Starting the Game - iPhone Game Blueprints - page 8

Characters
The following are the various components in a game:
• Protagonist : This is the main game character, the persona the player associ-
ates himself with. In most cases, it is under direct control of the player.
• Game trigger : These are the various interactive elements (switches, buttons,
and so on) that the player can operate; they may have an effect on the game
world or on states of characters.
• Enemy : These are the characters (or situations or events at abstract level, for
example, time can be the enemy too) that are hostile to the main character
and its progress in the game. Their main objective is to hinder the player.
• Friendly/neutral character : This is any persona that has no aggressive plans
towards the main character. Usually, this is something extra, walking the game
level. Sometimes, they should be protected by the protagonist or they can be
player's companions helping to perform some specific tasks.
Some games can be handled without any characters. Most of the puzzle games, for
instance, the match-three games, have no persona. Are various color bubbles char-
acters? I don't think so. They are game triggers, I would call them "precharacters"
or "character ancestors" because they do interact with the player and perform some
actions but their personality, both functional and graphical, is minimal. Their digital
soul is small. But there can be the exceptions too, for example, tile-matching game
Chuzzle by PopCap Games uses not soulless color triggers but real characters
named Chuzzles —shaggy balls with eyes and some personality that are very cute.
A main character is the representation of the player in the game universe; this is his
avatar, so he should like its appearance and behavior. This does not mean that the
character must be perfect, but he must have some charisma to be attractive. In other
words, he should have some unique features.
Frequently, there are characters in the game but no a protagonist. In this case, the
game operates with the characters, enemies, and triggers, but the main character is
the player himself; he plays the role of an abstract demiurge controlling the game
world. For example, most puzzle, tactical, and strategic games do not have any player
representation. In this case, the player empathizes with not only one person but the
whole game world. The following figure shows a character and its components: