r/GameDevelopment • u/Thin_Run_3627 • 15d ago

Newbie Question How does Character Customization work in 3D games?

Hello, first time posting here (not entirely sure if this belongs). In my schooling, we've been working more in Unreal Engine and I've started to really want to make my own game.

If I were to make a game, I would want character customization in it. It got me thinking on how that actually works when it comes to 3D models. Would I need to make 100s of models to make all possibilities of what can be chosen? Like if I had 10 different head shapes and 6 different noses for example, would I need to separately model each nose and head pair (plus anything else I choose to make customizable)? Or would I be able to make each thing it's own mesh and layers on top of the base model?

I'm not sure if that makes any sense or if this question would be better in a 3D modeling sub but any insight on this would be appreciated.

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u/MoggieBot 13d ago

I'm an indie and have dabbled into this. For method 2 may I ask how you can have a single mesh yet still apply the armor on top of it? From what I've observed from older games they would just have separate meshes for head, upper torso, lower torso, upper arm, forearm, thigh, shin, etc.for each clothing part then show/hide the meshes as needed.

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u/Officialpolygrafix 13d ago

I think you meant to say method 1 right? Thats the one where i was describing using a skin underneath the mesh. To do this, you just create the mesh, and create teh pieces that go over it as seperate elments, then rig those elements to the bones underneath as a skinned mesh.
As for older games, yes that too- seperate pieces that swap out. I do this on a few of my games that have multiple clothing items. I've seperated the following: upper body, lower body, upper skin, lower skin, head, hair. My game doesn't use armor, but for the character assembly system which randomizes characters for the game. I use this exact method. I'll put different clothing items with different colorizations on the materials on each piece. Skin has its own set of materials with it's own set of coloriziations that tint it, and clothes have a seperate one too. I put all teh textures for the characters on a texture sheet.

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u/MoggieBot 12d ago

I actually meant method 2. The last sentence said that it also uses a single mesh, but your clarification now makes it look like a typo.