I'm participating in a #MerMay challenge 2022. Yesterday was theme #Warrior. Of course, I thought about my lovely League of Legends.
Visual language is essential for video games. How a character looks gives us an understanding of who we were faced with.
There are classic character classes like a warrior or wizard. It makes characters more recognizable.
All gamers understand that the wizard has a low protection but high damage. Wizard valuable is ranged poke and magical control. This is sewn into the game balance. Imagine if the character has a high survival rate and high damage… it’s imba.
And not clear visual language can confuse players. For example, Shan from League of Legends is a tank but he looks like an assassin. And the concept artists from Riot Games mentioned this at the game design course.
The theme of my challenge is mermaids and the theme of the day is a warrior so I want to show my sketch. I try to create a melee warrior from ranged magic support Nami. It’s just concept art but enough for illustration.
This is official Nami from League of Legends:
Of course, I cheated. A little bit. I found a reference with a "strong" pose to save my time. Thank you, Pinterest, this is perfect:
I used it but added recognizable visual signals for Nami: a tail, a staff, and, well, a helmet:
Then I changed signals and made them more tanky/warrior. I have removed hand fins cause it’s not useable in melee fights. Also, you can see her proportions as more massive.
I had added armor and shield cause these visual signs make guys more tanky.
So I had made Nami’s elegant helmet simply and her magic staff more similar to a spear or battleaxe.
Perhaps after that, I will return to this concept art and draw a splash illustration. For now, that's all.
I will be glad of any corrections and additions to this post.
Visual Signs of Game Characters