By Koyorin is the character designer who created our favorite couple for Haven. In 2022, when we decided to bring you the couples update, we reached out to them to create the new versions of Yu and Kay. They were happy to pick up their pencil again and create these new yet familiar designs of our lovebirds! We reached out to them again for this community week, to ask if their creative process was different when working off of existing characters.
What were the constraints when creating the characters?
Hmm, as I recall generally I was directed to retain the same general vibes for their hairstyles and facial features—largely for the purpose of animation/rigging, but I think we had to be wary not to make them look too much like completely different characters from their original counterparts. While I did iterate a few times on different takes, the versions that made it to final were the most balanced between the originals and something new.
In your last interview, you mentioned when working on characters, there are non negotiable elements to character’s designs when reworking them. What are the elements that were fixed and those you could change in creating the gender swap?
In this case, I was very excited to create new versions of Yu and Kay, so I was really keen to make them stand out haha. At certain stages there were requests to make them more 1:1 with their originals (whether it was the hairstyles or outfits), and although I did test them as requested, I also created new ones alongside them that were altered/adapted versions of their original outfits (which are the ones you see implemented in the game)—not because the originals did not fit them, but because I felt like it distinguished them a bit more and made the options feel more like actual options. I totally understand the direction to do a 1:1 and the desire to retain the original designs, but with the new hairstyles it felt like it also called for a new outfit to support the overall updated look—since Yu and Kay weren’t originally designed to have multiple choices in mind, it felt right to bring more variety through this side of things too! I just hope I wasn’t too pushy about it during the process haha, but I feel that it was the right decision in the end.
We talked about your work on fan art in your last interview, did reworking your characters feel a bit like fan art?
Only a little bit! But because they were done under the context of being implemented into the final game, it didn’t feel like fanart as much as it just felt like the next step of the process. It was the next step for Yu and Kay’s growth of their characters, and I was really happy to be a part of it!
If you’re not familiar with their work, Koyorin’s fanarts are legendary. FFXIV fanart, follow Koyorin! koyorin.com
Did you decide on the current design quickly? Or were there other designs that stayed in the run for a while? Are there any you still think about?
For outfits we settled quite quickly on the newly designed ones but it took a tiny bit of convincing haha; I wasn’t originally asked to make drastic alterations to their outfits but I presented them anyway because I felt rather strongly about it. Afterwards we settled on it relatively quickly. For the hairstyles and Yu’s face it was a different story since we had to bounce around a bit between some options. Looking back on the sketches, I think for Kay we ended up going for the right hairstyle—it has similar energy to Kay’s original look while bringing along a new feel (though we cut back the length of the sides to bring more similarity/technical reasons). For Yu, there was actually another hairstyle I felt a little more attached to, but I understand why it wasn’t picked. It was still quite similar to Yu’s original hair, though it was a little messier and spunkier and still had a ponytail; but it was missing the metal ring and I think that ended up being a dealbreaker for that option.
Are there elements in the gender swapped designs you wish were there originally?
I think overall I’m still happy with the four designs independently! While there are things that I would change if I were to design Yu and Kay from scratch today, I think the only alterations I would “carry over” from the swapped designs to the original designs are very small things, such as removing a metal piece here or there. The most noticeable 1:1 change I would probably carry to the original (which is a conscious decision I made when designing the swapped version) is probably just changing Kay’s left glove from a bandage wrap to a normal glove—not that I felt the bandage wrap was a bad look, but it was a really minor detail I sometimes forgot about until later haha.
Anything you’d like to tell us?
When I was asked about working on this particular update, I was super happy to hear about it—and I was even happier to see the amount of people it reached and connected with. In addition I’m also very happy and thankful that people are still finding joy in Haven today and that we’re able to share some of the behind the scenes with people! I don’t know how much I can talk about publicly but Haven’s creation was very expansive and very exciting—there’s a goldmine of things that the team and myself came up with that didn’t make the final game but still give me so much joy to look at. So I just want to say thank you to everyone who has played Haven, everyone it’s reached, and the community that is still excited about it to this day! I hope we can continue to share things about it in the future!
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