Giving every villager ten dialogue expressions helps so much with character interaction. When designing these five, did you figure out their personalities before drawing the expressions, or draw the expressions first so creators could run with them?
Thanks! I started with a role and visual identity for each villager, while leaving their personality and backstory open for creators to develop. The expressions are meant to support different stories rather than lock a character into one personality.
The five shown here are the free demo cast — the full collection has 50 characters, each with the same set of ten dialogue expressions. A worried expression could fit a shy villager, but just as easily a normally confident character facing a difficult moment.
Got it—so a single worried expression can work for a timid villager or a usually confident character hitting a sudden roadblock, without locking them into one personality trait. We're running a free playtest for ISECAI, a web AI anime RPG, and we care a lot about how expressions, personality, and the current situation all line up. Would you be down to try a short intro when you have time and share your first impressions? If you're interested, I can drop the link and a personal invite code in the comments.