Game7 AAA Avatars
3D Character Design, Art Direction, Design Ops, Talent Management
Project Brief
Game7 had a problem: our avatars looked good in static renders but couldn't move. No rigging meant no cinematic trailers, no in-game animations, no story-driven marketing. We were building a gaming ecosystem with characters that couldn't actually be used in games. The solution? Completely rebuild 14 hero characters to AAA standards, make them interoperable across thousands of games, and do it all on a $100K budget. No pressure.
Duration
6 months
Stack
Ready Player Me, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, ZBrush, Figma
Services
3D Character Design, IP Strategy, Team Leadership, Lore Development, Technical Art Direction
Game7's avatar system needed a complete overhaul. The original characters looked good in static renders but lacked the rigging and technical infrastructure for cinematic trailers, gameplay animations, or cross-platform integration. As Head of Design, I transformed these static designs into AAA-quality, fully-rigged avatars built for interoperability across game engines and platforms.
After presenting the vision and securing an overwhelming DAO vote, I pitched for $100K in funding, recruited a specialized team of 6 artists and technical specialists, and delivered 14 hero characters with dynamic male and female body types, unique leveling systems, and cross-platform compatibility in 6 months.
The avatars were designed from the ground up for Ready Player Me integration, enabling players to use them seamlessly across Unity, Unreal Engine, AR, and VR experiences. This made Game7 avatars portable across thousands of games while maintaining visual quality and animation fidelity. Each character featured four distinct rarity tiers as part of an independent leveling system, with collectible wearables unlockable through questing or the Web3 marketplace. Players could mix and match wearables across all character variants, creating a flexible customization system.
Beyond the technical execution, the project became foundational IP for Game7's ecosystem. By building persona-based identity niches that resonated with our core audience, we created diverse characters that matched our brand aesthetic while establishing a rich story world for marketing, community development, and future game experiences. Each hero came with backstory, motivations, and narrative hooks that unlocked cinematic storytelling opportunities previously impossible with the original static designs.
Started with narrative workshops and worldbuilding exercises involving the team and community members. This collaborative process identified core audience niches we wanted to target and established the character universe before any visuals were created.
Character Development Pipeline: Created extensive character sketches to define and refine 14 heroes that fit our target archetypes. Developed rarity structure and wrote backstories for every character, ensuring each had depth beyond visual design. Moved from sketches to high-fidelity artboards with detailed illustrations that captured personality and brand aesthetic.
Design Documentation: Built comprehensive design documentation covering face expressions, hair types, character rigging specifications, and rarity tier breakdowns. These docs became the blueprint for 3D production, ensuring consistency across 4 designers working in parallel.
3D Production Management: Led the most time-intensive phase with 4 3D designers iterating on weekly sprints. Managed design reviews, painting feedback, and rigging validation before testing. Kept production on tight deadlines by maintaining clear milestones and daily creative direction.
Final Deliverable: 14 hero characters, each with 4 distinct rarity tiers and individual wearables that could be collected and worn on any model. Cross-compatible system where wearables worked universally across all character variants.
