Chao Bytes is an essential step to the future of the project. Light Dash served to introduce the project but doesn’t really add anything to it aside from rock remixes. Chao Bytes (along with [Band 3]) better highlights the project’s creative potential and shows that I’m open to more unconventional sounds and styles compared to the bulk of my other works.
Behind Light Dash, Chao Bytes was the most flushed out of the four bands planned prior to the project’s debut. Whereas Light Dash’s aesthetic is something like an “after-school rock group,” Chao Bytes’ aesthetic is based around a “children’s daycare singalong,” which is why I really wanted Sheyla to return for Chao Bytes. If you don’t know, Sheyla Nogueira is a children’s storybook illustrator, so her style meshes very well with what I had in mind for this band.
Amy’s Room and Library were the only two references Chao Bytes is based on. Considering that these stages roughly represent Amy and Cream, I thought a more childlike and “fun” sound would suit the remixes best, providing a nice contrast to the Hard Rock “cool” sound from Light Dash.
From these two references, I heard some form of Piano for the remixes I was planning, so I conceptualized Chao Bytes’ instrumentation around that. The game synths came from me exploring “childlike synths,” which contrasted nicely with Light Dash’s more complex synths.
Given a few different factors (my own ignorance included), I couldn’t find a clear name for Chao Bytes’ genre or style, so I researched genres I thought would be close to the style I’d call them. This led me to interesting (for lack of a better term) genre discoveries such as “HappyCore” and “Bubblegum Pop.” An album called Miracle Tones Fantasy made me settle on the base genre of BitPop with a classical/childlike twist.
With the pieces in place, it was time to decide on the characters.
Character Concepts
Gaining more experience with the creation of Light Dash, I started Chao Bytes’ process very early. Drafts of the character documentation were started immediately after Eggman Plots was released. I knew I wanted to represent Chao for this band, but the idea of Chao playing/singing with the leading group didn’t crystalize until much later.
A group of anthropomorphic cat siblings were always planned for this band because they were originally supposed to be a group of triplets. For the age gaps I wanted between characters however, this was genetically impossible or too much of a stretch. I couldn’t let the idea go, so instead I made them look so similar in Sonic universe that most people perceive them as triplets (think Sonic Adventure 2 where the media mistook shadow for sonic.)
The idea of triplets, along with the current dynamic of the characters, came from an old slice-of-life anime about 3 sisters I saw years ago. The eldest was a respectful motherly type, the middle was eccentric, adventurous, and mischievous. The youngest was silent and often kept to herself (almost kuudere if you know the term).
Once Rudi’s instrument of Orchestral Percussion crystalized, I decided to make the three sisters rich within the universe. This was mainly done to explain why they could afford to own a Piano and various orchestral percussion instruments to switch between. This lore and inspiration from that old anime gave me much to play regarding each character’s quirks and hobbies, and I was excited to share them with Sheyla.
While she was working on the character designs, the backstory and lore of these characters were becoming more flushed out, but I ran into a slight issue when writing their backstories. Each member of Light Dash’s backstories was roughly made up on a whim. I only used the backstories to explain how they met and how they developed specific quirks (this is partly why Les’ is so short in comparison).
Chao Bytes was different because of them being sisters. One’s backstory had to influence/reference the other in some way. In my messing writing, keeping up with specific quirks became difficult. For example, if Tari holds up in her room and her older sister Rudi loves having fun hanging out, it makes sense that Rudi would try to force Tari out of her room a lot, and Tari would get annoyed with her.
Another example is Una and Rudi. If Una is the responsible type and Rudi the playful type, it wouldn’t make sense if Una just accepts Rudi’s whimsical/irresponsible nature without them clashing. To address this, I started by solidifying the quirks I wanted for each character (as with Light Dash), then compiled all of them into a single document. I told little “If-Then” events within this document until I had enough to write a full backstory for the 3 sisters combined.
I only used the parts that highlighted the corresponding character for the character profiles. At the time of writing, I’m debating about having a full “Chao Bytes Backstory” post so let me know through Discord or YouTube if you’re interested in reading it.
By this point, the 3 sisters were ready for character designs.
Una The Cat
Una was the first character I sent to Sheyla because I knew she’d be a good foundation for the trio. I wanted her to basically be the “mom” of the group. Most of her quirks such as: not being good with technology, overthinking, and a bit controlling, were developed from this idea.
I asked for a blend of Blaze the Cat, Vanilla the Rabbit, and Whisper for her eyes. When I received the sketches for Una, I immediately gravitated towards model 3. Model 1 was close but looked too animated or adventurous for what I was after with Una, while model 2’s base looked more “fun mom” than business-oriented. To that end, I’d imagined Una constantly keeping herself groomed, so I selected smoother/cleaner features from 2 to enhance model 3 (mainly the head shape and tail).
With the colors that were sent, I was torn between 1 & 2. 3 & 4 went too close to the motherly side, and I wanted more of a mixture between that and the business side. I chose 2 as the base for slightly darker, blander colors but used 1 as the basis for the dress and slightly inverted the colors. I aimed to make it look more business-oriented and not have too many flashy colors.
Rudi The Cat
Rudi was second to act as a contrast to Una while still referencing her. Her major influence in design was Tangle The Lemur (mixed with a few OCs of course). The bulk of Rudi’s concept comes more so from contrasting Una than referencing that slice of life anime mentioned previously. To create this contrast, Rudi needed to have quirks opposite of Una’s personality like acting first thinking later, excessive spending, and prioritizing indulgence over responsibility.
She also needed be adventurous but not dangerous. To this, I was instantly deterred from model 2 as it had too much of a bad-kid / soft punk look. The upper half of 1 and lower half of 3 provided that balance I was after. As you’d noticed in the final design, I had Sheyla lengthen the shorts as they were a bit too short for various reasons, given the aesthetic I was after.
For colors, I was satisfied with the pallet from 4, but I wanted a closer shade to Una’s fur to make them look more like siblings. To this, I took 4’s pallet over 3’s base/fur color. Model 3 was a very close second but I thought her “associated color” would suggest blue to which Una already had that color. Being aware of this, I decided to omit blue, which is why I landed on 4.
Tari The Cat
Tari finishes off the trio. In line with the anime reference mentioned before, I wanted her quiet, reversed, and introverted. I also wanted to make sure that it was visually apparent she was the youngest so I gave Sheyla a rough age between 9-11 years old. I also made sure their fur color was similar. Rudi has the brightest shade and Una has the 2nd brightest.
Tari has the closest to black as a means of referencing a black cat; a famously known harbinger of bad luck. This black cat reference is why Tari’s backstory is so sad. Her backstory explains many of her self secluded quirks.
I liked all of the models she provided as they all aligned with what I was after with Tari. Alas, I had to pick what I really wanted and put them all in the design. The moment I saw the shoes from 1, I knew I wanted them. I also took the standard gloves from 1 as I liked how the loose wrapping looked compared to the other gloves. From model 2, I took the design of the dress. I also asked for the chao necklace using the chao icon from the Sonic Adventure 2 Chao Boxes as a reference.
3 & 4 are the same model with slightly different hairstyles. Unlike Light Dash, Una & Rudi, Tari’s base character is not a sonic character. She’s based on a character called Stocking from an anime I watched years ago Panty & Stocking with Garterbelts. Her design in general kept sticking with me for this character.
To this end, model 3’s hair was the closest reference to that but given Tari’s age, it didn’t make much sense to have that much hair. I liked the headpiece on top of 3 and decided to use it. I thought 1 & 4 struck the perfect balance for the hair and ended up landing on 4. For colors, I immediately gravitated to 3 and 4 for the soft pink. I landed on 4 but decided to use 3’s eyes so that they’d match Rudi’s to highlight their genetic relationship better.
Chao Troupe
While Una was being worked on, I frequently visited Chao Island, which offers a 3D Chao Viewer that allows you to “build your own Chao.” To represent Chao in this project, I wanted the classic trio of Hero, Dark, and Neutral to reference the debut of Hero/Dark Chao in Sonic Adventure 2. For the sisters, I realized that their color pallets gravitated toward the subtractive primary colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) and I thought it’d be cool to contrast this with the Chao using the additive primary colors (Red, Blue, Green).
I played with many colors to make this and was roughly satisfied. For whatever reason, Bam Bam’s mouth kept cutting out and I had no idea how to fix it. Still, he was done, so I used the 3D Chao Viewer and Pixelmator to make my own makeshift character sheet for the Chao.
There isn’t much to say about RiRi or Bam Bam’s conception, as I wanted clear references to the chao types. I wanted them based on typical childlike personalities in most media. RiRi is the youngest of the Troupe and is needy and timid, while Bam Bam is that “bouncing off the walls” type of kid prone to troublemaking.
KeKe was tricky for me as I didn’t really know what I wanted for him as a personality. I had thought to give it personality from the research I’d done in Chao Island, but RiRi and Bam Bam covered most personality traits or could easily be seen within them. My next move was to look outside “Chao” and towards official Sonic lore; using KeKe to force a Sonic Frontiers reference for example. That quickly became complicated and out of line with the aesthetic of Chao Bytes.
He was a mystery to me, and I decided to just go with that: a Chao that is a complete enigma both in and outside lore! You can check out the Chao Troupe’s character profile to learn more.
With this, our three cats were readey for perspectives for our artist!
Member’s Instruments
From Light Dash’s instruments, I was much more conscious in my efforts to give each of these characters instruments. This time, I sought another concept artist with more experience working directly on video games. Tim Kagerbauer was the concept artist I landed on. He specializes in game objects/weapon concepts. As a side note, I sometimes find freelancers on Fiverr who don’t have a lot of work to help them out.
Rudi and Tari were the most significant issues here, so I started with Una, which was simpler. Una’s Piano started with a simple search of unique-looking pianos (an interesting rabbit hole by the way), and it landed me on a website named Luxury Pianos. Una’s Piano is a mixture of the Tiara and Butterfly models. Both models had a nice balance of Una’s personality. I really liked the butterfly aesthetic but it didn’t match anything chao related. Instead, I wanted to take this concept and create a Chao’s Wing from it.
Rudi and Tari were very complicated, both in different ways. For Rudi, being an orchestral percussionist, the Timpani is a good representation. For the longest time, I was sure I would make the Timpani her “main” instrument, but to imply a “main” instrument suggests that it’d be present in every song. Not only was this not the case once Chao Bytes’ track list got flushed out, but orchestral mallet instruments (Marimba, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Xylophone) suited that role better.
To sound “childish,” I limited these options to Marimba and Xylophone as Rudi’s “main” instrument and landed on Marimba. Similar to Una, I searched for unique-looking Marimbas for inspiration. Unlike Una’s, the results weren’t that great, so I instead focused more on the color palette to match Rudi’s color.
Tari’s instrument was complicated for entirely different reasons. Her “instrument” would be various game consoles for use of their sound chips. Most of my issues came from representation, or how faithful I wanted Tari’s “instrument” to be. I knew I didn’t want to limit myself to only Sega console sound chips in her music, but I thought that her “instrument” should at least visually reference them. Put another way, a “sonic character” (Sega) showcasing Nintendo-styled consoles for the sake of representing “BitPop / ChipTune” didn’t sit well with me.
Being ignorant in this realm, I researched Console Decks (this is what I call them) and wondered if it was possible to hook up an old Sega console similar to how many Chiptune artists would use a GameBoy. I was happy to learn that I could pass that off. As such, I decided to use a Sega Game Gear as the base console but have it colored in Tari’s colors. You can look at Tari’s Meta Instrument to learn more about the sounds used in her synths. Side note: I debated briefly referencing Little Sound DJ inside the console but decided against it.
The Chao Troupe’s “instrument” was an interesting challenge. You can read more about this journey in their Meta Instrument but in short, I assigned “Instrumental Families” to the Troupe instead of instruments. RiRi plays Toy Wind instruments (or Blow Toys as some call them), KeKe plays Toy Keyboard instruments, and Bam Bam handles Toy Percussion.
I initially had each Chao playing their own single Toy instrument (like the rest of the characters in this project), but once I began researching the wide variety of toy instruments, this quickly became too limiting. Assigning Instrumental Families allowed a clear distinction and auditory reference to each chao while keeping my options open.
The instruments you see from their Meet The Band video and Character Profile represent their corresponding Instrument Groups rather than the instrument itself. They also reference the various Toy Instruments that Chao can play with in Sonic Adventure 2’s Chao Garden/Classroom. With Keke in however, I finally saw an opportunity to give Omochao representation in this band; even if a bit whacky (more on this in a bit).
Band Logo Conception
Unlike Light Dash, I had a vivid idea with their logo. A children’s hospital near me called CHKD has a logo made from toy blocks. This ended up being the big inspiration for the logo. To better represent Tari’s added chiptune sound, I wanted the logo to be visually split into two parts: the first half of toy blocks and the second with a more digitized style.
The first half was easy to conceptualize and provide references for the designer. I struggled with finding proper references for the second half however. My only references were text fonts and kid’s logos, and nothing hit the way I envisioned. Most references I saw ranged from too techno/futuristic to not enough detail.
Light Dash’s logo designer is more known for hard rock and business logos, but Chao Bytes is a near contrast to that style. I wanted a logo designer who was used to drawing more childish or feminine logos, which led me down a “children’s logo designer” rabbit hole. Most of the styles I saw were too childlike. There were lots of colors and overpowering “balloony” elements that just couldn’t pass for a simple band logo.
I then sought a designer that could dabble in this style and in other business logos. Mari’s profile (Marii Creations) caught my eye, and I decided to give her a try. Like Sheyla, Marii provided many concepts for me to mix and match. She created about 17 logo variations out of about 3-4 components for upper and lower. The 4 references below highlight the various components.
Upon seeing a few of the references, I wanted to have a more direct reference to the Sonic franchise incorporated into the logo (similar to how Light Dash incorporates the red star ring in their logo design). My first idea was to sketch Omochao in the tech portion somehow, but I had difficulty putting it together with the provided references.
My next idea was to add a 5th block on top of “Chao” with Omochao’s face on it. I was getting closer but ran into two issues. The first of which was why I was moving Omochao to the upper “kid” portion instead of the lower “tech” version where he’d fit better. I couldn’t find a good answer, so I decided to use a chao head silhouette instead.
Upon searching for this silhouette for the mockup, I came across the Chao Container Box from Sonic Adventure 2 and thought that would be a fun reference to include in the design. I replaced my added block with the chao container image using photo manipulation. Again, it got closer, but there was still the second issue: the design wasn’t even.
Picture a 5th block in the middle on top of the other designs, and you’ll see the spacing between the layers wasn’t even or consistent. Each concept I tried this on looked very out of place. However, when I did this for Logo Concept 2, the spacing was better because it created more of a “triangular” shape for the spacing of the elements. I thought that this would better symbolize the three cats & chao better, which grew on me more and more. I also realized that this led to a more direct reference of the CHKD logo.
Despite my love of the other designs, I decided to scrape them in favor of this current direction and provided my mockup and references to the Chao Container Box to her.
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