Making Distinctive Characters

[Whataface2]

I know for me one of the bigest problems I have in game making is comming up with believeable characters. I can tell you from experince good characters aren't made in a matter of minutes. They take many hours of planning. The reason for this is most characters change over a course of the game. I use several factors when I make my characters.

Name - Try to make it distinctive

Age: - This can dictate how a character will react to situations

Eyes - Just to get a feel for the charcter, not used on model

Hair: - Long, short, brow, ponytail

Species - Human, Elf, Ddragon

Class - This determines what abilites the character has

Characteristic - What is the characters personality

Flaws - Bad part of personallity

Party - Are they in the party

Quirks - What is the weird aspect of the character's personality

Relation to story: What part does the character play

I use this chart when I'm writting the story as a reference. This helps me make sure that the character's actions are true to their personality. Now it also alerts me, if I want to have them do something against their personality. It lets me know that I will have to explain their motives to the player.

The second part of this is geared to RPG Maker 2. I've heard people say that it is hard to make a serious game do to the character models. I don't think this is true. I do agree that the models don't make it easy to have a mean looking character, but it is do able. You just need to play around with the models.

For me I look at the model's special moves and pick one I like. I try to make sure that it is some how related to the character's personality. For example, Strodham is a leader of a group of bandits. So I picked the model that points as its special move. From there I play around with the models face. I wanted Strodham to look angry and menacing. To do this I swtich his face to angry and give him a scar.



The final thing I do is play around with the color combinations. To me this is the hardest part. Below is a list of some of the colors I have come up with. But exploration is the best.

ORANGE hue: 7 satur: 94 bright:100

DR. BROWN hue: 6 satur: 60 bright:40

PINE GREEN hue: 33 satur: 70 bright:60

BLACK/BROWN hue: 10 satur: 100 bright:20

SKIN 1 hue: 12 satur: 50 bright:85

LIME GREEN hue: 23 satur: 50 bright:100

HOT PINK hue: 83 satur: 50 bright:100

DR BLUE hue: 60 satur:100 bright:50

NEON BLUE hue: 60 satur: 100 bright:100

SKIN 2 hue: 12 satur: 50 bright:88

LT GREEN hue: 33 satur: 70 bright:80

NEON GREEN hue: 33 satur: 70 bright:90

SKIN 3 hue: 12 satur: 80 bright:78

LT BROWN hue: 7 satur: 94 bright:100

DR BROWN 2 hue: 13 satur: 71 bright:20

SKY BLUE hue: 67 satur: 40 bright:81

PINK hue: 0 satur: 50 bright:100

MUSTARD YELLOW hue: 17 satur: 100 bright:80

SKIN 4 hue: 12 satur: 80 bright:85

DR GREEN hue: 33 satur: 50 bright:40

RED hue: 0 satur: 86 bright:60

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

To me that seems a good guide for minor and possibly secondary characters. Those people whose motivations and personalities can be condensed down to a list like that because we don't need to know their deeper incentives and backstories.

[salamander]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

Good points you make. Also, if you can type up a mini story or scene with your main characters and have them portray their personalities pretty well, then it will only be that much easier when making a game with them.

I get inspiration for what my characters would do and say by thinking about them when playing other games. For example, when playing another rpg, I'll be watching a cutscene and think, hey, what would my characters from my game say to this? Or how would they react?

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

I find my best characters come not from trying to decide what characters are like, or make up characters to fit a role, but rather in starting with whatever idea you're knocking around - be it setting, story, characters, whatever - and then simply letting your imagination run wild. Not everything you cook up will be great, or even good, but after you've dreamed up some candidates you'll know what works best in your story and how to progress the characters' developments.

I know this is probably a horribly cliche thing to say, but a lot of people say they don't know what their characters are going to do before they do them. This is only partially true for me. I almost always know what my characters are going to do while I'm writing, but I never know why they're going to do something until I get to the scenes in question and everything starts to just fall into place.

Creating natural, real characters is a tough cookie to crack, one I struggle with a lot, as do most people who really want their characters to come alive. But it's not about defining who they are in codified lists of simple personality and character traits. That helps, sure, but it's also an easy way to fall into the cookie cutter character page, in which none of your characters feel real or unique at all. They become mere photocopies or caricatures of a character archetype.

[Valkysas]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

I do the same as rick. start with the setting and story. I then think of what life would be like in such a place, and what types of people would result from that. I have never ever started with making the characters. they'd just seem shoved in, and out of place. or you'd have a bland story as a result from writing the story based on the characters instead of the other way around.

well, thats what I think, anyways.

also, I have noticed that the longer a character description is, the more boring and uninteresting I find the character. ideally, you should be able to chop the description down to a sentence and not lose anything that really defines the way the character acts or feels, or they end up being too complicated and hard to connect with. writing longer descriptions is fine, to try and get people interested and get a better feel for the characters, but for your own personal use when thinking about how a character would behave, a short sentence should work. for example, the bio written for my game's main character, Megan, is a paragraph or two long in my game forum. I forget how long it is. I dont read it. but even with all that written, all I think about when dealing with her is "neglected, lonely, needs a friend". that's her trimmed down to her base elements, and it influcences everything else concerning the character, to the point where I dont really need to think about anything else.

again. in my opinion.

[salamander]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

If you really want a challenge, try to describe each of your main characters in one single adjective!

[Wavelength]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

I personally like to figure out the personality and behavior of the character first, as well as how they will fit into the overall story. Once I've got that pretty solid in my mind, THEN I just keep playing around with stuff until I find a look that I think suits the personality well.

Haven't tried your color combinations myself, but they sound very cool.

[Whataface2]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

If you really want a challenge, try to describe each of your main characters in one single adjective!

I never gave that a thought! I'll have to try that. It will give you more insight to your characters.

[salamander]

Re: Making Distinctive Characters

It can also be helpful sometimes to think of each of your characters as an animal, such as one guy being like a wolf, a girl that's like a bunny, a dude that acts like a tiger, and so on.