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.

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 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 2

I went through this same processes for the new characters I designed as well.

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. 

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'. 

Final Project: Peripherals

The notion of using physical artefacts was to help with visual articulation. It's all well and good being told about something or seeing an image about something, but when it comes to non-trivial cognition, you want to be able to work things out yourself. It's the whole 'show, don't tell' scenario, really.

 

The Sage's collecting of these various stones leaves suggestions that she is a bit of a collector or hoarder, and is conscientious about the studying to find the answers she seeks. Also, the fact that she carries minerals over currency is an indication towards her disposition towards wealth. At least, these are some of the factors which were brought up in reviewing this with some volunteers.

The letters had a positive effect towards being able to make assumptions about why the Aura Sage is on her journey. They don't tell outright, but they leave strong hints.

These all accompany the journal to add substance.

Final Project: Redesigning and Redeveloping

I might note now, actually, that the original keywords I had determined a little while back changed slightly as I realized that I needed to be able to summarize this in better words.

Perhaps this is an easier way to consider it:

•Silhouette - This is fundamental, and a reminder that we must always consider the basics. Without them, the rest can lack continuity.

•Essence - What about the character makes them, well, 'them'? What appeal do they have and are they unified with the space in which they live?

•Significance - Do they play a role that is significant in any way, even if subtly? Why are they a prominent character? A character that has a strong role can offer indirect control if the player engages with them well.

•Coherence - Do they make sense in the world in which they live? This also helps me to consider whether the previous three points are unified. Unification comes under this umbrella, in terms of visual design and otherwise.

•Intrigue - Is the character appealing enough to strike curiosity? Is there something about them, their essence, that encourages the player to want to learn more about them?

•Experience - All of these points culminate in creating an experience for the player. Strong characters aren't made in isolation. The above keywords can all connect a character to their space. They should be considered as one whole. The basics help to lay down the foundations of this, while the rest enhances it. 

With all of this in mind, I was able to being developing and redesigning both the original 'Red Panthers' I had designed and a newer cast that would potentially bring more substance to it. It could create a richer world for the Aura Sage to describe in her journal.

I just had to be careful not to make it overly-saturated and convoluted. 

This is a shorthand preview of the redesigns they went through: 

Of course, there is rhyme and reason to how they were redesigned following various feedback.
It goes without saying that one of the most obvious changes was art style. While this is an attribute applying to a whole space as opposed to singular characters, it is still important to consider in terms of cohesiveness. A more serious-looking art style is more appropriate for a serious setting.

Final Project: The Travelling Sage

As I reflect upon this now, it's kind of easy to see the mistakes I made with the first design. When designing this character, I wanted to create a character that was both interesting and plain at the same time. I know this sounds contradictory, however there needs to be a balance between the two and I aimed to try and achieve this. 

My first design was to create character that was interchangeable between genders, to be able to allow players of either to be able to slip into a role. Then again, the players' gender shouldn't matter, and neither should the main character's, all things considered. 

Anyway, this was the original design and I wasn't happy with it. Naturally I called for feedback, and the general consensus was that this design didn't fit the bill of a traveling scholar, which was essentially what I was trying to go for. And it was considered too boring. There was nothing interesting enough to make them want to know more.

 

The only thing really noticeable about these designs was the face scarf, but it took away from the less combat-oriented nature that I was trying to get across. 

As a result, I revisited how to get across a strong character that would provide enough interest. I didn't want an overly eccentric physical design. 

 

 This design was met with a much better reception when I asked for feedback. Although there was some debate about the use of colour, it helped me come to the conclusion that the most appropriate would be blues. This is, in real life terms, often associated with prestige or with wealth (take royal blue for example) and given that this character was intended to be one on a journey towards knowledge, I determined this appropriate. Another factor in favour of this is the fact that she, as a character, has no permanent home. She has traversed numerous terrains and blue is a colour that suits almost no terrain (unless she can live and breathe underwater or something!). In other words, it hints at the fact she doesn't really have a suited environment and doesn't really belong anywhere.

The way I decided to provide details about her, who is deliberately unnamed (she is known as the Aura Sage and has the initials F.M) , was through a journal written from her point of view. This way viewers would be able to learn about her piece by piece, with subtle suggestions being made from her personally, and at the same time uncover different things about the other characters and environments of the world in which she (and they) exists.

Where My Final Project Began

Given the success in creating characters that intriguing and contradictory to archetypes, I decided that this same group of characters would be the starting point of my final project. In a way, exploring Archetypes has been a precursor to the whole thing. 

At any rate, I originally considered how and why I would develop these characters, and that's what led to my brainstorming of a bigger picture. How would they fit in? And how exactly would I present these characters, which would not be intended as player characters within a game? 

I've mentioned ergodicity several times throughout my research, and here is where it has come in handy. It is essentially non-trivial cognition, in that the viewer/player/reader (whatever medium) cannot passively just take in what they are given. They must interact in some way and think consciously about the literature with which they are engaged. In games this would apply mostly to narrative-focused ones. (I can't remember If i explained this in an earlier blog post, so I did it again!)

This prompted me to consider that these characters I would develop could be portrayed through the eyes of a fictional character, a 'blank slate' character that would allow my viewers to be able to step into the shoes of someone of that world. Firstly, to explore the nature of depth of character players seem to prefer in a player-avatar, I conducted an experiment with an interactive powerpoint. (It only needed to be simple, and was similar to that of an animatic, albeit an interactive one with choices for the participants to make). 

 

This interactive event had several difficult avenues of choice and ultimately four possible outcomes. These would be minor, something that would drastically affect the endgame but would affect the journey. This tested whether people would make decisions as themselves or as the character. If they made choices in the role of the character, I wanted to know what made them role-play. If they did, I also wanted to know why not. 

By questioning these things, I was able to establish that people felt that it was harder to become the character the less information there was about them. I had deliberately left the 'player-character' ambiguous, even leaving them as a silhouette. As a result I found out that people liked to have some sort of an idea about the character, however too much would make them too convoluted for people to be able to take their role. The solution I came to was to create a character that appears blank, with enough substance to entice players, and has elements surrounding him/her which are suggestive to their personality/character.

This was the prompt for creating the Aura Sage.

Too Busy Working; Forgot to Update!

My bad!

This is starting to sound old, right? Apparently I've been so preoccupied doing the work that I forgot about updating the blog with reflections on the feedback I received and summaries, etc etc. The stuff I usually forget to do, only on a much smaller scale. Eight weeks is a long time not to update on my progress, especially since when I last updated it was somewhere near the beginning of this final project. 

It doesn't really help that I lost another relative this summer. Stress levels have been rather peaked lately. So I suppose the way I've dealt with it is just sinking into my work and getting it done, and forgetting to review it on my blog. Don't get me wrong... I've gathered feedback and information.... just drew my results and carried neatly on without taking a pit stop to showcase my progress and analyses. Woops. 

Brace yourselves, these next 24 hours and several posts  (several? not exactly sure just how many) are going to be one large reflective dump of information.