Main character for 2.5D platformer game


Hello there, blender artists! I am in the process of making a comic Megametroidvania-style 2.5D platformer game in Unity, called I Can Explain Everything. Bear in mind that this game is intended for commercial release early-to-mid 2015, targeting iOS, Android and PC platforms. Progress is going good, but I’d like some critical opinions on the current status of the main character before I spend too much more time on her. I have been using Blender 2.72b to build her.

Attached is the image of the high-poly version of her. As you can see, she’s an anime-style character. This is my first time modelling such a character, so I’m not too confident on how to get that 2D into 3D anime look. She doesn’t have any ears - that’s because her character will have long, messy hair to cover any ears, so no point in wasting polys.

Opinions on her anatomy - particularly the facial features - would be welcome. Tips, tricks or pointers about animating and texturing an anime-style character would be welcome. Also, any opinions on clothing options - whether to add her clothing (a singlet and pyjama bottoms) to the mesh, or as separate pieces. I’ve traditionally done the former, but have been considering the latter lately. What worked better in your experience?

Really, anything anyone can add would be appreciated - but, even so, my primary concern is the head and face. She has no mouth, as each set of I tried didn’t look good at all, so I intend to either sculpt in a highly stylised “inverted triangle” type mouth, or just paint in in on textures. There’s no speech in the game, just dialogue text bubbles popping above the characters, so her facial features don’t need to move too much. I haven’t been able to figure out eyebrows or eyelashes that felt right, either - again, figured I’d just add them in the texturing. Anybody have any experience doing this? Did you like the look, or not?

Like I said, I’ve never done 3D anime-style before, so anything you can see that just isn’t working, let me know!

Thanks!