Design Concepts: Reinie

Kicking off some of our Concept art is of course, you know her, you love her, it's Reinie, our playable gal and resident possessor of at least one brain cell, Reinie was an absolute treat of a character to come up with from a writing and design standpoint from her flowing scarf to the scant armour she wears! When Empress and I initially coming up with the initial concept of Re:Strain we knew we wanted two protagonists, one with a magic focused role, and one with a tankier, frontline fighter role, and that was where Reinie came from!

Empress and I, upon deciding on the ideas went our seperate ways for a little it before we came back with each character's designs and realising that neither of us could draw to quite the volume and quality that we needed for the game. So this is where Sugar stepped in and brought Reinie to life in all of her bottom-heavy glory! By the by you're going to have to get a poll result (which will arrive eventually) to get that VERY initial design of Reinie because my face caves in on itself from looking at my own sketching style.

Reinie's design inspirations came from some pretty sinful places that you might notice if you look closely, particularly the use of her 'swimsuit' came as an inspiration off the back of Eula from Genshin Impact as a way to accentuate those hips and add a fun character trait to her given her insistence that a swimsuit magically helps her swim. Another design inspiration was the protagonist of another (hopefully) well-known rpg series among the community; Luka from Monster Girl Quest. While a much, MUCH more nsfw series than Re:Strain will be, I can't help but admit that the character growth and writing of the series really did surprise me with the idea that what is quintessentially a come for the 'plot' story actually made me stay for the plot, from the purple hair (though admittedly the palette selection was to pair well with Ophelia) to the inclusion of a VERY referential move, Reinie can find her roots in his design. 

Reinie's character is one that I enjoy writing and bouncing off Ophelia to the greatest degree, because without each other, those two wouldn't be able to bring as much heart to the game as they can together! Stay tuned for more concept art and little ramblings on things as I get more content online!