Gotham Knights: Revealing 28 Superhero Suits (and How They Were Made) – IGN First
in Gotham Knights many Here are 28 different designs of superhero suits for your character to wear. From classic cartoon-inspired suits to sets designed by bona fide comic book legends, developer WB Games Montréal has drawn from DC’s rich history, but with Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Red It created a truly new idea of what the hood should look like. Challenge Batman Universe.
As part of this month’s IGN First, we spoke to the creators of the games about how they’re designed, how they work in-game, how they’re customized, and more.
First, it’s important to understand that Gotham Knights distinguish between suit styles (suits with cosmetics attached). When stat changes) and transmog (suits that are purely cosmetic and applied like skins). The gallery above showcases 6 sets of suit styles and 1 set of transmogs. Gotham Knights will have his 11 suit style set at launch, making up a total of 44 individual suits (excluding transmog). The “Beyond” and “KnightWatch” sets are currently associated with the game’s Deluxe and Collector’s Editions, though WB reiterated that the game has no microtransactions.
The key to the philosophy of all these sets is that while you can customize elements of your appearance, you can’t mix and match pieces between different suits.
“Player representation is very important to us,” explains Creative Director Patrick Redding. suit style”.
Game director Geoff Ellenor said, “We wanted the freedom to create suit styles that were different enough from each other that each had a really strong personality.” I wanted to always look cool.I don’t want to end up with Red Hood looking sketchy because I made the wrong fashion choices.Red Hood should always be cool.”
To get as many diverse and eye-catching designs as possible, the character art team looked for inspiration far beyond the walls of the studio.
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Character art director Jay Evans explains: “So I think we took a very unique approach to this project. We started with an internal team, but we also looked for a lot of artists whose styles were in sync with what we were looking for.
“We basically looked at the internet, different websites, different people’s portfolios, different social media. [We] We found these artists, contacted them, and eventually artists from Germany, France, South Korea, Japan, and the United States contributed to the creation of these suit style ideas.”
Associate Character Art Director Jianli Wu added: Germany.And the next day we receive something from, say, South Korea.So for us, it was really interesting to see each artist’s personal tastes and their take on the suit styles we chose.
Outside artists were chosen not only for their raw ability, but also for how well existing work could be applied. The WB Montreal team looked for someone who could come up with a basic philosophy for each suiting style and interpret it in their own way. Wu gives an example:
“For example, Beyond one [which you can see on the first slide of the gallery above], artist, his portfolio was already looking. 70% closer to what we were looking for.That way you can get that kind of initial confidence to talk to them and then reach out [and ask them to work on the game].”
Evans explains the benefits of this approach:
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Jim Lee team up
Designing the suit styles for Gotham Knights was a true collaboration, and of course DC had his own voice. However, this relationship was clearly not restrictive, instead encouraging experimentation.
“Working with DC on these suit styles, I mean, it’s definitely a partnership,” Evans says of the relationship. In the very early sketches with them, it was like, “This is the direction we’re going in. What do you think? Are you happy with this overall direction?” If so, we were encouraged to explore.
“What would this look like on my desk?” [DC was] You can imagine it or have heard it many times. If we all agreed, I wanted this as a collectible on my desk and then we were moving forward. “
Not content with just bringing together talented artists from around the world to create his suit styles, he commissioned Jim Lee, one of the most famous artists in the Batman universe, to design them, bringing him a little closer to the source.
“KnightWatch” transmog suit designed by legendary DC artist Jim Lee.
“At one point, it was casually brought up during production,” says Wu of the legendary artist’s participation. “At that point, most of the suits had already been designed, but we were talking about this addition. [suitstyle] being made, and Jim Lee’s interest and involvement in this process. I loved his work when I was quite young. “
Jay Evans continues:
“Yeah, we rarely get the chance to see something in the very first, very rough stages of the process,” Wu adds. “Also, those suits are so classic that we love them. At that point, we [had] We’ve explored all the different ranges of suits, and this one is really a callback, and a lot of players will really like these. “
Jim Lee also got a glimpse of WB Montreal’s original design.
“It’s just an anecdote, but we’ve heard a few [things]”He’s seen some of our character concepts that I know, but I’ve only heard it indirectly.
We say it must be a nice touch. Evans Beam: “Yeah.”
Tinker, Tailor
While all suit styles have a somewhat fixed overall design, each comes with customizable elements that allow players to further tweak the look of their chosen hero.
Geoff Ellenor explains the approach in a little more detail. [them], knowing where to go for each individual suit, we allow colorways to be applied and we allow suit styles to be interchanged. Hmm. Because you end up with some very weird duplicate parts. We just wanted to be able to consistently deliver high quality. “
Evans describes these customizable elements as follows: The reason we did this and I think it works well is because it allows us to have a consistent design for one suit style. “
In the gallery above you can see how the suits of the four heroes can be customized. This time in the “Knight Ops” suit style, with his 3 options for each of his 4 modifiable elements of the suit. Patrick Redding explains how these choices can be applied to a character’s cowl.
“For example, you want to see a character, and you think you need to expose the character’s face, see the hair, show the eyes, so maybe you like the minimalist version of the mask. Horrible. A version with a cowl that gives more of a white slit eye. Or you might want a version that completely covers your face and gives you a more intimidating look when building a character in this new Dark Knight.”
As for how to earn and choose suit styles in the game, Ellenor explains that you’ll collect blueprints for status-altering suits labeled with specific suit styles, but don’t worry. Previously acquired suit styles:
“When I create a blueprint that says ‘Year One Suitstyle,’ I know what it’s going to look like. I’d like to keep that look if I decide later.A new blueprint from another style, it’s cool and I love all the stats, but I don’t like it as much as the year 1 suit style look – you can actually transmog [the] On top of that suit style. “
These designs don’t make you feel completely disconnected from the world of Gotham Knights. The artist explains that each one was designed to feel like part of this game’s Gotham timeline (more on that later in his IGN First feature). In the right places:
“All the different suit styles in the game are associated with different activities and factions you fight,” he explains. “Thus, they are thematically linked to the story the player plays through, and blueprints keep dropping by completing crimes and unlocking different beats in the story.”
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In addition to more equipment-based customization, colorways are an extra layer that allow your heroes to stand out from the rest. You can even feel that it is very different from the color scheme of .
“Most of our colorways may be familiar to the brand, or what you’d expect, or tweaks to them, or different versions you’ve seen in comics or other media.” Sections of these colorways are kind of like a set of sober maybe they’re blacked out or they’re greys, greys, whites and then there’s a little section that’s unexpected and these are It’s something that pushes the boundaries of what we’ve seen so far.And some of them look pretty fun.
These include palette swaps, allowing Batgirl to effectively take over Red Hood’s colors if desired, among many other unexpected color combinations.
“Surprisingly, these are the things I see people playing all the time,” Evans says. “People love the ability to wear these crazy colorways.”
Red Riding Hood that isn’t actually red might raise some eyebrows, but that’s the point. increase. Everyone will find a particular suit style that speaks to them when the game launches on his October 25th.
As for the character art team, they already have one. You can see both in the gallery at the top of this article. Evans likes the Knight Ops Red Hood, designed by a German artist who was an early participant in the project. Wu, on the other hand, has this to say about his Shinobi take on the Red Hood: that. ”
For more on Gotham Knights, check out the first 16 minutes of gameplay and learn why the characters don’t start the game as wimps, despite the conventions of the RPG genre. Take advantage and enjoy exclusive content throughout the month of August.
