character development game idea development. characters, yummmmm
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Character development
Game Idea Development
Characters, yummmmm
Game characters: look familiar?
Background, History &Advancement
What is character?• Is it something that happens inside your brain?
– How do we re-frame characters?• Matthew Barney
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhruRb2PEVQ• What is your definition of character?
– Is it a thing walking around in the environment?– In “Fracture” the environment blurs the line between stage and actor; it
becomes a character • http://www.lucasarts.com/games/fracture/
– What else can we reframe to discover and develop and define what a character is?
• How does perception create character in our minds?– Alison Jackson
• http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_jackson_looks_at_celebrity.html
Character profiles Basic Statistics (Name, Gender, Age etc) Type (we will go over this in a minute) Background and history Physical/ Vocal Characteristics Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes Emotional Characteristics Spiritual Characteristics How the Character is Involved in the Story
How character is different at the end of the story from when the story began?
Relevance Do character profile exercise here.
There are characters all around us http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/237
Classic Game Character types Human
Heroic “everyman” Gender issues (reversal)
Animal Anthropomorphic
Fantasy Human vs. Non-Human
Mythic Historical Licensed
Visual Character DevelopmentTechniques
Verbal Character DevelopmentDialogue
• Reveals character• Reveals emotion• Advances the plot• Reveals conflict• Establishes relationships• Comments on action
Character Movement Signature Idle Walking cycle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePhHDs53lfo
Muybridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard
_Muybridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93
C5JhSqr1U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU
8lwLZU94Y
Ed Hooks http://www.actingforanimators.com/default.html
http://www.actingforanimators.com/Classes/
Classic Character roles
• Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist
• The protagonist or main character/narrator is the central figure of a story.
Co-Protagonists
Protagonist continued
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7OAMiBzxiA
• Do protagonist exercise here.
Antagonist The antagonist is against
the main character protagonist or contends with them.
An antagonist is often a villain, but may be a force of nature, set of circumstances, an animal, or other force that is in conflict with the protagonist
Supporting characters
Classic Character Archetypes Hero Shadow Mentor Allies Guardian Trickster Herald http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw3JqHYNB2I&fe
ature=channel Watch this one on your own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbspxKvb1Vs
Classic character behavior
• The life of a character– Arc– Hierarchy of needs
Character Arc
• Dirty Trick– http://www.mobilestori
es.ca/stories.php
• Deus Ex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoteS17NnGE
• http://www.guru3d.com/news/deus-ex-3-gdc2010-trailer/
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is often depicted as
a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. While deficiency needs must be met, growth needs are the need for personal growth.
• The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Once an individual has moved past a level, those needs will no longer be prioritized. However, if a lower set of needs is continually unmet for an extended period of time, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs - dropping down to that level until those lower needs are reasonably satisfied again.
Hierarchy of needs: permeates high school and business
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqA_oEjMjSk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7tYHqAR_8
Characters have relationships
• So you have to ask yourself how are they going to interact?
• This is an example of the characters interacting without ever having met.– http://www.mobilestories.ca/
viewVideo_Renuka.php
The Relationship of the protagonist and the antagonist• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4WwcMKDPb4E&feature=related• Do relationship exercise here
Character Triangle
• http://www.mobilestories.ca/viewVideo_Shuibo.php
Aristotle’s Poetics
• http://aristotle.thefreelibrary.com/Poetics-of-Aristotle
• http://librivox.org/poetics-by-aristotle/– Audio
• He is what you are reacting against when you mix up the relationships and storyline to form a plot. (non-linear storyline)
• He has a bunch of rules that I invite you to break.
Ok so you have your characters
• And your story but what are you after?– What is the motivation to make this game?– What role do the characters play in supporting the
goals of the game?
• One of the things you might use to support the theme of the game is: Identification.– What is identification?
Identification Types
• Identification with characterization• Identification with role• Identification with goals
Identification evokes:
• Sympathy vs. Empathy– Sympathize: emotional affinity in which whatever
affects one correspondingly affects the other; synonym is pity.• In gamespeak: you understand a character
– Empathize: ability to recognize, perceive and directly experientially feel the emotion of another• In gamespeak : you want to be that character
In games there are 2 types of Identification
• Player as Character• Character as Player
Player as Character
1st-person perspective Narrow perspective – immediacy
A sense of participation Inhabitation of the role Limited definition of the character
Weak identification (no visual association) 3rd Person cinematics can be jarring HALO 3
http://halo3.com/believe/shell.html
Character as Player 3rd-person perspective Wide perspective – situational awareness
Tactical considerations Observer rather than participant
Puppet the character Greater definition of the character
Strong visual associations with the character Lara Croft – Tomb Raider
Ok I know it flips back and forth between 3rd and 1st person(binoculars) but any chance I get to throw Lara into the mix I will do it.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1tu1t_tomb-raider-anniversary-trailer-2_videogames
It all fits together
Homework
• Fill in the Character development, Gamestory and Backstory in the Game Design Doc– Save it as v2.0– In the version history of the document say what
you added and don’t forget to add a date for when the change happened.
• Extra credit – character interview
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