“Just following my instincts” is the secret behind Kim Hyung-tae’s stunning character designs in Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade

Hyung-tae Kim, the founder of Shift Up and the previous main artist of Blade and Soul, is renowned for his sensual and memorable character design style. After leaving NCSoft, he founded Shift Up, which created games including Destiny Child, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, and Stellar Blade.

In an interview with Game Watch, Kim explained that her unique and seductive character designs were inspired by market demand as well as her appreciation of them. He explained in detail that he was simply following his instincts when answering the question.

Still, Kim also pointed out that the relation of the character design to the gameplay and narrative of the game is crucial as well. He said that though characters need to be presentable, what is significant is that every part of the character design depicts the character’s personality and is appropriate in the storyline of the game. According to him, “Characters must be pleasing to the eyes, although their aesthetic must not overshadow the function of the character design in Nikke’s post-apocalyptic future Earth setting.”

Aside from discussing his feelings about his creativity, Kim also shared his feelings of pride about the changes that he has been able to introduce to her team at Shift Up. He said that despite such a strong position of women in Nikke’s development team, the desire to make the characters more interesting was greeted by every member of her team. Kim then had the idea that the meat must have transferred her DNA to the team and it was something that Kim secretly liked.