The aim of this project is to strengthen our knowledge of a specific part of Game Production. We were allowed to chose our Specialism and would spend the length of the project becoming more in tune with what we decided on. The aim was to pick something we hadn’t had much experience with and build our familiarity with it.
I chose Character Design because it was something I hadn’t tried before and I was looking forward to researching what goes into Character Development and how different Company’s within the Gaming Industry produce such Interesting and Memorable Characters, however the part of Character Design I wanted to focus on was the type of clothing and armor they wore and what sort of equipment they carried with them, such as Uncharted 4, Battlefield 1 and Resident Evil 2. Each of these games had a level of violence and I didn’t just want to see what type of Gear the Protagonist was armed with but also see what the Enemy AI were like and what make them feel like such a threat to the player.
To begin with I did some research into a few different games finding images of contrasting enemies that wore armor and what made them interesting and distinct and what sort of inspiration I would take form them and use in my own Character.
I went to Battlefield 1 firstly, because I’ve always liked the way the player characters looked. Each model has distinct features and clothing that make each one individual from another, which includes the colour scheme that makes them instantly recognisable. The Americans wear Green and are on the left, the Germans wear Grey and on the right are the French wearing Navy Blue. It also makes sense historically, German soldiers during WW1, had the best equipment which shows since they’re wearing large overcoats, boots and seem to be carrying their own ammunition and equipment.
The models above are wearing a lot of cloth, more than several separate panels of armor, which is a different way of creating models but is just as effective at creating good looking Characters, obviously you’ll have to animate the clothing so that it moves realistically when the player moves and is stationary.
Uncharted 4 is another game that came to mind during this project because Naughty Dog do a great job at creating characters. What I’ve tried to do is figure out how they’ve made their models and use the same process for when I produce mine. I think using professional models as ‘stencils’ is useful because I’ll get to know the process that used to produce such impressive assets and I will be able to improve mine using certain techniques that I’ve learnt and noted down while gathering information from looking at pictures and videos.
The Making Of The Last Of Us
In most modern games it isn’t just black and white when it comes to character design, the’s usually a second level that’s full of emotion, and in several of the games that I enjoy playing I tend to get attached to the character’s that I’m surrounded by and that’s what game developers want. They want to show what drives the character you’re playing? What’s important to them personally? What sacrifices and choices do they have to make and how it impacts them and the player?
Once again I will be referencing to a video I watched called ‘Grounded: The Making Of The Last Of Us’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5MgEbBOps. The game centred around the relationship between two characters Joel and Ellie. The game shows how two complete strangers of different ages and backgrounds become like family to each other. This type of character development is much harder to produce but it can be much more impactful and engaging especially when they come into contact with enemies or danger.
The enemies in the game ‘The Infected’ as they’re referred to also have a massive amount of thought, effort and storytelling placed into them. I think if you can understand as a player why certain characters and enemies look the way they do without being told is great because it shows how much dedication has been put in by the developers.
The Infected are so good because the infected aren’t zombies, the enemies in the game are based off of a parasite that attacks ants. The Infected have different stages that you battle throughout the game each stage affects the host differently causing appearance and game-play changes which keeps the player on their toes and is a great way to make the player think how can I do this with the limited amount of resources I have. They also feel threatening because you can often hear them before you can see them and you usually fight them in dark enclosed spaces.
This is a Stage 3 Infected where the fugal parasite has burst out of the head and split the face in two, they are blind and produce high pitched clicking noises and use echolocation to navigate their way around the environment and they look incredible.
Throughout watching ‘The Making Of The Last Of Us’ a lot is mentioned about character design but it’s mostly about how they interact with each other, how do they feel about each other and especially in this game where the core game-play is focused around two people getting to know each other and genuinely caring for each other as the game progresses it’s a very hard thing to show and make believable. I think a large portion is body language but it’s the unconscious movements and postures that really sell characters because if you’re with someone you don’t know you’re usually slightly tense with your arms crossed and a slight nervousness, but after a while you’ll move a lot more freely and less rigidly, your voice might not be as shaky or firm, and this is shown in this game and it’s hard to notice but when you do it makes the experience so much more believable and if the player can notice how the character feels without being told it’s an especially powerful tool when conveying social interaction between two people.
Facial Expressions are also an important way of nonverbal communication, because they can reflect ho we feel on the inside, and especially in games it helps reinforce emotions and body language. Tone of voice is also something we notice largely and is the information we can go off if we can’t see the person we’re communicating with.
Firewatch
Firewatch is a game where you playing as a Firewatch Ranger out in the Wyoming Wilderness where your only emotional lifeline is on the other end of a handheld radio, you never meet or see each other in person, you can only hear each other, over the course of the game, the player Henry and Delilah the voice at the other end of your radio become friends and the’s even a hint of attraction depending on your choices. Throughout the game, Henry and Delilah develop a bond without ever seeing each other and it’s odd that a game can produce that through only voice acting.
https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.14501.68688977722932617.c18986e0-354d-49e5-a689-33d52a7432cb.4324e613-281f-4948-bd74-d17321615130?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920. Accessed 13/02/20.
How I’m Going To Use What I’ve Learnt?
After spending some time researching, watching and listening to professionals I believe I’ve gained knowledge on not just what a good character is but also how to produce one with a bit more effort and experience on how to make them visually appealing but also how to create a story behind them and how to get the player to experience what they are experiencing, and see certain situations and the consequences of their actions for the character their player and the affect that it has on the other people.
Georges_Games 