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Inclusive character creator: an exploration of inclusive design for 3D character creators
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Inclusive character creator: an exploration of inclusive design for 3D character creators
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Content
Inclusive Character Creator:
An Exploration of Inclusive Design for 3D Character Creators
by
Michelle Ma
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(INTERACTIVE MEDIA)
May 2022
Copyright 2022 Michelle Ma
Dedication
For those fighting for greater social change in the games industry and beyond.
ii
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank my cohort at the Interactive Media and Games
program at USC. We’ve had an incredibly dicult and rewarding journey throughout this
program, and I’m so thankful to share ideas and experiences with such a diverse,
thoughtful, warm, and brilliant group of individuals. So I thank Abby Sherlock, Taylor
Dinwiddie, Kathryn Yu, Izzy Jones, Claire Hu, Meny Menczel, Sebastian Baracaldo, Cloud
Tian, Zian Zhang, Yang Cao, James Kim, Jasmine Jupiter, Olivia Peace, and Maddie Emery
for enriching my life with all of their amazing presence.
I would also like to thank my tremendous thesis committee and advisors along the way. I
thank Marientina Gotsis, my thesis chair and inspiration for asking dicult questions; Scott
Easley, my thesis committee member and expert on 3D production issues; and Bonnie
Harris-Lowe, Matthew Coopilton, and Laura Czechanowicz, my external advisors who have
given me abundant knowledge and resources to deepen my critical thinking and
understanding of intersectional topics. I’m also thankful for guidance and support I’ve
received from the USC Games faculty throughout my years here, including Martzi Campos,
Laird Malamed, Tracy Fullerton, Richard Lemarchand, Maureen McHugh, Andreas Kratky,
Peter Brinson, and Jesse Vigil.
I could never forget my amazing teammates that contributed to this production and
research, including Brett Bailey, Nitesh Sridhar, Rachel Yu, Josh Brannon, Ajai Gorowara,
and Matthew Yi. There were also numerous individuals that provided feedback through
surveys, discussions, playtests, and workshops that I am extremely grateful for.
iii
Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents and my sister. I couldn’t have done this
without all the support and love you’ve given me all these years.
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ............................................................................................................................................ ii
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ iii
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. v
List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... vi
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... vii
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Positionality 2
Chapter 2: Common Issues of Representation in Character Creators ........................... 4
2.1 Racial and Ethnic Representation 4
2.2 Genderism and Sexism 6
2.3 Ableism 7
2.4 Lookism, Sizeism, and the Concept of Appeal 8
2.5 Other Aspects of Feature Discrimination 9
Chapter 3: Types of Character Creators in Interactive Media ........................................... 11
3.1 Character Creators in Games 11
3.2 Avatar Makers and the Metaverse 13
3.3 Character Generation for Game Development 14
Chapter 4: Conceptualizing Inclusive Design Principles .................................................... 15
4.1 Goals and Pillars 15
4.2 Scope and Limitations 15
4.3 Inspiration 16
Chapter 5: Production ..................................................................................................................... 18
5.1 Concept Art and Categorization 18
5.2 Modeling 21
5.3 Shaders and Textures 22
5.4 User Interface and User Experience 23
5.5 Rigging 24
5.6 Playtesting and Feedback 24
5.7 Next Steps 25
Chapter 6: Summative Checklist................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 7: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 28
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 29
v
List of Figures
2.1
Screenshot of lighting issues in Black Desert Online (Rousseau, 2019) [left] and limited
skin tone options in Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo, 2022) [right] .................................. 5
2.2
Examples of good stylized afro hair from In the Valley of the Gods (Campo Santo, 2018)
[left] and Ebonix’s Solarchild Locs for The Sims (Ebonix, 2021) [right] ....................................... 5
2.3
Example of one of the facial analysis charts from Ljungqvist and Svensson which depicts
male (left) and female (right) facial limitations from the game, The Elder Scrolls Online
(Bethesda Softworks, 2014) ................................................................................................................. 6
2.4
Images of how armor sets in Monster Hunter World (Capcom, 2018) are di erent for male
and female characters .......................................................................................................................... 7
2.5
Compilation image from a user bug report about how some clothing options in The Sims 4
are incompatible with maximized belly and thigh fat options (redearcat, 2021) ...................... 9
3.1
Gameplay footage of character creation tools in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
(Nintendo, 2020) [left] and The Sims 4 (Electronic Arts, 2014) [right] ........................................ 11
3.2
Avatar makers on the Picrew platform made by artists @citruslucy (Zhang, 2019) [left]
and @hellosunnycore (Eli, 2020) [right] on Twitter ......................................................................... 13
3.3
Meta’s reveal image for their new avatars (Shorman, 2022) [left] and screenshot of the
Memoji creator (Apple, 2018) [right] ................................................................................................... 14
3.4
Archetype blending in Stylized Character Morphs (Reallusion, 2016) [left] and screenshot
of MetaHuman Creator (Epic Games, 2021) [right] ......................................................................... 14
4.1
Screenshots of the wheelchair option [left] and hair options for afro hair [right] from the
XBox Avatar Editor (Microsoft, 2018) ................................................................................................. 16
4.2
Screenshot of the Paramaker from Paralives (Paralives Studio, 2022) .....................................
17
4.3
Character designs for Hilda (Evans, 2018) [left] and a shot of characters from Steven
Universe: Future (Sugar, 2019-2022) [right] ..................................................................................... 17
5.1
Screenshot of skin tone options from the playable demo .............................................................
19
5.2
Concept art of eye types by Rachel Yu ..............................................................................................
20
5.3
The Andre Walker Hair Typing System (Walker, 2022) [left] and the LOIS system (Marfo &
Marfo, 2013) [right] ................................................................................................................................. 21
5.4
Progression of loose curly hair exploration from left to right .......................................................
22
5.5
Example of the hover text callout when the user is exploring options ......................................
23
vi
Abstract
Inclusive Character Creator is speculative design research that seeks to address some of
the long standing issues of sexism, racism, sizeism, and ableism prevalent in most 3D
character creators in interactive media. This project centers on the experience of players
who engage with character creators and avatar makers in order to express their physical
identity. In addition, this project focuses on stylized and expressive features rather than
hyperrealism; it serves as a comparison to games and social media platforms that use
these styles to appeal to broader audiences.
Inclusive Character Creator does not seek to define all features needed to be able to
include everyone, nor does it focus on exploring significant roleplaying, fantasy, or fashion
features that are central to character creators in games with significant worldbuilding. The
scope is purposefully limited as a starting framework for projects to use within their own
contexts. This project seeks to redefine what it means to start a character from a “default
body”; a definition that usually results in creating a biased system that relies on media
stereotypes. This research is an exploration into alternative design principles that could
build more inclusive character creators.
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction
For many, gaming is becoming an increasingly central part of our social lives. According to
the 2021 Essential Facts About the Gaming Industry report, “nearly 227 million Americans
play video games and more than three quarters of players say they play video games with
others, up from two thirds last year.” In addition, “74% of parents play video games with
their children at least weekly (up from 55% in 2020)” (ESA, 2021). These new forms of
sociality are limited by issues of representation. A 2009 content analysis of 150 games by
Williams, Martins, Consalvo, and Ivory reported "a systematic over-representation of males,
white and adults and a systematic under-representation of females, Hispanics, Native
Americans, children and the elderly" (Williams et al., 2009). In a more recent study of game
streaming content from the top 20 Twitch streamers, female characters, LGBTQIA+
characters, characters with physical disability, and characters with a large body type are
represented at rates far below the demographic of the U.S. population, and female
characters that are represented tend to be sexualized (Geena Davis Institute on Gender in
Media, 2021).
Over recent years, however, the appearance of playable characters has begun to diversify
as character creators in video games and interactive media have become more common.
Role playing games ranging from the cute stylized characters in Animal Crossing: New
Horizons (Nintendo, 2020) to more realistic rendering in Monster Hunter World (Capcom,
2018) allow players to change their skin tone and equip di erent cosmetics. Visual novels
like 2064: Read Only Memories (MidBoss, 2015) allow players to select their pronouns for a
deeper immersion beyond a predetermined protagonist. And, while avatar makers for social
1
platforms like Facebook and Snapchat have existed for a while to allow users to express
their physical identities, they are becoming more interactive and prevalent in virtual
engagement.
Even with the increasing diversification of playable characters through the use of character
creators, the results are often still limited. Many character creators start with the premise
of a “default body”, which is usually a “non-disabled, cisgender white male who is neither
young nor old and has a stereotypical body type” (Olofsson & Adolfsson, 2017). Additional
features to modify this template are then treated as secondary. Thus, character creators
still exhibit representation issues in terms of gender, race, body size, disability, and more. In
fact, these issues are magnified to the player in systems where developers spend more
time and resources on normative features.
How, then, do developers decide what to include in their system in order to appeal to wide
audiences and create a proper scope for the project demands? This paper explores more
inclusive approaches for the design process by analyzing prior character creators and
following the design, production, and testing of the Inclusive Character Creator speculative
research prototype.
1.1 Positionality
I am a cisgender Asian American woman who is non-disabled and 27 years of age. My
undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Computer Science and Fine Art from Carnegie
Mellon University and I am currently a Technical Artist with 5 years of experience in the
games and interactive media industry.
2
I have reached out to consult with people with di erent positionalities and backgrounds for
this project. I focused my research on Black, Brown, disabled, and non-binary identies. But
there are also limits to my reach for this particular project given limited time, contacts, and
resources; the creation of a fully inclusive character creator in the future would require
more research along these lines with a larger group of people.
3
Chapter 2
Common Issues of Representation in Character Creators
Much of the games industry faces issues with representation. This can partially be
attributed to the lack of diversity in game and tech companies. In 2021, the International
Game Developers Association (IGDA) released their biannual game developer satisfaction
survey which compared responses from 803 respondents to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data.
According to the summary, people identifying as white were highly overrepresented and
those identifying as Black and those of Hispanic or Latino/Latina/Latinx origins were
underrepresented. Respondents identifying as women were also greatly underrepresented
(IGDA, 2021).
Character creators have a unique challenge trying to encapsulate a vast range of possible
identities through a combinatorial system. For many 3D character creators, developers will
save time and resources by starting with a stereotypical White male and/or female body.
Questions of what to cut and what not to cut often fall back on pre-existing stereotypes
and reinforce bias in the system’s design.
2.1 Racial and Ethnic Representation
Skin tone and hair options are two of the most basic features included in character
creators. Skin tone is one of the easiest ways for players to identify themselves in game,
and hair options are some of the easiest ways to create unique silhouettes for players.
However, these basic features almost always reflect a preferential treatment for White and
western features.
4
When it comes to skin tone, character creators tend to o er little to no variety for darker
skin tones. If they do allow for darker skin tones, they may only include the lightest of the
skin tones, fail to render the darker tones properly in di erent lighting situations, fail to
make the skin tone believable by missing details like palm coloration, or fail to make other
skin texture and make up options compatible with the darker tones.
Figure 2.1 - Screenshot of lighting issues in Black Desert Online (Rousseau, 2019) [left] and
limited skin tone options in Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo, 2022) [right]
When it comes to hair options, there are typically very few styles for wavy, curly, coily, and
kinky hair. For coily and kinky hair in particular, options are often limited to stereotypical
large afros, locs, or cornrows. Although hair can pose many dicult rendering issues, there
are games that have achieved good, varied, stylistic results for these hair types with similar
techniques that developers use to model straight hair. In fact, Black modders in gaming
communities like The Sims 4 (Electronic Arts, 2014) have created a large variety of afro
hairstyles that greatly improve on the default styles.
Figure 2.2 - Examples of good stylized afro hair from In the Valley of the Gods (Campo
Santo, 2018) [left] and Ebonix’s Solarchild Locs for The Sims (Ebonix, 2021) [right]
5
Beyond skin tone and hair options, it is important to note that racial and ethnic
representation issues can permeate any of the aspects of character creators. A 2015
content study of character creation systems analyzed the range of facial features in eight
popular games and found that many of them, while o ering varied skin tone options, still
limited facial features to idealized White European features (Ljungqvist & Svensson).
Figure 2.3 - Example of one of the facial analysis charts from Ljungqvist and
Svensson which depicts male (left) and female (right) facial limitations from the
game, The Elder Scrolls Online (Bethesda Softworks, 2014)
2.2 Genderism and Sexism
One of the first experiences a player encounters in many character creators is a selection
of gender. This is to provide the player with a default male or female body as a starting
point. However, this is clearly an exclusionary practice for non-binary identities and
non-gender conforming body types. In addition, this initial selection tends to carry through
other roleplaying mechanics such as limiting romantic interests. For example, in Fire
Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo, 2019), picking a female protagonist allows you to have 25
romantic interests with five of those being same-sex relationships. Picking a male
protagonist only allows 22 romantic interests with three same-sex relationships possible,
and two of those are implied as platonic.
6
Not only does a forced gender binary exclude non-binary identities, but it also leads to
more sexist concepts in the game’s design. Female characters often have separate
cosmetic options that emphasize sexualization and objectification through tight-fitting
clothes, more exposed skin, modification controls centered on breast and butt size, a
limitation to “pretty” face and makeup stylings, and more. On the other hand, men tend to
have their options limited to a strict definition of masculinity. For example, in games like
Pokémon Sword and Shield (Nintendo, 2019), developers intentionally remove eyelash and
lipstick options for male characters. In Monster Hunter World (Capcom, 2018), armor sets
for male and female characters look completely di erent, as masculine armor tends to o er
large silhouettes that cover the entire body and feminine armor is form-fitting and has less
coverage.
Figure 2.4 - Images of how armor sets in Monster Hunter World (Capcom, 2018) are di erent
for male and female characters
2.3 Ableism
Perhaps due to the emphasis on action and world traversal in many 3D games, there are
very few character creators that depict physical disability. Those that do, such as Forza
Horizon 5 (Playground Games, 2021) and Halo Infinite (343 Industries, 2021), include
7
options for arm and leg prosthetics that are equipped much like accessories. In these game
fictions, the specificity of the player actions is used to justify the limited depictions of
disability. Even more casual and social games such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons
(Nintendo, 2020), which are framed around an inclusive player fantasy, also fail to imagine a
world that is accessible to characters with disability.
Even avatar makers, which are not tied to the limiting animation systems of an
action-focused game environment, almost always start in a standing position and rarely
depict mobility aids like wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers. There is also a lack of attention
to other types of assistive devices such as hearing aids, braces, or splints.
2.4 Lookism, Sizeism, and the Concept of Appeal
Lookism, or the discriminatory treatment of people who are considered physically
unattractive (Merriam-Webster), encapsulates the sort of feature exclusion that happens
for people with di erent body shapes, heavier body shapes, body hair, skin conditions,
body postures, and more. Racialized features such as dark skin, textured hair, and wide
noses also tend to be viewed as “undesirable” or “ugly” traits. Body fat in particular is
further stigmatized in character creators through unrealistic depictions of fat buildup, not
adjusting clothing and cosmetics to fat options, and/or calling an option “fat” but still
showing a relatively mid-sized character.
8
Figure 2.5 - Compilation image from a user bug report about how some clothing options in The
Sims 4 are incompatible with maximized belly and thigh fat options (redearcat, 2021)
Stylized character designs feature an additional nuance of lookism through the concept of
appeal. The definition of “an appealing character” in Western countries has been shaped by
Disney’s long hold on the animated film industry, and results in many CG studios adopting a
Disney aesthetic for their characters. The aesthetic, which is especially limiting for female
characters, makes it so that all characters end up having similar “pretty” features and are
indistinguishable beyond their hair (Gardam, 2016). This limitation exists similarly in Eastern
media where the standard for appeal is drawn from anime features that are “pretty” and
“androgynous”, but are also mostly indistinguishable beyond hair and clothing.
2.5 Other Aspects of Feature Discrimination
It’s important to acknowledge other aspects of feature discrimination that will not be
heavily explored in Inclusive Character Creator for the time being. This includes the overall
lack of ethnic, cultural, and religious expression through wearables and animations. There
is also usually very little expression for age, as characters that are teenagers or younger
often become extremely uncanny without a model change, and characters older than
young adults can only be expressed through wrinkle textures and hair changes. In addition,
9
there is also a significant lack of representation for pregnancy beyond simulation-specific
games.
While these subjects (and other unexplored subjects) will not be touched upon heavily in
the production process of Inclusive Character Creator due to time and scope limitations,
this is not to say that they are of lesser importance. It is more a reflection of this author’s
own positionality as mentioned in Chapter 1.1.
10
Chapter 3
Types of Character Creators in Interactive Media
It’s important to classify the types of character creators that exist as they pose di erent
relationships between the character and the creator. Character creators are not typically
standalone experiences. They are most commonly used in games and applications to
supplement worldbuilding and social platforms. These categories do not describe all
character creators but they do point out classifications that are most relevant to the
Inclusive Character Creator playable demo, which focuses on players who want to express
their physical identity with more fidelity.
3.1 Character Creators in Games
Character creators in video games are most commonly situated at the beginning of the
experience–an entry point for the player to choose a protagonist befitting the upcoming
story. Depending on the level of stylization for the game, these tools can be as simple as
swapping out hair and clothing assets or powerful model manipulation tools.
Figure 3.1 - Gameplay footage of character creation tools in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 2020)
[left] and The Sims 4 (Electronic Arts, 2014) [right]
11
In addition, there are usually two types of engagement when it comes to character creation
in games: augmentationism and escapism (Nino, 2008). In the former, players prefer to
extend a version of themselves in the game. In the latter, players do not wish to see
themselves in the game at all. Some of the common reasons for each play style include but
are not limited to the following:
● Augmentationism
○ Player prefers to recreate an accurate realistic representation of themself in
the game.
○ Player prefers to create an idealized or more identity arming representation
of themself in the game.
○ Player prefers to extend aspects of their identity in the game’s worldbuilding
context.
● Escapism
○ Player prefers to create a new character for the game’s world and story.
○ Player prefers to play another identity to avoid toxicity in multiplayer games
or social situations.
○ Player prefers to create a character for objectification.
○ Player prefers to recreate other characters (like celebrities or other fictional
characters).
○ Player prefers to make the most interesting-looking character with the
options provided. This includes subversive play styles where the player finds
the most “broken” character creator outcomes.
○ Player does not think they will be able to express their identity with the
options provided.
12
Regardless of the motivations for augmentationism or escapism, it’s clear that character
creators are enticing platforms for exploration of identity.
3.2 Avatar Makers and the Metaverse
Contrary to game character creators, avatar makers primarily exist for diverse users to be
able to express their identity—often for social platforms. User-made avatar makers like
Picrews can be used to express identities in an artist’s illustrative style to share on social
media.
Figure 3.2 - Avatar makers on the Picrew platform made by artists @citruslucy
(Zhang, 2019) [left] and @hellosunnycore (Eli, 2020) [right] on Twitter
More common nowadays are avatar makers put out by large social media platforms like
Facebook and Snapchat that seek to represent their broad and diverse user base. This
e ort has become even more apparent in recent years as large platforms are converging
towards the concept of “the metaverse”. While this concept does not have a concrete
meaning, one possibility could be that it is “a persistent ‘world’ for the avatars to inhabit
and interact with” (Orland, 2021). However, current avatar makers for social platforms tend
to run into the issue of the uncanny valley far more often than games that are stylized for
13
specific contexts as they try to achieve recognizability that mirrors reality (Erukhimov,
2022).
Figure 3.3 - Meta’s reveal image for their new avatars (Shorman, 2022) [left] and screenshot of
the Memoji creator (Apple, 2018) [right]
3.3 Character Generation for Game Development
Another genre of character creators exists exclusively for game developers so that they
can quickly generate a diverse range of characters that can be used as both playable and
non-playable characters. These engines have a di erent paradigm where the user blends a
selection of character archetypes to synergize new characters. This sort of approach is
extremely useful in showcasing the ability for the tool to represent diversity.
Figure 3.4 - Archetype blending in Stylized Character Morphs (Reallusion, 2016) [left] and screenshot
of MetaHuman Creator (Epic Games, 2021) [right]
14
Chapter 4
Conceptualizing Inclusive Design Principles
4.1 Goals and Pillars
The main experience goals for the Inclusive Character Creator speculative design
prototype were designed with a focus on players who desire to see stronger
representations of themselves within games:
● Freedom to explore the possibility space for their character
● Comfort in being able to express and share aspects of their own identity
● Reflective of how games typically represent di erent groups of people
The reflective goal is a special addition as it motivates more educational intent in the user
experience for the playable demo and content that centers marginalized identities.
The main pillars for the design process were:
● Consistent and Appealing Art Style
● Inclusive Representation
● Accessible Features
● Community Engagement and Research
4.2 Scope and Limitations
The Inclusive Character Creator speculative design prototype was scoped for a year of
production with a team of one person (this author) who served as the 3D modeler, technical
artist, and engineer. It was important to focus the scope with the following limitations:
● Focus on underrepresented options.
15
● Avoid a deep dive into fashion or fantasy as those are beyond the scope of research.
● Capture the breadth of the project through quality over quantity.
4.3 Inspiration
The two character creators that form the biggest positive inspiration to this production:
XBox Avatar Editor (Microsoft, 2018) and Paralives (Paralives Studio, 2022).
The XBox Avatar Editor was created by Microsoft for the XBox and Windows platforms for
players to express their gamer identity. It is one of the few character creators that provide
multiple body templates that include larger body types, wheelchairs and prosthetics, hair
that looks soft and breathable whether it’s straight hair or an afro, comprehensive and
expandable skin tone options, and text hover descriptions for every feature.
Figure 4.1 - Screenshots of the wheelchair option [left] and hair options for afro hair [right] from the
XBox Avatar Editor (Microsoft, 2018)
Paralives is a life simulation game for Windows and macOS. While it is not expected to be
released until some later time in 2022, their Paramaker Overview video revealed a powerful
set of inclusive features on top of a unique flat-shaded approach to character stylization.
16
Some of the features include diverse presets with more advanced manipulation tools and
freeform texture placement for tattoos.
Figure 4.2 - Screenshot of the Paramaker from Paralives (Paralives Studio, 2022)
Beyond inspiration from other character creators, Inclusive Character Creator draws
inspiration from the design philosophy for many inclusive children’s cartoons such as Hilda
(Mueller et al., 2018-2022) and Steven Universe (Sugar, 2013-2019). When making 2D
characters, the designers utilize shape language to come up with non-stereotypical
silhouettes and present a diverse character lineup.
Figure 4.3 - Character designs for Hilda (Evans, 2018) [left] and a shot of characters from
Steven Universe: Future (Sugar, 2019-2022) [right]
17
Chapter 5
Production
This production was mostly conducted by this author as the primary researcher, 3D artist,
technical artist, and engineer over the course of one year. Early on in this project, I also
received help from these individuals: Rachel Yu (concept artist), Nitesh Sridhar (research
assistance), Brett Bailey (composer), Matthew Yi (UI artist), Ajai Gorowara (UI engineer),
Josh Brannon (UI artist), Blake Dunback (3D modeler), and Ramez Al Tabbaa (shader artist
from Fiverr). Decisions were also made with the help of my advisors throughout the
production. The software we used for this project included Unity, Photoshop CC, Procreate,
and Autodesk Maya.
5.1 Concept Art and Categorization
A major endeavor for the design of this project was to categorize and properly describe the
types of features we wanted to include in this system. We borrowed language and
classification systems from medicine, fashion, and other artists. These descriptors would
be exposed to the user to make the game more accessible and informative. The
terminology would also be useful in determining if the systems we are drawing from have
problematic connotations.
● Body Shape and Size
We decided to use the terms of rectangle, heart, oval, pear, and hourglass taken
from the fashion industry because these are everyday terms that people use to
decide what looks complement their body types. We chose this over the older
18
somatotype classifications of ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph, as they are
far more limiting and are mostly terms used amongst fitness experts (Zaleski, 2021).
In addition, we decided on 3 main body sizes to initially test with on the prototype:
slim, medium, and large. This would mean 15 main body shapes as starting features.
● Skin Tone
The inspiration for our skin tone classification came from Je rey Rousseau’s tweet
where he states, “My friends and I need you to have your skin tones in create a
character games to be like Rihanna's whole Fenty line” (Rousseau, 2018). Upon
further investigation, we decided on mirroring Fenty makeup classifications that
include undertones. This means having a 2D spectrum of warm, neutral, and cool
tones along with a range of tones from deep, medium-deep, medium, light-medium,
and medium. And although this project doesn’t go into detail about fantasy options,
we took this opportunity to showcase an alternate color scheme that maintains
variation in hue and value.
Figure 5.1 - Screenshot of skin tone options from the playable demo
● Eye Shape
For eye shape, we opted for a 2D array of classifications for lid style and eye
shape/angle. On one axis we had monolid, tapered, parallel, and hooded. On the
19
other axis we had upturned, downturned, round, and almond-shaped. We also hope
to further customize eye size, distance, and rotation.
Figure 5.2 - Concept art of eye types by Rachel Yu
● Hair Type
For hair type classification, we used a combination of Andre Walker’s hair
classification system, the LOIS system, and other descriptive text with the terms
straight, wavy, curly, coily, and kinky. Even though Andre Walker’s 1A through 4B
system (now extended to include 3C and 4C descriptors) is considered common
knowledge, the system has received controversy for its limitations, and the numbers
and letters don’t actually have meaning to someone who doesn’t understand the
system. The LOIS system, which describes hair pattern shapes in terms of the
letters of “LOIS”, is less talked about but has additional descriptors for sheen beyond
hair pattern: thready, wiry, cottony, spongy, and silky (Ebony, 2020).
20
Figure 5.3 - The Andre Walker Hair Typing System (Walker, 2022) [left] and the LOIS system
(Marfo & Marfo, 2013) [right]
● And More
While this project explored a few more classification systems for subjects like nose
types, face shape, lip shape, facial hair, and more, the features did not make it into
the prototype in time and were therefore unable to be tested.
5.2 Modeling
● Body
The base 3D models were some of the most important features to test with players
for feedback. This was the main reason we settled on maintaining a small set of 15
base models for testing purposes. Each model contains the same topology but is
treated as an individual model to be viewed rather than a secondary feature to a
singular base model. The only blendshapes we would be supporting would be for
chest size.
● Hair
In terms of hair modeling, we only had time to choose one hair style to explore, and
21
we decided to pursue a soft, loose, curly hairstyle that is not typically seen in
games. When this sort of hair style is represented, it’s usually a solid-looking hair
helmet. In order to create this hair style, we used a combination of hair helmets, hair
tubes, and hair cards. We followed the dev blogs put forth by very talented grooming
artists, including the breakdown by Thales Simonato for Maya artists (Lewin, 2019),
the breakdown by Baj Singh for game ready afros (Singh, 2016), and the Campos
Santo blog for Zora’s hair in In the Valley of the Gods (Campo Santo, 2018). We also
used curl, coil, and wave texture brushes by the artist, Vegalia (Vegalia, 2022).
Figure 5.4 - Progression of loose curly hair exploration from left to right
● Prosthetics and Mobility Aids
The prosthetics were modeled from interpretations of modern arm prosthetics. The
wheelchair was downloaded from the internet for free and then modified from a
typical hospital wheelchair into an everyday wheelchair.
5.3 Shaders and Textures
The skin and hair toon shaders were custom made with the help of artist Ramez Al Tabbaa.
When it came to the skin, shadow color was generated by darkening the base color with an
emphasis on the red channel. In addition, rim lighting was painstakingly hand-picked for
each skin tone because generating a formula for the full range of tones ended up
22
oversaturating or washing out the colors in an unconvincing way. The hair shader was
modified to support multiple masks for hair texture.
5.4 User Interface and User Experience
Our goal for the user flow was to make sure it didn’t place a hierarchy on normative
features. We wanted to make sure the user didn’t start with a default character by
prompting them with a diverse character lineup.
In addition, we wanted to incorporate hover text with each feature for accessibility and
education. In terms of accessibility, the text descriptions o er clarification for any visuals
that are hard to parse. In terms of education, we found that the hover text feature in the
Hero Forge character creator was extremely useful in explaining the fantasy features that
may not be clear to a fresh user (Sky Castle Studios, 2020). We thought we could
incorporate the hover text to empower the player with terminology and make our rationale
behind certain design decisions more transparent.
Figure 5.5 - Example of the hover text callout when the user is exploring options
23
5.5 Rigging
As the system currently does not support heavy animation or continuous shape modifiers
through blendshapes, rigging was mostly important for achieving sitting poses for the
current models. We skinned all the models to a single skeleton that maintained di erent
joint placements for each body type in order to reduce asset load and prepare for a future
structure that might allow for more detailed and continuous modification through
blendshapes.
5.6 Playtesting and Feedback
We conducted one major playtest for our vertical slice by sending a Mac and Windows build
out with a feedback form. At the time, only the five major body shapes, three body sizes,
skin tones, and user interface were being tested. Twelve participants filled out this form
and gave us useful feedback in terms of incorporating heavier shapes, incorporating palm
coloration, and including more underwear options such as binders and tank tops.
Overall, the participants had a positive reaction to the body diversity and skin tone variety
while still wanting more options or attention to large body types and having the ability to
modify the body shape in detail. In terms of skin tone options, one user commented, “I liked
the skin tone options, I think the di erent undertones really helped with the amount of
choices. I also liked the di erent fantasy colors, most character creators only have one
shade of each color. I thought the body shapes were good.” In terms of body options,
another user commented, “I think the body build can be improved upon a bit for the heavier
character, specifically around the neck, i feel like it's still too skinny and usually for bigger
people (like me!) necks are thicker too. Though I really do appreciate this feature so much!”
24
Beyond formal playtests, we have a Discord community set up for feedback and
information sharing about character representation in games. The community currently
consists of 21 individuals with varying ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, and ability
status, who are mostly university students and games industry professionals.
5.7 Next Steps
There are many features we were not able to finish and many subjects we were not able to
fully explore in this timeline. We wanted more assistive devices, more hairstyles, some
clothing examples, more skin textures, a system for facial features and animation, etc. My
hope is to continue working on the Inclusive Character Creator prototype and building my
understanding of these complex systems as a game developer and technical artist. The
challenges we encountered with individual features (like a single hairstyle) were enough to
fill a development blog to help indie developers with their own projects (and I do hope to
someday write that blog). I also hope to strengthen my understanding of character creators
by conducting a more thorough analysis of those features o ered across the games
industry in the future.
25
Chapter 6
Summative Checklist
To summarize my findings from prior work and development of the speculative design
prototype, I have made a starting checklist for developers to consider when designing their
character creation system.
1. Does the creator randomize the starting character with all possible features or
curate a diverse selection of avatar archetypes to start with?
2. Does the user flow of the creator center marginalized identities through layout and
hierarchy?
3. Are all the options in the creator well-named and based oof up-to-date systems of
classification from fashion and medical industries? Are those labels exposed to the
player to increase the accessibility and learning of the experience?
4. Does the creator allow the player to choose gender identity separately from
appearance and do those gender identity options allow for non-binary identities?
5. Does the creator o er believable variety for body types, especially larger body types,
that are compatible with all other cosmetic options?
6. Does the creator o er believable options for skin tones, especially darker skin tones,
that are compatible with all other cosmetic options and lighting systems?
26
7. Does the creator o er believable skin textures for di erent body types and skin
conditions (i.e. hairy bodies, vitiligo, rosacea, freckles, scars, acne, wrinkles, and
more)?
8. Does the creator o er mobility aids, prosthetics, and assistive device options that
are appropriate for the game fiction? Has the game fiction also appropriately
explored accessibility in its world?
9. Does the creator o er a range of options for each facial feature that can express
di erent racial and ethnic identities?
10. Does the creator o er believable hairstyles for all hair types, especially afro textured
hair types? Do those options include aspirational hairstyles for each hair type?
(Aspirational here means imaginative and non-stereotypical styles that characters
would want to wear in the context of the game’s worldbuilding.)
11. Does the creator o er believable options for a variety of di erent cultures and
religions?
12. Is the creator able to represent all ages appropriate for the playable character in the
game fiction?
27
Chapter 7
Conclusion
The Inclusive Character Creator speculative design prototype and checklist is an important
starting point for other game developers to consider how they approach inclusivity in their
designs. By centering on Black, Brown, disabled, and non-binary identities, we achieved a
prototype where people did not feel like they were just a deviation from the stereotypical
white male or female body. This is a strong motivation to keep thinking about how current
systems of design can be changed to stop perpetuating societal injustice.
In short, character creators are powerful tools that allow individuals to explore the concept
of identity. Whether a player wants to play themself or be someone else in a game, they
shouldn’t be forced to adapt a normative appearance because the system supports some
features more than others. Those moments in the game can be just as painful as those that
we experience in society. And so we should strive to be more inclusive at every stage of our
design processes, to keep empowering more and more individuals in our games, and to
create aspirational possibilities for a wide range of individuals–not just for a few.
28
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duOS
Asset Metadata
Creator
Ma, Michelle
(author)
Core Title
Inclusive character creator: an exploration of inclusive design for 3D character creators
School
School of Cinematic Arts
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Degree Program
Interactive Media
Publication Date
03/30/2022
Defense Date
03/29/2022
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
3D,avatar,Character,Creation,creator,diverse,Games,inclusive,OAI-PMH Harvest,representation
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Language
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Electronically uploaded by the author
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Richard, Lemarchand (
committee chair
), Danny, Bilson (
committee member
), Tracy, Fullerton (
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)
Creator Email
michelle.mxh.ma@gmail.com,mma78608@usc.edu
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Tags
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