Firewatch studio is committed to realistic to representation
It’s rare enough to see women of color star in a mainstream or high-profile video game, and it’s rarer still for those women to rock the diverse number of hairstyles that we see women of color wear in real life. Instead, women (and men) are often limited to a minute selection of hairstyles and designs — something former Kotaku writer Evan Narcisse has spoken eloquently about in the past.
In the Valley of Gods, Campo Santo’s next game, dares to be different. The follow-up to Firewatch isn’t only the team’s first attempt at depicting full-fledged human characters from a third-person view, but it’s also senior environment artist Jane Ng’s first time animating and designing a character with the tightly coiled, natural hair that many black women sport in real life. In a post on the studio’s blog, Ng talks about the care the entire art team has put in thus far to create protagonist Zora’s lifelike look.
“When I first saw the character design for Zora, I had an understanding of what task lays before us as a team,” wrote Ng, acknowledging that hair is a symbol of individuality. “None of us has Type 4 hair, characterized by tight coils and common among black women. In fact, none of us have even made video game hair before, but we are committed to giving Zora the hair she loves, the way she chooses to wear it, with all the care and effort we can.”
That effort involved hiring specialized character modelers to help build Zora, including the eventual shape of her hair. From there, Ng and her fellow artists worked on Zora’s “hair geometry” in order to capture the specific texture and movement of her hair type. The whole process took about two months, according to Ng.
Not that the team is done yet, of course. In the Valley of Gods isn’t due out until next year; we’ve seen just a single trailer for it, back during The Game Awards 2017. Campo Santo wanted to get Zora looking ready for the game’s first look, using hand-done animation and lighting to achieve a suitably coiled look — which, to my eye, the developers certainly have done with aplomb.
“There is a long way to go before we’re truly happy with Zora’s hair, but this is a good first step,” wrote Ng. “As the rest of the game’s visuals become more solidified, it will become more clear what we need to tackle next.”
Source: Polygon – Full