Prerelease:Freedom Planet/Characters

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Freedom Planet.

DeviantArt Origins

When Freedom Planet was first initially shown off on the Sonic Fangames HQ forums (archived on the SoaH City Message Boards) alongside the character Sash Lilac, a Sonic fan character created by DeviantArt user Ziyo Ling in 2001.

As for the character, I found her on DeviantArt and really liked her design, so I asked the owner for permission to use her.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), September 29th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

Permission to use Ziyo Ling's other two characters, Carol and Milla, would be given later, shortly after the first gameplay footage for the game was posted.

I showed Ziyo Ling (the girl who made Sash Lilac) the beta video of Dragon Valley on DeviantArt, and she was completely thrilled! She was even kind enough to put it on the front of her DA page so that I could get some extra publicity. I took the opportunity to ask her if I could use some more of her Sonic OCs to balance out the hero/villain ratio.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), December 22nd, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

The game's creator, Strife, would later go into further detail in a post on Indie DB.

My personal attempts at designing a protagonist failed. After dozens of failed attempts, I realized I needed help, and after a long time of searching, I discovered a Chinese artist named Ziyo Ling on DeviantART who created just the kind of heroine I was looking for: Sash Lilac. The design of this character captivated me from the beginning, as well as the designs of her two companions, Carol and Milla. I felt that the three of them combined would present me with a lot of opportunities for interesting character dynamics. So, I asked Ziyo for permission to use them in the project. She was very excited at the idea of her characters appearing in a game, so she agreed to let me use them. She continues to support our efforts in spite of her recent absence from the Internet, and I have assured her that I will continue to credit her as a lead character designer.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), August 12th, 2011, on indiedb.com

• 

  Sash Lilac, drawn by Ziyo Ling.

• 

  Carol Tea, drawn by Ziyo Ling.

• 

  Milla, drawn by Ziyo Ling.

• 

  Team Lilac, drawn by Ziyo Ling. Lilac and Carol's designs would be taken from this artwork.

• 

  Team Lilac II, drawn by Ziyo Ling. Milla's design would be taken from this artwork.

Sash Lilac

Indeed, she's a hedgehog. ^_^ According to her author, those two long strands of hair are actually her bottom quills, so I figured they'd be hard enough to attack enemies with.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), October 12th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

Not that long after the first demo of the game was published, Lilac was criticized for looking too much like Sonic, as she was also a hedgehog, which led to Strife attempting to change her design. She was initially hesitant about changing her sprites permanently without a unanimously approved redesign.

During that time, it was decided that Lilac would be changed into a water dragon and eventually, Strife settled on the version of Lilac seen in the final game. Despite the design changes Lilac went through, a few of her traits, like her long hair and martial arts skills, were unchanged from her original version.

• 

  First attempt at redesigning Lilac while keeping her as a hedgehog.

• 

  The second redesign attempt.

• 

  The final design, seen in-game.

• 

  Lilac's initial concept art.

• 

  Artwork, drawn by FeliciaVal.

• 

  Concept sketch, drawn by R-no71.

Spade

Spade the Cavy. He'll either be an anti-hero fighting against the main villain or one of his strongest mercenaries, but either way, he's Sash Lilac's rival. He'd attack using a deck of playing cards, which provide different effects depending on how the suits are combined.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), October 18th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

Spade, first shown in October of 2011, was originally designed as a cavy but later changed to be a panda. The hair, ears, and the red scarf resemble the King Shadow Ninja from LaTale, while the shoes were similar to Shadow's from the Sonic series before being changed for that reason.

• 

  Initial sprite of Spade, shown off alongside Serpentine and Torque. While unused, this design can be found in the August 2012 Prototypes.

• 

  An updated sprite, his gloves and shoes have been redesigned.

• 

  The final design.

• 

  Spade's initial concept art.

• 

  Artwork, drawn by FeliciaVal.

• 

  Concept sketch, drawn by R-no71.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Serpentine

Larger concept art of the character at the beginning of the video I posted. One of the easier bosses.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), November 15th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

Serpentine first appears in early pre-release footage seen riding on the snake boss of Dragon Valley. Initially, he was designed as a slug and was, at that time, nameless himself. The August 2012 Prototypes simply refer to him as the "Serpentine Rider".

As for the snake character, he's actually supposed to be a slug. xD; Then again, I could use some detail down there to balance out the heavy armor on the top.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), November 16th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

A safe assumption would be that, since people have mistaken him for a snake, Strife decided to change him into a viper, and gave him the snake boss' original name.

• 

  Initial sprite of Serpentine, shown off alongside Torque and Spade. Originally a slug, this design was seen in early pre-demo footage.

• 

  Potential recolor options. Ultimately, it was decided to stick with green.

• 

  His original sprite, now as a viper. This still frame, in particular, can still be found in the August 2012 Prototypes.

• 

  As seen in the August 2012 Prototypes. This version has different coloring for the arms and armor as well as some added detail.

• 

  The final design. Even more detailing has been added like scales and metallic shading for his armor.

• 

  Serpentine's initial concept art.

• 

  Redesigned concept art, now as a viper with metallic arms.

• 

  Concept sketch, drawn by R-no71.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Carol Tea

I touched up Lilac's concept art a bit and drew two of the newest characters, courtesy of Ziyo Ling. The one in the middle is Carol, a wildcat.

— Sabrina DiDuro (Strife), December 28th, 2011, on soahcity.com/forums

Before Strife got permission to use two other characters from Ziyo (in that case, Carol and Milla), the second main character used to be a black cat with blond hair and an orange shirt. After she was permitted to, she drew Carol over the existing character sprite.

• 

  Sprite of the second main character, before Carol replaced her.

• 

  Carol as seen in the August 2012 Prototypes.

• 

  Concept art of Carol.

• 

  Artwork, drawn by FeliciaVal.

• 

  Concept sketch, drawn by R-no71.

(Source: Original TCRF research)