Game Artist Explains the Problem With Starfield Characters Faces

comingsoon.net:

is a big hit for Bethesda, though the game isn’t without faults. A slow start and weak main plot are the most common criticisms across Starfield reviews. Meanwhile, some players also find its characters subtly off-putting. One veteran game developer recently explained why this is, pointing out subtle but noticeable problems with Starfield’s facial animations. 

Delany King is a character and technical artist from Australia. Her work in the game industry includes titles like Dragon Age, God of War, Civilization 6, and Stellaris. In a recent Twitter thread, she broke down a few critical issues with how Starfield animates its character’s faces. These problems contribute to the unsettled feeling some players get from the game’s characters.

The first problem concerns Starfield not properly animating the muscles in the characters’ faces. Specifically, she talks about the orbicularis oculi muscle, which surrounds the eye, and the zygomaticus major muscle in the person’s cheek. In a genuine smile, both sets of muscles would contract. If the orbicularis oculi do not contract, it gives the impression that someone is faking a smile. King uses the example of Hungarian model András Arató, best known for the “Dead Inside” meme. Meanwhile, contracting the eye muscles but not the zygomaticus muscles results in Homelander’s creepy smile from The Boys.

This smile probably bugs you for some reason you can't put your finger on as will. Allow me.



This is the zygomaticus major muscle. It contracts when you smile, pulling the corners of the mouth up towards the Zygomatic process.



But here it isn't pic.twitter.com/nu12XqTnZ8

The way Bethesda animated Starfield characters appears as if neither set of muscles is moving. This makes it seem like