An indie developer, known as PopGames, shared a modular portrait system they are building for their upcoming game Little Game Devs, a tycoon focused on game development.
The idea comes from a common problem in these types of games: when you have hundreds or thousands of characters, creating unique portraits for all of them becomes difficult.
At first, the project used portraits made by an artist, but scaling that to thousands of characters was not viable. Reusing portraits was not an option either, since it went against the main idea of the game: making each character feel unique.
At first, the project used portraits made by an artist, but scaling that to thousands of characters was not viable. Reusing portraits was not an option either, since it went against the main idea of the game: making each character feel unique.
This is where they decided to go with one simple solution, modular portraits.
Made a modular portrait system for my game, I would like to hear your opinion
by u/Psych0191 in SoloDevelopment
Instead of creating full characters, the system splits each portrait into parts: heads, eyes, mouths, noses, eyebrows, hairstyles, clothes, and beards.
Each of these parts has multiple variations, and by combining them, the system can generate thousands of different characters.
For this to work, each module is drawn with specific limits, so that all combinations fit together correctly regardless of which pieces are used.
Character generation is based on a DNA system: each character has a sequence of numbers that defines which variation is used for each module.
For example, one number can represent the eyes, another the hairstyle, and so on, creating a different character each time.
One of the main challenges was handling color. The first idea was to use grayscale modules and apply color through code.
However, this did not work well in all cases, especially for the eyes, since they have more than one color.
However, this did not work well in all cases, especially for the eyes, since they have more than one color.
The creator then tried a more complex idea: using heightmaps to blend variations and apply color on top.
It worked, but it was more complex than it needed to be. In the end, they went with a simpler solution: creating color variations for each module manually
Since it is based on modules, it also opens the door to other ideas. As the creator mentions, this system could be used to implement inheritance between characters. It could also allow players to add their own modules through modding.
If you want to see more from the creator, you can find their links below:
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/PopGames2025
- Official Game Discord: https://discord.gg/Dcw68nzP3
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