Here’s a slightly embarrassing confession. Until very recently, if you walked around the studio, “Matteo” was a bevelled block with a camera stuck on top. He’s been our main character since the very first post, and for most of that time he was a box.
Not anymore.
From drawing to otter
Getting him from concept to something that walks about the studio was a bigger job than any of us expected. On the modelling side, he needed a proper head pass so he reads as friendly from every angle and not just from the front, real eyes with eyelids that close properly, a mouth that opens, and teeth and a tongue in there for when he does. Then the whole thing had to be rigged so the animation work could actually move him.
The eyes took the longest. They always do. Too big and he looks startled. Too small and he looks shifty. Lids that don’t quite meet when he blinks and he looks like he’s plotting something. There were a lot of versions.
Little things
What actually makes a character feel alive isn’t the walk cycle. It’s what he does when you’re not telling him to do anything. So Matteo has a set of small idle bits. He wipes his hands on his apron. He adjusts his beanie. He scratches his head, yawns when it’s getting late, stands back to admire a piece he’s pleased with, and slumps a bit at one that’s gone wrong.
None of these do anything for the gameplay. They’re there because they make the studio feel like somebody lives in it.
The cat
The studio also has a cat now. She sleeps. Occasionally she sleeps somewhere else. Matteo will stop what he’s doing to give her a scratch, and that is the single most important animation in the game and we will not be taking questions.
And the tools
Once Matteo looked the part, his tools suddenly looked very cheap next to him. So they’ve all had a proper modelling pass too. Each one now has two looks, brand new and well worn, and the game blends between them as the tool wears down. Not evenly, either: some parts of a tool go before others, the way they would in real life. A chisel that’s been used for months looks like it, which is a small thing but it ties in nicely with the tool wear from the tools post.
Next up is getting him out of the studio and into town. Which means we need a town.