How to Design a Video Game Character
Video games are a growing medium in the entertainment industry. According to Actiontrip.com, the video game industry grew from 3.7 billion dollars annually in 1996 to over 7 billion in 2003 in the US market alone. Further growth is projected for years to come. Having grown from their humble beginnings, video games in the modern era are more like interactive movies. The most memorable features of a game is often innovative game-play mechanics, breathtaking environments and, of course, a solid story. At the heart of these stories are the characters.
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Instructions
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Choose personality traits that you want the main character to have and decide why she has them. This forms the core of who the character is. A quiet character could be quiet because of some trauma that happened to him in his past. A generous character may have had a generous parent or mentor who influenced her.
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Write down some weaknesses the character will have. Weaknesses help make the character seem vulnerable and more realistic. If it's a physical weakness such as a deformity, injury or small stature, figure out if and how the character overcomes that. Mental or social flaws can also deeply affect your character.
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3
Determine a goal for your character. While motivations often change in the course of a narrative, there is always an initial objective the pulls the character into the action in the first place. Consider if the character is searching for something or someone, or if he is trying to make up for some past misdeed.
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Make the character extraordinary. Something should separate her from the common masses. Give the character a special skill or talent that is valuable or rare. A powerful or unusual weapon helps make the character unique. Certain bloodlines may come with special benefits or even a terrible curse.
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Create an outward appearance for the character. Determine his physical description including height, weight, build, hair color and length, eye color and shape, etc. Choose a speaking manner for your character, which might reveal her education level or home region to other characters who hear her.
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Tips & Warnings
Always save any ideas for characters that you have. Even when it doesn't work out for one character, it could be used or modified for another. It's usually the small things that make a character unique, so don't forget to include small quirks, such as preferences and pet peeves.
Gratuitous similarities to popular characters in fiction will likely lead to comparisons. Avoid this by asking yourself if the character sounds like anyone you've watched or read about before.
