Elements of game design - part 3

Characters are the engine of every story. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game, film or book, you can’t tell a good story without a character. On the other hand, badly designed, half-baked character can easily damage even the most marvellous story. So there is no doubt that every character appearing in any kind of tale has to be thoroughly developed as it can affect one’s perception of the whole piece. So, how to create an interesting and appealing character? Is there any recipe for that?

I asked some friends what is their opinion on that and the most common answer I heard was ‘you need to make sure that the audience can relate to the character’. Sure, I can’t argue with that, it undoubtedly helps to sell the character, but it cannot be taken as a rule. After all, how many people can relate to a man-flesh eating murderer? Still, the character of Hannibal Lecter, played by sir Antony Hopkins is one of the most iconic movie characters ever. How did that happened? What is his secret?

Well, I believe that the key is a high contrast. You see an old man, gallant, extremely intelligent, loving history, art and classical music, but you know that a few minutes ago he has eaten someone’s face. Giving a character contradicting features is a good way to make it interesting and memorable and it is often used in games and movies.

A good example of that can be found in Tim Burton’s ‘Edward Scissorhands’, where the look of eponymous hero strongly opposes his personality. Although Edward resemble something between a demon from ‘Hellriser’ and a member of The Cure with scissors linked to his hands, he has a heart of gold, is shy, helpful and kind to everyone.

The above examples clearly show that it’s not good to judge book by its cover; nonetheless, movie makers and game developers constantly take an advantage of the audience stereotype thinking in order to make them perceive characters in a certain way. It’s especially noticeable among villain characters. When you look at Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort and Sauron you know at once that they are The Bad Guys, even though that the only thing that they have in common are the black outfits. Need a witch? Give her a black cat and broomstick. Archaeologist? Khaki shirt,  hat and whip!

Playing with stereotypes while designing look of a hero is easy and popular trick, although creators have to be careful not to over-use it as they may end up with a boring dummy, looking just like thousands of others. What are the other things that should be avoided? Don’t make you hero too powerful.

Superman is one of the most iconic, marvellous and simultaneously boring superheroes. He is as fast as light, strongest than any other man and he’s resistant to everything but one thing – kryptonite, which as a result drastically reduces the group of people that can stand up to him… and it makes all fights monotonous and predictable. In addition, he wears pants over his trousers – and that also should be avoided when creating a hero.

There are many things that should be kept in mind while designing a character. For instance, high contrast and playing with stereotypes are common methods of developing a hero. On the other hand, following stereotypes could result in copying previously created heroes which might be negatively received by the audience. So that, I believe that new ideas are worth trying as different doesn’t have to mean worst.

Elements of game design - part 2

During my first presentation, which was the review of the game Shadow of the Colossus, I tried to explain what was that ‘special thing’ that made this game one of my favourites. I talked about colossi looks, magical atmosphere and environments... But I felt like I was trying to describe taste of a cake by talking about eggs, flour and sugar flavours… I couldn’t find a word for the thing that made all these elements one extra piece... But I’ve finally found a name for it: art direction.

The person responsible for art direction during a game production is called the art director. His job is to make sure that all elements of the final game are well designed, created and what’s important that they all work together as a whole. It’s really important, tough and demanding job. Art director is a link between artistic team (including concept artists, texture artists and 3d modellers) and the game designer. He has to make sure that all artists accomplish given them tasks on a level required by game designer, but also that they are being provided all materials needed to do that. That is where close work with lead artists is really important, as they help to manage individual art departments.

'33 things I know about Art Direction' from David Bell

One could say ‘ok, I see it can be a hard job, but after all it’s still a managing job, there’s no difference between being art director and restaurant manager!’ Well... that’s no true. Although management is a big part of it, that’s obviously not enough. Even though art directors don’t create art pieces themselves they still need to be outstanding artists. Artistic knowledge of lighting, perspective, colour theory etc. is essential for being art director. If that wasn’t enough, they have to know everything about 3d modelling and textures as well!
Even though films and games are two different forms of entertainment I guess that the role of an art director in both is quite similar. They use different mediums but their task is the same: to make sure that everything works well together.

For me art direction is one of the most important aspects when it comes down to rating a game. A good example of game with an interesting art direction is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. It’s a game set in post-apocalyptic future, so your first thought would be a Fallout-ish atmosphere, moody colours and vast deserts like in Mad Max, right? Well – surprise! Enslaved is one of the most colourful games I’ve ever played! Most of the time in this game I spent in a full daylight, running through abandoned city that slowly turns in to a jungle, full of vibrant plants and flowers. But what is the most important – it works really well with the story.

Being an art director is a hard job and I don’t think I would ever be a right person for it. Beside of lacking some essential skills like good communication skill I don’t enjoy managing other people and don’t feel comfortable when I have to make big, important decisions.

Links:
http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/?p=4176
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20001204/davies_02.htm
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050912/bossant_01.shtml

Elements of game design - part 1

So gameplay – what is it? It’s one of the things that every player knows what it is, but is not sure how to explain it. I think that the reason is that every game has its own gameplay and it differs from one to another game’s gameplay. Even games of the same genre have different gameplays.

For example Baldur’s Gate and The Elders Scrolls: Morrowind are both RPG games set in fantasy universes. However if you look at them they look like a complete different games.The first one is isometric view RPG where you command the group of adventurers. In the second one you’ve got only one hero and you see the world through his eyes.

On the other hand… Are they really that different? In both games you’re on a quest, you fight the monsters, collect experience, obtain new weapons, and cast spells… The difference is how you do it – and that’s what the gameplay is. It’s the way in which player interacts with a game.

As you can see, it’s a very important aspect of every game and it has a great influence on a specific game look and playability. So who is responsible for that? Who, during the game production, makes decisions about gameplay, decisions that can drastically change the whole game? Well, it’s part of the lead designer’s job.

Basically, the lead designer of a game is like a director of the movie. It’s a person with overall vision of a game in his mind, who makes large design decisions to make sure that the final product will match this vision. It’s achieved by coordinating work of other designers: game mechanics designers, level designers and the writers. A game mechanics designer’s job is to make sure that the game is well balanced. For example, the person decides how much damage player will deal with a sword in comparison to damage dealt with a bow. Level designer is responsible for creating the game’s environment and levels. Writers create the story line, narrative, dialogs… They are responsible for making other game elements more coherent.

Beside of directing these people, the lead designer’s job is to presents design outside of the team and keep well-presented documentation of the game. One of the most important documents is Game Design Document. Usually it is created in the pre-production stage of a game development; however it’s constantly changing and improving during the production of a game. Basically, it is a written down core idea and vision of the game, which the developer team should refer to and use as a guide.

Obviously all these designers are only a part of the team involved in a process of game creation. Although some people still believe that games are created by 2-3 computer geeks closed in dad’s garage, that of course is not the case. More and more people are involved in creating games and the entire game industry is evolving with a great speed. I’m really excited to be a witness of that and I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look like in the future.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQcANX3NNE
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2675/into_the_transmission_randy_.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2156/game_design_theory__practice_.php