What to Type for AI

How to Make All Your AI-Generated Game Characters Look Like They Belong Together

When you generate characters in Midjourney or SDXL without a system, you end up with a merchant who looks painterly, a hero who looks like a cartoon, and a villain who's rendered in a completely different style. They feel like they're from three different games.

The core problem: AI tools re-randomize style, lighting, proportions, and mood on every single prompt unless you lock them down with specific keywords and seed numbers. A hero at idle stance looks like a different person when posed in attack position. Your NPCs don't share a visual language with your combat characters.

This is solvable. You need a style-lock system—the same one professional game concept artists use—adapted for AI prompts. It means defining a visual "voice" for your entire cast, then anchoring every character to it through keyword blocks and tested seed numbers.

Why Your AI Characters Look Mismatched (And What Fixes It)

Every AI art tool has default randomization built in. Without constraints, the model picks different lighting, texture, color saturation, and even anatomical proportions on each generation. A character that looks cohesive at idle might have different proportions, skin tone variation, or shading style when you re-pose them. Multiply that across 10–15 characters in your roster, and the visual break is immediate. Solution: Anchor each character to a specific seed number (which locks the underlying generation parameters) and wrap it in style-lock keywords. Style-lock keywords are pre-built blocks that define your entire game's visual treatment—things like "oil painting with warm rim lighting and muted earth tones" or "cel-shaded with crisp outlines and mid-tone shadows." Every character prompt inherits the same keyword block, so a merchant and a paladin both render with the same lighting model, color temperature, and texture depth.

The Three-Part System: Seeds, Style Blocks, and Character Voice

First, pick one visual style for your game—oil painting, pixel art, anime, cel-shaded, photorealistic. Define it as a reusable keyword block (example: "vibrant cel-shaded, thick black outlines, secondary color accent on torso, warm fill light, dramatic shadow on one side of face"). This becomes your style anchor. Second, use tested seed numbers. A seed is a number that tells the model "generate based on this specific variation of your internal model." The same seed + prompt combination produces the same base anatomy and proportions every time, across different pose descriptions. You test each seed once, confirm it works for your character type, then reuse it for every pose variation (idle, attack, hurt, dialogue). Third, add a Character Voice Anchor—a 1–2 sentence descriptor that locks personality across re-rolls. Example: "A weathered dwarf with a scarred left cheekbone, missing two lower teeth, coal-black beard braided with iron rings." This repeats in every pose prompt for that character, so the model preserves individual traits even as it adjusts stance and expression.

Practical Example: Building a Single Character Across Four Poses

Let's say you need a Paladin in idle, attack, hurt, and dialogue poses. You start with a base prompt: "Female human paladin, noble bearing, long silver hair, ornate plate armor with gold trim. [YOUR STYLE BLOCK]. [CHARACTER VOICE: 'Stern-faced, confident, calm in crisis.']" You test this prompt with seed 12847 in Midjourney 6.1. The result locks the anatomy, proportions, and personality. Now you create four daughter prompts: 1. Same prompt + "idle stance, hand resting on sword hilt" 2. Same prompt + "mid-swing, sword raised, dynamic lunge forward" 3. Same prompt + "kneeling, wounded, blood streak on armor, grimacing" 4. Same prompt + "standing, speaking, hand raised in gesture, expression open" Each uses seed 12847 and the full style block. The result: four poses of the same character, in the same world, with consistent proportions and mood. Not perfect—AI does drift—but drastically more cohesive than unsystematized generation.

When Seed Drift Happens (And Your Fallback)

Sometimes a pose variation pushes the model off-model and the character looks different. This is common with extreme poses (backwards lean, overhead swing, kneeling from below). When this happens, you don't start over—you seed-swap. Keep 2–3 tested backup seeds for the same character archetype. If seed 12847 fails on attack pose, try seed 12849 or 12851. You've already validated those seeds work for similar characters, so the fallback is faster than diagnosing the problem. Always test a seed on a neutral, full-body prompt before using it across four poses. You'll catch 90% of issues in 30 seconds.

Scaling to a Full RPG Roster

A typical indie RPG needs: 3 hero archetypes (4 poses each = 12 prompts), 3 villain types (2 poses each = 6 prompts), 3–4 NPC types (1–2 poses each = 4–6 prompts), 2 enemy types (2 poses each = 4 prompts). Total: 26–28 unique image generations to create a functional roster. The system scales because you're reusing the same style block and character voice structure for every single prompt. You build a template, drop in character details and pose variation, lock the seed, and generate. A game jam weekend is absolutely viable. A solo developer can generate a full roster in 4–6 hours of prompt iteration and seed testing—faster than hiring a concept artist, and far cheaper.

FAQ

Do I need the same seed for every pose of the same character?

Yes. The seed is what locks anatomy and proportions. Changing the seed mid-character means different bone structure, limb length, and facial proportions. You keep the seed constant, vary only the pose description. If a pose fails, you swap to a tested backup seed for the same archetype.

What if my style block is too long and hits Midjourney's token limit?

Compress it. Use shorthand: "warm cel-shaded, crisp outlines, earth tones, rim lighting" instead of full sentences. Aim for 20–30 keywords max. Test it once on a full prompt and trim anything that doesn't change the output visually.

Can I change the visual style mid-roster (like make one character oil painting and another anime)?

Technically yes, but it breaks cohesion. Your game will look like a mismatched asset pack. Pick one style for the whole roster. If you want stylistic variation (e.g., hero in oil painting, villain in cel-shaded), use a style-lock for each faction, not per-character. Keep it to 2–3 total styles maximum.

How do I know if a seed is 'good' before using it across all four poses?

Test it once on a neutral full-body prompt with your style block and character voice. Does the anatomy look correct? Are limbs proportioned right? Does the mood match the archetype? If yes, it's good. No need for perfection—you're testing the foundation, not the final render.

What if I'm using SDXL instead of Midjourney?

The system is identical. SDXL also uses seed numbers. The keyword order and phrasing differ slightly (SDXL prefers technical descriptors like 'volumetric lighting' over mood words), but the seed-locking logic is the same. Test your style block once on SDXL to confirm keyword translation.

Can I reskin my fantasy roster for sci-fi or steampunk later?

Yes, if you keep your seed and voice anchor. Create a new style block (e.g., 'sleek metallic, neon accents, hard shadows') and reskin vocabulary guide (e.g., replace 'leather armor' with 'carbon-fiber tactical suit'). The underlying character structure stays the same, just dressed for a different genre.

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