Character Redesigns (Patreon)

I have a day off this week, so I'm starting things early. I've compressed and uploaded version 0.7.1, so I'm ready for the public release tomorrow. Now it's time to focus on characters, and more specifically their artwork. While my resources are pretty limited, I do take people's feedback seriously. To that end, I've spent time, effort, and money to acquire some new art. A lot of this is stuff you'll hear about later (with version 0.8.0) but one major aspect is potential character redesigns. I wanted to run these past you guys - in some cases, I just want to give people a preview or chance to object to potential new directions, in others I'd really like your input. HILSTARA People have complained that Hilstara's emotion set isn't very good, and I agree. Writing her dialogue constantly reminds me just how limited the range of emotions is. The problem is that it's ridiculously hard to find art of women in armor that isn't chainmail bikinis. Even after a ton of work, I've only come up with one more: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Hilstara%20new_zpspcoy7vpg.png.html Fortunately, I think I like this one. It keeps the short hair and heavy armor combo I wanted, and even has the same hair color. The neck bit is just slightly feminine, but in a practical way. And best of all, I have a very solid emotion faceset to go with it. The biggest problem is that she looks too young, but maybe that's fine by the magic of pornography? RIALA (aka the Incubus King's top mage) This one might be controversial, because I know some people are fond of her current face. I've always thought of that as a placeholder, however, and my first thought was for her appearance to be similar to her battle image. And lo and behold, someone created a profile and faceset for it: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Riala_zpsrbw4ulbw.png.html Everything would match and the art quality would go up a little (the current face is just a so-so recolor). But I'll listen if you guys really object. YARRA Now we're getting into complete redesign territory. I know how everyone tends to get attached to character designs, so I don't suggest a change lightly, but think about this as the new Yarra: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Yarra1_zpsihnc3dtw.png.html If you object, hear me out on this. The current Yarra is just a recolored elf, only a succubus by a stretch of the imagination. This one, however, puts her species out front and center (among other things). On top of that, she's custom art, not RTP-based at all, and that might get some attention to this game from people who are inclined to think "reused art = crappy game design." Making a major change will only get more difficult the longer the game exists, so my thought is to do it now. CARINA The previous three characters I had a recommendation, but for Carina I'm uncertain. Her art was one of the others I've always considered a placeholder - as approximately everyone has mentioned, a priestess like her wouldn't wear low-cut armor. Here are three new candidates: #1: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Carina2_zpsqoqi9ol7.png.html #2: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Carina3_zpstshiwinl.png.html #3: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Carina_zpsxvxlsuky.png.html Carina #1: Is she too nurse-like? Cute design with an acceptable emoset, anyway. Carina #2: Not quite what I originally intended, but I'm warming to it. Carina is a healer/priestess type, not a warrior, so it could be appropriate. Good profile and faceset, anyway. Carina #3: Including this one in case people want a more classic priestess, but it doesn't have a good faceset and it changes her hair color. There you have it: the only potential Carina redesigns I've found so far. Cast your votes! EDIT: Here are the emosets. No time to grab the sprites now, but I'll say that I consider them "good" whereas I consider the profiles/facesets to be in the "solid" or "acceptable" range. Hilstara: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Hilstara%20new%20emo_zps0askt0j3.png.html Carina2: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Carina3%20emo_zpsrcs4o1cz.png.html Yarra: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Yarra%20emo2_zps1xs4zziy.png.html Riala: http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/sierraleeauthor/media/Riala%20emo_zpsbf509voo.png.html