Character Development - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 154

■ Earth is invaded by an enormous alien armada, whose objective is to blast
everyone to bits.
■ The person wakes up from sleep to find herself in another body in another
place, but with the same personality.
Write a short essay addressing the following questions. What would your chosen
person do in these situations? Situations like these are extremely unusual, but
what if they happened? Would an ordinary person like the one you've chosen be
a compelling and appealing character?
4. Try designing two characters whose strengths and weaknesses complement each
other, so that while they seem very unalike, they actually work together quite well.
(Consider the characters Banjo and Kazooie or Ratchet and Clank as examples.)
Choose a game genre and design characters and attributes suitable for that genre.
Show how their qualities complement each other when the characters are together
but leave each character vulnerable to the game's dangers when they are apart.
Design Practice QUESTIONS
As you begin the task of developing characters for a game, consider the following
questions:
1. Are the game's characters primarily art-based or story-based?
2. What style is your art-based character drawn in: cartoon, comic-book superhero,
realistic, gothic? Will your character be exaggerated in some way: cute, tough, or
otherwise?
3. Do your art-based characters depend upon visual stereotypes for instant identifi-
cation, or are they more subtle than that? If they are more subtle, how does their
appearance support their role in the game?
4. Can the player tell by looking at a character how that character is likely to act?
Are there reasons in the story or gameplay for wanting a character's behavior to be
predictable from his appearance, or is there a reason to make the character
ambiguous?
5. If the game offers an avatar, does the avatar come with a sidekick? What does
the sidekick offer the player—information, advice, physical assistance? How will
the sidekick complement the avatar? How will the player be able to visually distin-
guish between the two of them at a glance?
6. With a story-based character, how will you convey the character's personality
and attitudes to the player? Through narration, dialog, gameplay, backstory, or
other means?