Designing the Freshmen
Linda Shad•5/17/2025
Design Philosophy
Before proceeding, I want to answer a foundational question: why humans?
Voidpets are clean, accessible, and minimalist by design. They're meant to be projections—emotional glyphs you can collect, combine, and interpret however you like. That openness is what makes them powerful as a product. But as an artist, it also makes them limited.
Voidpets allow you to explore your own emotional landscape. But they don't always give me the depth I need to tell stories—about myself, my culture, and my experiences. They're great symbols. But they're incomplete vessels.
And if I want to stay in the game long enough to build something lasting, I need to nurture my own soul as a storyteller. Not just with what resonates with the market, but what resonates with... well, me.
As a founder and product designer, I've spent the past few years focused on building Voidpet as a gaming studio—something functional, scalable, and valuable. But I'm also undeniably an artist at heart, and I think I've always been afraid of fully accepting that.
So I want to share the human characters. The messy, flawed, hopeful people who live in this world. And I want to put my heart into their stories—in the hope that you'll enjoy exploring the Void not just for the Voidpets, but for the humans who reside in it too.
So without further ado...
Voidpets are clean, accessible, and minimalist by design. They're meant to be projections—emotional glyphs you can collect, combine, and interpret however you like. That openness is what makes them powerful as a product. But as an artist, it also makes them limited.
Voidpets allow you to explore your own emotional landscape. But they don't always give me the depth I need to tell stories—about myself, my culture, and my experiences. They're great symbols. But they're incomplete vessels.
And if I want to stay in the game long enough to build something lasting, I need to nurture my own soul as a storyteller. Not just with what resonates with the market, but what resonates with... well, me.
As a founder and product designer, I've spent the past few years focused on building Voidpet as a gaming studio—something functional, scalable, and valuable. But I'm also undeniably an artist at heart, and I think I've always been afraid of fully accepting that.
So I want to share the human characters. The messy, flawed, hopeful people who live in this world. And I want to put my heart into their stories—in the hope that you'll enjoy exploring the Void not just for the Voidpets, but for the humans who reside in it too.
So without further ado...
Meet the Freshmen.
Tilde
Tilde
-The Fighter-
Anger
Char
Char
-The Tactician-
Envy
Hyphen
Hyphen
-The Bookworm-
Anxious
Alt
Alt
-The Artist-
Sad
They're not prodigies, champions, or heroes. In fact, they're kind of a reverse Team Rocket. Their attempts to do good often backfire, but that's exactly why they matter.
These four students represent the softer side of Voidpet's world—the underdogs, the weirdos, the kids who don't get picked first in a draft. They're not built to win, but to grow. They stumble through quests, blow their Void Matter on the wrong items, and work through their challenges alongside the player—even when nothing goes right.
Each one represents a different kind of school-age trauma: from pressure to perform, to feeling invisible, to not knowing where you fit. Their colors, shapes, and starter Voidpets are chosen to reflect those struggles—and the resilience they're learning to build.
The Freshmen don't always succeed with money or power. Their privilege is quieter: the space to fail, reflect, and keep going. More importantly, they get to live lives that aren't defined by achievement. That's its own kind of luxury.
These four students represent the softer side of Voidpet's world—the underdogs, the weirdos, the kids who don't get picked first in a draft. They're not built to win, but to grow. They stumble through quests, blow their Void Matter on the wrong items, and work through their challenges alongside the player—even when nothing goes right.
COLOR PALETTE
They're styled like... Spindrift cans. Soft, bright, and a little offbeat. Their color palettes are tuned for accessibility and relief: not to intimidate, but to comfort. They were designed to be simple, expressive, and easy to hold. Like a bubbling feeling, or a fizzy thought you haven’t named yet.Each one represents a different kind of school-age trauma: from pressure to perform, to feeling invisible, to not knowing where you fit. Their colors, shapes, and starter Voidpets are chosen to reflect those struggles—and the resilience they're learning to build.
The Freshmen don't always succeed with money or power. Their privilege is quieter: the space to fail, reflect, and keep going. More importantly, they get to live lives that aren't defined by achievement. That's its own kind of luxury.
1. Tilde, the fighter.
Tilde was designed to echo the Anger Voidpet—sharp, fiery, and full forward momentum. Like the pet, she’s built with no backup plan: all fists, no footwork. She rides her wheelchair straight into battle like a rocket-powered chariot, barreling forth with the momentum of a flying dragon. Tilde propels the group forward—into danger, into growth, into mess. She protects the people she loves, even when she’s not sure how to protect herself. She’s not the calm one, but she’s the one you want at your side when things go wrong.
Her secondary color is cornflower blue. On the surface, the two complement each other as light, delicate, pastels. But crank the saturation and suddenly they both hit as bold primaries. Her colors were chosen to reflect her contradiction: rendered as soft, but powerful at her core.
COLORS
Her primary color is coral pink, a nod to Anger's fiery red aura. It hints at intensity that hasn’t fully solidified, or isn’t yet taken seriously. Tilde represents that stage: when ambition and rage run hot, but still bounce off the world more than they break through it.Her secondary color is cornflower blue. On the surface, the two complement each other as light, delicate, pastels. But crank the saturation and suddenly they both hit as bold primaries. Her colors were chosen to reflect her contradiction: rendered as soft, but powerful at her core.
NAME
Her name comes from the tilde symbol (~), often used to mean approximation, or added for flair in usernames and handles. It’s a mark that suggests movement, humor, or something still in flux.2. Char, the tactician.
Like his Voidpet Envy, Char was designed to represent the shadow side of intelligence—when perception outpaces maturity, and ambition turns inward. He’s manipulative by design: sharp, socially adept, and one of the few humans who gaslights intentionally. But it’s not plain cruelty, it’s survival. He’s a scholarship kid—someone smart enough to get in, but never quite at home. He sees every angle–how the system works, and how far behind he started–but hasn’t yet figured out how to use that clarity constructively.
His secondary color is yellow. Not because he likes it... but because that’s all he gets. Yellow represents unwanted visibility, caution, and “otherness.” Yellow is the inverse of his blue that he can't get rid of. Where royal blue is cold, poised, and calculated, yellow exposes his hunger to be seen, liked, accepted. He’s not trying to rock it. He’s just trying to wear it as well as he can.
COLORS
His primary color is royal blue, which matches the steel-blue of Envy's metal element. It’s a color associated with professionalism and authority—common in corporate branding, but less convincing as a hair dye.His secondary color is yellow. Not because he likes it... but because that’s all he gets. Yellow represents unwanted visibility, caution, and “otherness.” Yellow is the inverse of his blue that he can't get rid of. Where royal blue is cold, poised, and calculated, yellow exposes his hunger to be seen, liked, accepted. He’s not trying to rock it. He’s just trying to wear it as well as he can.
NAME
His name comes from the data structure "Char", which is short for "character"—a single unit of language or code. He'd hate to think that he's just a small part of a bigger narrative… though, ironically, it might the very truth he needs to embrace if he wants to grow.3. Hyphen, the bookworm.
Hyphen was built around the emotion of anxiety—not panic, but the quiet kind that comes from never feeling truly at home. She’s a top student with no powers, a standout intern in a billionaire's skyscraper, and the only one in her friend group with a job she's not sure she deserves. Her brilliance opens doors, but her mind is always on the people left outside them.
She’s quick to understand people—even the morally gray ones who look like villains. But that kind of empathy can backfire in a group that sees the world in black and white. What looks like thoughtfulness to her can read as betrayal to everyone else.
She’s quick to understand people—even the morally gray ones who look like villains. But that kind of empathy can backfire in a group that sees the world in black and white. What looks like thoughtfulness to her can read as betrayal to everyone else.
COLORS
Hyphen’s palette is turquoise and pink—two spectral outliers that reflect her constant sense of in-between. Her visual design carries duality: bold hair, delicate bows, and a look that says she’s still deciding who she’s allowed to be. Her skin tone and hair texture are also coded to reflect her cultural in-betweenness. She’s not just between places, she’s between expectations. Always wondering if she’s too much, not enough, too grateful, too ambitious. Underdog or sellout—depending on who’s asking.NAME
A hyphen (-) is a symbol used to connect words, or create space between them. It's a symbol of unity, and also pause. Of complexity, hesitation, and duality. Hyphen is all of that—thoughtful, unfinished, and bridging worlds.4. Alt, the artist.
Alt was designed around his Voidpet, Sad—anchored in the kind of sensitivity that doesn’t know where to land. He's the one who lights the tea kettle. He’s the one who hosts study sessions, shares snacks, and notices when you’re lying about being fine. He’s the group’s quiet glue. He wants everyone to be okay—even when he isn’t.
He’s soft-spoken, emotionally fluent, and a little slow to get out of bed in the morning. He embraces the emo aesthetic: drama-as-safety, style-as-shell. His head’s usually in the clouds, his eyes half-lidded, his hoodie sleeves too long. It’s not sorrow or loneliness that weighs on him, but rather the pressure to be useful in a system he’s still trying to understand.
He’s soft-spoken, emotionally fluent, and a little slow to get out of bed in the morning. He embraces the emo aesthetic: drama-as-safety, style-as-shell. His head’s usually in the clouds, his eyes half-lidded, his hoodie sleeves too long. It’s not sorrow or loneliness that weighs on him, but rather the pressure to be useful in a system he’s still trying to understand.
COLORS
Alt’s palette is lavender and dark gray—two colors that sit softly but carry weight. The lavender reflects his sensitivity, a color often coded as gentle, romantic, or unusual. The gray grounds it with realism—the quiet disillusionment that the world isn’t as safe as it once seemed. Together, they reflect his baseline: tenderness hiding under a blanket of dread.NAME
Alt is named after the keyboard key. It means alternate, of course, as in different—but also represents unlocking hidden functions that others can't see. Quiet utility. Hidden depth. You just have to know the right pattern.As a group?
The Freshmen don’t win battles with bloodlines, bankrolls, or nuclear blasts—and that’s the point.As the very first human characters designed in the Void, Tilde, Char, Hyphen, and Alt exist to explore emotional nuance from the inside out: ambition that trips over ability, intellect shaped by insecurity, sensitivity mistaken for weakness, and care offered even when no one's asking for it.
These four represent the slow, messy work of becoming whole without the shortcuts. In a Void full of monsters, immortals, billionaires, and bosses, these four are allowed to be kids.
In that, there’s joy.