Character Design

Based on notes from the authors and Wiley publishing.

pages 9497, 148159

These slides accompany the Instructors Manual, Chapter 2: Design Process, Part 9: Character Design

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Character Design

The character is the means through which the player experiences the game.

!The visual style and mannerisms of the character will help shape the players perception of the game.

Character Design

slide 1 Characters are important Player sees the game through the eyes of the main character, and can have much rich interaction with NPCs

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Character Design

To be successful the character design needs not only to look interesting but also convey the other personality traits that lead the player to relate to the character.

More than a pretty face?

slide 2 Characters need to be more than 2-dimensional, want the player to be able to relate to the character. Much design knowledge in stage / cinemaindustry has been depicting characters for millennia. How does cinema depict characters? 1. Visually 2. Through conversation, spoken words. Different from books, where a characters thoughts can be discussed. Length of Shakespeares soliloquies reveals characters inner lives. !Designer should seek as much inspiration as possible; collect reference material; consider a broad range of ideas before settling on a particular character.

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Character Design

Childhood to present

Successes and failures

Friends and enemies

Skill and inadequacies

Strength and weaknesses

Knowledge and ignorance

Back Story

slide 3 Back story is the events in a characters life before we meet them. Common to character development. Used by book authors, film script writers too. Consider Batmans back story: Bruce Waynes parents are murdered; this (a) leaves him a fortune (independently wealthy), and (b) causes him to become a ruthless persecutor of criminals. Seen photos of authors desks; full of sticky notes and other background information on their characters (as well as settings, timelines, etc.)

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Character Design

Do not have to be incredibly long to be effective

Events in the characters history do not always have to be traumatic

Should be concise and easily understood

Back Stories

slide 4 Back story explains why character is doing what they are doing today. Common for heroes to have tragic back stories: this ones wife was killed and they are out for revenge, etc.

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Character Design

Good

Heroes

Helpers

Princes/Princesses (love objects)

Magicians (good magic)

Donors of magic objects

Dispatchers of heroes

Seekers

Seeming villains who are good

Character ArchetypesBad

Villains

Henchmen

Incubi/Sirens (sexual objects)

Sorcerers (evil magic)

Hinderers of donors

Captors of heroes

Avoiders

False heroes/heroines who are evil

slide 5 Some of these go back to the ideas of Joseph Campbell; the archetypal hero. List proposed by John Berger, a British critic and novelist. Binary oppositions that cover many obvious character archetypes.

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Character Design

What is the physical appearance of the character?

What are the characters clothes like?

Does the character have any significant possessions?

Does the character have a distinctive appearance?

Character Appearance

slide 6 As character is developed, must determine a physical form. Lots of sketching and drawing is appropriate at this stage.

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Character Design

What mannerisms do they display?

What are they doing within the game and why?

What is their current motivation?

How do they behave to others?

Brought to Life

slide 7 Final design questions that can help with character development.

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Character Design

Require the same treatment as player characters

The amount of detail in their development is dependent upon how much they feature in a game

A memorable opponent can be just as effective as an impressive hero

Non Player Characters

slide 8 Opponents and other NPCs can also have compelling back stories. Of course, not everyone has / needs a long back story; e.g. playing beer trek; drink a beer whenever one of the blue-shirted guys dies during an episode; when McCoy goes Hes dead, Jim!

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Character Design

In First Person Games we generally only see the hands and equipment

In Third person games we generally see more of the back of the character

These limited views must still convey the nature and distinctiveness of the character

In Game Considerations

slide 9 1

st or 3

rd person games will in part determine the characters appearance.

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Character Design

Games can be defined by the memorable characters within them

Memorable characters usually have one main iconic feature to their appearance

More often than not these characters are crucial to marketing a game successfully

Iconic Characters

slide 10 Consider some memorable game charactersget them to list a few

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Character Design

Lots of sources for characters

TV

Movies

Graphic Novels/Comic Books

History

Getting Material

Character Design

Getting Material

TVTropes is a great source of character archetypes... and time wasting.

Character Design

Lets Make a Character

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Character Design

Appearance

Personality

Quirks

Quotes

Background

Lets Make a Character

Character Design

Trooper: Character Example

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Character Design- Student Example 1- Trooper by Shaun Mooney

Trooper by Shaun Mooney Design via sketch, digital painting, final game models of futuristic trooper Part of honors degree !Initial sketches developing trooper and gun

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Early concept sketches

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Design of characters gun; a main feature within the game concept

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Digital modeling of concepts; built using 3D Studio Max or some similar system (3D Studio Max is most commonly used digital modeling program industrially)

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Digital modeling and post-processing in Photoshop

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Rigged model posed and post-processed in Photoshop

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Digital modeling process (looks like 3D Studio Max)

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Here is the model, built up from the control skeleton

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Note that the textures are all stored in a single square, 2D map. This way only one texture map has to be loaded into memory; more efficient. If making an animation, each of these would likely be modeled separately.

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Character Design- Student Example 1- Trooper by Shaun Mooney

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Character Design- Student Example 1- Trooper by Shaun Mooney

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

Game concept is a 19th century Victorian werewolf scenario. !

Hero concept: a common man capable of protecting himself.

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

Hero is physically capable; retains sense of fair play and nobility. Tendency is to box rather than brawl. Square jaw and rugged looks mark him as hero. Actually: here is eyes look spookykind of evil

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

Concept sketches for werewolf; main antagonist. Fearsome foe; formidable and dangerousbut trapped within normal people.

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

Non-player characters. People who inhabit the game world. Should be familiar figures in Victorian London. !Are they friend, foe, or simply potential victims?

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill

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Character Design- Student Example 2- Victorian Werewolf by Tim Hill