“For instance, real-life Matt smokes, but Cliff's character at that time wasn't a smoker. But after meeting Matt in person, we went through the process of solidifying his character together.”
Kojima explained that his characters end up being finalized on the fly because he writes the concept, design and script himself and also directs the performance captures, so he is constantly improving elements; he spends time with the actors in sessions and dinners, absorbs their expressions and gestures and incorporates them into the characters — for example, after meeting Mads in person he made Cliff’s character a smoker. He said Die‑Hardman was “a normal guy” in Yoji’s first draft and that the mask and costume came with Tommie’s model; Higgs was originally just Troy’s face but Kojima wanted an Egyptian feel and they added the writings on his forehead; the spikes on Fragile’s leather jacket were added later as a metaphor to make the character stand out more. He adjusts other characters when he raises the bar for one to keep balance, and he says this process would be impossible with an outsourced script, which is why everything is done in‑house. He adds that he does this kind of continuous revision every day, to the annoyance of his staff.
“For example, Dai Hardman was just a normal guy in Yoji's first draft. […] His face was just Troy's face at first, but I wanted to make it kind of Egyptian, so we added in those writings on his forehead. […] Her leather jacket with the spikes that come out, I added those spikes later as a metaphor for her character to stand out more. […] I do this sort of thing every day so the staff hate me for it.”