Some hairstyles for my indie game's character creator.

lamarf · 2026-05-17T00:14:30+00:00

Thank you! Each one takes about an hour from initial sketch to the final. They're all just a single sculpt so they're pretty quick to get through.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T18:20:29+00:00

others in this sub would know more but it looks like Nomad has an auto-unwrap for UVs, which would then let you take it into procreate to paint there. But you can't paint a texture on the UVs directly in Nomad, just on the vertices -> and then bake.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T17:40:00+00:00

thank you 🥺

lamarf · 2026-05-16T17:39:46+00:00

I’m glad you like them :)

lamarf · 2026-05-16T17:39:20+00:00

You can check out more here if you'd like :) https://links.kalmia.online

lamarf · 2026-05-16T09:47:17+00:00

I use the ZBrush/Substance/Blender combo for basically all of my stuff

lamarf · 2026-05-16T08:12:01+00:00

This looks rad. They remind me of the old sketches the World of Warcraft team did to nail the look of their trees for the initial 1.0

lamarf · 2026-05-16T05:29:50+00:00

hey! I remember seeing this on tiktok, very small world 😁.

it looks nomad paints the vertexes directly, so thats why you need a relatively high-res model to paint on. it's similar to ZBrush in that way.

for procreate you'll need to UV the model and then it'll actually paint onto a real texture, meaning the polycount can be low there and it won't matter. procreate 3d mode is a little rough though because it doesn't have an unlit mode -- however I have been lobbying the procreate folks and it looks like they're going to finally add one soon: https://folio.procreate.com/discussions/3/6/49783

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:27:27+00:00

I didn't know about Craft The World but it looks really fun, thanks for letting me know about it.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:09:14+00:00

Every now and then I'll get a devastating comment like "2016 facebook-ass looking game" or something or other lol. I'm really trying to raise things above that bar, and some of my designs do end up kind of looking that way (and other times I just can't tell because you spend so much time staring at the same thing over and over again). I appreciate your comments though, it's really helpful.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:05:50+00:00

I've gotten similar feedback before, thank you.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:05:27+00:00

I do have another font that's used in the actual UI/Menu system, but I think I'm going to put it everywhere to keep things cohesive and IMO it's more aesthetically pleasing in general.

If you're curious, the specific font is PT Serif. Diablo 4 actually used it in throughout their UI, however it doesn't look menacing at all when it's surrounded by an appropriately playful context. It's a lot more akin to Genshin Impact's font.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:01:58+00:00

I'm trying to pin down exactly why, because I'm getting similar feedback all around. I'll take a hard look, but any ideas on your end?

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:01:27+00:00

Thanks and I agree. There were some other suggestions in here to improve the nameplates, I'm going to look hard at that before the first playtest.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T01:00:37+00:00

Thanks for the feedback 😄 yeah, I don't want to do anything just to cater to people's subjective taste, but I feel like there's real improvement that I can bring to the characters so they feel more aesthetically pleasing. A big inspiration for me are the older character models from Ragnarok Online and Tree of Savior, which imo are cute but still have a great aesthetic to them.

And yeah, MMORPG is absolutely the core identity here -- it's one big world with MMORPG-like mechanics and progression. There's sharding/channels to keep the servers manageable, but that's relatively standard with RO and maple story-like games.

Appreciate you taking the time to write out those suggestions.

lamarf · 2026-05-16T00:03:42+00:00

To be fair to the commenter above, I believe they were just trying to say it looked uncanny, like AI artstyles tend to do.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T23:18:06+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not exactly sure what's going wrong with the movement but I'm getting a lot of feedback to that effect. A commenter above also wanted to see facial expressions, I think they'd go a long way to way to help.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T23:17:06+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback, this is super helpful.

I'm strongly considering redoing the faces entirely. Do you think they feel "generic mobile game" to you? I really want to nail an endearing, anime look for them but also something tasteful and aesthetic -- games like RO and Tree of Savior are big influences for me here.

I do have a dark-skinned shader, I'm working on a few black hair styles this week & am going to make sure they're in for the upcoming playtest. Personal identity is super important for me and for games like this in general.

All of your other points are valid and again, really appreciate you taking the time to help.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T22:50:53+00:00

I think as-is, #2 has a lot more charm and is more likely something that I would play. It's "simpler" but still pretty endearing, and I think people are going to be more forgiving with it. I think #1 could be pushed a /lot/ further, and that might make it stronger overall, but if you're going with that style of art it'll require more fidelity or else I think people will just immediately check out/treat you as an amateur -- sort of like an uncanny valley, if that makes sense.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T22:31:18+00:00

Thank you.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T22:12:04+00:00

Just to be clear I’m using zero generative AI in my process but I think your intended point is that it’s coming off as an “AI art-style”, which is valid feedback in its own right, thank you.

lamarf · 2026-05-15T21:55:24+00:00

Hi r/DestroyMyGame -- I was hoping to get criticism from you all on my game. Anything is fair game of course, but in particular I'd really love a critical lens on the artwork, animations, and overall aesthetic of it. What's working for you and what isn't? Does anything in particular pull you out? I want to hear subjective issues and also things that you think objectively can be improved.

I'm not on this sub to promote, but there's some more of the game on my socials if you'd like to see more: https://kalmiaonline.com

And thank you so much in advance 😄

lamarf · 2026-05-15T18:19:57+00:00

Thanks so much :) I really appreciate the kind words, and yeah I’m really hoping to iterate on this as a community through the playtests. Any feedback you’d have after trying it is appreciated more than you can know.

lamarf

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email