![]() This helps make the characters feel more connected to the world. Since the wind plays a big part in our game, we made sure to always have parts of the outfit that reacted to the wind, such as capes and tassels. The more cloth-based outfits such as Kensei and Traveler’s outfit were designed with the intent of making the player feel like a lone wandering ronin, just like in those old samurai films. We also created a lineup of outfits that Jin can acquire throughout his journey, and for these, we had a bit more creative freedom in designing outfits that helped sell the samurai fantasy, such as Tadayori’s Armor, which was inspired by Yabusume (traditional Japanese mounted archery). The bulky and angular shapes from the traditional samurai armor contrast well with the more light and agile make of the Ghost armor. We started off with Jin as a full-fledged samurai, then a broken samurai, and then to be reborn as the Ghost. ![]() Those radiated a sense of regality which fits Jin’s arc and contrasts well with the dark and muted scheme of the Ghost armor. Jin’s arc of turning from the honorable samurai to the new dishonorable warrior was portrayed by including subtle intricate patterns as well as traditional armor plating pieces to make the Ghost outfit look more believable for that time.įor Jin’s more traditional samurai outfits, we looked closely at armor references from the Kamakura and Heian periods. We avoided going the route of your traditional assassin trope with the iconic black and fully cloth-based outfit, and instead incorporated a touch of samurai armor elements in the Ghost outfit to help add a sense of realism. Knowing that we wanted a character to have to let go of tradition and evolve into something out of necessity gave us this opportunity to tell a fictional story of a new kind of warrior. While there are some stealthy assassins that actually appear from various points in history, there wasn’t a lot of information about the first warrior of that kind. In the early drawing boards for Jin, we knew that we needed someone that can fulfill the fantasy of hiding in the shadows, but still having a look that feels like it was inspired by some of his samurai armor and aesthetic. The general process was to get a brief narrative of the character, doing research and reference gathering, coming up with some thumbnail sketches, rounds of iterations, and reworks to address any technical issues we faced. Once the actors are cast, we fit their faces onto the outfit designs and from there they do an amazing job capturing the personality and nuances of the character through their lens. This helps with finding and casting the actors later. We try to invoke a personality fit for the character on the face as well as provide references for the general tone the character should give off. Usually the concepts for characters are done well before the actors are cast. We spent a lot of time gathering reference material for our characters, which ranged from Samurai films, online books and resources, to photographing museum exhibits, from the most intricate Samurai and lavish armor, down to poor and rough bandits. A lot of the references we gathered were from museum exhibits and photos taken by teams that the studio sent out to Tsushima as well as the main island of Japan. We began by exposing ourselves to as much research and content as we could on the Kamakura Era, Japanese culture, old Samurai films and the Invasion of Tsushima, which led to the final designs of our characters, outfits, landscape, architecture, etc. This was the core player fantasy that served as an overarching guide for everyone at the studio. ![]() Our main story inspiration was the Mongol invasion of Japan of 1274, and the main character was a survivor of that invasion who defies all odds to defend his homeland. Ghost of Tsushima is set in 1274 during the Kamakura period, which comes with a lot of challenges as well as interesting opportunities to explore visual designs for the game. Hi! My name is Ian Jun Wei Chiew, Lead Concept Artist at Sucker Punch Productions, and I was fortunate enough to have worked on Ghost of Tsushima since the very beginning.
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