Fashion Trends of Los Ojos
Hello, I’m Vincent Perea, the Art Director for Chance Agency, and I want to tell you a little bit about the inspiration behind our character designs.
In Neo Cab, we’re trying to tell relatable human stories in a world that’s quickly becoming less and less human. The game is set in a future fractured by tech-control and gig economics, but that isn’t the core of what it’s about. It’s actually a game about people, and the brief moments where one life intersects with another.
As such, most of the game takes place in Lina’s car. You pick up passengers (or “pax” for short) and reveal their stories as you chat during the ride. You see glimpses of the city of Los Ojos, but a lot of the focus is on characters interacting in a confined space. This meant that a pax’s attire and appearance had to not only convey their personality, but also offer hints at what the larger world was like.
If all I have to describe the world outside the car is the upper part of a character’s body, I have to be bold with my style choices. It’s been a fun challenge, and I’ve been drawing on several references to create a future fashion that’s as believable as it is strange.
1980s
The fashion of the 1980s was a big inspiration on the project. Even today, it feels like designers of the time had their eye on the future. It feels like they were not just trying to represent 1980, but 2180—especially in high fashion and New Wave looks. 80s design cues that I drew on include: bold sharp angles, neon colors, contrasting sizes and cuts, diversity of patterns (often clashing), and dramatic makeup.
Debbie Harry inspired a generation of thieves with her impeccably casual-cool style. I am 90% certain Grace Jones was actually sent back in time from the future.
But I was almost more attracted to how we remember the 80s. With time we tend to exaggerate the styles of the past, and “retro” looks become more about the feelings an era inspires in modern minds, instead of any kind of accurate day-to-day look.
Case in point: when Atomic Blonde came out, I breathed a sigh of relief. “This duotone palette works!” (There’s a great meme on this kind of lighting dubbed, “Bisexual Lighting.”) The whole film is excellently art directed to capture the cool, neon vibe of the time period—or at least the feeling of why the 80s are still so captivating today.
Athleisure
Next I looked to the modern trend of Athleisure. I liked how this style uses newer synthetic fabrics, and a diversity of materials in one garment. I was drawn to how these pieces use panelling not just as a construction method, but as an expressive element in the overall design.
Hair Styles
Since most of our characters are only ever seen in the backseat of a car, anything above the neck was prime real estate. So deciding that everyone has “cool” haircuts was as much a practical decision as a creative one.
Any 10-minute walk around GDC was enough time for me to gather reference for all the hairstyles in Los Ojos…so it didn’t seem outlandish to imagine that some current edgy styles (half-shaved heads, multi-color layers) would become mainstream looks as our generation ages up.
Setting a Style Guide
To focus my efforts, I made myself a cheat sheet of the “current” style trends that would be seen on the streets of Los Ojos. I also added some elements that are a little more under-the-radar, like fashionable prosthetics, reflective detailing, and illuminated clothing.
I curated a deep list of references, then sat down and started to sketch some of my favorites, updating details and colors to unite the drawings together. I should note that we’ve imagined Los Ojos to be a very culturally diverse city. It was important to me that the design of the pax represented a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and body types.
Emissive Details
The game changer in designing the pax turned out to be adding illuminated (or emissive) detailing.
This was exciting to me because it helped answer some deeper narrative questions in the game—in a city you mainly experience at night, how will a person feel seen? How will they make themselves stand out in the literal and emotional darkness of the world?
I worked up the concept below, with illumination not just on garments but on tattoos and hair highlights, as well.
These details had that little bit of “extra” I was looking to add to our design language. Having highlights and tattoos that glow are not entirely possible at the moment, but in 30 years…who knows? It was a small but bold touch that marked these characters as existing in a future setting. It was also a trend I could use to unite all the character designs, no matter their backgrounds.
I tried this emissive approach out in full color, and was satisfied with how it held up. The final game uses a limited palette about halfway between this and the previous concept.
Final Look
Once I had these general style guidelines for the world, I could set about designing specific characters. The details of how we prepped and built individual looks is a topic for another time. But I’ll include two characters in their final states below. The character on the left has a nice balance of familiar and futuristic elements. The character on the right has much more extreme style, however it serves a very specific narrative purpose which I can only reveal in…the future.
Final Look of a Pax
