Gabriella Grace
Christyanti / 0371915
Game Art / Creative Media /
School of Design
Project 2 Assets Pack for Game World
1. Instructions
2. Lectures
3. Process Work
4. Final Outcome
5. Feedback
6. Reflection
1. INSTRUCTIONS
ZBRUSH SCULPTING
Trim Dynamic & High Polish:
Combined for planar sculpting—Trim Dynamic flattens raised forms, while High Polish creates razor-sharp bevels and clean surface facets.
SnakeHook (B > S > H): Pulls out horns, hair strands, dynamic tendrils, and silhouettes.
Topology & Polygroup Quick-Keys:
- Shift + F: Toggles wireframe and Polygroup visibility to monitor mesh density and edge flow.
- Ctrl + W / Cmd + W: Assigns a new Polygroup color to the active mesh or selection to keep sub-components isolated.
- Gizmo Duplication (W $\rightarrow$ Hold Ctrl $\rightarrow$ Drag handle): Clones the active Subtool or selection. Immediately hit Ctrl + W on the clone to assign it a distinct Polygroup.
Backface Auto-Masking (Brush > Auto Masking > BackfaceMask): Prevents thin geometric surfaces (like thin cloth, ears, eyelids, or armor plates) from distorting on the opposite side when sculpting on the front
UV Texturing & Alpha Import
Texture Bleed Areas (Padding): Adding extra pixels beyond the UV island borders during texture baking to prevent visible seams or background color bleeding at low mipmap resolutions.
Importing Custom Alphas (Hair/Detail): Download a hair alpha $\rightarrow$ open ZBrush Alpha Palette $\rightarrow$ click Import $\rightarrow$ select the image file. Drag out the detail on the mesh surface using the DragRect stroke mode.
Anatomy, Skin Details & Surface Aging
Clothing Folds & Wrinkles: Major structural folds require smaller tension wrinkles around high-stress areas to look believable.
Anatomical Surface Variations:
Clothing Folds & Wrinkles: Major structural folds require smaller tension wrinkles around high-stress areas to look believable.
Anatomical Surface Variations:
- Skin over bony landmarks (chin, collarbones, elbows) is tighter, thinner, and smoother.
- Areas with skin folds, bags, or muscle movement (eyebags, lips, ears) show fine micro-wrinkles and varied porosity.
- Facial color zones: Pigment varies naturally across the face—redness concentrates around the nose, cheeks, and lips.
ZBrush BPR Rendering & Output
Redshift Note: Skip Redshift render settings if focusing strictly on real-time viewport setups or native BPR passes.
BPR Settings (Render > Best / Render Properties): Fine-tune shadow rays, blur, and angle settings in the Render Properties menu for clean ambient occlusion and soft depth shadows.
Render Passes (Render > Render Pass): Export individual pass maps (Depth, Shadow, Mask, Specular, AO) to composite final character beauty shots in Photoshop.
GAMEPLAY MECHANIC
For this week's first major change feedback, it was for the character's outfit. Sir Kannan explained to me that the logistics of the Battle Chaser's world gameplay rely on a turned based combat where there is a dominant side that the player will see of the character's model. For mine, he is a hero playable character which meant the player will see his right side a lot.
Now after assessing that, Sir Kannan mentioned that I should add a key feature on his right arm, something like a shield. I picked to make an arm guard for an accessory. But just like the problem with the outfit, it still looked far too plain I also fixed the body's coloring to make the edges look sharper and added highlights. These are all feedback sir Kannan told me to do on my character and it really helped.
ANATOMY
I also received feedback for my anatomy again but these were more detailed than before as the references Sir Kannan gave for the block out really helped me through most of the trial and errors. Most adjustments focused around the leg area which mean it'll need to do further practice on it in the future as that might be my biggest weak spot when it comes to anatomy.
PATTERNS
Now this is when everything started to feel like it was coming together. I hadn't added the tattoos yet but I did change the color of my character to have a more complimentary color rather than clashing colors. My previous color palette was gold and black for the head piece and red, black, and white for the veil. But I changed it up for my character in this phase, by changing the colors into gold and dark blue for the head piece and dark blue, yellow, and white for the veil. After the recolor for those, I also added color onto the arm guard, making it dark blue too with a silver edge.
Sir Kannan taught us about alphas and how to use it so I decided to have my first go in using alphas. The arm guard looked nice but sir Kannan did have comments on the pattern i placed on the head piece. Everything is too thick and too uniform. This is where my lack of understanding for design principles start to show. Sir Kannan then suggested to make the pattern both thinner and more faded. But the details for the arm guard was already fine.
FACE
For this area of designing, I had been purposefully hiding the face as I thought modeling the face was unnecessary since my character's face will be covered by the mask anyway. But Sir Kannan mentioned it would be good for my practice to at least give it a shot and also just in case my character needs a change of costume in the game.
I don't recall there being any further feedbacks of the modeling of his face after I modeled the face thankfully, but I did get feedback on my coloring but that is a discussion for my Final Project blog instead.
TATTOOS
Since I was still unable to use substance painter, Sir kannan recommended me to do it with an alpha on zbrush instead. From there, I just search up tattoo patterns on the internet and picked out the box shape one so it's easier to assemble. There is nothing much to talk about for the tattoos.
MASK PATTERN
Now for the mask pattern, I started to re-paint the thick lines, making them thinner. And using the masking by color tool, I was able to lightly paint the pattern into a more blue tinted color. And on the mask face itself I needed to add the same make up he's wearing on his face.
4. FINAL OUTCOME
5. FEEDBACK
GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
One of the biggest pieces of feedback I received during Project 2 was about designing with gameplay in mind rather than only focusing on appearance. Sir Kannan explained that because Battle Chasers: Nightwar uses a turn-based combat system, the player's view of each character is dominated by one side of the model. Since my character is a playable hero, the player's attention would mostly be on his right side. Because of this, Sir Kannan suggested that I add a stronger visual feature to that side of the body to improve the character's silhouette and make him more recognizable during combat. Following his advice, I designed an arm guard for the right arm. After creating it, he also advised me to continue refining its design as it still appeared too plain. I also sharpened the body's color transitions and added stronger highlights to better define the muscles and forms.
ANATOMY
Although my anatomy had already improved significantly from the previous project, Sir Kannan continued giving me detailed feedback on smaller areas that still needed refinement. Most of the corrections focused on the legs, where the proportions, muscle flow, and overall structure still needed more work. Compared to the earlier stages of the project, these were much more subtle adjustments rather than complete redesigns, showing that my understanding of anatomy had improved. However, this also made me realize that the lower body remains one of my weakest areas and is something I need to continue practicing in future character studies.
PATTERNS & COLOUR DESIGN
During this stage, I also received feedback on the overall visual design of the costume. I had already changed my original color palette from gold, black, red, and white to a more harmonious combination of gold, dark blue, yellow, and white. This made the costume feel much more cohesive. Sir Kannan also introduced the class to using alphas for creating detailed patterns, which allowed me to experiment with decorative designs for the first time. While the patterns on the arm guard were successful, he pointed out that the designs on my mask were too thick, too bold, and too uniform. He advised me to make the lines thinner, lighter, and more varied so that the design would have a clearer visual hierarchy instead of competing for attention equally across the surface.
FACE MODELLING
Initially, I intentionally avoided modelling the character's face because it would remain hidden behind the mask throughout the game. However, Sir Kannan encouraged me to model it anyway as an anatomy exercise and also because future costume changes might reveal the character's face. Although I was hesitant at first, I followed his advice and completed the facial sculpt. Thankfully, I did not receive any major modelling corrections afterwards, which gave me confidence that my anatomy had improved. Most of the remaining feedback regarding the face would later focus on the painting and texturing process in the final project.
TATTOOS & MASK DETAILS
Since I had not yet started working in Substance Painter, Sir Kannan recommended creating the tattoos directly in ZBrush using alpha brushes. This allowed me to add decorative body markings without interrupting my workflow. For the mask, I revisited the pattern design based on his earlier feedback, repainting the thick decorative lines into thinner ones and using masking techniques to introduce subtle blue tones into the pattern. I also painted the same facial markings onto the mask itself to visually connect it with the character underneath, making the overall design feel much more cohesive.
EXPERIENCE
Project 2 was the stage where my character began to feel complete. I refined the anatomy, redesigned the costume with a more harmonious color palette, experimented with alphas for the first time, and added tattoos and facial details that gave the character more personality. More importantly, I learned how gameplay mechanics can influence character design decisions, showing me that visual design should always support the player's experience rather than existing purely for aesthetics. OBSERVATION
OBSERVATION
Throughout this stage, I observed that successful character design requires balancing artistic appeal with practical game design. Features such as the arm guard, pattern placement, and color choices all contributed to making the character easier to recognize while maintaining visual interest. I also realized that even hidden elements, such as the face beneath the mask, are worth developing because they strengthen both my modelling skills and the overall completeness of the character. FINDINGS
FINDINGS
This project taught me that every design decision should have a purpose, whether it improves gameplay readability, visual hierarchy, or storytelling. I found that applying design principles such as contrast, hierarchy, and color harmony made a noticeable difference in the overall quality of my work. Combined with continuous feedback and experimentation, these improvements transformed my character from a simple concept into a much stronger and more polished game-ready design.
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