Writing for New IP - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 151

expansion. My role as writer and co-story designer went very smoothly on Raising
Hell precisely because I'd spent so long helping to flesh out the narrative parts of the
world and characters in the original game. It meant I could worry less about coloring
and building the narrative world and more about creating fun stories and dialog that
complemented the gameplay.
14.5 Importance of Character
In the past, iconic game characters have been predominately defined by their looks:
Lara Croft (certainly in the early years), Mario, Sonic, Samus Aran, Gordon Freeman,
etc. They haven't had any real character traits or arcs either because it was deemed
unnecessary or, in the case of Mr. Freeman, they weren't even given the luxury of
speech.
When it comes to singling out one area not related to gameplay that will make
a new IP stand out from the rest, then it's in addressing these areas of character
and character development. In every other entertainment form, characters and their
experiences are vital for bringing a story to life, and games should be no acceptation.
Obviously, strong visuals are still important. The marketing and coverage of
Heavenly Sword was certainly helped by the strong artistic look of not only Nariko,
the red-haired lead character, but also the rest of the (relatively small) cast. Small
casts are often a lot more fun for a writer to work with because there's much more
opportunity to shape and grow them as distinct personalities. Often games with
a larger cast of characters suffer from the same character voice being split between
multiple characters, even main-cast characters. If new IP characters are going to
stand out and help bolster the IP and franchise then they need to have unique and
individual voices that will require time and attention from you the writer to create
and communicate to the audio/dramatic direction team.
As with any other entertainment medium, you need to love your characters, at
least a little bit. Love all your characters, even the bad guys—in fact, those tend to be
fairly easy to love. If you don't care about your characters, how do you expect players
to?
14.6 Character Case Studies: Overlord —Mistress Rose and
Mistress Velvet
Rose and Velvet were NPC characters that the player encountered at various points
during the game. Initially Rose joins the player's little tower community after the
completion of a mandatory quest to find a Mistress for your tower. Later on in the
game, you meet Rose's younger sister Velvet and get the chance to swap sisters, each
sister giving you different Minion upgrades as a possible incentive for choosing them.
While the Mistresses' main role was to provide ambient feedback on the way
the player has been progressing through the game, Rose and Velvet also came to
play quite a significant part in the overall story—more than was originally envisaged