15 Essential Character Expressions

[kedokata]

So, I've been working on the art assets for my game, and since it is almost completely character-interaction driven my custom portraits are a huge part of the game (made 'em bigger and everything).  The problem I've run into is that I can't decide which expressions to create pictures for.  I've got a list of nearly forty expressions for the main characters, and since their are six that's almost 240 portraits to do!  It's unrealistic, so it got me thinking that I should really narrow it down.  If you could choose only 15 expressions for the main characters, what would they be?  There are major romantic elements to the story, if that influences your decisions at all.  So far I've only settled on basics, like happy, sad, angry, etc. 

So, what are your thoughts?  Any input is appreciated, so don't feel you need to give me a full list of 15, or any specifics at all to help me.  

Thanks for reading!

 

[Makio-Kuta]

My latest complete game had 236 half body character portraits in the end. But I agree, that's a HUGE workload; maybe not unrealistic, but a lot of work. (plus that had alternate poses, so that always starts to add up)

When making them, I tend to start with this

1 Base (Neutral sort of expression, I just always call it base)

2 Happy

3 Angry

4 Surprised

5 Disgust

6 Sad

7 Thinking

8 Special (emotion specific to that character)

9 Closed eyes

(then put the closed eyes on half the other emotions to make something slightly different)

From there, I branch out based on the writing.

If you want to make your life easier, make sure you use layer groups for your expressions. Keep a group for all the eyebrows, one for the eyes, and one for the mouths. Then you can mix and match pieces and save yourself a lot of effort. Like, you can take the eyes from surprised, the eyebrows from angry and make a desperate sort of anger. Speeds things up a lot.

 

[kedokata]

Thanks for your advice

So, did all of the expressions have alternate poses, or just some of them?  How did you choose which ones?  The reason I ask is because I tend to go overboard and give every single dang one of my portraits a unique pose, which slows production to a crawl.  

 

[Makio-Kuta]

For that game, I went with 4 unique poses for each character. I think the effort it takes to do a different pose for every expression wouldn't be worth it in the long run. (Unless you were going with only a few emotions overall) Some of those expressions you are only going to see once or twice in the game; it would be a shame to put the time and effort into a unique pose for something like that. Especially since, if you look at people talking, a lot of us do only have a few body language that we use over and over.

I think it's best to think about your characters closely and decide which body language will best display them over a few different poses.

Example

Spoiler

It's the same pose, but telling us two very different stories. There's nothing to fear in re-purposing poses! Especially when it's part of the character's body language.

And try to use poses that are a bit over the top so that way they carry a lot of weight - rather than only a few subtle changes. That'll really pay off in the end and make the player notice the change a lot more! (of course, some characters are going to be subtle - it's just in their nature!)

As for picking which expression to do on which pose - when I'm reading the text, I just think "What pose would they have here?" based on how they are feeling and keep a list of what expressions I need on which pose.

 

[kedokata]

Thanks Makio-Kuta; Your tips are really helping out! I've barely started the new method and already I can see the results! I'm creating the limited number of poses as you've suggested, and I'm amazed at how many of the expressions actually fit into four or five different poses! You've been a tremendous help, and thank you so much for taking the time to share your know-how!  

 

[Makio-Kuta]

No problem! I'm glad I could help! I've been at this a while, and certainly have found ways to make my life easier. Best of luck! I look forward to seeing whatever you share with the community down the line.

And if you have any other questions along these lines, feel free to toss me a PM. I'm always happy to help where I can.

 

[BlissAuthority]

Y'seen "Inside Out?" Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy, Sadness?  All you need are those five, in varying degrees; those are universal human emotions.  Possibly also Awe.

 

[Demiqas]

I am REALLY curious as to how you came up with 40 expressions. Generally I have only 6 per character, 40 is a huge amount.

 

[kedokata]

Yeah, I'm one of those people who tend to overdo things.  I started out with basic expressions, then as I wrote dialogue I'd start thinking of more specific expressions that would suit it, and before I knew it I'd overdone it.  Some examples:

awkward, scared, crying, pleeeease, quizzical, concerned, pleased, apologetic, etc.

I definitely need to learn moderation, haha.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

I 100% understand what you're saying. "Well, they are curious here, but it's not quite the SAME curious as this face I already have. I need to... the eye brows... change that... yeah!!" rinse and repeat for like every line.


But trust me, learning to limit yourself even a little bit (and understanding that most players won't notice that slightly less smiling smile even if it's super important to you) will save your sanity. xD

 

[Chaos Avian]

Typically I always cap emotions at 8 max; Neutral, Happy, Excited, Sad, Angry, Surprised, Annoyed and Tired/ Dull/ Bored (<- It can convey soo much this). By adding a second pose while keeping the exact same emotions changes the dynamic of that emotion immensely. With a more "active" pose, Annoyed can become sarcastic for example.