Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
and refrigerators. But the most amazing thing was cute weapons. Of course, I'm not
talking about the real ones, but imaginary ray guns that appeared in sci-fi art and in
the form of toys were definitely adorable. It is clear why illustrators prefer to use ob-
jects from previous decades in their pictures, the final illustrations look warmer.
Therefore, to create a cute character, you need to follow some evident visual rules:
• Short body
• Rounded angles
• Curved contours and chubby figures
• Smooth surfaces without folds and wrinkles
• Big head with large forehead and small low jaw
• Small mouth and teeth
• Large eyes (or they stand wide) with big pupils
• Wide-open eyes with eyebrows lifted up
• Animals with big nose
• Short arms, legs, and fingers without visual joints
Making characters scary
Generally, cuteness is necessary for a protagonist to have a corner in the player's
heart. An antagonist must give birth to opposite feelings: loath and fear. Good en-
emies are creepy characters. To choose their visual appearance, let's again exploit
some ancient mechanics from the human brain. There are a lot of alarm systems
that alert us when something looks or behaves suspiciously. Deep-seated fears of
various forms are inside most people. A game, of course, should not provoke a real
panic action, but can tickle some sensitive zones, playing with associations. Creep-
iness is the complete opposite of cuteness, it gives not a feeling of warmth, but that
of cold.
To find an effective scary factor, it is good to look at common fears. Traditionally,
many people try to avoid insects or even have phobias. Attributes of such creatures
are interpreted as unpleasant or frightening. The only exception is ladybugs (they
are round with white dots on their head and large eyes) and butterflies, which are
primarily associated with petals of bright flowers. It is important to note that in most
cases, insects are not aggressive and harmful, but they remind us of creatures from
our worst nightmares, giving us the creeps (few examples are mole crickets and ear-
wigs, eek!) Besides them, there are other types of arthropods with high potential of
