Behind the NPCs of Sleeping Dogs

Square Enix has revealed the concept art of some of the non-playable characters (NPCs) in Sleeping Dogs, inviting artists Rob Oliveira and Hani Ghazaleh to reveal the process of designing the characters.

Posting to the Sleeping Dogs website, Oliveira and Ghazaleh showed off early character sketches and explained the influences of the NPC designs, such as the character Popstar being inspired by older Hong Kong pop stars who tried to display their wealth and power, and Leonard Pendrew's design being influenced by his voice actor.

"Pendrew changed the moment we cast Tom Wilkinson," Ghazaleh says. "His voice really drove that change. I don't think we could have gotten away with the [original] design with that voice. You hear Tom and it just doesn't match that design. Pendrew immediately needs to be someone commanding and who has it together."

The concept art also reveals NPCs who were cut from the final game, such as Fifi Mao – an aging by famous Hong Kong actress who is connected to the Triads.

The read the full interview and view the concept art, visit Sleeping Dogs.