Designing unique characters is one of the most critical and challenging components in game design. This is especially true when the characters are well-known figures in literature, television and film. Not only are you striving to create something special in its own right, but must also strike the right balance between familiarity and reinvention, allowing the character to break free from preconceived notions while still being instantly recognisable.
This was the challenge we faced at Plarium when designing characters for RAID: Shadow Legends x Alice’s Adventure, our 3-month special event based on Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. RAID: Shadow Legends is a dark fantasy squad-based RPG, where the characters (or Champions as we call them) are quite literally the focus of the game, so it was important that we captured that aesthetic while being true to the source material. Here is how we handled the situation to help other character designers work through similar situations.
