Character Design Tutorial (with Case Studies too!)

[Yum]

Character Design Tutorial using Case Studies

I have enough time to spare whooo~

Alright, I'll keep this first post simple, and hopefully, people will be making games with, hey, better characters.

<cough>more complex, thought-provoking/ believable/ realistic characters.<cough>

First, let's lay the groundwork

Why should I make my characters believable and realistic?

Let's face it, most of your characters will be human/ sentient, and that's good because the audience can relate to that. The more players see of the character in real life, the more they'll be able to relate and sympathize with them, the more they'll be able to understand their actions, motives and all that jazz.

Okay, but why do they need to be complex? Thought-provoking?

Most of the games here are serious productions so you'd want characters that stick. Unlike maths, a more complex character will stick more. Why? Firstly, complex characters allow the audience to think more about the characters actions. They will be analyzing the goings on in the characters mind, and it opens the audience's mind to the whole "what will happen next?" phenomenon. Now, psychologically, the more you recall something and analyze it, the more you remember it. For the most part, complexity in character design results in memorability.

Alright. Please continue.

Since the RMXP panel log used games and a few books for discussion, i'll do the same here. Just to set a limit.

CASE STUDY 1: Sialeeds from Suikoden V (A study on using relationships)

Now, I'm not one for medieval RPGs, but since that's what most people make games with (because of the RTP), I'll pick one - the Suikoden series.

Character: Sialeeds Falenas from Suikoden 5

Spoiler: Spoiler, if you don't want to find out the events of Suikoden V, don't go further

Full biography here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sialeeds

Overview:

From the onset, Sialeeds is a stock character: she is the sanguine support character who behaves as a second mother to the hero. You don't see her a lot in games I guess, this character appears in books more. In the game she is a main playable character during the first half, and becomes one of the main villains for the second half. She is killed by her nephew in the end.

So what about the character's personality?

With no claim to the throne, Sialeeds lived a life with a carefree attitude. She was known to drink, is quick to hold parties, and to sleep well into the day, punching out anyone who dares to wake her before she's ready. However, she was known to be quite skilled in the use of magic runes and with thrown chakram, as well as being having a sharp intellect and instinct for politics.

Okay cool, so she parties all night but at the same time, she does good work. She's not one-dimensional and players can find real life examples of characters like that.

So first of all, here are the major events regarding Sialeeds in Suikoden 5

1. Her sister, Arshtat is killed by a warlord named Gizel to take over the throne.

2. She helps the Prince in his rebellion against Gizel and his unification of the whole place.

3. Just when the Prince was about to get a swift decisive victory against Gizel, Sialeeds turns traitor and kidnaps the Prince's sister, handing it to Gizel.

4. Gizel gives Sialeeds power and an army of her own, and she tries to stop the Prince's rebellion, killing a bunch of generals and officials along the way.

5. She is stopped by the Prince and is killed by him.

Now that the shallower effects have been dealt with, how many relationships does Sialeeds have? Relationships result in complexity you know... these are the basic ones

Why relationships?

These form the basis for character development in any medium. Plain and Simple.

1. Sialeeds and Arshtat (siblings)

Used to explain her experiences of "brutal ascension policies" and her being tangled into a web of democracy that no doubt prevented her from getting married to her former lover Gizel. Sialeeds loved Arshtat, so later in the game, when she decides to help Gizel (who kills Arshtat to take over the kingdom) in quelling the Prince's rebellion her motives are further complicated. Where do her loyalties lie? With her family? With her lover? Or with her people?

2. Sialeeds and the Prince (aunt and nephew)

The two treated each other siblings with much respect and much understanding for one another. Of course, this enhances the impact of Sialeeds' betrayal, especially since after Arshtat (the Prince's mother) dies, she becomes a second mother to him. Again it deepens the question as to who Sialeeds is actually loyal to.

3. Sialeeds and Gizel (lovers)

Another reason why she might've betrayed the Prince was because of her loyalty to her former lover (which, using her conversations with her rival and the NPCs, doesn't really seem to be the case). But this relationship does explain her implicit hatred for bureaucracy.

4. Sialeeds and the People (lord/lady and servants)

Sialeeds was a popular official, so when she does all that crazy stuff, the NPCs in her town/ the characters in the Hero's castle are confused. After Sialeeds dies, they offer their own interpretations as to why she did the things she did. Sialeeds' actions become more authentic this way.

5. Sialeeds and Lucretia (rivals)

Most of her more "honest" discussions occur with Lucretia. Lucretia is to begin with, an all-seeing-eye, so it makes sense that Sialeeds doesn't lie to her. Her speeches with her are ambiguous but coupled the history and the NPCs contributions, the player is able to piece together everything. (Yes, she did it for the people)

Wow, 5 relationships is a lot isn't it. It doesn't have to be epic like that. The key here is that:

1. The relationships influence each other

2. Sialeeds is interesting to begin with.

3. Her motives and behavior are realistic and has been done by actual people.

4. The relationships force the player to think.

Okay, I haven't got anymore time. More on Sialeeds next post: The use of events and NPCs in character development.

Next time, please be sure to mark spoilers carefully.
- psgels

 

[The Cry of Fallen Angels]

Maybe a bit of a necropost, but since nobody has replied to this, while it certainly is better than the average tutorial, and about a very important subject.

Hmm, it looks decent enough, but you're pretty much evaluating why this character is a good character. Making it a bit hard, especially for people completely new to this subject, whether they've played suidoken (or read the wiki) or not, to relate this to someone's own characters.

So maybe it's better to accent the theory instead of the example, or use different examples. People will, after reading this tutorial, create characters that are "good" because they've read the tutorial. I can imagine we'll have many Sialeed act-a-like's in their games, while for character denvelopment, it's so incredibly important that characters are variated.

The idea behind it is good, but as you know; presentation, presentation, presentation. It's what makes or breaks your project, regardless whether it's a book, play, movie, game, tutorial, etc.

 

[Prexus]

Just for the record.. SPOILER YOUR FUCKING POSTS. I swear to god.

 

[Chaosg1]

^^WTF Prexus??

Anyway I like this tutorial and I think it's good, although I still agree with TCoFA.

 

[Prexus]

This is wtf, Chaosg1. How would you like it if you were into playing a game and then find out a big plot part for the rest of it?

Spoiler: Suikoden 5 Spoiler

From the onset, Sialeeds is a stock character: she is the sanguine support character who behaves as a second mother to the hero. You don't see her a lot in games I guess, this character appears in books more. In the game she is a main playable character during the first half, and becomes one of the main villains for the second half. She is killed by her nephew in the end.

 

[siggy]

um... you didnt realy have to click it

 

[Yum]

Lolol. Lol. Anyway besides that serving of unneeded profanites... by the jack of all trades (yet master o' none- Lol... Jack of all Trades, master of none. snigger) let's get back to business.

@ psgels

- oops, I'm under the mindset noone here plays suikoden 5 or 2, and those that did, have finished it. My bad.

OKAY, wow, back to work then... forgive me, i am soooo busy nowadays.

- here's one from TCoFA

Hmm, it looks decent enough, but you're pretty much evaluating why this character is a good character. Making it a bit hard, especially for people completely new to this subject, whether they've played suidoken (or read the wiki) or not, to relate this to someone's own characters.

Aye, Case Studies are meant to expose aspects, and people are meant to learn from these aspects- aspects that make good characters. Yeah yeah I get what you mean...

So maybe it's better to accent the theory instead of the example, or use different examples. People will, after reading this tutorial, create characters that are "good" because they've read the tutorial.

The idea behind it is good, but as you know; presentation, presentation, presentation. It's what makes or breaks your project, regardless whether it's a book, play, movie, game, tutorial, etc.

Yes, I will get to that, that was kind of an intro, an overview if you will of what would make a good character. I'm using multiple examples don't worry.

I can imagine we'll have many Sialeed act-a-like's in their games

Godforbid! That is the opposite of what I want! I was just trying to give an example of an interesting character! Onward to theory!

Symmetry (for lack of a better term).

That's right, symmetry. What do I mean by symmetry? It simply is perfection- a completely balanced character, whose personality traits, skills and backgrounds complement each other, most especially through Dramatic Irony

How to use NPCs for character development... is what I promised, but that's just common sense isn't it? Screw that.

Okay, let's get it straight. There'll be four case studies from here on in, and there'll be major spoilers on Suikoden II, Suikoden V and Basilisk: Kouga Ninja Scrolls

Here we go...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler

Suikoden II: Jowy Atreides (I know what a crap name.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jowy_Atreides

Overview
Pardon the shitty name, this character really is quite sophisticated. He's the hero's (Riou) best friend. He hates the Highland army and Luca Blight (a psychotic asshole warlord who kills everyone because his mother was raped when he was a child). Jowy rises up in the ranks of the Highland army, marries Luca's bastard sister and kills Luca

(P.S. Luca's sister still loves Jowy despite all this, she's another interesting character... just for fun you can read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jillia_Blight - it's not that long. She's apparently supposed to be the ideal wife...)

Symmetry through irony...
- He's the best friend of the hero and becomes the main villain of the game.
- He and the hero have opposing runes (more on this below)
- He's extremely friendly and peaceful, but things go awry when the Highland troops massacre his fellow soldiers and completely traumatizes the 5 year old girl who saved his life. He becomes a cold hearted warlord eventually of Highland itself.


Special Point!
Has the best intro to a character ever. Complete with background, relationships, everything~

- Scary... in my opinion, this character has to be the best developed character I've seen in a Playstation game. That's just my opinion. From the opening till the end, everything for Jowy and Riou goes in full circle, the game begins in the same spot with them and the game ends in the same spot with them (yes Jowy is the final boss).

Hell, even their runes (magic) are exact opposites of each other!

- Riou's rune: Bright Shield, a shield that can defend from everything

- Jowy's rune: Black Sword, a sword that can cut through everything

This makes for an interesting boss-fight So much irony it's nice I tells you...

Aside from this, there's excellent use of the plot structure. There's just way too much to cover for this guy so I'll use one of the selling points... the Main Intro.

Suikoden II succeeded in covering a span of about 10 years within the first few minutes of gameplay, successfully establishing Jowy and Hero's relationship... what happens is this...

The Game begins- Riou and Jowy are members of the Army, they have a nice laugh and an evening chat, and they sneak around the camp as the young do.

However, the camp is ambushed by traitors and the pair are forced to escape by jumping off a waterfall where they mark a rock promising to return there if ever they get separated... the game fades to black and this little number starts to play...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=823C6UWOo6w

P.S. The Brown haired kid is Riou, the light haired kid is Jowy, and the short haired girl is Nanami, Hero's adopted sister.

> How do you make a good intro? You need to have it flow... it can use disjointed chronology as with Suikoden 2, but it still accentuates everything about the character, coupled with good music and visuals... you've got near perfection. But the problem is you can only use this technique for really important characters... (Obviously)

Suikoden V: Sialeeds
yeah yeah halfway through she goes all political martyr and starts going for an ends-justify-the-means approach. We've already covered her- what exactly was it that made her interesting?

Symmetry through irony...
Sialeeds is a slacker drunkard party animal who can run a Queendom and can
form her own stratagems against an army a hell of a lot larger than the Prince's... now that's quite interesting...

Special Point!
Her background was a logical basis for her decisions in the end, no matter how surprising they may be...

-This is key in doing character led plot twists, you want your character to do something shocking, but in the end, the player and/or the NPCs can say... yeah I can see why she did it... again, use on main characters that will cause a major upheaval in the game.

> How do you do it?
Character deaths, NPCs, Events, Books scattered all around. You know the deal.

 

[Yum]

Okay, for this study I'll be covering both Gennosuke and his fiancee, so yeah it's a different structure... you'll see some parallels

Spoiler

Basilisk: Kouga Gennosuke

Yes he may be from a novel/ comic book/ cartoon but he and his fiancee make for excellently developed characters...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennosuke_Kouga

Here's what's important from the wiki article:

In some ways, Gennosuke is as much an oddity among his clan as Oboro is among hers. An idealist and scholar who believes in looking to the future instead of being dominated by the past, Gennosuke views the pursuit of any grudge to be an ultimately pointless and self-destructive practice. His sense of principles remain even after learning of the renewed conflict between Koga and Iga, prompting him to lead the Koga on an expedition to Sunpu to plead with former Shogun Ieyasu and Hattori Hanzo the 4th to reinstigate the treaty before any more sensless bloodshed is caused.

- Again he's ironic
- Not only plotwise, but fundamentally it's also ironic that he's a killing machine who can annihilate entire armies but is an absolute pacifist. You can represent this in your game by making the protagonist a level 99 character who can never attack X D
- He's stubborn, he's smart, but stubborn. That's a bit ironic and is a bit endearing- and you want your characters to be endearing.

Yet despite being a man of peace, if pushed into a corner Gennosuke is more than capable of killing anyone who threatens him or his clansmen. In addition to his skill with the sword, Gennosuke wields a power called Genjutsu which he learned from his teacher Muroga Hyouma. A hypnosis technique, Genjutsu reverses the homicidal intent of anyone who meets the stare of its user. In other words; if someone expresses hostility toward him, Gennosuke is able to will his enemies into killing themselves instead of him. Even Yakushiji Tenzen thinks twice before challenging Gennosuke directly.

- His ninja skill fully expresses his personality, he is an absolute pacifist- his skill is extremely destructive but can only be used defensively- make sure to tie in your characters' skills with their personalities (Kind of a special point with this character and his fiancee)

Before the cancellation of the treaty, Gennosuke sought to build a lasting peace between Koga and Iga by marrying Oboro, the princess of Iga Tsubagakure whom he loved to a great extent. His feelings for her remain even as the body count among both clans rise, filling him with torment as he struggles to reconcile his personal feelings with the duty demanded of him as his clan's leader.

-Ah tragedy and long-suffering, another aspect of memorable characters is that their stories usually end in tragedy...

Basilisk: Oboro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_Oboro

Important:

As the beautiful young princess of the Iga Tsubagakure, Oboro was chosen to be one of the ten warriors that would represent her clan in their duel against the ten chosen fighters of the Koga Manjidani clan. Born with 'Eyes of Ruin,' Oboro has the power to neutralize the techniques of any ninja that meets her gaze directly. After the death of her grandmother Ogen, Oboro ascends to become the new leader of Tsubagakure but due to her passive demeanor soon finds her authority usurped by Yakushiji Tenzen.

Among the Iga, Princess Oboro is something of an oddity. Sweet natured with a gentle disposition, Oboro lacks any real talent for either martial arts or ninjutsu and is also a bit of a clutz. This, along with her love for Gennosuke of the rival Koga clan has caused most of Iga to consider Oboro to be something of a black sheep, a fact she is painfully aware of. When the Hattori truce is lifted, the other Iga ten are quick to take advantage of Oboro's feelings for Gennosuke, tricking her into inviting him and Udono Jousuke into their compound where the Iga can keep them under surveillance.

- Again, it's pretty ironic that she's the heir of the clan, but she can't fight to save her life. Might be interesting to put in a party member who really just can't fight and you have to protect...

- Her eyes on the other hand, are theoretically able to defeat every ninja enemy (as long as she has help). So yes, Oboro's and Gennosuke's skills are quite unique and not the standard damage your enemies skills...

Despite this treachery, Oboro remains loyal to her clan and is greatly torn between her duty and her feelings when the truth of the renewed conflict is finally revealed to her. Ultimately, she makes the decision to temporarily seal her eyes shut with a potion given to her by Ogen called the Darkness Seven Ointment knowing that if she saw any of her clansmen attacking Gennosuke, she might be tempted to use her powers against them instead.

Prior to the lifting of the Hattori truce, Oboro was engaged to Kouga Gennosuke in an attempt to bring a lasting peace between both clans. The two had known each other since childhood and were anxious to spend their lives with each other. In the anime, Oboro would frequently meet with Gennosuke along their clan's borders to practice a Japanese fan dance which they planned to perform for their guests at their wedding.

- Again, tragedy and long-suffering. You also have to raise the viewer/ player's hopes up that everything will end in a happy ending. That makes everything about the characters stick so much more.

How can you end tragedies? Like this.

Oboro however, knew she wouldn't be able to kill Gennosuke, and had completely lost hope. So, instead of killing her beloved, she chose to put an honorable end to her life by stabbing herself through her chest with the sword that Kyouhachirou gave her, in which was the first thing that Gennosuke saw after his eyes became unsealed. Gennosuke grieved greatly after this point, in which he wrote in blood that Oboro was the survivor of the War; resulting in the Iga's victory, when it truly being the Kouga's. Gennosuke then stabbed himself as well, drifting off amongst the waves of a river with Oboro's body in his arms, as to both rest in peace with one another.

Really, character development in Basilisk is far too deep. I'll have to go in even more depth next time on what you can use to build up a tragedy, be it in Suikoden 2 or 5 or Basilisk...

 

[Yum]

Good grief that was a lot of words, thanks for reading up till here.

SUMMARY TIME:

Generally? What did we learn?

1. Use irony a lot, in balance. Be it in your character's backgrounds, relationships and even skills.

What did we learn through Suikoden 2's Jowy?

2. A really good intro can immortalize not just the character but a game

What did we learn through Suikoden 5's Sialeeds?

3. Use background to REALLY support the twist : Obvious but a lot of twists fail and are just too predictable... the background is really really important. You have to make the player go "yeah, I can see why he/ she did that". Use events, npcs, books etc.

What did we learn from Basilisk's Gennosuke and Oboro?

4. Tragedies and suffering(the fall from grace or innocence of characters) are more memorable than most other things.

5. Use unique skills that portray your character's traits... not just fire skills from a fire mage... be more creative, how abouta pacifist priestess whose presence can completely 100% stun 1 enemy permanently throughout a battle? I can make her a plot based recruit- e.g. I need to defeat the ultimate monster who dodges all attacks and has 50 million hp.... This was also seen with the Shield and the Sword from Suikoden II.