Creating engaging characters is the first step to getting players hooked on your game!

Here are some best practices for creating characters to help you get started…

A selection of some great character designs on Dorian.

The Details

Character art should be created at…

• 2810 x 4000 resolution
• PNG format with transparent background

Personality First

As you create your art, think about the personality of your character. Are they shy? Superior? Dangerous?

And think about ways you can imbue that personality into the character through the design, i.e.:

Costume

• a vain character may dress in expensive clothes
• a scrappy warrior may have scars or scrapes in their armor

Pose

• a shy character may be slightly hunched over
• an arrogant character stands with a straight back

Facial expression

Every character will have a range of expressions in the game, but their default expression can tell the player a lot about who they are and hint at their storyline, i.e.:

• slightly flirty
• inviting and friendly
• irritated

Use different poses for characters which can help to make the characters dynamic and explain their personality better

Romantic Appeal

Players love romance! Not every character in your game needs to be a love interest, but your game should ideally feature at least 2-3 characters with strong romantic appeal.

On Dorian, keep in mind that…

• sexy is an attitude - there are many ways to make a character romantically appealing but one of the best ways is by how they engage with the viewer via their body language and expression, i.e.
  • flirty - they like the tease
  • defiant - they resist at first but then give in (enemies to lovers)
  • open-hearted - they want to spend quality time with you
• younger-looking characters (18-25yo) tend to perform better with our audience than characters that look 30+
• diversity of gender - our audience loves characters that blur the line between traditional masculine and feminine types. i.e. traditional hyper-masculine love interests don’t tend to perform as well as they may on other platforms.

These are not rules and there are always exceptions, so feel free to experiment!

Colors and Contrast

Your characters will be played on mobile devices - primarily phones, and could be layered on many different backgrounds in your game. So design them to make sure they pop!

Tips:

• Consider having a unique color palette per character to help differentiate them. Define it early in your creative process.
• Make each character contains a range of color values - both dark and light shades - so that they will stand out on different background colors.
• Regularly test your characters on dark, mid and light backgrounds as you create the art. Try keeping a few background color layers in your art file and get in the habit of switching them sometimes.
• Consider adding edge lighting to skin and clothes to help them pop out against dark backgrounds - especially for characters with darker color palettes
• Periodically send screenshots to your phone so you can test how they look at phone scale. Not everything that reads well on a large monitor will work at mobile device resolution.

Fit the Frame

Always keep in mind that your characters will most often be on phones when players see them.

• Don’t put key costume elements below the thighs, as most characters will be cropped here in the game
• Avoid props or costume elements that stick out too far to the sides and may be cropped on narrower devices
• Avoid props or costume elements that go much higher than the characters’ heads, which may force your character’s head too far down within the phone frame

Think about Cosplay

Whether you are a cosplayer or not, remember that Dorian is also a streaming platform. With great character designs, your game could attract cosplayers who would stream your game live and help build your audience!

Consider basing elements of your design on costumes and props that might be easy to recreate in cosplay.