategical genius of Napoleon, get him here!"), but it's hard to see these designs to be even actual people when two of them don't have visible faces, automatically de-humanizing them and one of them is a dinosaur.
It's just starting to feel that the story or concept is starting to go all over places in a way that's pretty overly complicated (time travel, zombie apocalypse, ninjas, dinosaurs, chosen ones) when you could also have all that to be in the future (like, the best zombie assassin group that dress themselves as a ninja, plague doctor and a dinosaur, combining old fashioned looks and future equipment), especially considering this is just a character design assignment but you currently need a lot of explanation and excuses to reason why the characters don't fit together at all.


Yeah but if the character was brought to future to deal with zombies, why the hell would he still have riot weaponry? I mean in that case his gun would probably shoot rubber bullets. But if that's the case, then there are other riot weaponry (water cannons and sound cannons that have been theorized to be the future riot handling equipment) and it's from the year 2070 and it's a friken HUMAN-DINOSAUR, you totally can and should design a futuristic BFG riot gun that doesn't kill (like it shoots paralyzing goo but is too large for a human to handle).


Have you tried removing or totally re-designing the mask? I mean this version might look boring without lights, but some other design might not, and like I mentioned, when we can't see the faces (and thus emotions) of any of the characters, it's harder to connect with them as people, so personally I'd try something where you can see the face, but the mask can be zipped on when needed.


Well the silhouette is more different, bulky and monstrous/dinosaur-like, which automatically gives more of the "this thing is large" feeling. There's many ways you can try giving it bulk than just muscles, like smaller head (like when something's head is small, it's easier to see the body to be large [the opposite is baby proportions where the head is large and body small], especially if the head is human-like), larger forms (more like in your silhouette, and then stuff like ED-209 or real life animals like elephants that have large "areas" that don't have defined muscles etc).

You're right, no more excuses from my side.

I had a huge problem creating that mask, i dont even know how meny times i re-did it, but i guess that whasen't enough! D:

I totally agree on your points with the Dino aswell, i didnt think about the size of the head thing when i scetched it.

Thanks!

[SturdyDesign]

A while ago, one of my friends asked me to think about how egyptians years ago were so advanced in technology, maybe someone had gone back in time and helped them? No one will ever know, maybe the library of alexandria was burned for a specific reason.

This doctor could be the person that went back in time, but his machine was destroyed or lost, so he had to adapt to the past dress code, then the person who chose him has brought him back?

Maybe give the Doctor an upgraded suit thats barely hiding beneath his robes and nano packs for healing, possibly explain that it uses nano bot technology to repair the body from the inside out, he could possibly use a needle to inject them?

If you drop the size of the dinosaurs head, give him a futuristic helmet with an eye lense and a retractable riot shield with maybe a modified beanbag gun, that could be interesting?
The beanbag gun could compact rubble into the needed size for a missle and use that as ammo. That could be very handy in an apocalypse where munitions are scarce. could possibly have a secondary use as a flamethrower or globular napalm gun if you were to find a fuel source.

As for the ninja, maybe there could be a con to the ninja's nightvision, when he's using the night vision the blue lights need to be on, therefore he has to go without it unless he really needs it? otherwise you could make the lights red or UV purple which is harder for someone to notice?

[Metal Nunatak]

A while ago, one of my friends asked me to think about how egyptians years ago were so advanced in technology, maybe someone had gone back in time and helped them? No one will ever know, maybe the library of alexandria was burned for a specific reason.

This doctor could be the person that went back in time, but his machine was destroyed or lost, so he had to adapt to the past dress code, then the person who chose him has brought him back?

Maybe give the Doctor an upgraded suit thats barely hiding beneath his robes and nano packs for healing, possibly explain that it uses nano bot technology to repair the body from the inside out, he could possibly use a needle to inject them?

If you drop the size of the dinosaurs head, give him a futuristic helmet with an eye lense and a retractable riot shield with maybe a modified beanbag gun, that could be interesting?
The beanbag gun could compact rubble into the needed size for a missle and use that as ammo. That could be very handy in an apocalypse where munitions are scarce. could possibly have a secondary use as a flamethrower or globular napalm gun if you were to find a fuel source.

As for the ninja, maybe there could be a con to the ninja's nightvision, when he's using the night vision the blue lights need to be on, therefore he has to go without it unless he really needs it? otherwise you could make the lights red or UV purple which is harder for someone to notice?

Meny good ideas, even thought i think you're being to nice to me! Well, i have alot to work on now!

Thank you!