Elements of Game Design: Characters.

Some of the greatest stories ever told don't have characters. The only example I can think of is 2D Boy's absolutely fantastic "World Of Goo" game. With the exception of that absolute gem of a video-game, I find its really very difficult to tell a story without characters. Now, in a way, video-games share more in common with music than with films or books. Lets presume we are talking about fiction- books and films tend to tell stories. Video-games can also do this, but there are a lot of video games which dont tell stories. Whilst its fun to assume that Pacman is the tale of a crack-absorbed maniac (who fights through the dingy black corridors of his life, consuming dusty white stimulants wherever he finds him, occasionally bolstering up the courage to face the ghosts of his descent before inevitably succumbing to his inevitable death) the game exists more as an experience than anything else. Space invaders had a lose premise about invaders from space, but if you played that game for its story you need your brain lacquering. Just like music can tell stories (A long, long time ago... I can still remember how that music used to make me smile...) they can also exist entirely as an experience, (OPEN THE DOOR, GET ON THE FLOOR, EVERYBODY WALK THE DINOSAUR) and are therefore not dependent on characters to push their non-existent narratives.

But that is enough on why video-games don't need characters. Its time to talk about the games that do need characters, and how they manifest themselves in the medium. Lets start from the near-beginning of the medium as we now know it. Once upon a time there was a man, a woman and a monkey. The monkey stole away the woman, and the man had to rescue her. Her name was Pauline, and the man loved her very much (I think). His name was Jump Man (lol) and he was well known for his ability to jump over barrels. This was back on the old 80s arcade machines, and old Jump Man has come a long way. His design has changed slowly over time, and his videography now spans over 200 different games. Nowadays he can throw turtle shells, turn into a bee, throw fire from his hands, drive karts and play golf- he can even jump over barrels! We know him as Mario, the Italian plumber, and whether you like him or not, he is one of the mediums most recognizable characters. As a character, he is rather shallow. His motives are simple and he rarely has anything insightful to say, but that doesn't stop him succeeding as a character. He is iconic and unique, and as someone who has played as him for all my gaming life, there is something so "right" about jumping through obstacles as a stout Italian plumber.

But games characters continue to evolve. In some games, the characters are exactly what you'd expect from a film-character, well voice-acted and physically dramatic. Some subtle human characters like Sam Fisher of the Splinter Cell series are entirely believable entities, and technology has allowed developers to portray them with an almost life-like quality. Quantic Dream is a developer well known for this approach to their characters, filling their faces with polygons and motion-captured emotion. Its all very clever and very pretty to boot, but as we edge ever closer to realism, we run the risk of falling head-first into...


THE UNCANNY VALLEY

 


image links:

http://mydisguises.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/super-smash-bros-mario-1.jpg
http://www.gnomonschool.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/url9.jpg

reference links:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UncannyValley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario
http://kotaku.com/5657358/before-mario-before-jumpman-there-was-ossan
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/02/20/quantic-dream-shows-off-ps4-39-s-imprssive-emotional-fidelity.aspx