Li—Lo

A family's journey

How characters have evolved over time

August 2024 — After numerous iterations, I've finally settled on the character designs for the game.

The process involved many changes, driven by two main challenges:

  1. Deciding between flipbook animation (hand-drawn frames) and skeletal animation (similar to stop-motion)
  2. Finalizing the visual style of the game much later in development than planned

As I worked on the game, I developed a set of design requirements for the traveling family:

  1. Characters should be relatable, not overly cute, and match the game’s visual style
  2. They must feel like they belong to the same family
  3. Silhouettes need to be distinct enough to differentiate each character
  4. The design should clearly represent different ages
  5. It should be easy to animate with either flipbook or skeletal animation
  6. The design should include an element for gliding, like a cape or wings
  7. Characters should have a neutral appearance, allowing players of all genders to identify with them

What follows are concepts and sketches for Li-Lo's characters:

The Originals

The Originals (2019): The family didn’t include a player's parent, had capes but couldn’t glide, and were animated frame-by-frame.

The Placeholders

The Placeholders (2022): When I decided to redo the game from scratch, I focused on gameplay over visuals, and I redrew the characters as simple sketches without animations. I also introduced the player's parent character, which helped solidify the design requirements for the entire family.

The Birds

The Birds (2023): based on the requirements outlined by the Placeholders, I sketched some new concepts which would work with bone-animation.

The Insects

The Insects (2023): Like the Birds, the Insects were also too intricate to animate and didn’t fit the game’s world.

The Insects

The Wisps (2023): This concept was simpler to animate, but aside from their eyes, I wasn’t satisfied with the design. Like the Birds and Insects, the Wisps didn’t align with the game’s style and were eventually discarded.

The Greys

The Greys (2024): I decided to return to flipbook animation and develop the Placeholder style further. This style was used for some promotional assets.

The Final Ones

The Final Ones (2024): After feedback from testers and further experiments with skeletal animation, I settled on this style. It combines elements from the Placeholders, Birds, and Wisps, is simple enough to animate, and complements the geometric style of the game.