My GameDev Character Idea : Part 1
One conceptual idea I hope to include as part of the game development project1 is a non-playable character whose name draws inspiration from Sanskrit Māyā (माया), which symbolises the illusion of reality. This name was chosen to reflect her as a fictional figure, in contrast with other characters who are based on real people2 3.
The idea followed crafting this Midjourney image on 18 March 2024 as a representation.
Beautiful Asian girl with long pink hair, wearing colorful streetwear and hoodie hat, background of urban city streets, looking directly at the camera, hyperrealistic, detailed facial features, high resolution, bright colors, soft lighting, portrait composition.
Maya’s role in the game narrative remains underdeveloped. To be honest, I hadn’t given it much thought beyond her rivalry with Hime. Given a year has passed, I decided to just finalise her appearance and attire before progressing further.
This was done by submitting the Midjourney image as an attachement on Sora4, along with a prompt to ensure the output retains a comparable hoodie design.
Visualise the First Attachment as cinematic, wide-angle shot, a character render in hyper-realistic ultra-detailed Anime-inspired infused with manga aesthetics, tiny full-body visible, surrounded by plenty of empty spaces. All characters’ figures are adult height, long legs, lean upper torsos, proportionate arms, and elongated limb structures.
Lavender eyes.
Hair is ultra-fine mix of Lavender and Pink strands clumping together under intricately detailed natural lighting and dramatic shadows.
Athletically lean with sexy curvy waistline and defined abs.
White sport-bra with pink accents on all edges both top and bottom. Black neck choker. Each hand wears one brown leather wristband. Black cargo pants with side-pockets. A single gold chain is clipped specifically to the right-side belt loop. Black belt with a Gold buckle. White shoes with Pink shoelaces.
Modelling posture with one hand in pocket, standing casually on a slick wet footpath in a vividly saturated Hong Kong street at night, bathed in intense neon glow from signs in pink, blue, and green. Rain-slick surfaces shimmer with reflections, while steam rises from street vents. Blurred high-rises loom overhead, and scattered silhouettes of passersby move like shadows through the dense glowing haze, adding depth and energy to the urban scene.
Footwear (or feet) as focal point.
The First Attachment phrase in this prompt actually does nothing since I only use one Midjourney image as a reference. However, when a second attachment is involved, for example, to swap features like hair or body tone, having the phrase First Attachment by default avoids retyping. Its presence is purely for convenience.
Using attachments are useful for including elements that are hard to describe. For instance, I want a male character that represent me, wearing black shirt with a unique Urban Explorers of Singapore crest that I designed many years ago, paired with the skate shoes that I bought from Hong Kong.
Visualise as cinematic, wide-angle shot, a character render in hyper-realistic ultra-detailed manga-inspired, tiny full-body visible, surrounded by plenty of empty spaces. All characters’ figures are adult height, long legs, lean upper torsos, proportionate arms, and elongated limb structures.
Javanese guy from Singapore, unshaved facial hair.
Hair is scruffy, made fromultra-fine matte strands clumping together under intricately detailed natural lighting and dramatic shadows.
A slighly loose necklace made of large glossy black beads. Slightly tight black t-shirt (Attachment 1). Slightly exposed Red belt with a Chrome buckle. Black three-quarter-length shorts that fall slightly below the knee with two side pockets. Pair of high-cut skate shoes (Attachment 2) with NO socks. Red cap. Red belt. Each hand MUST have one Red glossy wristbeads.
With a flashlight, the character is moving through a dark and grimy massive derelict underground fuel depot in total ruin, buried deep beneath the earth. Cracked concrete pillars rise through the darkness, rusted and streaked with grime.
The ground is mix of dark-orange clay, brown mud, bright-orange slidge and black oil, with the characters shoes completely stained.
Collapsed scaffolding and broken machinery lie half-submerged, coated in sludge. Leaking pipes overhead drip constantly, feeding the mess below. Hhazard-marked walls and hanging cables. The space is vast, decayed, mostly consumed with bright green vegetations including vines, mosses and figs, filled with debris and shadows stretching into the dark.
Footwear (or feet) as focal point.
While the last two examples relied on attachments, creating a character without a reference image is possible but more time-consuming. It requires identifying accurate terms for clothing, hairstyle, appropriate ethnic background for the correct skin tone, and a fitting environment.
Vidya is one such example — it took time to refine her design.
Visualise as cinematic, wide-angle shot, a character render in hyper-realistic ultra-detailed Anime-inspired, tiny full-body visible, surrounded by plenty of empty spaces. All characters’ figures are adult height, long legs, lean upper torsos, proportionate arms, and elongated limb structures.
Colombian woman with Bright-Green eyes.
Hair is side-shaved dreadlock undercut hair made of ultra-fine matte strands individually clumping together under intricately detailed natural lighting and dramatic shadows.
Slim supermodel physique with sexy curvy waistline and defined abs.
Opened full-sleeved biker leather jacket in bright-yellow over chest draped in thermal bandages, low-waisted Blue unbuttoned jeans with rolled cuffs, and flat Brown open-toe sandals with two straps.
Evenly lit vibrant street of Favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, featuring derelict multicoloured uneven suburbs rustic buildings, chaotic tangle overhead electrical wires, deteriorated sandy on greyish concrete path with patches of grass, debris and trash, and blurry figures of people scattered throughout the background with heat wave effect under a surreal cloudy azure-blue sky.
Character is behind detailed swirling sandstorm, sands and debis blowing in the wind effects.
Footwear (or feet) as focal point.
Vidya is another character I hope to include in the game project. Conceptually, Vidya is the inverse of Maya, drawing from Daoist dualities. In the Vedantic philosophical context, Māyā (माया) represents darkness and illusion, while Vidyā (विद्या) means knowledge and embodies light and spiritual insight. Within the game’s narrative, Maya, as mentioned earlier, is Hime’s rival, whereas Vidya is her friend.
Visualise as cinematic, linear-prespective, wide-angle shot, a character render in hyper-realistic ultra-detailed Anime-inspired infused with manga aesthetics, tiny full-body visible, surrounded by plenty of empty spaces. All characters’ figures are adult height, proportionate head, long legs, lean upper torsos, proportionate arms, and elongated limb structures.
A stunning Chinese woman with an athletically lean build, a sexy curvy waistline, and a sharp, focused expression. She MUST HAVE medium-to-long straight hair made of ultra-fine black matte strands, clumping slightly under intricately detailed natural lighting with dramatic shadows. The hair curves inward at the ends, with medium thickness and clean, smooth strands that fall naturally and sleekly, accented by subtle light highlights. She wears a tight, faded blue shirt, brown shorts and combat gear on the waist, and tough-looking black sport boots. A large and long, dull green scarf is wrapped around her neck, with worn, dull white bandage wraps on her forearms and half-finger gloves. One arm is raised with fingers clawed. The other hand reaches across and grips the wrist of the raised arm.
A grotesque dark room filled with computers and electronic devices. The only illumination comes from the intense glow of multiple monitors displaying statistics, graphs, and radar visuals in vibrant neon pink, blue, and green. Glowing tangled wires and pulsating, brightly blinking LEDs add to the ambient light, casting sharp reflections and deep shadows throughout the cluttered space. Derelict bluish walls with chipped paint and exposed brick absorb and scatter the low ambient light. The floor is rough, cracked concrete, layered with dust and grime, and visibly cluttered with separate bundles of red, blue, and green insulated wires, each snaking in different directions. The cables catch and reflect the neon glow, intensifying the gritty, high-tension atmosphere of a hacker’s den.
Footwear as focal point.
Speaking of which — who is Hime? Her name, written in Japanese as 姫, means “princess”. In real life, she also used this alias and was the vice CEO of the Urban Explorers of Singapore. Within the game’s alternate universe, her narrative role is the opposite of what she used to do in real life. Out of respect for her privacy, I will not disclose further details.
Final Render
My experience with Sora (including ChatGPT) is a love and hate relationship. They do produce great results, or at least a stepping stone, despite me constantly flipping tables. To conclude, below is the final result for Maya generated through Sora.
Nighttime urban rooftop in Hong Kong, surrounded by a glowing neon skyline in the distance. The skyline features tightly packed high-rise apartment blocks, aged concrete towers, and glass-clad office buildings stacked unevenly along sloped terrain. Many structures are adorned with vibrant neon signage in Chinese characters, flickering in pink, green, red, and electric blue. Rooftop water tanks, scaffoldings, and air ducts are visible atop the distant buildings, adding to the gritty vertical chaos typical of Hong Kong’s dense skyline.
The rooftop is dimly lit with cool ambient tones, brushed by soft wind. Ground surface is rough concrete, soaked and uneven, subtly reflecting neon gradients — natural light bounce in blue, pink, teal, orange, and violet — especially around the character’s feet, AC units, and scattered utility crates.
Foreground contains rooftop piping, exposed low concrete blocks, rusted vent covers, and clustered mechanical fixtures. Midground features safety railings and boxy rooftop structures with dim edge lighting, forming strong perspective depth. Light ambient fog glides across the floor, blending with scattered soft particles floating mid-air to exaggerate the lighting tone and build a surreal cyberpunk ambience.
Above, a large glowing moon shines in multi-coloured neon hues of green, blue, yellow, and red. Translucent clouds pass in front of the moon, softening its edges and blending the colours into the sky — never behind. The moonlight glows through the cloud layers and reflects onto them, casting a mysterious dreamlike aura. Distant city lights flicker beneath a thin fog layer, extending the depth of field beyond the rooftop. The scene is moody, cinematic, and alive with subtle movement and light.
- A Youtube channel for showcasing UE5 gamedev progress. See My Game Devlog Begin for backstory. ↩︎
- Three Kings and a Princess, Youtube, 3 August 2024. ↩︎
- Leader of the Axe Gang, Youtube, 4 November 2024. ↩︎
- See Bye MJ : Hello 空 for reason why I longer use Midjouney. ↩︎
Comments are closed.