MERRIPHEL
/
← Back to Design Experiments
Concept Design / Design Experiments Personal fan project

Hollow Knight: 2B Skin Design

A fan skin study adapting 2B’s silhouette, the HUD and ability effects for Hollow Knight.

Project period2020.5

In-game test · HUD and ability effects

I wanted to see how much of 2B I could keep in a character as small as the Knight. I carried the redesign from the character sprites into the interface and effects, using recurring motifs from NieR:Automata to connect what the player sees at rest, in motion and in combat.

2B at the Knight’s scale

I kept the white bob, black visor, flared skirt and sword readable in the small silhouette. The surviving close-ups show slightly different positions of the hem and legs. The project also involved redrawing movement sprite sequences.

Recovered close-up of the 2B character sprite
Recovered close-up of the 2B character sprite

HUD sketches and in-game tests

I kept the Soul meter and health markers where players would expect to find them. For the standard Soul meter I drew a gear cluster around the circular gauge. The in-game screenshots show how the emblem, meter and health icons read against the dark scene in different states.

Early Soul meter sketch with gears and blades. FULL SIZE ↗
In-game HUD test with the light gauge and silver icons. FULL SIZE ↗
In-game HUD test with the YoRHa gauge and gold icons. FULL SIZE ↗

First design plan

In my first plan, I matched each effect to a motif that could still communicate the original action. For example, I used a Pod shockwave for a ground impact and a spear silhouette for a forward spell. The table records the ideas in the draft. The clip above shows a surviving HUD and ability test.

HUD

Standard Soul meter
Gears over a YoRHa background
Steel Soul meter
2B’s greatsword over a YoRHa background
Godseeker Soul meter
Adam’s blocks over a YoRHa background
Health masks
Black boxes
Hiveblood
Lunar Tear flowers
Full Soul meter
YoRHa unit emblem

Spells

Vengeful Spirit
A gold spear silhouette
Shade Soul
A hacking ring and an orb of light
Desolate Dive
A shockwave from a double-bladed axe strike
Descending Dark
A Pod shockwave with Adam’s golden impact effect
Howling Wraiths
Flight Unit missiles
Abyss Shriek
Several Flight Unit heavy blades with a wave of light

Nail Arts and basic attack

Basic attack
A transparent ripple
Charged slash
A floating offhand greatsword or a Type-40 charge effect
Cyclone Slash
Phantom blades from a charged Pod skill

Movement, healing and charms

Dash
Dodge particles inspired by the FFVII crossover’s Engine Blade
Crystal Dash
An execution blade array based on a Pod skill
Crystal Dash trail
Blade shockwaves with gold particles
Monarch Wings
Adam’s golden wings or mechanical wings
Healing
A white flash and a +1 indicator
Fury of the Fallen
A faint dark red and black glow inspired by A2’s Berserk effect
Grimmchild, fourth stage
Pod 042
Grimmchild fireball
A light projectile

The draft also listed a womb and a fluke entry without assigning replacement effects.

View the original design notes
Original design notes. FULL SIZE ↗