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About this mod
From the words of JE Sawyer himself (proof in long description), we learned that Daniel was always supposed to be Asian to help avoid the nasty 'white savior' trope, but unknown to him somehow before the game shipped Daniel's race was changed. This is a very simple mod that just toggles his NPC race to Asian.
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From the words of JE Sawyer himself, we learned that Daniel was always supposed to be Asian to help avoid the nasty 'white savior' trope, but unknown to him somehow before the game shipped Daniel's race was changed. This is a very simple mod that just toggles his NPC race to Asian.
Not sure if this will affect him with the character overhaul mod and if the facegens in that obey NPC race... but I'm sure someone can twiddle that mod to tweak Daniel a bit. Either way, this fixes him in Vanilla.
Here's the post in question from JE Sawyer's blog that reveals this detail about Daniel and lot of other interesting information about Honest Hearts:
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/153313830271/i-keep-seeing-this-criticism-on-tumblr-that
The relevant quote:
"As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped.
It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues."
Full post, if you don't want to click on that link:
Tumblr user Gondile asked:
"I keep seeing this criticism on tumblr that attacks the Honest Hearts DLC for "using Natives as an aesthetic" and that it suffered from "white savior syndrome". I am not going to offer my own opinion on this, but I'm curious what you think about all that, seeing as you did some writing for the DLC."
JE Sawyer:
"I understand why people see it that way, but how the DLC shipped was not how it was planned. The tribes in Zion are descendants of a mix of North American native people as well as other American citizens and European (of various non-native ethnicities) tourists/campers. This survives in the language of the Dead Horses, for example, who use a large number of German-derived words.
In the first design docs for HH, every tribe was supposed to have members from all of the F3/FNV ethnic groups. However, there was a complicating factor: body art. The various tattoos and body paints we needed to texture the bodies multiplied the number of required textures. They couldn’t simply be layered on (as they can in F4), but were entirely new body textures that dramatically increased the amount of texture memory being used. For that reason, each tribe wound up having only one body texture per sex. This compressed their ethnicities into homogenized blends, with Dead Horses being a darker tan, Sorrows a light tan, and White Legs (under the body paint) fairly pale.
As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped.
It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues.
Regarding the “natives as aesthetic” criticism, the patterns we used for the three tribes’ body art are not based on any current or historical native American body art (AFAIK). There are in-fiction explanations for each tribe’s specific choices. The White Legs initially colored themselves white to blend into the Great Salt Lake (where they are from) and they dread their hair out of reverence for Ulysses. The Sorrows use the river pattern to reflect their suffering and their connection to the Virgin River in Zion. The Dead Horses mark various accomplishments on their skin and decorate their clubs with .45 shells out of their respect for Joshua Graham."
Nov. 17th, 2016
Not sure if this will affect him with the character overhaul mod and if the facegens in that obey NPC race... but I'm sure someone can twiddle that mod to tweak Daniel a bit. Either way, this fixes him in Vanilla.
Here's the post in question from JE Sawyer's blog that reveals this detail about Daniel and lot of other interesting information about Honest Hearts:
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/153313830271/i-keep-seeing-this-criticism-on-tumblr-that
The relevant quote:
"As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped.
It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues."
Full post, if you don't want to click on that link:
Tumblr user Gondile asked:
"I keep seeing this criticism on tumblr that attacks the Honest Hearts DLC for "using Natives as an aesthetic" and that it suffered from "white savior syndrome". I am not going to offer my own opinion on this, but I'm curious what you think about all that, seeing as you did some writing for the DLC."
JE Sawyer:
"I understand why people see it that way, but how the DLC shipped was not how it was planned. The tribes in Zion are descendants of a mix of North American native people as well as other American citizens and European (of various non-native ethnicities) tourists/campers. This survives in the language of the Dead Horses, for example, who use a large number of German-derived words.
In the first design docs for HH, every tribe was supposed to have members from all of the F3/FNV ethnic groups. However, there was a complicating factor: body art. The various tattoos and body paints we needed to texture the bodies multiplied the number of required textures. They couldn’t simply be layered on (as they can in F4), but were entirely new body textures that dramatically increased the amount of texture memory being used. For that reason, each tribe wound up having only one body texture per sex. This compressed their ethnicities into homogenized blends, with Dead Horses being a darker tan, Sorrows a light tan, and White Legs (under the body paint) fairly pale.
As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped.
It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues.
Regarding the “natives as aesthetic” criticism, the patterns we used for the three tribes’ body art are not based on any current or historical native American body art (AFAIK). There are in-fiction explanations for each tribe’s specific choices. The White Legs initially colored themselves white to blend into the Great Salt Lake (where they are from) and they dread their hair out of reverence for Ulysses. The Sorrows use the river pattern to reflect their suffering and their connection to the Virgin River in Zion. The Dead Horses mark various accomplishments on their skin and decorate their clubs with .45 shells out of their respect for Joshua Graham."
Nov. 17th, 2016