Hello all, We hope everyone had a great holiday season and start to the New Year. The team here is back at it and we are excited to begin sharing more about the world of RA RA BOOM! If you missed our [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2335060/view/3875975012112146111?l=english]December update[/url], check that out for an interview with Chris Bergman, the creator of RA RA BOOM! In that, he shared some of his background and inspiration on the characters. We thought we would expand on that and show some of the early concept art and designs for the game. We sat down for an interview with both Chris and Gray Shuko, who created the concepts, to discuss how they met, their influences, and to talk about Aris and Ren a little more! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43737459/0b0ffd2da398cc93db71fc516a74743d7120ff7d.jpg[/img] [b][h3]Interview:[/h3][/b] [b]How did the two of you meet?[/b] Chris: It was definitely one of those magical moments. I had a good idea of who the characters were, and the type of visual identity I was going for. So, I went onto Artstation and searched "Ninja Cheerleaders" and Gray's art was some of the first to show up in the search. After digging through his portfolio more, it was clear he was the perfect artist to bring these characters to life. Gray had left his contact info in his bio and I reached out completely cold. Luckily enough, he responded saying he had the time and energy to collaborate and we were off and running! I remember when I got his initial reply. I had an emotional moment where I was like "Oh. I think we can actually get to the creative vision I had in mind." [b]Speaking of your creative visions when you two started designing the characters, what or who did you look at for inspiration?[/b] Chris: The identity of the characters, their essence, are all based off of real humans I've known and admired in my life. Gray: I got lucky to work on something that was right up my alley in terms of style and theme, so I guess it's a sum of a lot of things I like, from manga to comics. Although I would say that Ren, in particular, reminds me directly of Ayame, from Tenchu, a character that I always liked. Chris: Yeah Gray's style definitely led the initial visual concepting. His instincts were right in line with what I had hoped to see in game. [b]Was it hard to design for 4 characters that are all different in personality and ethnicities, but share a common goal? How were those taken into account when designing them? [/b] Gray: No, I think it's easier to design a crew of different people. If they were too similar, I guess we would need to differentiate them through outfit details, which give us less range to differentiate and modify them, if need be. For example, during development, we could change Vee's outfit color from yellow to red, and it would still be Vee. Chris: We knew early on that we wanted them all to have different silhouettes, so that was an early challenge. But Gray was clearly up to the task. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43737459/9b237644eacb2c8a74869499c591a85a96d2baf0.jpg[/img] [b]With Aris, her initial design has some cyberpunk vibes, (maybe?) her final one is a bit more in line with the ninja cheerleaders. What does that iteration process look like and how long/many attempts before you settled on what she looks like now?[/b] Gray: Right, I spend a lot more time sketching for Aris, than for the other characters, I think for 2 reasons: 1. The pitch was already "ninja cheerleader" at the time, but I used this character to explore around a bit. I tried more military, more cartoonish, etc; so once we found a good design for her, it would lock some of the directions and ease the process for the 3 other characters. 2. She is the team leader, and represents the group in some aspect, and maybe even a part of the game's whole vibe, so her design was critical. I think it took roughly 20 different attempts for her, whereas just around 5 for each of the others. Chris: We definitely took our time in pre-production to get the characters right. It was very early, and literally just Gray and I going back and forth. We had no team. I had no funding. It really was a great time to explore and nail the look and feel. No one was waiting on us to make a decision then. There were no blockers. Complete creative freedom. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43737459/bbef89ee9ed40a78d12bdb5f3f2519f6cb6d1726.jpg[/img] [b]Ren is definitely a fan favorite so far, was it difficult balancing her bubbly personality with her more serious appearance?[/b] Gray: That's funny because when I sketched her, I assumed she was just a cold-blooded killer, more in line with real ninjas. So I guess, through development, she got a personality that contrasts more with her appearance, making her maybe less cliche and more interesting which fits quite well. Chris: Totally, I love that dichotomy of Ren. She dresses to be taken more seriously, and is frustrated when people don't. However, she just can't help who she is. So, to me, her outfit choices are a bit of her overcompensating to try and be heard. I'm sure many of us feel like that sometimes. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43737459/e230a1ef098cdcedc5e2462f5b968ad949d97d47.jpg[/img] Thanks to both Chris and Gray for sitting down to talk about some of the early days of RA RA BOOM and how the wonderful cast of characters came about. That’s all for this one, stay tuned to future developer updates and for more information on RA RA BOOM. We will be participating in Steam's Remote Play Together Fest on February 12th through the 19th, we'll be streaming and discussing RRB right here on Steam, so be sure to tune in! - Gylee Games and Midwest Games Teams