Redesigning Nix

So I have been playing a lot of the game Atlas Reactor. It is a turn based battle game, something like if overwatch were a board game. I'm enjoying it a lot, but there are a few things that stand out as being awkward. A few of the character designs are lackluster, and a couple of them I find grrahful (grrahful is a mix of the noise you make when you see art, and how awful it is.)

So I'm going to take a shot talking about why I hate a character design so much, and what we can do to fix it. The character I'm going to talk about is Nix, the sniper. You can see what he looks like here:

http://www.atlasreactor.pro/assets/img/characters/nix.png

I don't want to hot link their image, I'm sure that folks at atlasreator.pro are lovely people.

The fantasy of playing Nix is that he is a stealthy sniper, who deals good damage at a long distance, has some gadgets, and can drop into stealth to engage or escape. So the typical sneaky sniper guy. His face is hooded showing only his eyes, in an attempt to evoke menace. If you look up his gangster skin it just looks like his head is a bowling ball wearing a fedora.  He has various pouches, and a camera/optical camo thing on his head, giving him a very techy look. All of his taunts animations are pretty straightforward to the sniper fantasy, he goes shuush, talks about how cool his gear is etc. He has one awful taunt where he says "360 no scope" pole dances on his sniper rifle and shoots you. He does have one neat taunt where his gun barrel gets really long. All in all the animations involving his gun are pretty cool. But personality wise there is nothing stands out about his character apart from the most basic notes of, stealthy sniper. Compared to some of the other character designs he feels primitive, like a leftover from an earlier draft of the game.

 This brings me to the most awkward part of his design, he basically looks like a potato with a sniper rifle sticking out of him. His form is round and squat. His limbs are thick and meaty. His character model kind of waddles around the battle field on stubby legs. It feels someone in the art department saw the TF2 design guidelines about building a unique silhouette for each character decided that any unique look fits whatever character.  But the beefy meatball look doesn't play into the characters kit or fantasy at all. When I think of sniper elements and stealth, it generally brings forth images of someone either quick and frail, with an oversized gun, or someone patient, camouflaged and possibly prone.

So I really hate his character model and feel. I'm also not a big fan of his personality which doesn't go beyond, I'm a grim sniper. What would I do to make it better? I've sketched up a few quick ideas that I think would be more fun. With these designs I'm going to assume that the art designer handed down an edict that she wanted a sniper who was also shaped like a baked potato.

The first design that came to mind was "The Emperor" He is a rotund explorer and fancy gentleman. He has seen the world over and has come back with a dangerous skill set that he uses to subsidize his noble hunter lifestyle. Embracing his figure he has taken up the mantle of the savage swimmer of the far south sea, the emperor penguin. He wears a penguin hat, a long cloak that splits in two at the back like penguin wings, and carries a fancy filigreed sniper rifle. When he stealths he pulls the cloak around his body. Personality wise he is jovial, becoming invigorated as the hunt goes on. He is as in it for the sport as he is the money.

We have all seen the short guy who hits the gym, a lot, and ends up being nearly as wide as he is tall.  This version of nix has a protein packing lifestyle and is as ripped to mythic. He wanders around shirtless showing off his Russian gang tattoos. His movements are acrobatic, with lots of rolling around. He uses a sniper rifle because he is a pragmatist, and knows that shooting people with a giant gun may not be the best solution, but it nearly always is _a_ solution.

Taking a cue from a snipers ghille suit, this Nix is mostly just a bush. Instead of eyes all we get is a wide mask or faceplate that stands out against the plant like branches and leaves of his suit. Even his gun is entirely made of wood and gnarled and twisted like a tree branch. The mask and the targeting drone both call back to the tech aspect of the character. This design also helps to mitigate the stumpy legged walking animation. He can slither around the field like a leafy slug,  leaving death instead of slime in his wake. The most practical design for a real game is probably this one. It is also the design with the least personality. But I suppose being killed by a shrub is pretty cool.

Finally, I went with an actual potato with a sniper rifle. He uses his leafy limbs to manipulate the gun. And he wears boots for some reason. I went with just using the natural texutres of a potato to form his face instead of eyes and a mouth as I didn't want him to look too much like Mr. Potato head.

The real Nix design has no real personality beyond, sniper, and two disguishing features, A giant gun, and a strange body type. I would like to think that the design team could have pushed the limits a bit further. But I suppose it is early in the game's development cycle, and they want to create the launch characters specifically to be close to the archetype they fill.

There is at least one other character in this game whose overall design I hate. Maybe I will return to this subject. Have a great weekend!

-Coinflip