Kojima talks about the design of Ludens

July 24, 2016 Nyxus

During his San Diego Comic Con talk with Geoff Keighley, Kojima talked about how the design for the company mascot Ludens came to be, from Yoji Shinkawa’s sketches to the final 3D model.

The one on the left is the first design Shinkawa came up with, but it looked too battle-oriented. Kojima wanted it to be a blend between an extra vehicular suit and an armor, so the designs kept evolivng in that direction. The design on the right looked too much like a robot, and Kojima wanted it to be clear there is a person inside. — The one on the left is the first design Shinkawa came up with, but it looked too battle-oriented.
Kojima wanted it to be a blend between an extra vehicular suit and an armor, so the designs kept evolivng in that direction. The design on the right looked too much like a robot, and Kojima wanted it to be clear there is a person inside.

The one on the left looked too much like a space suit. For the ones on the right, Kojima really liked the way the helmet looked: a blend between a space helmet and a medieval knight’s helmet. The addition to the backpack as well, which made it look more like a space suit, was closer to the look Kojima wanted for the character.

Several variants of logo designs.

Final version of Ludens design. Kojima points out the small orange objects, Kojima wanted to have something that looked really technologic, that has a ‘techy feeling’. The design of these orange parts is based on the Turing machines. It looks like Ludens is carrying a spear, but it’s actually a flag bearing the Kojima Productions logo.

Designs of inside the helmet. Kojima wanted it to have an actual person inside, not a robot. The part of the helmet that covers the face is inspired by medieval Japanese armor.

Originally the model was done by an outside company that is famous for character models in Japan, but Kojima wasn’t satisfied. A young modeler that was part of the team that made the movie Gamera joined Kojima Productions around that time and worked on the model. They worked on the model for about 1,5 month.

The face of Ludens is actually based on data from Kojima’s face, which was 3D scanned. Kojima asked the team to adjust the face a little bit because it was creepy seeing his own face all the time.

During the talk Kojima also showed off an impressive looking logo movie featuring Ludens, which you can check out here.

Source: Hideo Kojima Talk at SDCC

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