This character is the second in a series of models I have created in my free time for The Yogscast. This character is now used in their TTT series on YouTube.
Sharky was the second character made for this project, he was much more ambitious than the previous character and I learned so much during the production and continued support of this model.
Sharky was the first character I added customization to, in the form of various mix-and-match outfits. He has several combinations of facial expressions and outfits available for the player to choose.
Sharky has a substantial increase in the amount of meshes that are compiled to create the final player model. Some of his outfits were traditionally box-modelled and others were sculpted and then retopologized.
This is a look at almost all the unique meshes that make up Sharky. I learned a lot about making modular characters for the purpose of customization with this model. I may have got a bit carried away adding new outfits.
Sharky has three 2K texture sets. His textures were created in Substance Painter by baking high-poly sculpt details onto a low-poly game mesh and applying a stylized shading material onto that.
By using a texture mask with an alpha channel, in Garry’s Mod, we are able to add colour customization to our player models. The parts that need to change colour have to be white on the albedo texture. The mask is set up so any black areas will be ignored
Sharky has several physics bones in his rig. These are bones that are simulated in real-time during gameplay. This allows for some secondary motion on the character. I was excited to make this character just so I could see his big tail sway side to side.
Initially released in 2021 I continually updated this model with new lessons I've learned about making characters for games, as well as adding new features. As of 2023 I am no longer updating this model in favour of creating and replacing it with a new one, made from scratch with a more focused art direction.
The character was sculpted in ZBrush. It was retopologized and rigged in Autodesk Maya. 3D Coat was used to create the UVs, and it was finally textured with Substance Painter. After that it was imported into Garry's Mod and released.