Taming the Beast

My absolute favorite character that I’ve created with Black Desert’s standalone character creator has been a Sorceress that initially began as an entry for the “Beast” competition being held by Daum. However after working on the character for over two hours I started to tell myself stories about what she’s like and how she ended up looking the way she does. Nothing definitive like a role player’s character bio, but a general sense of who she was that made me feel sympathetic toward her.

Was she born with this deformity? If so, how was her childhood and what affect does it have on her now? How does she deal with the way people look at her, the way they treat her? Does having this fantastic power as a sorceress change the way she sees herself or how others see her? Or maybe it wasn’t at birth, maybe it was an accident. As a sorceress she’s certainly working with powerful magic and something could go horribly wrong. If so, how did she look before the accident? Did the people in her life treat her differently afterward? How did that affect her relationships and self-image? Is she more reserved in her practice of magic as a result or more reckless?

This humanized the character I was working on and so after my first night of designing a beast, I went back a second night to try and soften some of the harsh edges and make sure she was passable as a woman albeit one with unusual features. And in that I think I was successful. I may have to make a few more adjustments before the game goes live, but I have a good foundation for a unique character look, one that may incline me toward playing the Sorceress first and relying on her as a kind of main character for my account “family.”

Below are a few pictures that illustrate the difference between the preset I used and the first iteration, the “beast,” as well as the changes I made and the final result. I’m really pleased with how she looks in the creator and looking forward to getting in game so that I can see if she looks just as good or if more changes are necessary. The goal is for her to look passably human, albeit imperfect. That’s exactly why I like this character creator to begin with, the allowance for “ugly” lends itself to greater immersion and storytelling opportunity for the player.

This first picture is self explanatory, it illustrates the difference between the preset face I chose and the final result for the Sorceress. I really wish I had done more documentation along the way but at least I have a beginning, middle, and end.

The character creator allows you to “grab” different sections of the face and move them but I found it much easier to select the area and then use the sliders on the left for better control. To really distort a face you need to use all three sets of sliders which moves the selected region along the x, y, and z axis, rotates the region along those same axes, and increase or decreases the size.

The image on the left was the first iteration, she was the “beast’ I had designed for the competition. When I went back and made some changes, most of them were meant to soften the face a little and make her more relatable, more human.

The number one thing I had to do to accomplish this was to look at the character from every angle over and over until the whole face looked passably human. These two profile pictures illustrate the “beast” version (left) and the changes I made for the final character (right). The biggest changes were in the mouth and around the eyes. When I was making the “beast” I only looked at the model facing forward which is why the profile on the left looks so distorted.

And here’s the final image! The clothing she’s wearing here really finishes the look but I think it may be a cash shop option. If so it will be one of the first things I purchase, especially if the Sorceress becomes my main. It reminds of something out of Mad Max or any other examples of post-apocalyptic tribal wear.

Are any of you looking to enter the “beast” competition? What do you think about playing as an “ugly” character, is that something you would do or do you prefer more traditional features for your characters?

Black Desert Online: Creating Character

It’s no secret that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time using the stand alone character creator for Black Desert over the past week. Surprisingly this has taken up the entirety of my gaming sessions on more than one occasion due to how in depth the character creator is and how much I’ve been enjoying using it. So today I thought I would share some of what I’ve been working on with a little commentary on my thought process and experience.

Tamer

This is the class I’m planning to focus on as my main for combat, however the next closed beta will give me a chance to try them all out and determine what playstyle I actually prefer. Normally I would not chose to play as a youthful female character, but given that the Tamer is the only pet class in BDO I’m willing to give it a try. My goal here was to create an Egyptian-themed girl with a middle-eastern complexion and cat-like eyes. I may tweak her ears a little to make them more feline as well. I think the idea came from my time spent in Egypt in The Secret World.

Wizard

Whereas the Tamer can only be a young girl, the Wizard must always be an older man however I’m much less opposed to playing as one. In fact, I was excited to see that there was the option to play as an older character, one that didn’t look horrific like so many aged faces in MMO character creators do. My goal with the Wizard was once more to give him a middle-eastern vibe and for his appearance to be appropriate for a fisherman. I want to have one character be a dedicated ship builder and fisherman and I think this Wizard looks perfect for that role.

Sorceress

This character was actually my attempt at making a “beast” for the contest Daum is hosting this week. I’ll still be entering her in the contest but what I didn’t expect was to actually like the model enough to consider using it in the game, possibly as a main for combat if I don’t enjoy the Tamer. I’m going to go into a little more detail on this one in another post, as it is by far the most involved customization I have done, but the general idea was to make a zombie inspired character with bat-like features to her facial structure. I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.

Berserker

I didn’t like the base model for this class at all, which is why I chose it as the next one to customize. I wanted to see if I could turn the preset face into something that I would actually want to play and in that I think I succeeded. What I like about this face is that he looks the part of a gentle giant; simple of mind and kind of heart but more than willing to use his mass and strength to protect his friends. However when there is no need to fight, he looks like he would be working a farm or tending the horses and that’s exactly what he’ll be doing in game.

Valkyrie

Of all the characters I’ve worked on thus far, this one had the least reconstructive work on the face. I did make a few adjustments but mostly worked on getting a color relationship between the hair, makeup, and eyes that I liked. Thematically I was thinking of a cross between Joan of Arc and something more sinister like a succubus, vampire, or trickster fairy. Strange combination, I know, but the mind wanders to strange places sometimes when I’m working on something creative. I’d like to go back and try and change the hair a little, which is an area of customization that I’ve not really gotten into yet.

That’s what I have for now but I still plan on making a Ranger and possibly a Warrior in the coming weeks. I have an idea for the ranger already (entirely white with slate blue or lavender eyes) but with the Warrior I may have to play around a bit and see where it takes me. While I’m ready to get in game and experience the combat, crafting, and trading systems first hand for now I’m enjoying my time designing characters.