Arc System Works' Twitter Cosplay Guides Are Something More Devs Should Do

TJ Denzer,

March 5, 2019 10:53 PM

It's simple, fun references of the Blazblue characters, and we'd love to see more game developers lend that kind of service to the creative community.

In cosplay, one of the toughest aspects to getting started for the detail-oriented designer can be finding all of the angles of a character that allow for the most accurate depiction of the costume design. Recently, Arc System Works has been offering a treat to fans in the cosplay community looking to get started with new cosplay guide series on Twitter. It’s simple, fun, and a cool little series we feel more game devs should offer to their communities.

On February 11, 2019, the Arc System Works US Twitter offered the first in a new series of cosplay guide tweets in celebration of the special-edition release of BlazBlue: Central Fiction, which came out on the Nintendo Switch on February 7, 2019. With sprite art in particular, it can be tough to get a look at every detail on your favorite character, but Arc System Works took some of the guess work out with a special sprite sheet focusing on a single BlazBlue character and displaying each side of them in the various sprites to show off a splendid amount of detail. The first up was Naoto Kurogane, but cosplay reference guides for Bang Shishigami and Bullet have also since been released.

Finding the right references for characters can be a toughie. It’s one thing to collect blurry stills and work out the details yourself, but even then, finding your favorite character from every angle (especially in video games where proper pausing at the moment you need isn’t always an immediate option) can make this process more difficult. Don’t get us wrong, we’re not calling these the most comprehensive cosplay how-tos. It’s not like Arc System Works is writing a full-on guide with material suggestions, cost estimations, and YouTube videos on how to put Bang’s giant nail, the Phoenix Wing: Rettenjo, together. However, in a medium where references can be tricky, it’s nice to see Arc System Works is taking the initiative to help out a bit by offering the visual materials they have ownership of in a clean way to those who are interested.

Some fans in the BlazBlue community are definitely digging into this offering too. There are more than a few people simply enjoying the character references, asking for their favorite characters to get the same reference guide treatment, or even taking the opportunity to show off the cool cosplay they’ve put together so far. It’s good to see fans enjoy this, but people actually taking advantage of a little referencing to channel their creativity into a cool cosplay project seems like a great value of this humble series of tweets.

And that brings us to the question: why don’t more game devs with community connections do this openly? Certainly, it’s a bit of a project outside the norm, but when you have access to all the assets and you know some of your audience will appreciate it, why not offer cool little reference guides to help them out? For instance, Apex Legends is one of the hottest games in the world right now, having passed an insane player count of 50 million. How many of those millions would be thrilled to have a collection of Wraith, Mirage, or Lifeline angles to work from in designing their own character costume?

It’s doesn’t even really have to be putting a full guide together - that takes some time not every dev has - but rather just reference sheets from the character models and assets at your disposal. And there are plenty of games out there beyond Apex Legends with characters people would love to cosplay that could benefit from that treatment. Hi-Rez Studios is at least one dev that shares the sentiment. The studio behind Smite and Paladins that has a history of putting together some pretty great character model guides on their site just for artists and cosplayers. In the past, they’ve put together reference kits for Smite and Paladins characters like Furia, the Angel of Vengeance, and even share some helpful video links on sewing, wigs, and prop creation.

Furia from Paladins is featured in just one of the guides that Hi-Rez has worked to put together just for artists and cosplayers.
Furia from Paladins is featured in just one of the guides that Hi-Rez has worked to put together just for artists and cosplayers.

Though she works for Hi-Rez herself, Technical Artist Sarah Anderson is also a cosplayer and appreciates the efforts inside and outside the studio, especially as someone who knows it can be difficult to find the right angles for a character in online searching for a game that isn’t Hi-Rez.

“A lot of cosplays I want to make that aren’t from Hi-Rez games I have to hunt down in game or scour the internet hard. New games make it easier for sure,” Sarah claims, referring to the photo modes that can be found in games like Smash Bros. Ultimate, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War, but in the case where these modes are not present, sheets provided by the dev are appreciated. “When orthographic views are provided, those are by far the most helpful, especially when making a blueprint for a weapon or something.”

We also spoke to a few other cosplayers and cosplay fans to ask their opinion on the matter - if an offering like this was really that important. “Yeah, that’s great,” said beginner cosplayer Wubdor. “I try to get a lot of angles and I do care about the details like that. It not only helps with the costume, but it also shows the devs care. They don’t have to do it, but when they do, it’s a nice gesture that’s useful at the same time.”

Many fans even just appreciate the reference sheets for fan art purposes, concept work, and some good old-fashioned scheming and dreaming. User PrateTrain on the BlazBlue Subreddit found opportunity to draw concept sketches with the Arc System Works guides, even if they aren’t certain they’ll be able to pursue their cosplay goals anytime soon.

“I've referenced the Naoto one a few times to draw up a rough sketch that might not come to fruition because of time,” Prate claimed. Other commenters on the Reddit and via the Twitter posts have shared the sentiment that even if not for cosplay, the reference guides make it easier to do other creative projects with the characters.

All of this to say that in this age when communities are far more connected, maybe it’s worth a dev's time to do as Arc System Works and Hi-Rez are doing. If the characters in your game are cool and stylish, why not share them in a way that creatives can share in them that much more? Time is money, and certainly many game developers have more pressing concerns on their mind, but if you have the assets and a community manager to put them together, making these kind of reference guides sounds like content where everyone can benefit. We applaud Arc System Works, hope to see them keep the character cosplay guides coming, and hope other devs take notice and follow suit!

[Featured Image by Arc System Works]



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