CONTROL’s Costume Direction
Jesse’s Suave new costume shown in the upcoming AWE DLC prompted me to write this post.
So apparently dedicated costume designers are rare in game development. Remedy’s Costume designer is Heli Salomaa.
Here are some links where we can find her work: Website, Remedy’s Website, ArtStation, LinkedIn
Here is her award-winning master thesis titled, “Video Games and Costume Art - Digitalizing Analogue Methods of Costume Design”
An article from her Alma Mater Aalto University describes her journey to costume design in gaming:
“I’ve been a gamer since I was ten. Even back then, I’d wonder who designed the costumes worn by game characters. The video game industry felt distant, however, as I prefer to make things with my hands,” says Heli Salomaa. She recently graduated from the costume design Master’s programme at Aalto University.
“I had worked on theatre and performance costumes prior to my studies, but as a person I crave the new and wanted to test the boundaries of costume design. My studies introduced me to laser cutters and 3D printers at the University’s Fablab, so I began to integrate these methods into my costume designs. At Fablab I realised that technology isn’t so hard after all. The video game industry no longer felt like a utopian dream, it was a potential workplace instead.”
After this insight, Heli Salomaa freshened up her CV. A couple of years ago, she took part in the Aalto in the Game fair, and then things started happening rapidly. She met a recruiter from Remedy Entertainment, a producer of realistic big-budget AAA video games, at the fair and spoke about her interest in getting involved in game character design.
Her timing was impeccable; Remedy’s previous game, Quantum Break, had just been released and a new game called Control, which was scheduled for release in 2019, was in its early design stages. Remedy’s lead character artist had already suggested getting help for designing the clothing of the game’s characters. Salomaa was directed to speak with him, and started working as a costume artist a few months later.
Back in 2019, she gave a lecture in Game Developers Conference titled “Costume in Games: Integrating a Costume Designer into the Character Pipeline” which was based on her work in Control. I wish we could actually watch it, but unfortunately, it’s behind GDC’s paywall. However, GDC was kind enough to make the lecture slide available for all. Nevertheless, The Sudden Stop and 4gamer.net has made excellent summaries of the presentation.
Salomaa has been interviewed quite a few times about her work in Control as well.
> Podcast with Script Lock
> Interview with Finnish digital magazine menaiset
> Interview with Finnish national broadcasting company, Yleisradio Oy
> Interview with Finnish tabloid Iltalehti
<another one locked behind paywall>
(originally posted in reddit)
@oldest-house @itsnotalakeitsanocean @director-faden @directortrench @ilikedetectives @the-costume-closet @costumecommunityservice @bikiniarmorbattledamage @characterdesigning @laudanine @ @wrenhavenriver @podgle
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