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| Home > Articles > Tutorials > Game Design > Character Development
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Character Development
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Author: Modesty
Updated: October 05, 2007
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The Hero, the princess, the evil knight, the dragon. All creatures whether
humanoid or otherwise are characters. For some games, you don’t need to put much
thought into the characters. For story-based games, they matter to the game.
They are the part of the game the player usually cares about. And by “care” I
mean empathize/ identify with.
Designers generally have no problem making
the characters look visually interesting. The trouble they seem to have is
making their characters real/believable and original.
For a story-based
game, every character plays a role both on the team and in the story. For some
games instead of thinking: I want to make sure the party has 1 healer, 1
warrior, 1 mage, etc.
Think instead I need a character to fill this role of
hero and build a battle system around them that makes it fair.
Now let’s
begin with developing a good, solid main character.
- Lead Role/Hero
Development –
Traditionally, RPG/Adventure games are single player. The
player will play as a main character through the game, just like reading through
the eyes of a main character in a book. (At some point in the game you may have
to play as another party member but that’s up to you.)
Generically, the
hero is a young lad off to save the world/princess. I’m sure you’ve played this
game hundreds of times. To make the character interesting, you will need to
decide the following things:
Personality, Personal History, Details.
Personality is how the character generally behaves, reacts and perceives
the world.
Personal History provides reasons for his personality.
Detail
is key in making a character REAL.
The devil is in the details.
Generic details include:
Name, Age, Gender, Race (if applicable), and
appearance.
Details like personality and preferences make the character
more real. What is the characters favorite food/book/music/hobby?
In
character development story exercises, you get into your characters skin and
learn everything about them to the most intimate detail.
The more questions
you can answer about your character the more believable they are.
Not
all details will be apparent in your game but they will help YOU the
designer/writer write a story based around the character or make decisions on
how the character would react in a given situation and writing their dialogue.
You SHOULD be able to know how the CHARACTER would react to a given
situation. Not how YOU would react, you’re character is not necessarily YOU.
Most painful memory, deepest regret, happiest memory, nervous ticks,
phobia(s), motivation, most cherished possession would be details worth putting
into characters as it could affect them in game play.
- Team Mate
Development –
Other party members should not be dealt with any less
importance than the main character. They are MUCH less likely to have details
revealed about them but that does not mean you should just fill them in generic
roles and give them flat personalities. The main character does not need to be
the main focus of the game.
Like the hero you need to decide:
Personality, Personal History, and Details.
Name, Age, Gender, (race),
appearance should also sport the same amount of detail.
Adding personal
details to Team Mates is just as important as it is to the hero. You want to
surround your main character with characters the player will grow to love/hate
for their personality. And it makes things interesting.
If you are
making a party system, it might be best to add how each team member feels about
each other.
Best Friend may like the main character, tolerate the female
friend but finds her annoying (jealousy perhaps), and abhor the dog
character.
- Villain Development -
The defining point for a villain is
their motive. If your story ends with a one-on-one confrontation, the villain
will need a personality, personal history and details just as in depth as the
main characters if not more.
Good motives can be:
The villain had a
good intention but evil methods.
The villain believes firmly that they are
right, but it is skewed. Close to good but not quite.
The villain feels they
have been wronged and wish to make it right. (similar to good intention, evil
means).
Other motives might be:
Selfishness (I want to do it for
me.)
Sadistic Nature (I like watching things suffer)
Greed (I want to rule
the world.)
Revenge (You killed my brother, prepare to die!)
Madness
(Seriously, just mentally deranged.)
Motives should not be thought up at
the last second. It should be decided early in development. It will help write
the story and plan events for the game.
The villain should either become
someone the player comes to love/hate.
- NPC Development -
You need
environmental town folk, but they also need to be real and not run-of-the-mill.
You don’t have to go too in depth with developing details like personal history
of random NPCs. They don’t even need names.
I like to think of NPCs in 3
categories:
Plot NPC – An NPC that is crucial to the story. Party members
and any advisors/mentors in the game move the story. Basically, anyone that you
would put into a long cut-scene. These NPCs should have names, personality and
history. A high level of detail is necessary for some, but not all. Main
Villains and party members need lots of detail.
Informed NPC – A
seemingly random town-folk that actually has useful information. You are looking
for Bob and they remember seeing Bob by the well a few hours ago. Specific
guards, servants, or traveling merchants that may reveal helpful quest
information. It might be good to differentiate these kinds of NPCs by giving
them names or using their job title as a name is acceptable.
Uninformed
NPC – Filler and strictly environmental. Kids playing around, shopkeepers,
innkeepers, and village idiots. The kind that usually only comment on the
weather. Commonly just named “villager”.
- Character Charts -
A
character chart is a common practice for story writing and they will work for
the game character. Using the model of a story character, get deep into the
nitty-gritty of the
character.
Name:
Age:
Gender:
(Race):
Appearance: (hair, skin
tone, eye color, clothes, height, body type, jewelry, birthmarks, scars,
tattoos)
-Personality-
Disposition: (sunny, dismal, negative,
positive)
Likes/Favorites:
Dislikes:
Hobbies:
-Social-
Social
Class:
Level of Education:
Occupation:
Religious Affiliation: (include
how faithful)
Clan affiliation: (if any)
Political views: (if
any)
-Background-
Birthday:
Where they were born:
Where they
currently live:
-Relationships-
Immediate Family:
Relationship
with family members:
Extended Family:
Relationships with them:
Friends:
Relationship with them
Romantic Interest/Lovers/Spouses:
Relationship
with them:
-Details/Story Specific-
Nervous Ticks:
Worst
Memory:
Best Memory:
Greatest Regret:
Greatest Achievement:
Most
Precious Possession:
Greatest Fear:
Greatest Desire:
-Characters
Abilities-
Okay so I put you through a bunch of crap about character details
and personality and seemingly stupid things. What does it matter to the game if
the Hero wets himself every time he sees a snake? (Well for one it’ll make
battles against snake monsters very amusing.)
But once you know the
character and role they fill. You can decide what abilities they are best suited
for. Perhaps their personal history or clan affiliation make them best suited
for water style attacks. Because they are religious they only provide defensive
magic. Because they have a fiery temper they have fire elements. Because they
are half-demon they can summon lesser demons.
Now it’s not just white
mage, generic hero stuff. This also may help deciding limits on what the
character can perform and what weapons they use.
-Some Examples-
In
the pro game world, there are both good and bad examples of character
development. Some characters are more in-depth than others.
Here I have a
list of examples. I’ve also listed an in depth character chart to give you a
good example.
-Well-Developed-
Tales of Symphonia Cast - each
character has a unique background story and personality that bounces off each
other.
Summon Knight 1 and 2 - also each character had a history and
desires with an odd mix of personalities.
Trauma Center: Under the Knife
- lots of story development here, characters with strong beliefs and changing
beliefs.
Prince of Persia Series - This is a story rich series,
especially the recent trilogy. The prince is a character rich with history and
ever changing personality.
-Flat Characters-
Spyro Series - again
lots of personalities and lively characters but not too much background or
interest.
(Example chart)
//end
(I've attached the character
chart.) |
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