Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1. Designing Your Character
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Playingacomputergameisinsomewaysverysimilar to reading a topic orwatchingafilm:
It is pure escapism. For the duration of the game, the player becomes the hero. During these
few hours they step into another world, leaving worries and troubles behind. The overall
design of the hero plays a key part in the player's distraction; a good design, combined with
a good story, can encapsulate the player, immersing them fully in the game. A bad design
will only serve to shatter the illusion, which could single-handedly cause your game to fail
in the marketplace.
So where do you start when designing a character? This depends on the project. If you are
workingonalicensed project, acartoon forexample, oracomic bookormovie license, you
willbesuppliedwithalltherelevantmaterialstohelpyoucreateyourcharacters.Thesema-
terials might include various models and color sheets, or even photographic references.
In theory, not having to worry about character design for your game could save time and
work, but in reality you will find that the licensor will want the 3D version of their creation
to stay true to its original style and design. Accomplishing this will involve a great many
submissions of your artwork to get feedback from several people. First, you must be happy
with the piece, and then your immediate manager—the lead artist on the project—must ap-
prove it. The work will then be passed to your art director before it is finally presented to
the client. And it's not done yet: The client may have to pass it around among a few col-
leagues before you receive any feedback. All this can turn out to be a lengthy process and
will ultimately mean your having to make plenty of minor alterations before the characters
are “signed off” as complete.
If, on the other hand, you are developing a product independently, all the character designs
will be developed in house. Passing through fewer people means approval times will be
shorter. This also means you will have more creative freedom, as long as your project man-
agers are happy with the result.
