Game Character Design Theory

Everyone has their own favorite character that they might know either from a movie, commercial, a game they play, a comic book, or a packaging, even a mascot of a product they use. Character might show up as a stuffed animal or doll people hug and play with, on a printed t-shirt, a school bag, a pair of shoes, and as other things people use every day, but do they know how a character is developed and end up taking a part on their lives?

Character is the main thing in a presented story; a soul that brings a story to life. In a movie, a character will take the viewers along with its adventures, to follow it until the movie ends. In a game, a character is often in the form of an avatar whose look and attributes can be modified, based on the player preferences. The character will then go on an adventure, which goes on levels that have different complications and difficulties. The character is like the player themselves.

A character can be designed by one or a group of character designers, based on the story idea or the storyline. A character designer is a traditional artist who creates original drawing of characters for the visual media. Character designers are professionals who constantly challenge themselves to explore their imagination to find the perfect and unique characters that differ from the existing ones. Character designers usually work with a wall full of pictures, a stack of sketches, and references from books, music and movies, photographs and research data. The whole process of designing a character is almost like creating magic, as it is a long process of putting a soul in a character and making it alive. Bancroft states that the character designer’s goal is to create characters that fulfill the needs of the script, scene, game, or story and suit for the storyline. There are no exact written steps to design the perfect character; designers can only rely on their improvisation and experiences, mixed with their usual ways of designing.

People will find various choices of games listed on the screen when they click open their application store. The most noticeable image that can attract people to read the game description is the game character. Once they click on the character icon, all the game features will be shown, from description, version, the game detailed information, the game developer, some preview images of the game levels, to customer ratings and reviews. Both characters and the visual look of a game create a visual experience journey that lets people have a taste of an adventure and challenges in a virtual world. Once people experience the journey, they might be interested in installing the game.

A character in a game plays a unique part. It is a representation of the player as it is the one going on a virtual world full of adventures and challenges. Players can find different adventures and challenges in each level of the game. Games characters that might vary from humans, animals, aliens to zombies, and from fast cars, trucks, robots, and bubbles to balls, are controlled by the players. Some games characters’ looks, attributes, and even personalities can also be controlled and customized. Design character and other games’ assets are included in games art.