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http://nachos-digital.blogspot.co.uk/
where I will post updates on the continued development of my research.
Saturday 7 May 2016
Tuesday 13 October 2015
End of an MA journey
It's been fun, it's been stressful. It's certainly been a roller coaster ride what with all the personal afflictions that have been throwing them in the direction of me and my family. However I have become far more intimately familiar with characters with depth how to create cohesive characters beyond just the 'coolness' of a physical design.
I've done regular feedback throughout this final project, so I hope that it now reflects what I've been exploring throughout the past year. I would like to continue on with some of these aspects as I feel that there are still other things to explore regarding them. For example, there is potentially a lot more to the subject of ergodicity. How else can we encourage non-trivial cognition towards characters in games?
While this door may close, another will certainly open. My MA closes with the legacy of a Sage who sought knowledge and discovered a whole host of strong personalities more valuable than a few minerals and energies.
Final Project: The Experiential Whole
From this project I have managed to incorporate many aspects of character design that I have explored throughout the year.
There are a number of things that I would like point out and summarize.
For each character, I tried to keep in mind each of the key words I mentioned at the beginning of the project. And upon completion of each character design I gave these key words to my participants to review whether my characters fulfilled these categories I established for creating cohesive and engaging characters. I managed to engage over thirty people to take part in this review.
Firstly, was I successful in creating strong silhouettes? 75% of people said yes over all. Garrett and Aaron had the weakest silhouettes, apparently, although Aaron was still interesting enough due to his build and Garrett, as the plumper of the group was noticeable for his rounder stature.
The strongest silhouettes was Isolde, for her dynamic body language. On the whole, however, all of my characters provided an interesting silhouette. The next key word was Essence.
There are a number of things that I would like point out and summarize.
For each character, I tried to keep in mind each of the key words I mentioned at the beginning of the project. And upon completion of each character design I gave these key words to my participants to review whether my characters fulfilled these categories I established for creating cohesive and engaging characters. I managed to engage over thirty people to take part in this review.
Firstly, was I successful in creating strong silhouettes? 75% of people said yes over all. Garrett and Aaron had the weakest silhouettes, apparently, although Aaron was still interesting enough due to his build and Garrett, as the plumper of the group was noticeable for his rounder stature.
The strongest silhouettes was Isolde, for her dynamic body language. On the whole, however, all of my characters provided an interesting silhouette. The next key word was Essence.
Did I achieve this?
By essence I mean what is it about the character that makes them who they are, gives them a particular uniqueness. Immediately, the most obvious choice for a lot of people was Weiss for his albino appearance. The Saoirse (Caleb, Logan and Riina) were noted for having a strong
essence for the colour of their eyes in particular and their clothing and its 'wrapping'
like style.
As for Significance, this was the hardest key word to achieve.
Perhaps I designed too large a group of characters that would be able to play a significant enough role in a potential game, however the structure of the Maroon Panthers was appreciated, since as a group of allies all with unique skills that could all be a boon to the Aura Sage's journey, especially those with strong connections toAura. 67% of my participants were satisfied that most of these characters would be prominent in the proposed game space.
Coherence and Intrigue.
When each of my characters were given to my participants I was looking for this in particular: did the characters and their backgrounds/backstories suit the nature of the space I created? Did their alliance as the Panthers make sense? Could my participants view this scenario as believable?
The bottom line was yes. Fortunately. While some were skeptical about where a couple of characters might not be as intriguing as they could have been, most characters had something that made them individual enough and strong enough to exist within the given space.
It was largely when I provided the characters' backgrounds that the majority of
participants immediately said that the characters were coherent and intriguing,
leading me to draw a conclusion that it is not simply the visual design of the character that matters. That should be obvious anyway, but here it is re-iterated.
All of these aspects, coupled with the visual environment designs and the explanation of Aura to ground believability in some of the characters in particular, helped to create an experience as a whole. From looking at how people reacted to characters alone, versus characters with grounding and personalities, I could say fervently that characters are an integral part of an experience.
This was true as far as my feedback suggested, for 3rd person character with whom the player is intended to build a relationship. However my approach of creating a journal was to demonstrate my exploration into what makes people 'role-play'. The prompt for designing the Aura Sage had been this,
and the notes I had made from that point of exploration was that characters should have balance. They shouldn't be overconvoluted, nor should they be completely bland that the player isn't bothered about filling their shoes.
As such I had designed and developed the Aura Sage. The feedback I received for her was quite positive on the whole. Participants agreed that she was an ideal player character (well, about 85%) strongly agreed and so I can say with some certainty that my theory towards player characters has good ground.
I can safely conclude, from consistent feedback, designing and discussions, that an game experience is best served as a whole. Character designs can't reach their full potential approached as an isolated form of design. They are integral. The player must become integral with the game space as well, and by creating a character that offers intrigue and enough openness for the player to want to take their role, we can potentially do this. My characters were successful because they were intriguing and blurred the archetype, and strong in their visual design as well. My participants felt like they could become a part of those characters' world through having an appealing avatar, and I enhanced this engagement to this fictitious space by offering details about the world through the eyes of this particular 'player-character'
Final Project: Environments
There was one main thing I intended to establish throughout this project: experience.
What I have already looked at - archetypes and the notion of role- playing – is paramount to enhancing this. However without a visual world within all of this to exist, how can there truly be an experience?
When it came to designing and concepting environments, I tried to focus on what would be some of the more major places in the world. These would include the main hideout of the group of vigilantes, caverns of Aura deposits and the hidden location of Caleb's people. The paintings are only rough, since in a journal a great deal of time wouldn't exactly be taken to make them look especially pretty and pristine. That aside, it was the idea of what the world might feel like that was important. I did this before beginning to develop the characters, since I could then provide my earlier volunteers with these
environments and ‘play-test’ them, to investigate whether the visual space I envisioned was ideal for the characters I had created.
As part of the cohesiveness of a world, I wanted a strong reason for the existence of magic. While magic isn’t always intended to be understood – since in fantasy terms it is seen as an extraordinary and/or supernatural force – I felt that finding believable grounding in the existence of magic in this world would help to solidify this intended coherence.
At any rate, this gave birth to the concept of Eubellius, a continent with an illusion of peace between its seven nations.
What I have already looked at - archetypes and the notion of role- playing – is paramount to enhancing this. However without a visual world within all of this to exist, how can there truly be an experience?
When it came to designing and concepting environments, I tried to focus on what would be some of the more major places in the world. These would include the main hideout of the group of vigilantes, caverns of Aura deposits and the hidden location of Caleb's people. The paintings are only rough, since in a journal a great deal of time wouldn't exactly be taken to make them look especially pretty and pristine. That aside, it was the idea of what the world might feel like that was important. I did this before beginning to develop the characters, since I could then provide my earlier volunteers with these
environments and ‘play-test’ them, to investigate whether the visual space I envisioned was ideal for the characters I had created.
As part of the cohesiveness of a world, I wanted a strong reason for the existence of magic. While magic isn’t always intended to be understood – since in fantasy terms it is seen as an extraordinary and/or supernatural force – I felt that finding believable grounding in the existence of magic in this world would help to solidify this intended coherence.
At any rate, this gave birth to the concept of Eubellius, a continent with an illusion of peace between its seven nations.
What is Aura?
In spiritual terms, an aura a luminous radiation that surrounds people, and that you can tell things about a person from that aura.
It was this which progressed to the idea that, in a fantasy world, who is to say that it is not the Aura that is the 'magic' in the first place? What if people had the ability to manipulate this aura, and what if aura is the child of another source, a much, much larger one.
And so, the concept of Aura was born.
Similarly to how some of my characters were designed specifically with the Aura in mind, so were a number of my environment concepts.
I think it goes without saying that I then put my environment designs through the same process I had my characters, and the above are the most suitable results, it seems. I further analyse them in my art book. I was happy with the turnout of this since it didn't take a great deal of redesigning and/or reconsiderations to create some environments which felt cohesive with the cast of characters. The whole package was pulled together through these designs.
The Aura Sage would spend most of her journey moving between these prominent locations.
Final Project: Character line-up
Not all of my characters were actually successful designs, however I put the following to the test, and they were considered to fulfill my key points.
Final Project: Design Processes 1
I decided to post all of the designs and sketch-work here as one blog entry. The rationale behind all of these designs/changes/developments is discussed in my art book.
I just want to reflect upon what them all as a whole.
While some of them underwent little changes in their physical design, they would undergo changes in other areas such as their characteristics or backstories. This came as a result of 'play-testing' these designs amongst a variety of people.
While some of them underwent little changes in their physical design, they would undergo changes in other areas such as their characteristics or backstories. This came as a result of 'play-testing' these designs amongst a variety of people.
For the original 8 characters I designed, which I showcased a couple of blogs ago, I was mostly on the mark with having created intriguing characters which challenged their archetype. As I said, some underwent bigger changes than others.
I just want to provide an example of a smaller change and a bigger redesign and why.
Firstly, Trystan was redesigned fairly heavily, having received feedback that he came across as military to a number of participants. I didn't want this. Not only that, but his silhouette was found as lacking, and his visual design didn't quite oppose his story as much as I had hoped it would. This prompted me to rethink his design. The eye-patch remained however, since he still intentionally tries to hide the fact he has different coloured eyes; this characteristic remained. I just wanted him to look more common, more roguish or mercenary-like - in other words the opposite of what he actually is.
Caleb is an example of a character that went underwent subtle but noticeable changes. The largest redesign aspect was his colour palette. This was due to the feedback I received suggesting that viewers assumed he was from a hot desert country. To better reflect the kind of terrain he comes from (a very foresty island nation) his palette became primarily green.
It would be far too long winded for me to go through this for each character I designed. It was the same process for each of them. Did they fulfill each of the key words I had established?
I redesigned and reconsidered characters depending on the feedback I received, until the answer to almost all of them was 'yes'.
I redesigned and reconsidered characters depending on the feedback I received, until the answer to almost all of them was 'yes'.