Hello! I'm one of the developers who created Exhausted Man, an absurd comedy depicting an exhausted life that's coming to PS5 and PS4 on July 25. In this game, the protagonist can only crawl and does everything while lying down. You can check it out in the trailer below.
Today I want to tell you how I designed such strange characters.
Origin
It all started with one phrase: running out of energy, which became the theme of a game jam. I like participating in these kinds of events, as creating a game from scratch in 48 hours is a great way to relax.
Based on the theme, I came up with the idea of “people running out of energy” and created a simple character who was slumped on a couch. I posted a screenshot and got a lot of likes, not because of my modeling skills, but because of the resonance of exhaustion the character exuded.
I decided to make a game with this exhausted character, so he couldn't just lie on the couch, he needed to move. We all know how our body feels when we're extremely tired, so he couldn't get up, so I made him crawl on the floor.
This crawling animation got even more likes. I tried the crawling maneuver on the floor in real life and it hurt my whole body. But since people liked it, I kept it.
Crawling like an insect
In order to crawl, especially on walls, humans must learn from insects. First, we created a ladybug that can crawl on any surface in a 3D environment.
The character's head could copy the way a ladybug moves, but there was still a long body behind the head that needed to be accounted for. What bug is that? Caterpillars. So we implemented a feature called caterpillar bones, which is responsible for anchoring the body to the environment based on the position of the head. So when you see a person crawling in the game, it's actually based on the inner workings of a crawling caterpillar.
Soft as noodles
For a long time, the character's body was like that of a normal person, with flexible arms and legs split in two. Although he could only crawl, at least he was somewhat human. Until our artist drew some promotional illustrations.
We liked the drawing so much that we thought it was okay even if it wasn't that human-like. After all, he is exhausted, isn't he? So we broke each bone into little pieces, giving the character's limbs a noodle-like flexibility.
Variable energy states
The protagonist must complete various events to achieve the night's goal, and his energy state will change accordingly. For example, eating something increases energy. After eating, the character's head will glow gold and he will gain more speed and strength. On the other hand, when the character fixes a game bug, the opposite effect occurs. The character's face will become haggard and he will start yawning a lot. Yawn bubbles will also cause the character to fall asleep.
But no matter what energy level the character is in, he will never be able to get up! Exhausted Man launches July 25 on PS5 and PS4. Can you help the poor, sleepy protagonist survive the night?
