Have you noticed that some of the Dragon Age costume designs include pockets as of Inquisition, where in previous games they did not? Cosplayers have definitely noticed, since now they have a place to put their cell-phones — and that’s by design according to BioWare. Dragon Age: Inquisition creative director Mike Laidlaw explained how the practical constraints of cosplay influenced the eventual designs in-game:
The neat part is watching our lead concept artist. He sees a good cosplay and he goes and talks to them, he asks which parts are the hardest to put together or which parts are the least comfortable.
I remember hearing feedback from cosplayers that they had nowhere to put their cell phones. They’re wearing all this chain-mail and there are no pockets.
So it actually became a mandate that we wanted to put more pockets on costumes. It’s a real life need that helps ground the costumes. The need for cosplayers to have a cellphone and some hand sanitizer is also the same as the need for the actual characters to carry things, like bandages.
The cosplayers have real needs and you have to think that the character they represent would also have needs. I don’t mean a mage needs to carry a cell charger, but they probably have to carry something. It creates an interesting collaboration.
Costumes in games often lack grounding in reality, as many cosplayers know, but it sounds like the Dragon Age designers actually want their costumes to look practical. Talking to cosplayers about their concerns in bringing these outfits to life is the best way to find out what does and doesn’t work, so it’s pretty cool to hear BioWare crediting their fans’ hard work.
Lastly, the reason why a mage wouldn’t ever need to carry a cell charger is because they could just level up their lightning tree until they got to that skill. Everyone knows that.
(via Polygon, image via We Heart It)
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