Many layers of game development don’t always go by as quickly as you might think. Given the popularity of certain video game characters, you might think that they rushed through elements like concept art because they “know how the characters are going to look from the outset.” But that’s not always the case. Sure, some always have a “vision,” but it’s the concept artists that truly bring those visions to life, and sometimes, they provide all sorts of options for the heads in charge to choose from. That brings us to the Ace Attorney franchise, where they hilariously proved this point.
On the official Ace Attorney Twitter handle, they’ve been dropping concept art that you’ll find within the upcoming Apollo Justice trilogy of titles that will drop tomorrow. The one below might not look familiar at first, but this was one of the first character concept art sheets for Athena Cykes! Yeah, she changed a bit to get to where she looks in the header image above!
As the handle notes, her face is technically the same, but when you add in the new hairstyle, outfit, and accessories, you get an entirely new look that feels like a new character. In other words, details matter.
Athena came into the universe via the fifth entry, “Dual Destinies,” and she was vital to solving multiple cases due to her unique ability. Where Apollo would use his eyes to see some motions and “tells” that showed that people were lying, Athena’s special ears could hear the “cries of their heart” and would use a special gadget called Widget to help them work through their emotional trauma to unravel the truth they were sometimes unconsciously concealing.
Looking back at the concept art pieces, you’ll notice that Widget also underwent some changes during the process, and that a “heart theme” is prevalent on her.
Why does that matter? Well, aside from making her look a bit more…flashy, not to mention sci-fi, it actually takes away from some of the key parts of Athena’s look in the final game and even hurts one of the cases she was in!
After all, her moon-shaped earring is a key part of a certain case, and yet, she has heart-shaped earrings here. That’s a key difference. And while her outfit did get closer to its “final form” in the bottom right versions of the concept art, it’s still not quite right.
We’re glad they figured out the “right look” for Athena and wonder what else they had to do with other characters to nail their looks!
