Stellar Blade Director talks about the challenge of developing Eve

Stellar Blade’s Director, Hyun-Tae Kim, spoke about the inspirations behind the game’s protagonist, Eve. As well as the challenges the team faced while designing and developing her.

Stellar Blade finally launches next month. There’s been plenty of discussion about SHIFT UP’s forthcoming action-adventure title ahead of its release. Thanks to its depictions of both violence and nudity, the game’s been given an adult rating in South Korea.

On top of that, there’s been plenty of buzz around the design of the characters, especially the protagonist, Eve, who’s appearance is based on that of South Korean model, Shin Jae-eun.

During an interview with Famitsu, director, Hyun-Tae Kim, recently shared some insights into how the team went about designing Eve, and what inspired their choices. As well as some of the difficulties they encountered along the way.

Focusing on futuristic designs

When it comes to the costumes, the narrative and setting were what helped inform the team’s choices.

Stellar Blade’s setting is science fiction. A future where Earth has been reduced to a desolate wasteland and humans instead live on colonies. The protagonist, Eve, comes from the 7 Colony and has been tasked with reclaiming Earth.

“Since it’s a sci-fi story, I wanted to incorporate something which would be difficult to realize with physical costumes.” Kim explained, “We actively used glossy and luminous lighting elements to create a futuristic design.”

While some of the costumes were inspired by looks in anime or movies, Kim says the team strived
“to be able to come up with ideas without restrictions” to “express the diverse charms” of both Eve and the culture of the colonies.  

Although, despite the abundance of shiny, skintight suits Stellar Blade has on offer, Kim has cautioned players about letting the fanservice go to their heads. “Skinsuits don’t have any defenses… The difficulty of the gameplay will increase significantly,” he said, “so we recommend you wear clothing as much as possible.”

Capturing the ‘flow’ of Stellar Blade

Kim has already been quite open about what he expects to see in the game’s he plays, going on the record as saying he likes “to see someone who is better-looking” than him when he’s playing a game.

But visual appeal wasn’t the only thing Kim, and the team, drew inspiration from when working on the designs for Eve and Lily.

“I think it’s beautiful, in and of itself, when people move their bodies directly,” Kim said, explaining another aspect which inspired the character designs and costumes in Stellar Blade. “I’m also fascinated by the flow of movements, the swaying of costumes and hair… I was very particular about the physical expression of the costumes, and [Eve’s] long hair was the result of being aware of this flow.”

Kim explained the team’s intention was to capture “a variety of movements during battle,” enhancing the feeling of movement and flow in combat.

Although not every aspect of their vision was easy to realize.

“A long ponytail was a big challenge.” He admits. Going on to explain getting the hair to bounce and sway in a way that looked natural and stable was one of the major difficulties in the development process. “If it weren’t for that hairstyle,” he joked, referencing Eve’s ponytail, “maybe the development period could have been shortened by about a year.”

Stellar Blade releases on April 26 for the PlayStation 5.