Behind the Scenes: Carol

Today, in Behind the Scenes, I want to talk about making characters. Specifically, the main cast of Jack and Carol. If you've used Honey Select Studio, you'll find that the character creator for females has a ton of options, allowing for a wide range of characters. In fact, if you're good, you can create a unique style that makes your girls stand out from the ocean of others. Look at the likes of Harem Hotel, A House in the Rift, or The Headmaster just to see distinct takes on their casts. 

Male characters, on the other hand? Not so much. Luckily, Jack was pretty simple to create: tall guy with longish hair and a goatee who wears dress clothes or print t-shirts. And since he was intended as player stand-in, where you only see his head in brief glimpses, I didn't have to worry about how goofy his face is. 

For Carol, though, I had to go through numerous iterations just to get perfect. For a character that you interact with almost exclusively for the first couple chapters, I wanted her to be "just right." On the left below was an early test, using someone else's character just to get an idea of what I could do with the Maker/Studio. Even at this stage, I knew Carol needed to be pale-skinned and petite. On the right was an early test scene, with the initial Carol model walking into Jack's bedroom. As you can tell from looking at the final product, very little of this version remains. The major changes including locking down the distinct measurements of her facial features. From looking at other developers, I knew that creating a universal facial style was important. And once Carol was finalized, I could use her as template for the rest of the female cast.

Of course, what also needed to be done was producing younger versions of Carol, at ages 13 and 16, for the THEN sequences. To make these, I had to revise Carol as smaller and thinner. Carol 13 has no makeup and her hair style is simpler. Carol 16, who is trying to find herself, has dyed her blue hair. Her features, both facial and body-wise, are somewhere between Carol 13 and Carol 18.

The image below (also available in Wallpaper format) is the first proper scene built with Carol. I used it to place her model in a real-world location with proper lighting so I could make educated choices about what else to tweak. I'm pretty sure Carol went through about two dozen variations until I felt she looked right.

Behind the Scenes: Carol:  Hi-res version (3840x2160) 

This same screen capture was used as the Quit Game screen. So, if you're keeping track of things, that specific corner of Carol's bedroom was the first actual set built for the game. 

Fun Fact: There are two framed portraits of Jack and Lori inside the house. You might be able to see either in the background of certain scenes, but I try to obscure them when possible. So, it one of them turns up in a shot, it's the one way to see Jack's face. 

- Kinderfeld