Watch Hannah Nicklin (2020) ‘Kill the Hero, Save the (Narrative) World’, GDC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT0Pz4fJ3WM and Meg Jayanth (2017) ‘Forget Protagonists: Writing NPCs with Agency for 80 Days and Beyond’, GDC
Read: Austin Walker, (2013) ‘Me, on the Screen’, New Statesman, https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/06/me-screen
play
Bugsnax, Young Horses
Non-linear pipeline
What is a character? What makes up a character? What makes up a good character design? What makes up a unique and original character that feels familiar and accessible to the audience?
Do I even need decent characters? why have we assumed that the only or primary path to video game diversity and sophistication lies in its representation of individuals as opposed to systems and circumstances? Games like City Builders/sims are still successful even without main characters.
“Characters give players a reason to learn about the world…”
High-concept stuff becomes instantly more interesting and accessible when we understand how it impacts the sentient beings whose lives are shaped by these gods-eye-view ideas – characters give players a reason to learn about the world
People are the raw material of social systems
Common character arcs:
Protagonist, deuteragonist, antagonist
Most likely: the protagonist is a hero, the antagonist is the villain, and the main deuteragonist is always the player/you, you don’t always need to be the protagonist.
The deuteragonist is usually the sidekick, accomplice, companion etc.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is the protagonist, Darth Vader is the antagonist, and Han Solo is the deuteragonist.
- Protagonist (sometimes also the narrator)
- Sidekick
- Foil / Straight man
- Love interest (enemy-to-lover?)
- Confidante
- Morality chain / Morality pet
- Villain
- Dependent
- Mentor
mentor – guides the protagonist on their journey
Narrator – tells the story
Foil – a character who helps the reader understand the protagonist by being their polar opposite
Confidante – a character close to the protagonist who acts as a sounding board for their internal conflict
A morality chain is a character who is the reason another character is good. As long as their person is alive their target of affection will at the very least be a noble demon (a villainous character with a Code of Honour)
These archetypes are sometimes present in the hero journey diagram
The persona is the mask we present to the world – how we choose to be seen
The self represents the unification of the conscious and unconscious within an individual. Its the archetype that connects our spiritual and earthly facets, symbolising our strive for unity and wholeness.
The soul is the true self
This can also be understood via psychology as the junia archetypes (12 archetypes)
Tomodachi life has the same personality system. These are presented in individuals.
An ensemble cast is a group of characters in a piece of media who share equal importance in the storytelling, often with multiple main characters. The dynamics among the characters in an ensemble cast can create intricate relationships that enhance both characterisation and plot development.
Hannah Nicklin’s Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDK4FBm3DDY
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time
Ensemble casts are common in children’s television. Children’s shows make heavy use of non-human characters: the casting process is only involved when there is an occasion of humans interacting with non-human characters.
which gives precedence to a sole protagonist, an ensemble cast leans more towards a sense of “collectivity and community”
How do I want to orient the player towards my focalising character?
Character customisation? Set character? No option to customise or different presets?