A big part of my goal with BBV’s improvements is to redesign many of the game’s characters, and I have started with the two main characters, Daren and Sparrow.
WARNING: Spoilers from the demo below.

Daren's design was one that I was never fully invested in. I think he is okay for now, but I want to make him more like a husky. I want to better define details such as his hairstyle and neck fluff, while keeping notable details such as his glasses. I've also considered making it so that his glasses are normally opaque, and his eyes can only be seen for certain expressions. It makes him seem cooler and more standoffish, which is good for the first part of the story, but it may not work as well if I plan on making him more outgoing. I want to make sure he's not too similar to some of the other characters. He must be blank enough that players can connect with him, but not so bland that he's boring. It's a tough balance to strike, but I'm glad I'm getting the chance to work on him.

One major idea with him is to change his design shortly after the end of the demo's story; his clothes would be torn in the fight against Slade, and he would start relying on clothes that are not as concealing. This change in clothes would also symbolize him opening up to the others. But it's just an idea for now.

Sparrow has been a fun challenge. For her redesign, I want to lean more into her backstory by giving her a more dragonlike appearance, such as having more fangs, a forked tongue, and giving her a gritty, disheveled appearance. I still want her to be cute, but there’s a few times in the current demo where Daren observes Sparrow is “unkempt” and yet she looks rather normal. She just looks like a grumpy fox. I think her fur color makes her decently unique, but I want to work on her design aside from her color scheme.

BBV is primarily a story about Sparrow and her rehabilitation, and her appearance changes as the story progresses. Making Sparrow look unfriendly and almost monstrous at first is exactly what I’m going for; I want her to be a character that Daren is interested in but still cautious around. Although I’ll admit some of these concepts give her too many teeth. Her final look will likely not go this far, but it’s still fun to conceptualize what a “dragon trapped in a fox’s body” should look like.

Like I mentioned last week, these design changes may not be present in the next demo, and may not be introduced until the final version. Choosing to wait and add new models later will enable me to finish the second demo sooner. But new models have to be made either way, since the second demo will have new characters.
For next week’s report, I’m hoping to show off some of these new characters.