Astral Chain DevBlog: Modeling the Legions from Masakazu Katsura's character design

[CGiRanger]

Source: https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/10228

This is where it all started. This is the original Legion design, straight from famed manga artist Masakazu Katsura himself. Those complex surfaces! Those flowing curves! That distinctive face mask! There's no doubt about it, this is a Katsura original! If you're familiar with his work on ZETMAN or Tiger and Bunny, his touch here is unmistakable

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Here's the completed high-poly model! I tried to distill the composition and charm of the original design into a solid, three-dimensional model suitable for an action game.

The Legion's legs called for special attention. You see, the Legion typically floats in midair, but sometimes it has to stand strong and anchor itself on the ground. If the legs were too bulky, the Legion would look strange hovering around. But if they were too thin, it wouldn't look believable holding its own on the ground. This was a tricky point to nail, and I had to check the model in-game and readjust it over and over again before I felt like I'd finally gotten it right! Another challenge was making sure the faceplate had that perfect Masakazu Katsura look to it. This was a good excuse to buy a bunch of Tiger and Bunny action figures. You know… As reference materials…

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Now you'll notice some details that aren't in the original design; a few POLICE decals here, some extra trim there. Partway through development, someone wisely pointed out that the Legions aren't just alien creatures – they're also official police equipment! Their final models capture this duality, I think. (Positioning those decals juuuust right was harder than you'd think!)

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Okay, so the model looked pretty good, but that wasn't enough. This is a Platinum title, after all, so it has to move – sometimes quite dramatically. Getting the model ready to take anything our animators dished out took so much work, I'm tearing up a bit just thinking about it! Making sure it looks good in any pose called for some creative adjustments…

For example, watch closely and you'll see that the armor itself changes shape around the Legion's movements. This keeps the thigh armor from intersecting with the calf armor, which would definitely not look cool.

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As you can see, I could go on and on about the Legion for a while. That's because the Legions are very important to ASTRAL CHAIN – they're practically the game's mascots! So there was a whole lot of pressure to get them just right. It took Kimura and me several discussions, arguments, out-and-out fights, and a whole lot of trial and error to arrive at the final models. But considering how cool they ended up, I'd say it was all worth it in the end!

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Bonus content! ;)

I was hoping I'd get to do this! (Okay, so all I did was hand the raw materials over to Kimura and he put the characters together like this for me…) You recognize the handsome fellow on the right, don't you? That's Platinum Man (or as some may call him, Chief Executive Omni-Weapon KEN-ICHI)!

Disclaimer: Sorry to disappoint you, but Platinum Man will not be appearing in ASTRAL CHAIN. Thanks for your understanding!

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Really loving Platinum's deep dives into their process on this game. It shows how much work this one is getting put into it. And it is definitely shaping up to be something special.

 

[ILikeFeet]

After that, I added more polygon edges to define the various parts of the model in another sculpting program called Maya.

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TRIGGERED

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

Gotta say this game is shaping up to be one of the best of the year, or even of this gen. Really punching above its weight for Switch, I get it's 30 fps but it looks better than a lot of early XB1 (that aren't Arkham knight) games to be honest.

 

[Kouriozan]

Shame that Platinum Man won't be in game, haha.
The game still really great excited for the release but I'm about to go on a blackout for this.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

Really do love the look of the blade legion, gotta be my favorite out of the 5.

 

[Gilver]

Damn those are some good-ass Ultraman-ass character designs.

 

[Deleted member 2340]

This game is really growing on me. When it first was revealed I kind of brushed it off because it seemed like another mindless action game. It hasn't won me fully over either. I need to know more. Was this the same team that made Neir Automata?

 

[Deleted member 1839]

This game is really growing on me. When it first was revealed I kind of brushed it off because it seemed like another mindless action game. It hasn't won me fully over either. I need to know more. Was this the same team that made Neir Automata?

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Somewhat. The lead designer from Automata is the director for this game.

 

[Deleted member 2340]

Somewhat. The lead designer from Automata is the director for this game.

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I mainly ask because I'm curious on the story. I haven't played Automata but I keep hearing good things about it's story so I'm hoping Astral Chain benefitted from Automata in that way.

That's my biggest hold out right now with this game because everything else from the first design this thread is about to the recent E3 trailer and gameplay looks really good/deep.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I mainly ask because I'm curious on the story. I haven't played Automata but I keep hearing good things about it's story so I'm hoping Astral Chain benefitted from Automata in that way.

That's my biggest hold out right now with this game because everything else from the first design this thread is about to the recent E3 trailer and gameplay looks really good/deep.

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The story of Nier was because of Yoko Taro. This game most definitely won't be as deep, I suspect

 

[Kiraly]

Can this game come out already

 

[Deleted member 8196]

I mainly ask because I'm curious on the story. I haven't played Automata but I keep hearing good things about it's story so I'm hoping Astral Chain benefitted from Automata in that way.

That's my biggest hold out right now with this game because everything else from the first design this thread is about to the recent E3 trailer and gameplay looks really good/deep.

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This is a PG game without Taro, the story is going to be...well...a PG story, so yes, something will happen, bad people, etc...

 

[Deleted member 11637]

Can't believe this comes out in two months. Looks so darn good!

 

[Blunoise]

New footage from Japan expo

https://youtu.be/oDIa94dwnvQ

 

[Spine Crawler]

im glad that this guy gets essentially a mecha superhero type of game.

i love I's or Video Girl Ai but his type of stuff really suits his style.

 

[ILikeFeet]

New update, this time on facial animation

https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/10252

 

[Blunoise]

man so many games coming to switch starting this month... and im buyin this and most of them this year