God of War, exploring the roots of Kratos' design

While I was working on the God of War blogs I was going back through a lot of concept art of the series. It reminded me of some early behind the scenes footage. I'd like to explore the origins of Kratos, and how the games could have gone in a completely different direction. I'd like you to use your imagination, and ask yourself what if Kratos had looked like he did in his early art. For starters let's talk about his final design. David Jaffe is credited as the father of Kratos, but he defers the look, and especially animation to Cory Barlog. David wanted the hero of his story to be a rage filled monster. He didn't necessarily have to have the physique of a swollen bodybuilder as most games, or comic book characters did at the time. Instead he wanted someone that was strong, but aggressive. The template he pointed to was the Neo Nazi character Derek Vinyard from the film American History X. Derek was played by actor Ed Norton.

The film is an ugly, but realistic portrayal of Neo Nazis in the USA. The ways in which they are recruited, and groomed by their betters to spread their agenda. Derek is by all means an unforgivable character, especially after killing two Black men, and being sent to prison. What happens next is an unraveling of the character, the roots of his hate, and rage. Ultimately he has to find a way to keep his hate from spreading to his younger brother. It's a great film, but not for everybody. But I digress. The character of Kratos is meant to have a similar tragic origin as Derek, and share the same emotive qualities. With that in mind I think Mr. Barlog nailed what Jaffe was asking for. It was a far cry from the earliest prototypes for the character.

The studio knew they wanted to tell a swords, and sandals adventure. So they tasked the art team to create a legendary warrior. This fighter didn't necessarily have to be based on an actual historical figure. Their armor, and weapons didn't have to be rooted in reality. Leaning on fantasy was acceptable. Dozens, if not hundreds of drafts were submitted. In the earliest forms the character was completely armored. You couldn't really make out a face, skin color, or any other distinguishing figures. It could be the type of character that any game player could place themselves in. It was rarely done in gaming, but it had worked previously with characters like Master Chief from Halo, and Issac from Dead Space. The armored warrior was okay, but audiences needed a reason to root for them. Some of the early drafts also gave this warrior a baby to care for, or transport.

The studio considered this draft of Kratos the Lone Wolf and Cub. The idea was copied many times from the works of a manga series of the same name from 1970. The story of Ogami Itto the former executioner, and his son Daigoro is set feudal Japan during the 1700's. Written by Kazuo Koike, and illustrated by Goseki Kojima the series has been published in multiple languages, and been adapted to anime, and film. It is easily one of the greatest stories of all time, and the fact that the majority of the adventures were told without dialogue helped make it an international hit. Many of the people working on the God of War franchise would have probably been familiar with the manga, if they didn't grow up reading it. I can imagine that the early faceless warrior would have instantly have a ton of pathos if he had to raise his kid in a harsh environment. Yet that was one proposed idea to get audiences to root for the hero. The other idea that was floating around in the early days was to give our hero a puppy.

Imagine how the game would have played if our adventurer was raising a dog, or wolf cub. It's not hard to guess that the combat system, enemies, and stage designs would have to be built around what this little sidekick was capable of. There had actually been a precedent for this type of adventure. You would have to go all the way back to 1989 to see where it started. Sega had a side scrolling action game called Shinobi that they released in arcades in 1987. In it the ninja Joe Musashi has to infiltrate a crime organization armed with his sword, and throwing stars. The sequel Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi has Joe fighting alongside an attack dog named Shadow. He can send the dog to distract enemies while he then strikes them down. It made for an interesting idea, and a memorable game. I'm not sure if that mechanic would work in 3D, but it was interesting that Sony Santa Monica had considered it.

Jaffe would challenge his art team to try different things to help visualize the main character, and type of game he wanted to create. Instead of just going for realistic, or fantasy warriors he would say draw what the physical embodiment of rage would look like. What about war, or anger, or hate? What does that look like if those intangibles were a person? Lots of ideas were submitted. Characters made of fire, and spikes. Assassins covered in blades. All sorts of drawings flowed in. Little by little they discovered that they could humanize what they were going after if audiences could see the face of the protagonist. At first it was just an open face helmet that they wore. Perhaps some war paint, or a tattoo to give them personality. But if this character was going to have face markings then it made more sense to get rid of the helmet completely. Little by little the ideas for Kratos were starting to come together.

Would this character have hair? Would they be covered in scars? Were they covered in paint, or tattoos? If so were these markings tribal in nature? The team went back to the drawing board. They started stripping away the armor, and in doing so they learned it was easier to read the physicality of the character. To make him appear more animated. They saw how much they could take away from him, while still making him look like a warrior. In the end the costume was essentially from the waist down. It was the pteruges, the pleated skirts worn by Greek, and Roman soldiers, shin guards, and sandals. The rest was tattoos, and an attitude. Figuring out the weapons he would be using was a challenge in itself. Swords, throwing spikes, axes, everything was considered. As the game engine was coming together one of the senior artists, Charlie Wen, was sketching on a napkin at lunch. The form, weapons, and poses were an amalgamation of the best ideas from the studio. He brought his idea back to the studio where Jaffe pretty much confirmed that was exactly what they were looking for.

The question then came what to color the character. Jaffe noticed that some other sketches had a ghostly white character. The artists planned on going back, and painting the skin after they had colored in the armor, and weapons. Jaffe said to keep the character pale, and they would create a story as to why he was colored like that. This is how the ashes of his slaughtered family worked into the canon of the game. The team had to figure out what the markings would look like. Were they earth-tones, like mud or camouflage? In the earliest drafts the iconic tattoos were blue, and purple. Purple was a rare color to create in ancient times. It would really only be seen on royalty, or the very rich. The warrior was anything but an elite. Blue was a strong choice, but red popped even more on the screen. So Kratos came together little bits at a time, and after lots of fine tuning with many fantastic artists. It was more than just giving swords to a Neo Nazi movie character.

There were a few drafts that I especially enjoyed. These were the ones where Kratos had a distinct African origin. The character was not only Black, but his armor, and weapons were unlike anything that we had seen in traditional media. I like to go back, and think about how the franchise would have turned out if the settings were Africa. Not Egypt necessarily, although their pantheon would be a good place to end up. Do you think this character had potential? Do you think it would be fun to revisit the classic GoW gameplay, but with a different leading character? Perhaps set in the same universe, but another part of the world?

I hope you enjoyed this dive into the origins of Kratos. Is there a favorite draft of the character that you enjoyed best? Maybe it was a skin you could unlock in one of the game. Would you have enjoyed the game more or less if Kratos were dragging a baby, or puppy along with him? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Meet Kimberly, is she the Urban ninja of Street Fighter 6?

Hello friends, today we are going to look at another new character in Street Fighter 6. Kimberly may be the most anticipated of the new members in the lineup. She was first teased at the end of the Street Fighter 6 announce trailer. Her picture came up in the background of the Battle Arena. Leading many to believe she would be the next character to get a full reveal. Her look is actually layered with tons of elements. Let’s dig in to the colors, costume, and origins of Kimberly. First off the team working on SF6 is going full Hip Hop in the music, art, and aesthetic of the game. We saw that with the graffiti version of the Capcom logo in the first trailer, but it went much deeper. SF6 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto explained the Hip Hop connection to the series to Rolling Stone magazine. I had also called out the multiple Hip Hop elements applied to Jamie. Kimberly is no exception to the rule.

As a Black character Kimberly had a number of “urban” elements put on her. It wasn't the first time. In 1989 Guy broke the mold by being a modern ninja, with just the use of Nike Air Force 1's on his costume. With Kimberly there were a lot more modern details. She was sporting long braids with turquoise colored tips. She was wearing sneakers, a smart watch, listening to her Walkman, and holding a spray can. She had ribbon on her forearms, leggings, and wrapped around her ankles. I believe it is inferred that she is also a trained dancer. Capcom seemed to go all-in on her Black roots. Her color scheme seemed busy, but was very pro-Black, especially if she had been planned in the ‘90s. The colors of her outfit were very intentional. The Pan-African movement started over a century ago as a way to create a brotherhood among Black peoples in every nation. The colors of their flag were black, red, yellow, and green. Black represents the peoples of Africa, Red represents African bloodshed during the years of European occupation, Yellow represents the African riches plundered under occupation, and Green represents the fertility of the land. We get these details all over Kimberly’s costume. If I didn’t know better I’d say the studio was intentionally creating a femme version of Miles Morales.

Prior to Kimberly there were two characters created in Japan that were Black, and very Hip Hop in gaming. Piranha from Jet Set Radio (2000), and Boogie from Jet Set Radio Future (2002). Technically I think both were meant to be the same character, but I digress. Smilebit was a Sega developer that created what I would argue to be the greatest Hip Hop games ever published. Both Jet Set games featured all four elements of Hip Hop. The characters could breakdance, and spray painting graffiti was part of the game play. Lastly the music, and plot was pushed forward by the emcee, and DJ Professor K. The kids of Tokyo-To were fighting for freedom of expression under an oppressive police state, and their corporate overlords. Every group of inline skating “Rudies” reflected different gangs in the series. The heroic GG’s were made up of positive figures of all colors, and Nationalities. The Jet Set series had a profound influence on art, gaming, music, and design for several generations. I wouldn’t put it above the Capcom developers to have grown up on this game. I’m not the only one that had this opinion. Kotaku said Ryu’s new theme belonged in Jet Set Radio.

The color, and cut of Kimberly’s top was a familiar red, and white. We had seen the sneakers, and martial arts outfit combination originally placed on Guy from 1989’s Final Fight. I had Guy as #11 on my 30 most important Street Fighter characters. As you may know Guy was a Bushinryu Ninja, that was originally created to replace Ryu as the star of the franchise. With Cody replacing Ken. Street Fighter 6 was set to take place mostly in Metro City, where Final Fight took place. Anyhow the early take was that Kimberly was the first Black female ninja in the series. There were many ninjas in the Street Fighter universe. Geki was a NPC from the original SF. Then there was Maki, another sneaker-wearing member of Guy’s ninja clan in Final Fight 2. Final Fight 2 was a Super Nintendo exclusive. The first playable ninja in a numbered SF game was Ibuki, she debuted in SFIII. If Kimberly is a ninja as well then Capcom has done a good job of masking her costume in what appears to be plain clothing. The oversized shoulder pads was a classic ninja costume choice that had appeared in manga, anime, and other games. For example I talked about Kazuma, and Ginzu on my Galaxy Fight blog. Ninjas in pop culture also often wore face coverings, or sashes. Kimberly had a headwrap, and scarf with the Pan-African colors. I’m curious to see what moves, attacks, and specials she will be given. There is still a long way to go until the game was released, but I was eagerly watching each development. What about you? What do you think of Kimberly, or are you waiting to see how the other characters turn out? Please let me know in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!