The hen started as a generated 3D model, made from a concept image in the game’s visual style. The work after that was about making it read as a real animal: its surface, its rig and its motion.
The first feathers looked plastic, with a sheen no real hen has, and a matte feather material replaced them. The rig was rebuilt after problems with which way the body faced and how the legs bent. Nine animations followed: idle, walk, peck, alert, flee, two hit reactions and two deaths, each checked for where the feet meet the ground.
None of this is in the game. There is no hunting, no animal behavior and no harvesting yet, and at about 96,000 triangles the model is heavy. It is a study of what one farm animal needs before it can live in the world.
