Eurogamer reports on a unique panel at the recent Carrefour de l’animation (Animation Crossroad) in Paris, France. The animation conference featured two influential figures in gaming. Yoshitaka Amano, who contributed character designs for the Final Fantasy series and who also illustrated the Vampire Hunter D  series and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Dream Hunters was present, as well as Michel Ancel, most known for the Rayman series of games that have appeared on virtually every console from the Sega Saturn on, and the game Beyond Good and Evil, which achieved critical acclaim but not equivalent sales.

The approaches of the two in terms of character design could not be more different; Amano’s approach is almost completely disparate from the restrictions of the technologies involved in the game, and focus more upon the creative desires of the game designer. Computers don’t impact Amano’s work, and technical considerations never enter into his process.

Ancel has had to take a more pragmatic approach. While Ancel cut his teeth on more recent generation consoles than the ones that hosted the original Final Fantasy series, he still faced more technical obstacles to bringing his characters to life. Technical restrictions, and not creative inspiration, gave rise to the armless and legless Rayman character. Though it would be possible to later on to add limbs to Rayman, the general lack of form had been too ingrained into the series. Many of Ancel’s decisions in character design are driven by the technology: “If I want long hair on my character, then I have to animate it properly, but how much processor power can we allow considering that I want to put her in a wide open world with plenty of other moving objects and people?” One is tempted to consider the differences in approach a reflection of Western vs Eastern game design, but it would be more appropriate to chalk up the disparity to the overall philosophies of the game studios.

Attendees of the panel also witnessed a unique collaboration between Amano and Ancel, as they were challenged to improvise a game scenario, with Amano handling the illustration and Ancel providing game design.

Read More | Eurogamer.net