Joanna Dark - Character Design

Character Design

The character of Joanna Dark was originally devised by Martin Hollis, the director and producer of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, before he left Rare in 1998. Hollis explained that the suggestion of having a female lead in a first-person shooter was inspired by Kim Kimberly, the protagonist in the first two instalments of Level 9 Computing's interactive fiction trilogy Silicon Dreams, where the player experiences the shock of discovering that they are a woman fairly late in the first game. He also felt that there should be more games with female leads. According to him, "Having just made a game starring a man it seemed logical to create one around a woman."

Joanna's design was influenced by a number of fictional heroines, including the seductive spy Agent X-27 in the 1930s film Dishonored, FBI agent Dana Scully from television series The X-Files, and the eponymous femme fatale of the film Nikita, whom Hollis describes as "iconic, heroic, independent, vulnerable and very damaged." The name "Joanna Dark" was taken from the French pronunciation of Joan of Arc as "Jeanne d'Arc". Hollis also revealed that they "wanted her to be quite normal, not with supermodel looks, perhaps a little androgynous." In Perfect Dark, she was voiced by Eveline Fischer.

During the development of Perfect Dark Zero, Joanna was redesigned by manga artist Wil Overton. Overton added more distinctive elements, including a star tattoo on the left side of her neck, a blonde streak in her hair, and a choppy outline to her hairstyle. Her hair was also changed from short and red to shoulder-length and orange. Hollis stated that while he liked the new concept work, he could not imagine why she would wear the orange. According to him, "It is uncharacteristic. Quite apart from the practical problem of being a beacon for bullets—Secret Agents don’t wear orange for good reason." Process for her character design went through several alterations. Images of the initial concept were met with much derision among the fans who criticized Joanna's new manga-like appearance. In response, the developers chose to tone down some of the more stylized aspects of the design, eventually arriving at a more realistic appearance. In Perfect Dark Zero, she was voiced by Laurence Bouvard.