《Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy》概述 Kroot 手办制作

Developer Owlcat Games shared the latest Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy blog post to outline the making of the Kroot figurine from the Collector’s Edition. Anton Osipov, the lead of the 3D character production department and the artist responsible for creating Ra’akhti’s model, shared why this figurine became so important for the game and how it came to be.

“Some characters begin their lives as peculiar shapes drawn on paper, while others emerge from the world of digital sketches. And some heroes originate from detailed written descriptions, where their creator meticulously defines every aspect of their appearance and personality. The Kroot Ra’akhti took a rather unusual path before reaching her final form. Many factors influenced the appearance of our avian-like xenos companion, but one of the most important was the figurine we were creating for the Collector’s Edition.”

Since Rogue Trader, the team received numerous requests to add representatives of other species to the game, with the most frequent ones being for the Kroot. By that point, the developers already knew that one of the xenos companions is going to be a Kroot, so the choice for the Collector’s Edition’s figurine was rather obvious.

The process began with 2D artists exploring the appearance of the Kroot through a series of concepts, experimenting with the body type, colors, silhouettes, and equipment. After the 2D concepts were finished, Owlcat’s 3D artists developed the first in-game models for the Kroot. After numerous iterations of sculpting, UV unwrapping, map baking, and texturing, the Kroot of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy finally began to take shape.

With the 2D and 3D assets ready, the team began seraching for the right pose that would convey the personality at a glance. The figurine is almost identical to Ra’akthi’s in-game model, including the colours of her body, rifle, and faithful Pech’ra named Yuka were taken directly from the engine. Yuka was later redesigned for the game and replaced on the figurine too.

Thin elements like the hair, feathers, and cloak proved to be particularly fragile and required some extra attention during the printing process. Once the devs were happy with the quality of the print, it was time to move on to the final and perhaps most crucial stage of preparing the figurine: finding the right colours for it, of which there were several interations.

“After a long and challenging journey, Ra’akhti is finally ready to take her place in the Collector’s Edition. She’s more than just another item in the box — she is a little piece of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, brought to life. And now, we want to share this piece of the game with you.”