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Postcard
From GDC 2003: Six months ago, Animation Magazine publisher Rita Street came up with the idea for a GDC session that would feature four industry artists designing different versions of the same character, for use in a make-believe game. After assembling four artists currently at work in the industry, Rita gave each of them the task of independently designing Cuddly, the Mad Pufferfish, with nothing beyond the name to work from. At the Mad Pufferfish Panel, each of those four artists shared the work that emerged from that process.
Artist #2: David Levy, Assistant Art Director, Acclaim David Levy, Assistant Art Director at Acclaim, divided his character creation process into four key stages: defining the character, doodling out concepts, refining the character, and then pitching the finished product. The key to David's process was coming up with background information that would help inform Cuddly's development. He emphasized the importance of establishing the type of game a character is being designed for, the platform for which the game is being developed (as well its technical limitations), and the background story that would explain the character's appearance. He also said that characters should be emotionally appealing, able to make a player identify with the character, and designed so as to provide maximum player empowerment and minimal frustration. As for the actual look of the character, David's process involved a set of surprisingly diverse freeform doodles, followed by a "stir and simmer" approach that combined the best elements of each. The result was the most well-developed of the four characters: an egg-collecting Cuddly who defends organic life from aggressive robotic invaders, with the game's goal being the destruction of the evil OCTOBOT and the rescue of Eva, the larva protector. He concluded with a set of impressive 3D renders, representing what Cuddly might look like in the actual game.
Lane began by coming up with a basic concept for Cuddly's existence: his mission in life would be to destroy various locations (e.g. a mansion, a mall, and a military base), bringing the enemy down in the chaos. His vision was that gameplay would be based on chain reaction physics, allowing Cuddly to do a lot of damage for his small size. Lane showed facial sketches, concept boards, and color drawings, each representing the progressive development of his character. At the end of his ten minutes, Lane played a Spike-and-Mike style animation of Cuddly talking, bouncing around, and blowing up - literally. Where the other Cuddlys simply inflated, Lane's actually exploded - complete with flying internal organs - and respawned again on screen. Artist #4: Scott Campbell, Artist The final version of Cuddly was the most crazy of all, featuring a Cuddly whose existence takes place within the social strata of a sushi bar. The story that emerged from Scott's design process: Cuddly is a member of blowfish royalty, and his mission is to infiltrate the various "societies" that exist within the sushi bar - such as the seaweed society and the salmon society. The reason for his covert ops: "to get the band back together."
As entertaining as his drawings were, Scott did have a few sober points for the audience. He mentioned the importance of developing other characters in the game along with the main one, to provide context for the character - he showed us a shrimp and a piece of tofu hanging out together - and of establishing the levels in which the character would operate. A Mad Set of Creations All in all, what the Mad Pufferfish Panel led to was four very different version of Cuddly the Mad Pufferfish, created by four very different artists. The linking thread: that each character emerged only after an intense period of concept development; that brainstorming and concept sketches were essential to the process; and that a thorough understanding of the character's background was needed to really add depth to the character's design. A full
account of the Map Pufferfish story will appear in a forthcoming issue
of Animation Magazine.
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Features
Charles
Zembillas' presentation was almost entirely sketch-based. He shared dozens
of blue-line and black-line drawings of the evolving versions of the character,
ranging from the cute and lovable to the downright disturbing. As he showed
the sketches, he spoke extensively 
about
planning for the needs of the production department (such as designing
the character to remain recognizable in front and side poses), and of
always working toward overall simplicity. He also spoke about using simple
shapes that would easily translate into 3D computer models.
Working
from photos of actual blowfish, Scott developed dozens and dozens of rough
sketches, beginning with a cartoonish puffer (drawn Ren And Stimpy
style), and ending with a manic Cuddly groovin' on the dance floor with
a number of other fish. 