Creating Video Game Characters

One mistake that creators often make when initially designing their own video game characters is that they try to make the design process too complex. They will sometimes want to implement too many elements to flesh out a character’s backstory or they will try to make the character flawless. A character that is presented as being perfect will never win the approval of gamers who play your games. For every character that you create, from the main protagonist and the main antagonist to everyone else in between, you have to provide a few flaws and weaknesses for them. A character that has some flaws is more likely to obtain the sympathy of your gaming audiences.

A character’s backstory doesn’t need to include every unique element imaginable to resonate with gamers. They typically want to be emotionally invested in a character with a backstory that is unique, but not too complicated to understand. You don’t need to stick to a specific theme when creating a character, but you do need to tie your character’s foundation around something that gamers can identify with. For example, if your character has his or her own logo or symbol that means something to them, then you can highlight that and make it a central part of your character.

It doesn’t hurt to include a few trivial things about your video game character that don’t necessarily matter to the game itself, but only serve to expand on that character’s personality. For example, we know that Donkey Kong and his friends love bananas since they are used as currency on his island in games. Mario, a pudgy Italian plumber who can jump really far and high, loves Italian food. Sonic the Hedgehog, a blue hedgehog that can run at blinding fast speeds, loves chili dogs. Other character traits to include would be to describe what fears the character has, or if they have any hidden talents.

There are key differences between main protagonist video game characters. Mario is known for his jumping abilities and solid platforming skills. He was originally called Jump Man when the arcade game Donkey Kong was released. In the Donkey Kong Country series for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Donkey Kong and his pal Diddy Kong utilize barrels to either throw at enemies or use as cannons to launch themselves to different parts of levels. Bomberman is a bomb-throwing hero who uses a wide variety of attacks to take down enemies, but he also finds the time to ride on his faithful companion Louie, a kangaroo-like creature, as seen in the Nintendo 64 game Bomberman Hero.

Sonic the Hedgehog is mainly about speed while some emphasis in his games are also put on basic platforming skills. Sonic’s momentum-based style of play keeps gamers in suspense as he zooms by various parts of levels, acting like a bouncing pinball sometimes. Ratchet and Clank are a dynamic duo of heroes who travel from planet to planet to stop enemies from taking over galaxies. Ratchet, a Lombax, is a mechanic who likes to build and fix things. Clank is a small intelligent robot who can transform into a huge destructive robot at various points. Ratchet gets to blow enemies away with futuristic weapons that pack a punch with gamers that are science-fiction enthusiasts.

Sly Cooper is considered to be a “Master Thief”, a scheming raccoon who literally steals valuable items to stay true to his family’s legacy. Sly is part of a long line of thieves who made careers out of craftily stealing the most valuable goods. Having a team consisting of a genius turtle named Bentley whose expertise is in technology, a large and powerful hippo named Murray who has a great appetite, a dancing hipster iguana named Dimitri who is a fantastic swimmer, and sometimes even a cute vixen cop in Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox who both chases him and adores him, Sly executes many jobs to help his gang and to stop criminals from taking over the world.

These are just a few examples of unique video game characters that have been successful. When you dissect these characters, you will notice that it doesn’t take much to give these characters an identity, a purpose and a variety of motivating factors that makes these characters what they are. Most importantly, though, is that these characters are fun to interact with when you play as them in their games. These characters allow you to expand your imagination on what a character should be like and how far you can take your own custom characters. Video game characters are mainly characters that we can get behind, enjoy playing as, and are willing to go on adventures with in and out of games.