At the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC) 2026, Kenji Irie and Serina Ohara from Capcom presented a detailed case study on the creation of Pragmata’s character models, with a focus on hair and facial expression animations (source: Famitsu). Initially, Capcom had envisioned Diana with a shorter hairstyle to reduce development expenses, though her final design features hair nearly as long as she is tall.
Diverging from games that utilize hair cards—flat polygons textured with hair—for animation, Pragmata opts to render every hair strand individually, resulting in lifelike hair that moves and bends organically. The developers noted that while hair cards would require 22 joints for Diana’s hair, animating each strand separately demanded an astonishing 430,000 animation points.
Given these factors, the projected costs for producing, simulating, and processing Diana’s lengthy hair were significant. This led the development team to hesitate over her signature hairstyle even during the early 2D concept art phase. There were proposals to shorten it to a bob cut midway through development, and Capcom reportedly produced a test model with the shorter style to assess whether it would mitigate cost concerns.
Ultimately, the team decided that Diana’s blonde locks were essential to “convey a sense of life on the moon,” and to depict her as a young girl thrust into an adventure she’s unprepared for. Since the back of Diana’s head is frequently visible during gameplay, the developers also aimed for her hair animations to maintain player engagement over extended sessions.
The development team overcame numerous challenges, including managing asset production costs, tackling simulation hurdles, and optimizing GPU processing loads across various PC and console configurations (ensuring the game ran smoothly even with Diana’s hair in motion).
Although an average human head contains about 100,000 hair strands, Diana’s in-game hair consists of fewer than 20,000 strands, which were styled and thickened to appear more natural. This approach resulted in a hairstyle that aligns with her bubbly and occasionally wild personality.
Pragmata is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam), and Nintendo Switch 2.
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