YouTube Transcript:
Creating Strong Video Game Characters

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all right I can't I can't I'm sorry I
just can't I just can't do it anymore I
cannot take it this guy Gordon Freeman
regularly makes every list of the
greatest video game characters of all
time and I don't understand why I can't
possibly be the only person in this room
who every time he picks up a controller
thinks that there is something wrong
with him
as he's walking around picking up ammo
and health packs and people are trying
to tell him important things before I go
on I've been asked to remind everyone to
turn off their cell phones and to please
fill out your evaluations after the
session unless of course you work for
valve in which case maybe that just got
a little awkward all right where was I
all right I was making fun of this guy
but this problem this Gordon Freeman
problem is to my mind just one
manifestation of a common problem in
video games today and that is weak
character work right now character is
hard and it's hard in any medium it's
particularly hard in games which have
some unique requirements for doing a
good job of establishing character right
first and foremost in games the audience
is expected to become the character we
are one of the characters it's not
enough to have empathy or sympathy with
the characters we actually have to have
a sense of oneness a sense of unity
between the two and secondly there are
so many different types of games so many
different subgenres and almost every one
of them has its own peculiar particular
requirements for establishing characters
I mean linear games write fully scripted
narratives these have completely
different requirements from open-world
sandbox games where anything can happen
and on top of the different types of
games we have different ways of
presenting characters within those games
we have the silent characters right the
ones who have no voice we have the
cinematic characters the ones who are
fully scripted we have the open
characters the ones where we let the
players choose who they are and most
games I think fit within these broad
category
they're spectrums right so there's some
hybrids that fall in between you have
game like a game like halo where your
character speaks but he doesn't really
say anything and you've got games like
Mass Effect right where there's lots of
player choice but it's still heavily
scripted so many different types of
games out there with so many different
demands is it even conceivable that
there could be some kind of grand
unified theory of character in games
that applies to all of them well as it
happens I think there is and over the
next 45 minutes I'd like to tell you all
about it but first I'd like to talk
about myself my name is Jeremy Bernstein
I am a - at writer and game designer I
have designed games about everything
from ben10 to congressional
redistricting super-sexy and I've
written games on everything from dead
space to to pretty in pink
I've also recently been working in
Hollywood as a television writer for the
hit series leverage now I've gone and
used a dirty word just there Hollywood
writers are not usually very well
thought of in the video game industry
it's generally perceived that they don't
understand the specifics of games as a
medium the things that make them
different from film or television and in
general I believe that's true
however as someone who's worked on both
sides of that particular divide I also
believe that sometimes we in the games
industry have a tendency to throw the
baby out with the bathwater when it
comes to the ideas that come out of
Hollywood because despite the problems
these ideas are grounded in 3,000 years
worth of fundamental human storytelling
traditions and whether you're talking
about Oedipus Rex or Walter White it all
kind of works the same so maybe just
maybe there's something that we can mine
out of these ideas that'll give us some
insight into this guy know before I go
any further a disclaimer every game that
I talk about today is a game that I love
games that I don't love I left out of
the talk
now as you may have noticed I am going
to be from time to time speaking
critically about some of these games
particularly about certain elements of
character right but these are bits these
are pieces these are moments that don't
work for me and I find deconstructing
those moments to find out why they don't
work to be extremely instructive but
every game I talk about is a game that I
love are we clear
all right let's start off with a
question then why bother why characters
why our character is important in games
our character is even important in games
Tetris didn't need characters well the
answer of course is no we don't need
characters well we need in games as
avatars we need something that we can
control and this is one of the first
pitfalls that we run into when we're
talking about character in games is
confusing character and avatar for
example I think most people would say
that pac-man is one of the most popular
video game characters of all time but
really when push comes to shove pac-man
is not all that different from this he's
an avatar not a character and if I were
looking to start a fight which it's just
possible that I am I might argue that
the original incarnations of these two
guys are really basically just Tetris
blocks so what's the difference between
character and avatar well the difference
is context avatars give a game
mechanical context I mean when you think
about it games are really just systems
of numbers what is space invaders other
than some vector calculations three hit
point reservoirs and collision detection
but nobody wants to play that so we
create an avatar to make some sense of
it it's a way to create engagement with
the players that the sheer system of the
math wouldn't have so avatars provide a
mechanical context but characters
characters provide emotional context and
this is important because we are
emotional beings characters engage us
emotions engage us and if you want proof
look no further than this game
now if you played this game and you
didn't have an emotional experience I
don't think you're fully human but it
was because of the character work not
because of the gameplay there's barely
any gameplay in fact there's a whole
talk this morning on whether or not this
is actually a game and by the way if
this isn't a game then I don't want to
be a gamer but more than that there's
even data that suggests that characters
are more engaging in games to players
the narrative is if anyone was at the
game narrative summit earlier this week
there was a presentation from Deborah
Henderson a user researcher at Microsoft
about measuring player engagement in
games and one of her key findings was
that game characters were more memorable
to players than the plot so those who
asked why character I would respond in
short because science says it will make
people like your game more I'm
paraphrasing dr. Henderson slightly
there so character where do we start
well as with all good things let us
start with a definition
what exactly is character well broadly
speaking I would say the people in the
story
I bet everyone is feeling really good
about paying for those badges right
about now but I bring this up for a
reason right because character are the
people in the story so in order to
understand the definition of character
we first need to understand the
definition of story now whenever
somebody at a games conference gives a
talk about story someone in the audience
inevitably asks this question story and
games must we
and like character know of course we
don't need stories but we want stories
we like stories we crave stories human
beings apply storytelling to every form
of art that we have invented music
doesn't need story but we create opera
paintings are perfectly happy to be
landscapes or portraits but we're not
happy with that so no we don't need
stories in our games but damn it if
we're gonna have stories in our games
let
do them right and good stories require
good characters not just for all of the
reasons I'm about to explain but also
because science all right so back to our
definition of story if you've ever heard
me talk before then you know the
definition of a story that I subscribe
to and that is this someone who wants
something badly and is having a hard
time getting it and the reason that I
like this definition so much
particularly for games is that it splits
stories into two fundamental elements
objectives and obstacles and these are
terms that were used to thinking about
when we think about games objectives are
so important we put them right up front
on the HUD an obstacle well that's just
another word for game play and right
here is why good story requires good
character all stories start with someone
this someone is our character we
generally call them our protagonist the
protagonist has an objective something
that they want badly in between the
character and their want there are a
series of obstacles the character
proceeds forward pursuing their want
overcoming the obstacles till they reach
their objective and the story ends
that in a nutshell is every story so if
this is our definition of story someone
who wants something badly and is having
a hard time getting it then our
definition of character must logically
be someone who wants something badly
someone who wants something badly
and by the way this isn't just a good
definition for a protagonist ideally
this is a definition for all of your
characters all the characters in your
story want something the antagonist
wants something and whatever that
something is it is that which creates
the obstacles that are puro must face
love interest wants something presumably
what they want is the protagonist every
character every sidekick every quest
figure every Mook every random NPC every
character in your story should be
someone who wants something badly and
that's one of the reasons why I think
the story in this game is so effective
all the major characters in uncharted to
have a strong want and more than that
these wants are almost always in direct
competition with each other it's not
mutually exclusive
from each other let's start with Drake
now Drake actually has multiple wants in
this game first and foremost he wants
the treasure
a want in which he's opposed by the
antagonist lazarevich who also wants a
treasure well they can't both have it so
right there our wants lock us into
conflict now Nate also wants revenge on
Flynn for double-crossing him and this
is a want that Flynn understandably
opposes and by the way Flynn also wants
the treasure right so there's another
angle to that particular conflict
romantically Nate wants a relationship
with Elena or possibly also a
relationship with Chloe the two of them
both want a relationship with him which
outside the realm of fan fiction are
mutually exclusive once
and by the way Chloe also wants the
treasure so she is part of that whole
mess as well so you have all these
different characters all with their
conflicting objectives all with their
diametrically opposed wants all bouncing
off of each other to make life difficult
for our hero for the player and that is
why good story requires good character
because opposing launce create conflict
and conflict is not just drama conflict
is going to play
so this is how we define character
someone who wants something badly all
right now how do we create character
well character has three elements and
the first most fundamental of those is
this what do they want which makes sense
right this is our definition of
character it seems like a good place to
start when we start thinking about
character and the best part is that
thinking about this first want excuse me
this first element leads us directly to
our second element and that element is
action what do they do to get what they
want our protagonist has an objective
they're opposed by obstacles they
progress towards their objective
overcoming those obstacles through
action and the actions that they take
the things that they do to get what they
want those tell us who that person truly
is if the whomped is a definition of a
character then the action they take in
pursuit of that whomped is what defines
them as a character Hamlet
wants to avenge his father what does he
do he differs and that did the ring is
what defines him Luke Skywalker wants to
avenge his father what does and fight
the Empire right what does he do he
becomes a Jedi like his father maybe a
bit too much like his father and that is
the emotional conflict of this movie
Batman wants to avenge his parents what
does he do he wages a never-ending
crusade against crime and we've heard
this before right that character is
action
it's an old chestnut but I think it's
particularly applicable for games why
well because if character is action an
action is gameplay
well then character is going to play and
oh my god is that not the best
definition for character in video games
of all time and by the way that's one of
my problems with Gordon Freeman
what is Gordon's overriding action what
is the thing that Gordon Freeman hero of
the resistance
in every level the thing that he does
time and time and time again what Gordon
does is what other people tell him to do
so what does that define Gordon's main
quality as obedience
yeah there's a hero I want to be and I
pick on Gordon but this is certainly not
a problem that's unique to Gordon it
happens with a lot of silent heroes it
happened in Dead Space 1 in fact I used
to refer to this specifically as the
Isaac fetch my slippers problem and I
think it's one of the things that makes
players disengage from story in games
this is the opposite of what we're
trying to do with character it's the
opposite of engagement it always makes
me think of that old far side cartoon
right
what dog what we say to dogs what dogs
hear blah blah blah blah blah ginger
blah blah blah blah blah well come on
all right so our first two elements of
character what does the character want
what do they do to get what they want
and the third element is all the things
I haven't talked about yet which is to
say all of the things that we usually
think of when we think about character
we think about what they look like we
think about where they live how they
grew up who their family is what their
job is their class all of that stuff
this isn't character it is an element of
character and that element is
characterization who a character seems
to be what their traits are how you
would describe them not define them but
describe them and the thing that's
important about characterization is the
characterization is external it is the
outward appearance that forms a shell
around the character and if you want to
know who a character really is you need
to get past that shell you need to get
to what's inside well we can't see
what's inside and some games we can but
what's inside the character is there
won't
that comes from within and want leads to
action an action is external so action
becomes a window that what's a see past
the characterization into the heart into
the core of who that character really is
and that's why when you put these three
elements together you get a fully
developed character who they seem to be
outside who they really are inside and
how we can compare the two all right
that's all well and good but does any of
it actually apply to games well I think
it does because when we take a look back
at all those different types of games
that we looked at before what we find is
that not only do these three elements of
character apply to games they're also
explanatory towards games what
differentiates these types of games from
each other is who gets to decide those
elements of character right
the difference between a linear game and
a sandbox game is who makes the choice
about what the player does in a linear
game it's the designer in a sandbox game
the player has that choice what do I do
to get what I want now there's a
spectrum there to be sure right many
linear games are very wide railroads and
many sand boxes have tracks running
straight down the middle but by and
large the difference lies in who chooses
and how much choice you give the player
as to what they do similarly with the
various character types right the
difference between silent cinematic and
open characters lies in who chooses
their characterization in cinematic
characters that choice is made by the
designers and open characters that
choice is made by the player and silent
protagonists well in those cases no one
chooses now it's not as bad as that
sounds right there's actually a very
deliberate choice being made there the
choice being made there is to create a
negative space that the player can then
fill with whatever they read into it and
this can be extremely effective once
again right this is a silent protagonist
but she's negative space
by and large we know a couple things
about her but she's firing away the
least interesting person in his family
from what we know in the game but we're
still on board with her we're still I at
least was supremely invested in her but
not because of her characterization
because of her want she wants to find
out what happened to her sister and the
character work they do with the sister
the way that they establish her that
makes me want to know what happened to
her as well
there's the engagement because want is
the central element of character and
this is another place where things get
interesting because when we look at all
these varying types of games and all
their differences the choice of blonde
is almost always made by the designers
now sometimes you get a little bit of
player choice of Blanc
right mostly in open character games or
sandbox games but it's almost always at
the low level you don't get a choice in
the high level wants in these sorts of
things in Fable your high level one is
established for you you want to stop
Lord Lucien you want revenge for your
sister
the low level wants all the things you
want while you're on that quest those
are the things you get to make your
choices about you get married you get a
job are you gonna be good are you gonna
be evil you're gonna kick chickens right
that's the stuff that you get to choose
not what's also interesting is that
there is in fact a whole class of games
in which the players get to decide what
they want games like minecraft games
like The Sims but what's particularly
interesting is that in almost all of
those games you're not playing a
character you're playing a god or you're
playing an avatar generally not a
character so because of that they kind
of fall outside the scope of a talked
about character in games but I thought
it was worth mentioning right that this
theory of three elements of character it
predicts there should be a whole range
of games based around this and sure
enough there they are alright moving on
these three elements we can see that
they apply very well to an understanding
of how to treat character in all the
different subgenres of games
so clearly this theory is applicable now
what about the other difficulty that we
run into with character in games that I
mentioned before this issue of unity
between player and character in linear
media we don't have to worry about this
we just need to get the audience on the
characters side but in games we want to
take those two separate entities and we
want to make them one we want to create
unity between them and this of course is
why we get these negative space
characters like Gordon the idea is that
anything that the character does that
the player wouldn't do anything he says
any opinion she expresses any element of
characterization that's opposed to the
player will shatter that unity and you
end up with a non immersive experience
well now we have a slightly different
framework to use think about unity
because if there are three defining
elements of characters what they want
what they do and how they seem then
creating unity between player and
character means we need to accomplish
three different things we need to
establish three different kinds of unity
unity of trait unity of action and unity
of purpose we need to talk about these
three things each separately because
they are not all created equal what
happens if we don't have unity of
purpose if I as the player can't get
behind the want of the character well
what happens in short is we have a
problem
because I don't care I don't care what
they're going through I don't care what
they're doing and that means I don't
care about the story I have no emotional
context and by and large that means I
quit right now here's an example I want
to stress this as a personal story in no
way should anyone think this is a
problem with the game if anything it's a
complement to the game because it
managed to get me role playing so well I
screwed myself out of being able to play
the game the original Dragon Age my
character was a dwarven Noble and every
time there was a choice that was smug or
arrogant or superior I went with that
particular choice as a result the way I
ended up
playing this character which says a
wildly racist dwarf who had nothing but
contempt for all non dwarves to the
point that when NPCs started saying to
me the bad guys are going to destroy the
world I actually found myself thinking
not the Dwarven part I mean use surface
guys you're pretty much screwed but
we're dwarves bring him on my one no
longer aligned with the wants that the
game was pushing on me and I couldn't
play anymore so I broke unity of purpose
I did that to myself but nonetheless it
meant I had to stop playing a game I was
enjoying because I just wasn't engaged
so unity of purpose critical
now what about unity of action if we
don't have unity of action things get
interesting because there's two
different ways that a break in unity of
action can play the first way that it
plays is that the player looks at it and
says that's not what I would do now this
is a problem because basically this is a
form of ludonarrative dissonance the
story in the system are at odds with
each other and the as a result the play
experience is broken and I check out and
this again by the way this is one of my
big Gordon Freeman problems Gordon and I
do have unity of purpose right I'm down
with getting rid of the combine we're
good there but unity of action that's
where we have a problem because Gordon
doesn't do what I would do what would I
do I would answer people who talk to me
these are scared worried people who are
excited to see you because you are their
hero and what does Gordon do give them
the cold shoulder unity of action is
broken and I'm how and the problem here
isn't the silence it's not a silent
protagonist thing because gone home
works and portal works the portal
channel is my hands-down favorite silent
protagonist of all time
but those games work because those
characters don't have anyone to talk to
there's no violation of unity of action
and gone home she's all alone in portal
GLaDOS is talking to you over the PA
system but she's not actually present
and by the time you are actually in the
same room with her there's really not
that much left to say so unity of action
is preserved in portal and there's a
great controlled experiment for this
which is portal to Wheatley and GLaDOS
are both right there with you during a
huge chunk of this game and as much as I
love it as much as I love the gameplay
as much as I love the writing am I the
only one who really at some point wanted
to say - GLaDOS you know what you're a
french fry and I have a portal gun I'm
gonna take my chances but you can't so
portal gives perfect unity of action
challenge or two - not as much now I
said there were two responses to a
breakdown in unity of action first is I
wouldn't have dude I wouldn't do that
the second is I wouldn't do that but my
character would and this one actually
turns out to be okay in fact there's no
better example of this in games than
this guy right
Batman and I we totally have unity of
purpose he wants to stop crime I am good
with that unity of action do we have
that well what does Batman do to get
what he wants
now none of these are things that I
would do but what's awesome about the
game is that I get to be Batman the
fantasy is the attraction so even if I
wouldn't do it he would so he'll is yes
let's do it together
and that creates unity of action but
imagine for a moment imagine that the
Arkham games let you do this well now we
have a problem because killing people is
not only something that I wouldn't do
it's something Batman wouldn't do it's
out of character which breaks unity of
action and I quit and some people have
this response to the Uncharted games
right as Nathan Drake there are certain
things that I expect to do I expect to
jump I expect to climb to sneak to solve
puzzles to fight what I don't expect to
do is Nathan Drake is go on a murder
spree now personally this didn't bother
me right to me it just read as an
extension of the fighting body count I
didn't care but I know that some people
do and I can see why because it's a
break in unity of action and again it's
just because that doesn't seem like
something Nathan Drake would do right if
I were playing a Gears of War game then
murder spree makes total sense in fact
I'm not sure any other action makes
sense in a Gears of War game
all right so unity of purpose critical
unity of action variable can be fatal if
you break it but it can also be a
critical element of the fantasy to break
it so what about the last element unity
of trait what happens if we don't have
unity of trait well as it turns out not
so much unity of trait is kind of not
that important I mean think about this
insanely popular video game badass now
this may be the only game the original
Metroid the only game I can think of
that used a silent protagonist to
establish unity of trait with the
audience and then deliberately shattered
unity of trait for half the audience and
minds were blowing and it's not like it
heard of popularity honey so it's okay
if we don't get all the way to here to
unity of trade it may even be okay if we
don't get all the way to unity of action
as long as we get to unity of purpose
because two people who aren't the same
who want the same things but aren't the
same do you know what we call them we
call them partners and partners can work
together very well you don't have to be
the same you don't have to have the same
worldview you don't even have to like
each other if you want the same thing
you can work with them but if we end up
here if we end up with two people who
are the same but who don't want the same
thing who have unity of traits but not
unity of purpose you know what we called
them them we usually call enemies this
right here this is the real silent
character problem when the push for
unity of trait the push of for seeming
comes at the cost of unity of purpose or
unity of action you don't need to make
me be your care
I just need to want to work with them so
these are our three unities of character
shown by order of importance unity of
trait largely optional unity of purpose
important but fungible shoot me even if
you have action important but fungible
unity of purpose that one is critical
okay so these elements are so important
right let's get practical how do we
establish them well there are a lot of
different techniques that one can use to
establish these various types of unity
and games each sub-genre of course has
some of its own unique requirements but
I do think that there are some best
practices that apply across all of them
right so let's talk about unity of trait
first now I just said that you don't
need it but it's nice right it can
create identification with a character
if it's open it can create agency you
can create ownership for a character and
these are both forms of engagement so if
we can get there it's nice okay let's
not break our backs so how do we
establish unity of trade well let's look
at each of our three different types of
characters for silent characters we
don't establish unity of trait we
establish nothing that's what they're
there for
for cinematic characters we also don't
establish unity of trait we just let
them be themselves and we get to be
their partners although by the way as
long as we're on the topic I'd just like
to say that given that unity of trait
isn't as important as everyone seems to
think maybe we could share it a little
bit with people who don't look like this
alright our last type of character open
character's right where the player gets
to decide who their character is how do
we establish unity of trait here well
that's pretty well a solved problem
so that's unity of trait how about unity
of action things get a little bit more
interesting here are two different types
of games that are differentiated by
action linear and sandbox right both
have very different requirements in this
case but in both cases the easiest way
to determine if what you're doing is
going to help maintain a unity of action
is the same it's ask yourself one simple
question what would I do
does this action make sense to me or to
my character given the situation
and once you've got unity of action
maintaining it particularly in a sandbox
game it's usually pretty easy because we
let the player choose what they want to
do if they don't think their character
would do something then they don't do it
the tricky bit here is just making sure
you've got your bases covered enough
right so that you've got most of the
wants that people want
that's what play testings for now in
linear games where the player doesn't
get to choose where the designer tells
the player what it is that they're going
to do there a couple of different
techniques to use to establish unity
here first and foremost I cannot stress
this enough don't make them do anything
that's stupid this is a real pitfall
particularly in games right because
sometimes somebody comes up with some
really cool gameplay but there's no
narrative reason for it
so they just slap together some
half-assed excuse and you get a tortured
story players look at this and think
what am i doing why am I doing this
that's the opposite of engagement now
the other thing that you need to do to
establish unity of action is that you
need to make sure that you have already
secured unity of purpose action comes
out of want and nine times out of ten if
you're violating unity of action it is
probably because the player isn't
onboard with the same launch that you're
pushing right now this was something
that happened to me in the original dead
space alright and this game did a
fantastic job of establishing launch I
absolutely had unity of purpose
I wanted off that ship right so I go to
hell and back in order to try to fix a
shuttlecraft so we can get the hell out
of there we had unity of action on that
front too and then I meet this guy this
guy is still alive on a ship full of
people where everyone else who's still
alive is entirely batshit crazy and this
guy says to me you know maybe just maybe
I'm just throwing this out here
I know you fixed that shuttle because
what you really want to do is get the
hell out of here but I was thinking that
maybe instead of getting the hell out of
here what you could do is take this
giant obviously evil artifact that we
think was probably the cause of this
whole mess take it down to the planet
below and just kind of put it back where
we found it boom that is not what I
wanted to do I wanted to get out so a
disconnect and unity of purpose
disconnect in the whomped caused a
disconnect in unity of action right what
actually happened well Isaac went ahead
and said oh yeah what did I want to say
I wanted to say this nine times out of
ten problems with unity of action are
really problems with unity of purpose so
that being the case let's talk about how
we establish unity of purpose and this
takes us back to our definition of
character someone who wants something
badly now as it suggests there are two
components to unity of purpose what do
we want and why do we care and this last
part is critical it's not enough just to
get the player on board with the
characters warmed you have to get the
player to want it badly you have to make
them care and this is where we talked
about creating empathy in games this is
where we talk about the fields making
the player and the character share
feelings now for my money there is no
better example in games of establishing
unity of purpose than the opening
minutes of this game so let's take a
look at the first minute in 13 seconds
and see what they do
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
yeah that's my blood
there's my life part of my blood
[Music]
okay is anybody here not clear on the
launch anybody here not onboard with the
launch
right this is a great example and by the
way in that minute and thirteen seconds
they spend like the first 20 seconds on
that quote which does nothing so how do
they pull this off right how do they
create this degree of unity well the
first thing they do we start on the
inside of the train and what are we as
the player thinking in that moment we're
thinking what is this what's happening
here right and then we cut to Nate and
what's the very first thing that he says
what's going on that's exactly what
we're thinking right so we're sharing
thoughts we don't know where he is he
doesn't know either we are in the same
boat together and this is a technique
that I like to call sharing is caring
this is the easiest way to create
empathy right by sharing something
between player and character right it
can be a thought having the characters
say what it is that the player is
thinking it can be a mystery or a secret
right this is the Princess Bride moment
I am NOT left-handed right we knew that
so we have a shared moment shared
emotion make them feel what the
character with what the character is
feeling right it's possible in your game
depending on the type of game shared
choices or it's a moment where it feels
like the player is turning to you and
say I don't know what do you think and
maybe my favorite way to get players and
characters sharing in games is this
shared experiences because interactivity
experience ality that's the art of games
in film we say show don't tell in games
we say do don't show and you can use
gameplay to create empathy heavy rain
does a fantastic job of this right your
want in this game
Ethan's want I should say is to save his
children what does he do to get what he
wants that's what the games about right
you get to decide how far he'll go will
you crawl
through broken glass will you chop off
your own finger will you pull the
trigger on another human being well none
of those questions mean anything if you
don't want to save his children badly so
they have to get you on board with that
and how do they do that they let you
play with his kids you play
Ethan's love for his children and that's
what makes you care all right back to
uncharted the next trick that they use
after sharing a thought right Nate
realizes that he's been shot he looks
down he's covered in his own blood right
that's my blood that's a lot of my blood
what does this do well it makes him an
underdog and the thing about underdogs
is that everybody loves an underdog
right so what is this duel it's a trick
to make him likable that's another great
way to get people to be on board with
your character to care about them to
engage with them make them likable let
them be an underdog and be funny or
maybe like someone who makes them laugh
wouldn't be noble what can be admirable
make him sympathetic someone that we
feel for not just feel with because the
more that the player likes the character
the more that they want to be partners
with them so to walk through the rest of
that opening right next thing that
happens at the same time that Nate does
we realize the Train is hanging on its
side and in that moment BAM something
falls on top of us another shared
emotion surprise then he falls down the
back of the Train right he slams into
the rail as he falls wow that looks
painful
oops right sympathy poor boy that hurt
and then my favorite bit he's hanging
off the bottom of the Train I don't know
if you could hear this on the audio but
what does he do hang it on the bottom of
the Train he laughs he laughs and he
says haha crap right and this is all the
above first of all it's likability
because he's funny and second off it's a
shared joke because he's thinking I
can't believe this at the same time that
we were thinking can you believe
so boom were there we're thinking what
he's thinking and then we finally get to
his wand
what is his want to not die that's a
pretty easy one to grok as these things
go and that's another great trick
and another great take-home when it
comes to establishing unity of purpose
keep it simple if the player can't
understand the wand then the player is
not going to share the launch this is a
bonus the more basic the more elemental
the wand the less time you have to spend
establishing it unless you run into
exposition overload survive avenge
escape avoid acquire these are all very
elemental wants very easy for people to
get so that's unity of purpose establish
what they want establish why we care by
and large you built unity of purpose so
that's what I got as far as things to
talk about I hope I have managed to
convince you all to hate this guy as
much as I do
any questions
they're microphones up at the front yeah
I I it's more of an opinion on your part
but going through my head while you've
been explaining all this I've been
trying to figure out how the original
bioshock's character Jack kind of fits
into it because there seems to be a lot
of pros and cons for that character that
you've talked about but just your
opinion on him
um he's not my favorite silent character
but I think he works pretty well it's a
little they have a kind of clergy excuse
for why he never responds but you don't
know that for a huge chunk of the game
and so I think you kind of have to put
your it's a silent protagonist I'll roll
with it hat on and then you get that
surprise later on which is oh wait hang
on this is not you know this is this
exactly intentional so he works he works
all right but I think there are moments
where you definitely have that
disconnect of like why am I just
standing here not having any kind of
agency in this conversation
thank you I kind of had a similar
question to what he stated but it's
about another naughty dog game The Last
of Us I think that's a pretty good
example of a change in the unity of
purpose with what the player thinks I'm
just wondering if because it's something
so ingrained in what the character would
do if that makes it okay um yeah I mean
I think that I think that even when the
actions in that game are not what the
player would do I think that you look at
them and you say yeah but that's totally
something the character would do and I
mean I've spoken to people who have said
in so many words like I really didn't
want to do it but I couldn't begrudge
you know so yeah I mean III think that
works regarding establishing unity of
purpose like we all know that how like
different things about games affect
different people in different ways like
a friend of manic I personally liked
gone home another friend of
call it a walking simulator so is there
like any like golden rule of making and
making even casting a net wide enough or
is it just something that's just
stumbling in the dark I mean I think
that's a decision that you need to make
project a project is is are you gonna
try to appeal you're gonna try to be all
things to all people I think from the
way that I phrased that answer I think
you can tell what my opinion on that is
which is that is madness um you know I
think gone home in particular I think
was gonna run into problems from people
who it's an expectation management
problem people who went in expecting a
conventional video game are going to be
disappointed you know and that's true
with anything you know if you have huge
expectations for something and you come
in and it's completely subverts them
that's often a very disappointing
experience you know so I think that's a
that's a unique and interesting edge
case but yeah I mean I think if you get
get someone on board with a want right
if they want what the character wants
then they're gonna be invested that's
fundamentally what it all comes down to
thank you thank you
could you tell us some more Texas you
loved drama t-piece or anything
games for well certainly Walter White I
think from Breaking Bad is one of the
most I I will freely admit that I maybe
felt like identified with him a little
more than I'm comfortable with but he's
I mean he's a great example one of the
things especially in linear media it's
harder to apply to games but it's not
untrue in games right one of the things
that makes characters really interesting
is when you have maximum contrast
between their characterization and the
actions that they take right so you look
at someone like Walter White he's
characterized as a meek chemistry
teacher what does he want he wants
success or money depending on you argue
it what does he do he becomes a meth
kingpin and runs a crushing drug empire
chemistry teacher crushing drug empire
that's an interesting character and it's
consistent it makes sense right you know
you see that in
a characterization in a GLaDOS was
actually another great example all right
one of the reasons GLaDOS worked so well
especially early on I mean everybody
knows that GLaDOS is almost idle lunatic
now right but when you first start
playing that game
she's cold she's clinical she's robotic
right she comes across character I had
characterized as a machine as something
a logical being of science right and it
takes a while and about the time the she
starts to try to set you on fire when
you realize no this is actually a
passive-aggressive murder machine right
that's what makes her such an
interesting character so you know those
are the things that I look for when I'm
creating characters and when I'm looking
for what media I'm going to consume so I
have a question about sidekicks and
other side characters sometimes you you
have all unit of action and trait and
everything with your main character but
some time when he is interacting with
other NPCs and other characters
sometimes can the the main character
like another NPC that the player hates
like kind of mascot then it's really
annoying but the main character really
likes that can help to break the any
kind of unity yeah that is I would argue
that's a problem in terms of what your
sidekick does when it comes to what do
they do to get what they want
if what they do to get what they want
even inadvertently is annoy the crap out
of everyone around them I would consider
that a poor choice on the designers part
so it's a good question my question is
mostly regarding multiplayer games or
cooperative games I'd like to take the
example of journey which in my opinion
works with the hero's journey in in a
very interesting way because usually the
first time you're playing you're like
the hero so you don't know what to do
and then you find a mentor around which
is the other player and after you finish
the game and play a game you become the
mentor so in the gameplay they've found
a way an amazing way my opinion to kind
of close that cycle and make you feel
that journey and I mean in the in this
case it was a brilliant solution for
that kind of gameplay it matches very
well but I was wondering of other types
of cooperative employees how do you do
to make all the characters
and look as important as I don't know
the hero mm-hmm well I think I mean one
of my favorite examples of establishing
character through gameplay is also the
left 4 dead games right and they do that
through the enemy design because there
are multiple types of enemies that you
cannot defeat on your own right the ones
who pull you away from the group my
favorite ever where they call the
Belcher's right where they they vomit on
you and you go blind and all of the
zombies in the area come running towards
you right that mechanic would be
unconscionable in a single-player game
right but because you are dependent on
other people to survive right it creates
an emotional connection between you as
as characters right or between you as
players I guess I mean that's a game
where trait is pretty minimal in that
game right but want and purpose those
two things I think you create a great
degree of unity if I'm not working with
these people I'm gonna die therefore
what do I do I work with these people
so it's typical to say in TV or movies
that a character has a fatal flaw and
for a lot of it because they're outside
you're not you're not their avatar you
know you can watch them do horrible
things and you can root for the
difference between what someone wants
and what they need can you speak a
little bit to how character flaws work
in video games character flaws are
tricky in video games they're easiest in
cinematic games like Uncharted right and
that's you know Drake pulls off a
perfect arc in that in that perspective
but they're easiest because you can
script it when you're dealing with flaws
with characters in video games because
the player to some extent is getting to
choose what they do you know the
question with a fatal flaw is always do
I succumb to my flaw or do I overcome my
flaw right and that becomes a choice for
the player to make in most games that
try to deal with that now there's one
way you can do that you can do that
explicitly right which is pretty much
what fable 2 does right when all is said
and done you have a choice do you save
the dog or
you save or do you do take the money
right that's a question to ask who are
you and what's really important to you
what are you going to do but they make
that explicit in lots of games that
stuff becomes implicit and when it's
implicit this choice between whether I'm
going to shoot someone in the face or
not right a lot of times it passes
unnoticed by the players there's no
question there you know and that to me
is a problem so I think fatal flaws can
work but they're tricky and you need to
make sure that the player understands
the choice that they're making
you know you need to make that a
dramatic moment for the player not let
that be something that's thrown away in
the in the heat of combat time for one
more question
yes all right so one of the major things
about the unity of purpose I've noticed
was one game that I played The Legend of
Dragoon 1 the main character had a
purpose unity of purpose and I could
have relate to this purpose because
despite it being a very I don't want to
evil but very like vengeful because he
won't basically the main character
wanted to avenge the death of his
parents by killing the very thing that
did this action and despite it being a
very heinous act on my book like
something I wouldn't normally do or
anything like that but I could relate to
it and understand that what my question
is later on down the road the character
gets to the point of finding out who
this character is and it turns out so
it's someone that has been close to him
and it's been like a friend to him if
not one of his closest friends of all
time
the one is it a good thing to change the
unity of purpose because the unity of
action would prevent him from
accomplishing the original unity of
purpose well what you're talking about
is changing his wand
yes right so you've got unity of purpose
the two of you are together and all of a
sudden he jumps to the
left-right the question is whether or
not you move with him right if you stay
behind that's what that was the dead
space problem which would all of a
sudden Isaac wanted to go down to the
planet and I was still like no call the
Marines for cryin out loud like I'm an
engineer I'm not gonna fix this right so
the question is whether or not you can
make that leap with them if you can then
it's perfectly fine to all of a sudden
say you know what this is what we wanted
all along but oh my god I want this
other thing more now and so that's what
we're gonna do right that's a that's a
very classic you know character arc is
the whole time I was going after a but
it turns out what I really needed was B
so as long as you can keep unity of
purpose in that jump then that's a
perfectly reasonable thing to do with a
with a character or the other thing to
do of course right is to leave it up to
the player whether or not we're gonna
change our purpose right what are we
gonna do about that my friend betrayed
me I could shoot them in the face or not
what do you do so that's the other way
to handle that kind of thing
thank you all right thank you very much
everybody
you guys the rest of the show