Agreed, jumping in 3D is very hard to do right. Even having full camera control, it can be hard to judge jumps.
I miss the way the old model looked, complain about all the anatomy issues till your face turns purple, at least she was attractive to a non furry as myself.
Also dislike how the female lizards look like they have door hinge jaws (especially when they open), Krystal also has a similar issue when looking at the gifs on page 1 (her and lizard kissing) when she opens her mouth.
Also dislike how the female lizards look like they have door hinge jaws (especially when they open), Krystal also has a similar issue when looking at the gifs on page 1 (her and lizard kissing) when she opens her mouth.
Oh, there are many factors experienced here that can influence it, these are things that happen, here and everywhere.
- Mar 11, 2018
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OK!
I like you, so I'm going to try to explain a few things, and some concepts that you may or may not be doing, so feel free to take what you like as you need it.
Also since you throw tons of art at me, I'm going to throw some back at you as well, so this post actually took me some time to do! :3
Here we go!
Part 1: Your Work Flow
It looks like, and the judging by the way you throw images and art around, that you are very interested in making sure the art is good and top notch, and that is FANTASTIC and I love it.
However, the way you throw art around tells me that you are effectively gauging each piece of art on it's own merits, but not necessarily how they function in the whole.
What this means, in a few methods, is that some artwork looks FANTASTIC, but it does not necessarily have cohesion with the things around it. But ON IT'S OWN, it is great.
ALSO, we see issues where the art is ART, but it is not VIDEO GAME ART. There is a fine line there, and I would suggest researching into some videos about the subtleties of level design, and how to direct a player without them feeling like they're being directed; but also bridging that gap where they don't get frustrated.
In programming terms, this means that you have a bunch of programmers working on some project, and each person has their own piece. You do some sort of a confirmation test on that component that says "This works great!" and add it to the whole thing. Now sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you don't have your regression test and user approval testing happening, at some very basic levels it seems.
This usually happens because there is either no project manager, or the project manager is acting as a developer as well and has their nose so deep in their own work that they can't provide adequate approval or judgement to everybody else's work. This position, which may seem trivial at first because "we have to get work done!", becomes more and more important as a project moves forwards. It keeps the developers in perspective, it makes sure the original plan is being upheld, it makes sure developers aren't spiralling off into left field doing their own thing or working too long on something that is pointless.
I'm not sure who the project manager is, but if you don't have one, I'd suggest you find one who can help or get one of your existing team members to perform that task.
This will be more evident in my next post where I go into some of the details; just from an artistic side, about what we're looking at and a few more things.
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Part 2: ART
So first of all, when everybody is throwing around pictures, there is a huge problem.
These pictures are like 3000x3000 resolution or something, and are ginormous... and are not representative of what they actually look like in the game.
So let's take a look at the game, from my setup with a 4K monitor. There's probably bigger ones out there... but this is pretty big, and this is what it looks like for me (I removed the UI on the sides because of what's going to happen next, so that was altered in a crop):
First off, we see some interesting things here.
Floating trees. Tail underneath the ground. Everybody is "flat" but there is "depth" to the scene, like the characters are in a 2D sidescroller but they are standing on 3D ground. The weird torch thing.
So looking at this, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL ART PIECES, but as the FINAL COMPOSITION, we can pick out a few issues that aren't obvious:
1: The lizard guy is way too dark. It looks like he's from a different game almost.
2: We have no idea what we can click on. Where do I go to move? How do I click on ground?
So let's fix this:
Update 1:
1: We brightened up the lizard to match Kay and the scene they are in, approximately
2: We darkened the background JUST SLIGHTLY, and if you notice, we now have a 'click path' for the user. Without needing to tell a user where to click, they're going to know "Oh, this is the ground, this is the clickable area where I can walk and move"
3: Notice how the bright clickable area leads into the dark doorway. The user knows "Looks like I can go in there"
4: Fucking self insert panda fell out of the floating tree apparently, with a slightly updated anatomy based on my own vauge knowledge of anatomy.
But do look how the self insert panda seems to take up more space, and isn't a stick, and blends in a bit better because everything else is wide and big. Also note how I attempted to make her feet look like she's standing on 3D terrain instead of a flat side scroller.
Let's keep going though, we can ride this train a bit more.
Update 2:
1: Since in reality of the game, everything is so small, it's actually really hard to pick out "details".
2: I added some extra color to make Kay stand out more and give her more depth and not look washed out.
3: I added black lines on some of the details to make things look like you can see them and prevent everything from looking "washed out". I outline some of the equipment so it stands out and it looks like something.
And finally:
Update 3:
1: All I did here was basically make some colors stand out more, and applied a Posterization layer to the characters.
The color was to make their important bits stand out, and things like the scar got an outline because that's what "defines this character" as being different (I think).
The posterization was to basically show that, in the game, you can MASSIVELY reduce the level of shading you are doing currently to come out with effectively the same looking thing. This would help reduce your work flow, and likely make all of the spine based animation work better since you don't need to worry about so many gradients not mixing together well during animation.
I think though, most importantly, as a final aspect: This LOOKS LIKE A VIDEO GAME that you can just glance at, know what there characters are, know where they are because they are clearly defined, know what each piece of a character is, and know what you can click on and how you would navigate the scene.
Ultimately, you can't have designers "doing their own thing".
The environmental artist needs to work with the level planner, and they need to mark the clickable parts somehow so players know what to click on.
The characters need to look good for the scenes they are in, not in a Photoshop white and grey background.
The character designers need to work with the environmental artists so they can all match tones and hues, so we don't have super dark characters or super bright characters, everybody needs to agree to a color and lighting standard.
The characters don't have enough color variation, so while those subtlties of color look great in, again, a photoshop background on their own, inside the game you can't even tell "what is hand???" when looking at a character as it is mostly gone.
All those subtle effects are effectively lost inside a game, and you need to really give some things "impact" so it will stand out and be visible. This means a lot of contrasting colors.
Use these contrasting colors to also train your players on how your game functions. Nobody should wonder "is this something interactive?" it should just be "oh, this is something I can interact with, cool".
Nobody should ever be stuck or lost at "simple navigation". If people don't know how to just move their character around, you're going to increase frustration.
In the software development world, we manage "frustration level". If something has too many "frustrations" to it, that thing is going to be abandoned and never used. If too many critical things are hidden in frustrating areas, you're going to see huge abandonment. You will get dunked and not many people will play or enjoy your game/product.
I know you want this to be "a real video game" of sorts, so plan accordingly!
I hope this was helpful.
So first of all, when everybody is throwing around pictures, there is a huge problem.
These pictures are like 3000x3000 resolution or something, and are ginormous... and are not representative of what they actually look like in the game.
So let's take a look at the game, from my setup with a 4K monitor. There's probably bigger ones out there... but this is pretty big, and this is what it looks like for me (I removed the UI on the sides because of what's going to happen next, so that was altered in a crop):
First off, we see some interesting things here.
Floating trees. Tail underneath the ground. Everybody is "flat" but there is "depth" to the scene, like the characters are in a 2D sidescroller but they are standing on 3D ground. The weird torch thing.
So looking at this, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL ART PIECES, but as the FINAL COMPOSITION, we can pick out a few issues that aren't obvious:
1: The lizard guy is way too dark. It looks like he's from a different game almost.
2: We have no idea what we can click on. Where do I go to move? How do I click on ground?
So let's fix this:
Update 1:
1: We brightened up the lizard to match Kay and the scene they are in, approximately
2: We darkened the background JUST SLIGHTLY, and if you notice, we now have a 'click path' for the user. Without needing to tell a user where to click, they're going to know "Oh, this is the ground, this is the clickable area where I can walk and move"
3: Notice how the bright clickable area leads into the dark doorway. The user knows "Looks like I can go in there"
4: Fucking self insert panda fell out of the floating tree apparently, with a slightly updated anatomy based on my own vauge knowledge of anatomy.
But do look how the self insert panda seems to take up more space, and isn't a stick, and blends in a bit better because everything else is wide and big. Also note how I attempted to make her feet look like she's standing on 3D terrain instead of a flat side scroller.
Let's keep going though, we can ride this train a bit more.
Update 2:
1: Since in reality of the game, everything is so small, it's actually really hard to pick out "details".
2: I added some extra color to make Kay stand out more and give her more depth and not look washed out.
3: I added black lines on some of the details to make things look like you can see them and prevent everything from looking "washed out". I outline some of the equipment so it stands out and it looks like something.
And finally:
Update 3:
1: All I did here was basically make some colors stand out more, and applied a Posterization layer to the characters.
The color was to make their important bits stand out, and things like the scar got an outline because that's what "defines this character" as being different (I think).
The posterization was to basically show that, in the game, you can MASSIVELY reduce the level of shading you are doing currently to come out with effectively the same looking thing. This would help reduce your work flow, and likely make all of the spine based animation work better since you don't need to worry about so many gradients not mixing together well during animation.
I think though, most importantly, as a final aspect: This LOOKS LIKE A VIDEO GAME that you can just glance at, know what there characters are, know where they are because they are clearly defined, know what each piece of a character is, and know what you can click on and how you would navigate the scene.
Ultimately, you can't have designers "doing their own thing".
The environmental artist needs to work with the level planner, and they need to mark the clickable parts somehow so players know what to click on.
The characters need to look good for the scenes they are in, not in a Photoshop white and grey background.
The character designers need to work with the environmental artists so they can all match tones and hues, so we don't have super dark characters or super bright characters, everybody needs to agree to a color and lighting standard.
The characters don't have enough color variation, so while those subtlties of color look great in, again, a photoshop background on their own, inside the game you can't even tell "what is hand???" when looking at a character as it is mostly gone.
All those subtle effects are effectively lost inside a game, and you need to really give some things "impact" so it will stand out and be visible. This means a lot of contrasting colors.
Use these contrasting colors to also train your players on how your game functions. Nobody should wonder "is this something interactive?" it should just be "oh, this is something I can interact with, cool".
Nobody should ever be stuck or lost at "simple navigation". If people don't know how to just move their character around, you're going to increase frustration.
In the software development world, we manage "frustration level". If something has too many "frustrations" to it, that thing is going to be abandoned and never used. If too many critical things are hidden in frustrating areas, you're going to see huge abandonment. You will get dunked and not many people will play or enjoy your game/product.
I know you want this to be "a real video game" of sorts, so plan accordingly!
I hope this was helpful.
- Mar 11, 2018
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Ultimately this is the reality of the sitatuion, the art is too far along to change at this point.
And that's totally fine, it's design decisions that will move forward and I'm excited to see how the game progresses!
Also in regard to vaginas, it seems like most artists have no idea how a vagina is placed and how it is accessed. There could be a whole topic about "crazy things I've seen vaginas do in art" across anime and furry and anything really. Some of my favorites are the "belly-gina" and the "hole is somewhere, probably at the front?!" types. <3
- Jan 29, 2019
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This is quite good. Thank you, it was interesting to read.
From reading all of it, I guess the main problem with art right now summs down to "Points of interest and characters require much more contrast opposed to the common backgrounds, so that player's eye could glance at what is important at once without applying to much strength".
Which is true, I find your final example piece to be way more attractable to the eye and much more easy to deal with. Good job!
I'm not sure about the panda though, but that must be because there are other characters who already stand differently and panda at this point simply looks otherwise to them.
So far I agree with everything that you say. Nice points being made, mate!
- Mar 11, 2018
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I just couldn't resist the panda. :3
But it all has a variety of stories and concepts and details to tell, some, or none, of which the team can take into consideration at their leisure.
The summary is probably along the lines of "you need a person who is watching everything and how they fit together, and making sure consistency and user experience are part of that evaluation".
It's not a super difficult concept, and when it's laid out quite often people go "well duh" but the problem is unless somebody in line is laying these expectations and making sure they are met, it's an overlooked area.
It's a product manager or product owner or stakeholder type role, depending on your flavor of business/agile/whatever.
- Jan 29, 2019
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As far as I know Vlad is their game designer and thus he is their manager who creates a certain vision for the game.
The big majority of content and how it's executed can be directed to him, because this game is based on his vision. It's his story, his mechanics, his overall gameplay design and I'm pretty sure that he also should manage how art comes up together in 1 final picture.
And even though I don't have much problem with the story and dialogues thanks to 0.8 version, it's completely another question if he has any experience in managing visual department and art direction.
To you, ideas that you've enlisted, might be as essential as air, since you manage your own project and you have experience in developing such games, and it's another thing if you've just played such games, but you have no idea what decisions stood behind artistic direction in order to achieve the result that you liked so much.
So far I feel like team lacks this experience in managing visual fedelity that was inherent in the 0.8 and they "test" various things a little bit too much, creating too much blank space in development as it is.
I don't have problems with their world, their story and dialogues, I'm not a big fan of this "KotOR" focus and I have big problems with all of the art direction so far. Kuja is a really fucking good artist, but he makes mistakes, which is fine, but the project overall right now managed to lower the visual design of everything art-wise (exception being UI, I think UI looks pretty dope, especially the launcher) because of some-one's decisions.
At this point honestly I don't even know what to advice them, since all of the advices are ignored and all you get to do is either:
a) being a total fan, who sits back and just waits for 1-2 years until they get somewhere;
b) or being someone who sees problems, but has no say in anything, thus you are left to suffer on the sideway, looking how project you held dear rolls into the genericness of the development hell where it missess something crucial (while also being dumped with a pile of shit from people who are fine with the project, becasue they don't understand how you feel).
I'm currently managing my own projects, them being a comic and a game and I can say that all of the decisions that I come up with, come from the experience of the previous projects. Without that experience, there would've been a shit ton of artistc mistakes all over the place and my experience from previous projects is really critical in order to have an ultimate thing that is consistent of 100 different cogs, but that ultimately could work together as 1 cohesive product. Maybe this team needs such type of experience or maybe they are simply not there just yet in terms of pipeline, or maybe they want way too much and it will pile up into a collection of various genres that they will not be able to stitch together. I really don't know, but I feel like that something is amiss here.
or c) frustrate yourself, you are not to blame for the problems that led to the cancellation of the previous one, but there you are, the cold water and the feeling of having thrown money down the drain, lamenting why experiments and long term promises do not start as they all do: 0 funding, not with what you have achieved with what you are not supposed to continue. You still try to be positive and try to do your bit, to make people understand what is good and what is not so good... then comes the arrogance that everything that is not in their utopian plans and domains is bad. "we don't want your bullshit questioning our work, but if you become a patron, all the better".
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- Mar 11, 2018
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Exactly, and I'm trying to help them get a bit of perspective from this department that may be overlooked. No doubt when you look at 0.8, the visual style was cohesive and everything fit together and it worked. There were some changes, and such that there is no need to get into, but it would appear, from the outside looking in, that whatever "magic" 0.8 had is not currently present, and it "feels" like even if they proceed, they may not find that magic spot. Something is missing, and it may be staff-related. But that is entirely up to them to fill.
To complicate matters, where they want to be is a very complex, very large game, so I'm not even sure when we'll know exactly where a good "vertical slice" may be present so people will know what to expect, and the team can validate that magic is back and present.
Video game design is tough, and you need to be a pretty decent designer in order to even attempt it, or at least not try to aim for the moon early until you get your feet under you. If you think your first game is going to be GTA... you're probably going to be disappointed fast.
I know I will not be able to influence anybody here likely, but you never know.
Once you go down the road of heavy animation in a 2D situation, making changes is something you just don't do or don't ever want to do. That's one of the big crippling features of 2D, unfortunately. When they are working on things like 8-directional movement for characters, and somebody decides a character isn't right... that's a TON of work. Probably too much work to fix, and you just got to roll with it.
But hopefully in the future, before they start heavily animating stuff, maybe somebody can bring it into the scene it's going to be in along with other characters and at least make sure it lines up. Maybe they can work with the environmental artist to make sure some video game guidelines are followed.
Each piece, on it's own, is mostly fantastic. It's when they all come together that things get interesting.
I hope they can figure out the missing ingredient. Or not, and just keep moving forwards... there's nothing I can do to stop them.
- Mar 11, 2018
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I'm trying to parse this and having some problems but I will try, hon.
I think what you're saying here is you are a long time patron or fan, or were at one time, and you supported them up to and possibly beyond 0.8, and now you find frustration that instead of making forward progress or "just finishing" 0.8 they have gone off in a new direction and have effectively restarted from step 0, so you are frustrated that so much has gone by, so much has happened, and it feels like wheels are spinning.
If I'm wrong, I apologize.
But I would be inclined to agree with you. Not only should the team have distanced from 0.8, as they are doing, they probably should have closed the project entirely and started a new one based entirely off of what they have now. A new patreon, new everything, remove "Krystal" as a concept, etc etc. Basically issue some sort of apology to old backers, maybe give them some kind of bonus to the new project, and start from 0 with the new concepts. This would help prevent people from necessarily feeling cheated (Not entirely though, you can never really escape that), but at least you can put any expectations or preconcieved notions to rest, and say "Hey... this is our new project, here's what it's about.. please support it if you'd like".
- Jan 29, 2019
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My word here is not needed but I just want to add my 2 cents in this topic as well.
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Personally, I don't see any problems with the current project in its basic concept. I don't see why they should've cut ties with 0.8 and why they should've dunked Key and the entirety of this world. They sincerely like the idea of characters, these adventures and this specific storyline, so I don't see a reason to throw it away into nothingness.
They want to create a specific game about specific furry idol within a specific setting with various adventures that are set up there. Changing all of this just because previous project ended would be a giant waste of potentail, ideas and enthusiastic energy. So I would say that restarting the project with a better team, improving upon the code's infrustructure and making overall upgrades to the story and setting - everything is a very welcoming idea.
Imo though, the problem starts when you want to fix what was not broken - visual style, designs, adding tons of various secondary unimportant features like 8-angled movement that will give project x8 times headaches, while adding minimum to the gameplay and enjoyment. And don't get me started on adding 3d to 2d with people who barely know anything about 3d... This was just damn bonkers.
Overall all enlisted above could be called "ambition" I guess, and you can call me crazy, but I think that when you deal with a project that restarts on the bones of the previous one, you should keep your ambition pocket almost closed, at the very least until the project is at the same amount of content as was the previous one.
I understand the intentions, I really do. My first experience in grand projects at one point also was "Let's make the best shit out there, we will pierce the heavens with our game/comic/animation and will show those traglodites of what we're truly made of!" only later to find out that by starting the project on complicated note, we also encountered problems that were almost impossible to deal with becasue of our limited resources. The worst of them being time and work force, because you are indie and indie doesn't allow to work in AAA or rarely allows to work even in AA or A standards.
But okay, let's say they will slowly climb up to what 0.8 was, fine... Design will still stay the way it is. Lizard people are now crocodiles, Key has become a doll instead of a sexy pilot, snek people have flaccid leeches instead of genitalia and environment for some reason is now (imo) of a lesser quality than it was. And all of the criticism that was given to them, they threw away, accepting it only from people with high reputation like Oughta. Don't forget the attitude of "We can't cater to everyone, because then we will be cater to none. Oh what time is it? It's time for an open/closed poll on to decide how new characters will look". Why? Why all of these desicions were made? Because it's a revamp? So the only artist has to redraw literally everything in order to get to the same level as it was 1 and half years ago?
I understand everything, I truly do - I was there when all of these things were discussed and I understand the reasoning, but I think that ambitions, when working with limited resources, should be held down until you feel like you've done enough and you are ready to overkill it because of its success.
Because of these ambitions, they have fixed what was not broken and thus they broke, what gave previous version its cherry. And they have wasted time, money and their prime artist's inspiration and work force. All of that could've been prevented, if their manager could just slow down and limit his ambitions until some work on reconstruction what was revamped being done.
p.s. I'm also not a fan of the overall KotOR idea. I understand that KotOR games were neat, but their basic collness lies within the story and characters' personal development + choices mechanics. Not in combat, not in general gameplay - those were the weakest points of both KotOR1 and KotOR2. They still are. They are extremely outdated by this point and reaplying them is insanely dragged out. Why not do something else is beyond me. But this might be only me.
- May 20, 2020
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so much talk about fixes and changes, I would rather have a LoK game that is finally finished than a very polished game that never makes it out from Beta
No need to be so harsh on details
No need to be so harsh on details
- Mar 27, 2018
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Heh, nobody gets the point. The essence of previous design was precisely that it looked more like a typical "anime"(/hentai/neko) character (a large audience got used to such modifications), it was conventionally more "typically human", it can be seen in body proportions, this is especially evident in face design. Same applies to those provided in previous pictures of other authors, they are to lesser extent furry characters. I said this in previous thread, I'll repeat it again, current design is incredibly copy of children's cartoon animal character, which even adults can't take for "oversexualized" approach (it simplifies, makes it cheaper as adult's character/more childish, it doesn't matter how much work is invested in its/design's details (I'm not going to criticize them in any way in this sense), you need to understand final product's purpose). In current version, she doesn't want to be perceived in any way as character of fap material. I understand that we have already gone through this number of times, but picture with changes back, again returns in design exactly what is so hateful in it (ears, face, proportions; yes it's slightly better than left option, but still rather insignificant (also overdone with nipples), central is more "eye-catcher"). It doesn't matter at all how unreal or flat it looks, main general impression is real matter... in a sense, difference is almost the same in perception as between real person vs uncanny valley effect (not literally, but its degree/amplitude).
I understand that in case of author's approach, this won't change anything, they decided - they do, but... just in another hopeless attempt to explain something, that they apparently don't understand well. She's not sexy, it's just cartoon animal, in some typical childish cheerful adventure game, if this was your idea, congratulations, but, as this topic proves once again, most of former audience isn't interested in this at all.
btw Good work @chopolander
I understand that in case of author's approach, this won't change anything, they decided - they do, but... just in another hopeless attempt to explain something, that they apparently don't understand well. She's not sexy, it's just cartoon animal, in some typical childish cheerful adventure game, if this was your idea, congratulations, but, as this topic proves once again, most of former audience isn't interested in this at all.
btw Good work @chopolander
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- Mar 11, 2018
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You seem to speak from a position of knowledge, and I respect that.
I also agree with you too. Great comments!
Whoever voted for "weird snake cocks" I hope you are happy, wherever you are lol
Thanks Talos, I appreciate seeing that in matters of character design and snake dicks I'm not alone in that opinion. Thanks for noting what I said the first few days of development.
The edit of the bad edit is nice.
The head & jaw size causes less worry for oral scenes looking dreadful in motion.
I'm curious to see how the old scenes will translate to the new builds look.
0.8's waterfall BJ was a good send off before the scrap.
The merchant scene from 0.0.0 comparatively is the only thing that really puts me off keeping up to date.
No good blow; PP won't grow.
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I already understand that the art and the design decisions are over and done with as far as character art goes, so I'm glad you like the style they have gone with!
The majority of my post was concerning design for art around making a game look intuitive for a user to interact with, making washed out details stand out, and checking the overall composition of the game art as a whole and not just individual pieces as stand alone works.
The fluffy panda lass was put in because I spent a lot of time doing the art markups and I wanted to also look at my own art at the same time, sort of killing two birds with one stone!
But if what you got out of that was a fat girl trying to fat push acceptance, I guess that's ok too! You can get what you like from my post.
The majority of my post was concerning design for art around making a game look intuitive for a user to interact with, making washed out details stand out, and checking the overall composition of the game art as a whole and not just individual pieces as stand alone works.
The fluffy panda lass was put in because I spent a lot of time doing the art markups and I wanted to also look at my own art at the same time, sort of killing two birds with one stone!
But if what you got out of that was a fat girl trying to fat push acceptance, I guess that's ok too! You can get what you like from my post.
- Mar 11, 2018
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For information on my anatomy, I've used a 3D model I made for my own game, which is rigged to a modified Epic skeleton and using both real life references, my own body, and some select artists to attempt to capture their body styles like Slugbox.
So my proportions are based of off a realistic body, one that has actual bones in it that need to also be properly weighted and bend and move without breaking, and adding in enough cartoon proportions to make something look suitably fluffy and as appealing as I can make it.
Just to note, I did start off with a very slender and muscular looking character, but it didn't have enough of a cartoon look to them, and I wanted properly animated bounciness to all the movements. So that's what it eventually became.
The character also has a fully modeled genital area, with vaginal tract, etc, for all of the exciting sex doll needs I may have for them. I also have male characters as well. For the genitals I used medical split views to ensure everything was placed properly with the correct angles and sizes, as well as my knowledge of my own body; though it's not easy to see all those details on your own body!
So, I guess what I want to say is, I did some pretty significant research to make my characters both anatomically correct, properly proportioned for actual animation and usage in a 3D game, and a variety of other things. While not perfect, it is what I attempted to do, without just "going off on my own". I used plenty of references including the need to fit to an actual human 3D skeleton for animation.
If you like it, that's great! If not, well that is also great too! When you do something, you can only make so many people happy and so many people unhappy.
So my proportions are based of off a realistic body, one that has actual bones in it that need to also be properly weighted and bend and move without breaking, and adding in enough cartoon proportions to make something look suitably fluffy and as appealing as I can make it.
Just to note, I did start off with a very slender and muscular looking character, but it didn't have enough of a cartoon look to them, and I wanted properly animated bounciness to all the movements. So that's what it eventually became.
The character also has a fully modeled genital area, with vaginal tract, etc, for all of the exciting sex doll needs I may have for them. I also have male characters as well. For the genitals I used medical split views to ensure everything was placed properly with the correct angles and sizes, as well as my knowledge of my own body; though it's not easy to see all those details on your own body!
So, I guess what I want to say is, I did some pretty significant research to make my characters both anatomically correct, properly proportioned for actual animation and usage in a 3D game, and a variety of other things. While not perfect, it is what I attempted to do, without just "going off on my own". I used plenty of references including the need to fit to an actual human 3D skeleton for animation.
If you like it, that's great! If not, well that is also great too! When you do something, you can only make so many people happy and so many people unhappy.