Here's an idea for designing characters quickly: base your characters on Ludum Dare! I don't know how many of you would be into this, but it could provide some interesting characters. It would also give us some sort of unity (not the game engine). Tell me if you like this idea or send me examples of this concept. Maybe we could also include the Mike chicken in or games or something. It would be sort of fun to reference the event in our games. It'd make LD games stand out from regular GJ games.

I gave a quick shot at designing an LD inspired character myself. Have a look: It was quite fun using the LD color scheme.