Query about "aging" a character.

[RHachicho]

Hey there I was wondering if I was to present an artist with a set of facial images say from rpg makers character generator. How difficult would it be for an artist to convincingly age them. Say make someone who looks 20/30 ish look 40. And how much should  I be looking to pay an artist based on one standard file of one character with eight different expressions.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

Hello, were you looking for the art style to match the original one? Or would something in a brand new art style be okay for you? ( Also, it might be nice to mention which generator - MV or Ace )


I might be able to help, depending on which you're looking for. Difficulty and price is going to depend on the artist, but there are certainly people who would be able to help.

 

[Sharm]

It depends on a few things.  If you want nearly the same image with only the age different and you have an artist who understands the aging process then it would be fairly simple.  I did a few like that for M+ a while back, it was fun.

 

[RHachicho]

The work would be for RPGMaker MV characters. At the moment by options are somewhat limited as this is me and a couple of friends making the game. Were at the stage where we are experimenting to see what "works" when it comes to commissioning art. Commissioning enldess sprites or entire tile sets is entirely beyond me. But face art does seem to be an area where economy might afford us a little license to get creative. I was rather dissapointed when MV's generator had no options to make kids or older adults/elders. We are


currently toying with the idea of either using the character generator. And commissioning for younger or older characters within that mold. Or throwing out the character generator    entirely and going for our own art style. I would love to know what you think. The game is going to be large when finished. And have a diverse cast of characters. So we are probably looking at a total of 20-30 facesets at least that would have to be commissioned. Probably more if we wanted to bring npc's in on an art style that differs from the character generator.

 

[Sharm]

Then the real question is: what is your main goal for making this game?  If it's to finish a good game, use the generator and commission the changes.  If it's to have fun making something with your friends, don't pay for anything.  Learn how minor adjustments of eye placement, face, ear, and nose length and such make a big difference in how old someone looks and have someone within your group make the adjustments.  Or not at all and learn to work around it.  If it's to become a new game company and produce commercial games then commission someone to make all the faces from scratch, be prepared to spend lots of money on this game that you may not recoup, and try to find a permanent artist.  Whatever you decide make sure that the goal is the same for the entire group or it will fall apart.


From they way your talking it sounds like you and your friends are doing this for fun but you're putting enough effort into it that you're thinking "Hey, why don't we try to make a little money off this thing too by going commercial?"  Don't do that.  It may seem like two goals that are similar enough to do at the same time, but they aren't at all.  For one thing, a business relationship is a completely different thing, one which sometimes requires you to treat the other party in a harsh, cold, or demanding way.  Most friendships can't survive that.  For another, a game made for fun is an entirely different product from a game made for money.  For fun is all about what you want, for money is all about what will sell best.  It's like the difference between fine art and commercial art.  Lastly, everything changes when money is involved, you have to worry more about if everyone really is pulling their weight, how to divide the money, how to sell the finished result, how to deal with taxes, ect.  It's a lot of work and not something you should do on a whim.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

To add a bit more to what Sharm said, 20-30 faces is quite extreme. Either you are giving face images to a lot of characters that don't really need them, or this is a really ambitious project. I won't say large, ambitious projects are IMPOSSIBLE, but as a very first game (and as working with a team of people all new to game dev) they don't have a high success rate. I really encourage you and your friends to step back and make something small together first. It's going to give you a lot of learning experience, going to help you and your friends discover what areas everyone best, and it's going to allow you a larger chance of completing something. A large ambitious team project can still be valuable education - but it has a lot of pitfalls. I encourage this ESPECIALLY if you are all thinking of spending money on it.


When you commission an artist and they do the artwork, that's NOT something that can be refunded. So you really have to be sure when you reach that point that it's something you're going to want. Since the large 'lots of friends working together on a first game' shtick doesn't usually end well, take that as a precaution before slapping down $$s on anything. (And I say this from a tiny corner of experience. I've walked the whole 'group of 4 friends making an over-ambitious game together' path. Thankfully, we hadn't spent any money on it yet.)


If you want to ignore those precautions, no worries! I would heavily advise against spending money on it - at least at this stage where it sounds like everything is still in the beginning phases.


 * Post your faces on the request bored - if the edits are simple enough there's a lot of people here who are willing to help with such things (and for free) Especially if it's a small number of characters.


 * Find someone in your friend circle who draws and have them draw the face sets - doesn't have to be fantastic! If the game ends up doing well and such, you can always replace temporary assets later.


Anyway, I don't mean to sound negative or to burst any bubbles, but that's my view point on it.

 

[Sharm]

By the way, MV's generator may not have come with a lot of that stuff, but many artists have been making additions to it in the resource section.  I know I've seen stuff to help make both older and younger characters.

 

[RHachicho]

Thanks and don't mind about hurting my pride with statements like that. I am just getting into this as a newbie and it would be arrogant in the extreme to assume I know how everything works from the get go. I will agree that the project is ambitious however it is the culmination of a long period of brainstorming between me and my two friends. Ideally we would like to be able to make something. I like money. But the priority is to do justice to something near and dear to our hearts. Even if in the end that ends up taking a really long time or proves to be impossible. I will certainly investigate the resources section to see what I can find there.


Oh and I should point out that though my friends have agreed to do a little volunteer work on the game as and when they can manage it I will be doing the brunt of the work. It is through discussion with them that a very raw and generic idea I had really began to take shape. And it is because of their encouragement that I am now making this game. They have already stated that since they wont be doing much of the work all they want is their names in the credits. Or if I ask them to do something big I pay them at mates rates, Or in favors. You know how it is among friends. But we agree on the terms per commission. I handle the business side of the game itself exclusively. That way friendship would not come into it like that.


This game is basically my new adopted hobby. I work on it when I want to relax. So it really doesn't matter if it takes five years to come out. Or if during those five years I actually end up spending more on assets than my game ends up making. If in the end I even decide to actually sell it commercially at all. If I don't feel i've made something worth a price tag I may just release it for free.


I am actively considering the idea however of starting a game with much smaller scope first. Maybe some kind of sneaky prequel to the universe I'm going to set up in the main game or even some other weird idea. The idea of learning a bit first on a project that doesn't really matter so much to me does seem like a good idea.


Additionally I would really like to apologize for the layout of that last post. I was REALLY tired.

 

[Shaz]

Moving this to Resource Requests (not sure if that's the best place, but it certainly has nothing to do with development of commercial games).

 

[Makio-Kuta]

I am actively considering the idea however of starting a game with much smaller scope first. Maybe some kind of sneaky prequel to the universe I'm going to set up in the main game or even some other weird idea. The idea of learning a bit first on a project that doesn't really matter so much to me does seem like a good idea.

It's also a great way to get feedback! This community has a lot of great people who will give you very good critique on your game that you can learn a lot from to put towards your bigger project.


Anyway, mind slapping up the characters you want aged? Curious to see if I'd be able to help you out.

 

[Sharm]

It's more a discussion and not a request at all.  I think it'd be better suited to general discussion.  RHachicho, if you want to do a request for this go ahead and make a new thread.

 

[RHachicho]

I probably will do a request based on this sometime in the near future. However yesterday something went horribly wrong with my house's electronics. So yeah things been totally crazy. I do agree this has become more a general discussion topic. I think maybe as the creator I can ask to get it moved. I'll try that presently. 


As for a sample of characters there are only three who's physical appearance has been decided or close to decided, That require aging anyhow. I have included their face sets in the archive below. As well as a short text file briefly describing the character. And info about how happy I am with the characters look and how close it is to the final version.

View attachment Agingchars.rar