Ember Lab had thought of the Rot as the ‘villains’ of Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
THE Rot are undoubtedly the protagonists in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. These adorable and cute creatures have made anyone who has played the game fall in love with Ember Lab.
However, we find that they didn’t always have the look and behavior we know of. Originally, in fact, they were much less adorable.
Speaking with The Loadout, Ember Lab’s chief of creative, Michael Grier, and the manufacturer Thomas Varga, discussed the origins of the Rot and how they were inspired to create such adorable companions for Kena.
“The original design of the Rots as enemies of Kena was thought of more as a liquid or sticky form of corruption“, say Grier and Varga. This is because they were actually the antagonists who were trying to stop Kena on her journey, but development quickly changed and Ember Lab “he soon found that making them his teammates was the way to go“.
But to make them Kena’s companions, the Californian studio had to completely redesign these blobs, leading the team to look further to find inspiration for the new look and their personality.
“We started taking inspiration from some Studio Ghibli characters, like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke movies“, the two state. This can certainly be seen in the way the Rots animate and interact with Kena on screen. The team also has”included elements of plant life in their designs to connect them to their environment and help them blend in with the forest“.
After all the hard work on Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the studio is now working on its next project, which appears to be something completely new.
Source: Theloadout.