Hey, everyone! Welcome back to the Star Plunder devblog. If you’re just joining us, Star Plunder is our new multiplayer shooter set in the wild, chaotic Azimuth Sector. Here, you’ll take on the role of a space pirate fighting for survival, wealth, and freedom in a galaxy ruled by greed and oppression. It’s a battle between the rebellious Brethren of The Vast and the powerful Galactic Exchange Union, and we can’t wait to share more about the world and characters with you. So, let’s dive into the journey behind Star Plunder and explore what makes it come alive!
The Creative Process Behind Star Plunder’s first characters: Loonie, Miles, and Delphy
Star Plunder is a game that is all about legends. From the legends that existed in the beginning of our history, to the rising legends that are waiting to be discovered by each of you. In order to truly tell an epic Space Pirate tale, first we needed to craft our very first Space Pirates.
Creating characters like Loonie, Miles, and Delphy in Star Plunder has been an adventure for our team. We wanted each character to feel real and unique—someone you’d remember, and maybe even relate to, as you play. Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes to show you how we went from ideas to fully realized characters who are ready to make their mark in the galaxy.
Conceptual Beginnings
Every character’s story starts with an idea, a spark that grows into something bigger. For Loonie, Miles, and Delphy, we began with a few key thoughts about who they were, what drives them, and how they’d fit into the world of Star Plunder. The characters went through many design iterations. Miles was the first to come to life and set the foundation for our universe. Working with Miles felt very natural; we knew exactly what type of pirate we wanted him to be and what message his design should convey. Miles was created with the idea that pirates age like fine wine.
Miles “The Banyan” Baas:
We couldn’t make a space pirate game without having a classic pirate within our characters. Miles is our staple space pirate, he lives and loves the pirate life. He’s in it for the booty and the drinking. We wanted Miles to be the embodiment of one of the game’s core themes: the search for freedom. He is the legendary Captain of the most traditional Faction within the game, The Drifters, a group of bastards and scallywags with no real care but their booty. Even after ruining his insides from all the drinking, Miles is full of surprises and one mustn’t be fooled by his laid back demeanor.
Loonie de Graaf:
Captain of the feared Empyrean Cog Faction, Loonie de Graaf is as unhinged as they come. We intended to create a character that embodied the Cogs’ ideals. This faction is based on what they call The Hunt. They track and hunt down Celestial, intergalactic creatures to become one with them and create exo-suits and enhancements with their organs. As many Cogs, Loonie is riddled with body augmentations that make her a deadly killing machine. We wanted her to be a fun and unpredictable character that delved deeper into the sci-fi setting of Star Plunder.
Loonie was more challenging. We knew we wanted her to represent defense. Initially, we envisioned Loonie with a different body type—she was the muscle among the three characters. But we scrapped this idea because we wanted her to be more than that. Loonie’s body is fit and toned due to her dedication to protection and combat. She isn’t naturally strong; instead, she had to train hard and use her knowledge to make up for what she lacks with her exosuit.
Delphy “The Snake” Stheno:
The perfect assassin. The team wanted to create an alien character that was both deadly and mysterious. Delphy is what we call a Glycon, a race of reptilian shapeshifters. It is said that she was royalty but fled to join the Brethren of the Vast in search for her freedom. There she quickly ascended the ranks of the mysterious Watchers of The Vast, a faction of highly trained cutthroats and assassins that are supposed to protect The Brethren. Now that she’s their Captain, her intentions are unknown to most, but the Watchers are some sneaky bastards that intend to extend their grasp all over the galaxies.
Delphy was the most difficult of the three. Throughout her development, both her clothing and physical appearance underwent drastic changes. At first, she was envisioned as a reptilian character with human-like skin, making her difficult to detect. We felt this didn’t fully capture the range of alien species possible in our lore, so we shifted her design in a completely different direction. We gave her a more beastly appearance with scales, changed her skin color, but maintained her seductive, feminine side, which she often uses to her advantage.
Delphy’s clothing also went through a lot of changes, from small tweaks to major redesigns. We wanted her to look like someone who moves in the shadows, stealthy and worldly, yet she doesn’t embody a typical pirate. After all, she was born with a silver spoon.
Designing the Look
Once we knew who these characters were, the next step was making sure they looked the part. We wanted each character’s look to match their personality and role in the game.
Inspiration Sources:
Each character had different sources, but we wanted to base most of our factions and characters on classic pirate legends and myths, some real and some more fantastical. Miles, for example, he is as classic as they come. He is the traditional rascal, missing leg and all. We wanted to have our very own Jack Sparrow.
For Delphy, we wanted to have a shadowy figure that was based on the hired corsairs and assassins that sailed our seas long ago. We knew we needed a character that had stealthier skills and that embodied a different kind of playstyle.
Loonie, on the other hand, is pure chaos. Having a neo-victorian, space setting allows us to take our characters to the next level. Loonie and the Cogs’ main inspiration came from the idea of having space junkies, obsessed with Mechs and with becoming celestial beings. We wanted them to be unhinged, like post-apocalyptic characters pulled straight from your favorite chaotic movies but with our own pirate twist.
Iteration Process:
All these characters and their factions have gone through a thorough process of iteration and changes, making them more complex and rounded up on each step. Their traits and personalities grew as many members of the design, narrative and art teams proposed new ideas on how to make them perfect. And they continue to grow with each day, as will their stories.
Bringing Characters to Life in 3D
With the designs ready, we moved to the next stage—bringing each character into the 3D world. This step really made them feel real, as we could see them from all angles and bring out the little details that make each character unique.
Modeling
Everything begins with references: facial references of people we use as models, fabric types, metals, and how these materials should look when damaged, torn, or dirty. Once we’ve gathered all our references, we start modeling in what the industry calls High Poly.
In this stage, we detail every part, accessory, clothing item, and aspect of the character’s body. We pay close attention to fine details that make our characters truly themselves. We add wrinkles to those with more experience, scales to those who aren’t human, and battle scars to those who have survived to tell their tales.
Then we move on to retopology, a crucial step to make the model animatable and compatible with game engines. Here, we also become virtual hairdressers, creating hair cards to style the characters’ hair. Once everything is ready, we move on to texturing.
Texturing and Animation
In texturing, we use both the High Poly and Low Poly (Retopo) versions. We project all the fine details from the High Poly model onto the optimized game-ready model. These are details that don’t actually exist on the optimized mesh but appear as if they do.
The initial reference research we conducted plays a big role here. To make a model look realistic, it’s not enough to just color different parts with solid colors. There are many natural aspects we must consider. In every object, no matter what it is, there are variations in tone, color, roughness, signs of wear, small dents, stains, dust, dirt—all of which we need to account for to make the textures look believable. That’s why, if you look closely at our characters’ skin, you can see freckles, sunspots, and veins. If you look at their clothing, you’ll find faded sections, sweat marks, dirt, and dust.
Once the fully textured models are approved by the department heads, they are sent to rigging.
Rigging is essentially adding a skeleton to the models so they can move. To rig properly, you need a strong understanding of anatomy, knowing how everything moves, from an entire arm to a single finger joint. After assigning bones, we move to skinning, where we assign weight to the character’s skin, defining how far the influence of each bone extends.
After the rig is reviewed and everything moves as it should, the model is ready for animation.
Bringing Personality to Life
Characters aren’t just about how they look—they’re about what they say, how they act, and the history they bring with them. We worked hard to make sure Loonie, Miles, and Delphy each had a personality and story that would resonate with players.
Backstory Development:
These characters are part of the larger universe of Star Plunder, which is riddled with stories. We intend to make it a world that feels lived in and that wherever you look, a story can be found. This was very important to each character we created, to make them feel part of this world, and especially to make them not be the only important characters. These are just tiny parts of a grander story, one that started before them and will continue long after.
Personality:
To make them part of their universe, it was important for us that our characters all have different traits that make them unique. Mile’s charisma and sarcastic tones make him our lovable drunkard, while Loonie’s rugged looks and unhinged manners turn her into an unpredictable force. Delphy becomes a shadow beneath these two other explosive personalities, but this shadow’s intentions are a mystery to all, her menacing look ensures Delphy’s true nature is well hidden.
Conclusion
We’re so excited to introduce you to Loonie, Miles, and Delphy in Star Plunder! These three are just the beginning; there are so many more characters on the way, each with their own story, quirks, and adventures to share in this universe. We’ve poured our hearts into bringing these characters to life, and we hope they feel as real and vibrant to you as they do to us.
And we just want to say—thank you. None of this would be possible without you. Your support, your passion, your belief in Star Plunder—it means everything to us. You’re the reason we’re able to keep creating, pushing forward, and making this world as amazing as it can be. Star Plunder is as much yours as it is ours, and we’re so grateful to have you on this journey with us.
We can’t wait to share more with you soon—there’s so much still to come! Thank you for being part of our universe, and stay tuned for more from the galaxy of Star Plunder!
