DevLog 1 - Portraits Creation

Hi ♥!  

Satyroom here <(°3°)>

Today, we want to share our thought process behind designing the character portraits for Orphan’s Cradle.

Finding the right approach took us a long time—and even now, we’re still questioning whether we’ve made the right choices.

Problem #1: Staying True to the Original Style

The entire game was entirely done by Sada-sensei and his style is quite unique and specific to him.I know that for a lot of people, the art could just be considered as "bad" but the more you play the game, the more you start to enjoy the originality and depth that it offers.  So for us it was very important to keep those two elements in the new art for the game done by Xerado. 

Sada style like we like to call it, has multiple recurring elements:

•  The eyes are always Big while still trying to look masculine

• The mouths are positioned low giving a more lazy/relaxed/Cozy look to every character.

• Hairs have very complex spikes trigonometry ....

• The style focus heavily on detailed facial expression and poses to communicate emotion.

Despite being a "hobbyist" artist, Sada-sensei took bold risks with anatomy, perspective, and composition. While his art might not be conventionally polished, it has a cinematic quality that many technically skilled artists wouldn’t dare to attempt. His work prioritizes emotion and storytelling above all else, and we wanted to maintain that bold, expressive approach in our own art direction.

So it was important for to keep this more bold approach of doing art for a game as the core approach to make the art in the game. 

Problem #2: Blending Tuhmayto’s Style with Sada’s

Since Tuhmayto would be handling a large portion of the artwork, it was crucial that his style felt cohesive with the game while still allowing him creative freedom. We needed to find a balance—respecting the original work while keeping things fresh. Fortunately, Sada-sensei was incredibly supportive, giving us complete artistic freedom in this area.

Problem #3: How the Art Should Look In-Game

Another major challenge was adapting the art to fit the game’s native resolution of 960x540 while staying true to its pixel-art aesthetic. Since Orphan’s Cradle is entirely in pixel art, CG illustrations had to blend seamlessly without feeling too high-definition compared to the rest of the game.

Tuhmayto is particularly focused on ensuring the portraits align with the game’s overall pixel-perfect look. Right now, we’re still debating the best approach. Pure pixel art for portraits can sometimes lose emotional depth, which is something we don’t want to compromise on.

Our current direction? A digitally painted, low-resolution approach, similar to what you’d find in games like Tactics Ogre or Bahamut Lagoon. This method would allow us to maintain expressiveness while keeping the portraits visually cohesive with the rest of the game.

Early on, we experimented with fully pixelated portraits, and while the results were convincing, we’re leaning toward a more painterly, low-res style. We believe this will give Orphan’s Cradle a more distinctive and emotionally resonant visual identity.

At this stage of development, we're still refining our approach—but we’re excited about the direction we're heading.

What do you think? Would you prefer pixel art portraits, or do you like the idea of a painted low-res style? Let us know your thoughts!