Shift Up’s first AAA game, Stellar Blade, is right around the corner. Published by Sony and exclusively available on PS5, the game is officially slated to release on April 26. The Korean studio has also released a demo for the game, which has been swiftly racking up popularity.
However, the key driver behind that popularity lies in some…interesting elements of Stellar Blade, particularly the character model of its protagonist, Eve. The model is very pretty, and has the proportions of the average Instagram model, but it’s evident that even more work has gone into the physics associated with those proportions. Game director Hyung-Tae Kim explains the decision.
The Design Of Eve’s Back Is Crucial For Third-Person Play
Character design is a crucial element for immersion in video games. For that reason, there’s been a lot of progress with modelling lifelike, photorealistic characters for games, but for Stellar Blade, Shift Up’s devs took a unique approach – focusing heavily on the design of the protagonist Eve’s back.
This may seem very strange, but Stellar Blade director Hyung-Tae Kim explained the logic behind this decision in a recent interview with GamesRadar+:
When it comes to the design, we put special attention on the back of the character because the player is always facing the back of the character when they’re playing. That’s what they see the most of, so we thought this was pretty important.
It’s all a matter of perspective, then, and it makes sense. Since Stellar Blade is a third-person action-RPG, players would naturally spend the majority of their playtime looking at Eve’s back. This focus ensures players have something…exciting to look at across their playthrough. Shift Up may have been too successful on that front, though, because it seems that’s all players are looking at.
Stellar Blade Director Likes “Ideal” Character Designs
It doesn’t end there, as Kim also shared his own philosophy on character design, which extends beyond mere aesthetics. He believes that in the context of video games, characters should be visually striking and embody a sense of the “ideal”:
Honestly, when I play a game, I would like to see someone who is better-looking than myself. That’s what I want. I don’t want to see something normal; I want to see something more ideal. I think that is very important in a form of entertainment. This is, after all, entertainment targeted for adults.
This approach aligns with the nature of video games themselves, as they’re posited to be a form of escapism; an occasional break from reality. Characters can be larger-than-life heroes, have cartoonish appearances, and possess extraordinary abilities, and that’s totally believable.
Like with all things, though, striking a balance is necessary, and Kim knows it. While he believes in creating visually appealing characters, he emphasizes that looks shouldn’t overshadow the narrative or the world itself. Character design should complement the story and setting, not subdue them.
While the focus on Eve’s back may seem bizarre, it reflects a fresh approach to character design. Shift Up has cleverly used visual appeal to keep players hooked throughout the game, and it seems to be working rather well, to the point where it’s one of the biggest talking points of Stellar Blade.
