Pragmata devs almost drastically changed Diana’s design
Capcom’s Pragmata developers considered shortening the hair of Diana, the game’s robot companion, during development to reduce the cost and complexity of animating it. They ultimately retained her long hair because its movement in the Moon’s low gravity was seen as important for conveying a sense of life and realism.
Unlike many games that use textured polygon “hair cards”, Pragmata renders Diana’s hair as individual strands, requiring roughly 430,000 animation points rather than 22 joints. The finished model averages fewer than 20,000 strands after optimisation, while concept art and a mid-development test explored a bob haircut; a similar messy bob was instead used for Diana’s sister, Eight.
In short
- Diana’s long hair was nearly replaced to cut development costs.
- Capcom kept it for realistic low-gravity movement.
- Optimisation reduced the final model to under 20,000 strands.
Explained simply
Pragmata is an upcoming science fiction game from Capcom set on the Moon. The player character is accompanied by Diana, a robot who becomes central to the story.
During development, the creative team considered shortening Diana's long hair to reduce animation costs and complexity. They ultimately kept her long hair because they felt its movement in the Moon's low gravity was important for making her character feel alive.
The developers had chosen to animate Diana's hair as thousands of individual strands rather than using quicker animation shortcuts. This more complex approach created realistic movement but required substantial computing resources, which made shortening the hair seem like a logical way to reduce costs.
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