How to create a game character

In order for a good story to be effective, it requires symbols that personify it - characters. The best and most interesting characters may already exist in your head in the form of an idea, but in practice, everything is much more complex. Additionally, creating a video game character can be difficult compared to creating a character for a movie, since the connection between a game character and the player is much stronger than that between a movie character and a viewer. Let's take a closer look at how to make a video game character and how the creation of 2D and 3D characters differs.

 

 

Tips on how to create video game characters: concepts and ideas

 

 

The tips that you will read below are suitable for both 2D characters and 3D, so you should not skip this point. When creating video game characters, be attentive at the stage of inventing an idea. And so, for a good character, it is extremely important to have:

1. Motivation. When designing video game characters, the actions of the character must be conditioned by something. That is, if a random person just got up and went to kill dragons and save the world, it looks stupid. Motivation also determines not only the actions of the character but also its very existence, therefore, when creating a character, ask yourself the question - “What is this character for, what will he do and why will he do it?”.
2. Character. The nature of the character distinguishes him from the background of the "cardboards" (the so-called poorly developed characters).
3. "Chemistry". In this case, chemistry is the connection of this character with others. This will allow you to connect the character not only, for example, with his companions, but also with the story as a whole.

When creating a video game character, if all of the above elements are taken seriously, then it will be possible to create an excellent companion or antagonist (opponent of the main character), but this should not be abused when creating a protagonist (main character). If the protagonist is too strong and deeply developed and does not leave room for "fantasy", then it will be either too difficult or impossible for the player to associate himself with the character.

 

 

Protagonist character creation

 

 

If the player cannot associate himself with the one for whom he has been playing for many hours, then no one may end up liking such a character, even if he turned out to be perfect.

The answer to this dilemma of game character designing is freedom of action. Imagine the situation - you created the main character, who was saved as a child by forest nymphs, and therefore he never kills them, as he has already said several times in important story cutscenes. And an hour later he went into the forest to kill them to save the blacksmith's son or something like that.

This will create a feeling of the duplicity of the character, as well as make him deceitful and hypocritical in the eyes of the player and tritely cause dissonance. In various non-interactive works (books or films), a person can associate himself with a secondary character, but in games, this is often impossible, since the player spends all the time playing for one specific character and watching exactly his story while seeing others only when they are "in sight". Apart from those rare cases when the player is given control of another character or “flashbacks” or “flashforwards” occur in the game (this is a flashback in reverse - when the player sees something that should happen in the future, after which the action will return to the conditional present).

Solving this problem, however, is easier than you might think. It is enough either to design a game character with which almost everyone can associate themselves or to give the player freedom of action when his decisions will have different consequences. Let's look at this with a few examples.

 

 

Cult characters and different examples of character development

 

 

How can you link Gordon Freeman, Nathan Drake, Agent 47, and Commander Shepard in one sentence? Firstly, they are one of the most famous game characters ever created. And they all have distinct personalities. All these characters are examples of different approaches to character development.

 

 

Well-designed but not-so-good developed characters

 

 

By the way, a few words about Gordon Freeman. This is probably an ingenious video game character-designing move. Since the character does not speak, it is extremely difficult to understand what his character is, what is in his head, and how he would react to certain actions of the player - this gives almost complete freedom of action to the player and also allows anyone to independently create the character of Gordon and associate themselves with him.

The next example is Agent 47, a hired killer with nothing but a number and skills to kill. He is almost completely devoid of emotions or personal views - in the entire history of the series, there were only a few cases that can be conditionally called a manifestation of will and personal views. It also gives you almost unlimited freedom of action and allows you to play out a huge range of possible styles - from a crazy psycho who kills everyone he sees to an invisible ghost who does not touch anyone but his target.

Nathan Drake is the main protagonist of the Uncharted series. What can be said about Nathan? He is a little good, a little bad, a little funny, a little serious, a little sad, a little naive, and a little smart. That is, he can be called "normal".

Since the actions in the games of the series are extremely linear, giving almost no freedom of action, a different decision was made. Namely, to make the protagonist as typical and average as possible - so that as many players as possible can associate themselves with him, albeit not always.

 

 

Highly developed, adaptable, and player-friendly characters

 

 

But no matter what scars you bear, whatever uniform you wear, you can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard but you’ll never be better than Commander Shepard! In case you're interested – these are lines from one good song you may want to check yourself. Also, Shepard is yet another example of an absolutely genius character design. Shepard, like many other characters from the Mass Effect trilogy, is highly developed and you may think that there's no space for a player to feel free and do what he wants. This is not the case, because Shepard is as much developed as the player wishes. It is the player who chooses the appearance of the commander, his backstory and determines his character with his actions - this allows any player to create such a character, looking at which he will think - “Yes! He is like me."

But there are exceptions to this game character designing rule. This mainly applies to older and more hardcore games where the player could "Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created". But there is a more modern example - Geralt of Rivia, the protagonist of the series about himself.

A well-known, brutal, almost emotionless hard worker who, in search of Ciri, did not miss a single opportunity to play Gwent. Geralt is a highly developed character, as he is based on a hero from a vast book universe, and by the third (and most popular) part of the game series, his character has only been further expanded. The character is worked out so well that almost any moral choice in the game series can be given an answer - would Geralt do it or not?

But this still did not stop millions of gamers around the world from falling in love with him and associating themselves with him, even if there was almost nothing in common between the player and Geralt. When creating a character, it's important to find a balance between everything you've learned above. What, are you dizzy already? And we've only just begun!

 

 

Characters made by players themselves

 

 

You don’t have to create all the characters for your game yourself! If you manage to fill the world with characters and create a charismatic antagonist, but you just can’t come up with the main character, don’t despair, because there is a way out of this situation. Just let the player create the main character instead of you! Let the player choose the appearance of the character and let the player make their own moral choices.

Thus, the player will create and develop the character himself. Let's look at this with a few examples:

1. Commander Shepard. As mentioned earlier, the player himself chooses the appearance of the commander, chooses his backstory from several pre-created ones, and also creates a character by choosing certain options in the dialogues.

2. The main characters of Knight of the Old Republic 1 & 2. The player again independently chooses the appearance from several options, comes up with a name, and creates a character by performing certain actions. The backstory of the character, which connects him to history and what is happening, is revealed during various plot twists, which at one time caused shock among the players.

3. Dragon Age Origins. The player again independently chooses the appearance of the character, selects a name for him, and can also choose from a list of ready-made backgrounds, each of which is different and affects the plot in its way. At the same time, the player independently creates a character during dialogues and difficult moral choices and independently builds relationships with deeply developed companions.

There are a large number of games in which the player himself creates his character - from The Sims to World of Warcraft. Even if the player faces some kind of global task, then the character created by the player himself, which will be revealed during the game, will be much closer to him than the character prescribed by the game developer - with rare exceptions. Now, let’s talk about how to design a video game character.

 

 

2D characters creation step-by-step and software for creating characters

 

 

Let's move from theory to practice - and talk about creating 2D characters and then move to 3D. Let's assume that you already know what you want, what your game will be like, what the main character and other characters should be (at least approximately), and so on. Consider the process of creating a character step by step.

 

 

Step 1 – Making a concept character

 

 

The first thing to do - is to create a video game character worksheet. The creation of a character concept is the first, and probably the most important step. After all, changing the physical appearance of a character when the game is almost ready will not be a huge problem, but rewriting the entire story to fix a few flaws is already much more difficult. You can read about it in more detail in this article.

 

 

Step 2 – Sketching

 

 

2D Character design starts with sketches - from 3 to 6 (or more, if you want) sketches that show the most different ideas within the same concept. Such sketches are usually created in black and white lines or "from the spot" to determine the approximate silhouette, image, and main features of the character's appearance.

 

 

Step 3 – Making an image better

 

 

After the general image of the character is ready, it is necessary to supplement it with various details, make the forms more clear, and also rework something, if necessary. The drawing remains black and white - at the stage when frequent improvements and revisions are possible, it makes no sense to paint something, with very rare exceptions. Because it will just add unnecessary work to you.

 

 

Step 4 – Adding color

 

 

After the monochrome sketch no longer needs large-scale processing, you can add a color scheme to the character. After that, the last edits are made and the final sketch is obtained. Large-scale changes at this stage are not expected.

 

 

Step 5 – Finalizing the work

 

 

After all the work has been done, the character development should be completed and all the necessary small details that may have previously been fuzzy or missing should be added.  A 2D character maker should keep in mind one thing - the character must be "readable". That is, it should not merge with the background, which is why it is worth checking the finished character not “in a vacuum” or some random covers, but on real ingame backgrounds.

 

In general, processes may differ depending on different specifications. For example, this step-by-step instruction was based on a 2D character design in Photoshop. But there is much more character-designing software you can use.

 

 

2D character design software

 

 

Software should be chosen depending on your goals (remember - it makes no sense to buy a tank to kill a mosquito) and skills. Consider some of the most popular character creator software:

1. Blender. Free and open-source cross-platform software. Used to create 2D / 3D animation, drawing models, etc. The product is not very suitable for professionals, due to limited capabilities, but will be indispensable for less experienced animators and designers.
2. Pencil2D. Another free and open-source program used for video game character designing. The most simple interface, an intuitive process of creating models, it is possible to import and export GIF animations, which will be useful for 2D games. Suitable for beginners/amateurs.
3. Photoshop. This is where the free programs end. And yes, it may come as a surprise, but Photoshop is used not only to “get rid” of a few extra pounds in your favorite photo. This program is also well suited for creating 2D characters, having convenient and extensive functionality.
4. Toon Boom Harmony. This program has been the "gold standard" for professionals in the field of animation, character creation, and so on for several years now. The program has extremely wide functionality, supports many different formats, can work with 2D and 3D and also combine them, and so on. However, it is not very suitable for beginners, but rather for professionals in their field, or at least for those who know what to do.

You can also find many other programs. First of all, you should start with free ones, especially if you have a poor experience in this area.

 

 

Character design process and 3D character creator software

 

 

Creating a character for a game is more complicated when it goes 3D rather than 2D. The similarity is present only at the stage of the character concept, and the similarity is almost complete, so this stage will be omitted further. Consider the creation process also step by step.

 

 

Step 1 – High poly model sculpting

 

 

The first task is to use all your knowledge and skills to create the most detailed model. You should not feel sorry for the polygons, because, in the next stages, it will be problematic to add more detail. At this stage, ZBrush or Sculptris are suitable character creation software.

 

 

Step 2 - Retopology

 

 

After you have created a highly detailed model, it should be optimized. It is unlikely that you will be pleased with the skinning of a model in which there are about 20 million polygons. Therefore, further work should be done on retopology. The main essence of this process is to reduce the number of polygons to optimal values ​​​​and build the correct mesh suitable for animation. Character designing software suitable for this task - 3D Max or PolyDraw. The easiest way to build the topology is to use loops at the folds, this will facilitate further skinning and make animations more natural.

 

 

Step 3 - UV mapping

 

 

The next step is UV Mapping - you need to unwrap all parts of the mesh so that the character's texture fits correctly on the model. If any particular part needs more detail, you can give it more space. Also, when creating a sweep, you should hide the seams in inconspicuous places, for example, on the inside of the arm, in the armpit area, and so on, and for this process, you can use a standard set of tools in some of the character designing software, such as 3D Max.

 

 

Step 4 – “Baking Maps”

 

 

It may sound strange, but that's how it is. The essence of the process is to transfer high poly models to low poly models, using texture maps, such as Normal Map, Ambient Occlusion, and others. Luckily, this process happens automatically and such video game creator software as Substance Painter is perfect for this procedure.

 

 

Step 5 – Texturing

 

 

The next step in designing characters for video games is texturing, for which the previously mentioned Substance Painter is great because it gives a unique opportunity to paint directly on the model. For texturing, you can use both manually created materials, for example, for some non-standard needs, and the built-in materials of the program, which are enough in most cases. Here you should be extremely careful since the quality of the resulting model depends on your efforts.

 

 

Step 7 – Rigging and Skinning. Finishing the work

 

 

Rigging and Skinning is the final step in creating a model for a video game character. To breathe life into the created character model, it is necessary to create bones and apply them to the model. The essence of the process is to bind the skeleton to the 3D model of the character itself while adjusting the bones to the proportions you need.

 

Be patient, this process is very time-consuming. After the distribution of the skeleton, you should correctly assign a weight to each vertex of the model, and the greater the weight, the more each specific bone affects a specific vertex of the 3D model. The more correctly the topology of the model was compiled (see step 2), the easier the skinning process will be.

 

Only after passing through all these stages, the model can be considered complete. This is followed by the creation of animation, after which the model is imported into your game engine and tested, also do not forget that changing the completed 3D model is a complex and time-consuming process, therefore, creation should be approached responsibly and changes should be made at the first stage of creating a model. Don't forget that the moment of concept creation is of key importance because you need to think everything through in advance, so creating a character concept is more difficult than you think. Creating characters, games and animations is more difficult than you might have thought before.

 

 

Game animation software

 

 

We have already mentioned a lot of programs for character creation, but there is some more animation software for games worth your attention. They are:

1. Autodesk Maya. One of the oldest animation programs existing. Has extensive functionality and is used by MANY companies to create different animations. Not suited for beginners, can also be costly but has a free trial version.
2. Poser. Perfect for creating 3D poly-meshes human figures. Suitable for beginners, amateurs, and professionals - it has something to offer to everyone. Also costly, but has a trial version.
3. MakeHuman. As the name says, this program will help you to design characters for games. MakeHuman is free, has a very user-friendly interface, and is suitable for both beginners and professionals, making it a nice option to start with. You have nothing to lose, so why not try?

As already mentioned, to create a video game character you should choose software according to your skills and needs. And in case you feel like your skills are not enough to create a high-quality product, you can make a character concept with the help of outsourcing companies, or go even further and ask them to create characters for you based on your specifications.

 

 

When you don’t need highly-developed characters

 

 

It is worth discarding games in which there is no one to develop and make the main character - various Tetris, chess, dominoes, card games, and puzzle games like Balance. No matter how logical it may sound, the article was about games with living beings to create video game characters from. It also doesn't always make sense to develop a lot of characters, for example in sandbox games where players usually just relax and entertain themselves, even the genre itself usually does not include a high degree of character development.

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