Game seeds

1. Design & Research : Game Design
Workshop on Character
Design using Game Seeds
Day two : debrief day one
April 2010 - C.Berg D&R : Workshop : Game Seeds Page 1

2. The Hero
• The Protagonist : which the player controls.
• His engagement creates the conflict that drives
the story.
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3. Characters
• Allies: acting along
side the main
character.
• Antagonist: character
or force acting against
the main character.
• Minor characters:
having small impact
on the story’s
outcome.
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4. Foil character
• Contrasts with the Hero, and so highlights
various facets of the main character's
personality.
• Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson
• Moonlighting: Maddie Hayes & David Addison
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5. Dramatic Arc
• Meaningful, Escalating Conflict: creating a sense
of Tension, Time Pressure & space of Uncertainty!
• The Protagonist faces an Obstacle that keeps him
from accomplishing his Goal.
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6. Game’s Character Design
Constraints & Gameplay Driven!
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7. Character 2 Game Design
• To develop your Hero FOCUS on:
– A Unique and Attractive (/Disturbing)
Personality
– Specificity/Adaptation to a unique context
– ACTIONS << BEHAVIORS Patterns
– A Character to Play With!!
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8. Character 2 Game Design
• Innovative Character Behavior Patterns through
funky, strange & attractive attributes
• Specific Personality, Uniqueness 2 trigger:
Curiosity
Attraction
Identification
• Actions to perform (embedded in the Hero
behaviors patterns) >> Gameplay
• Ultimate goal: engage the player in a fun & funky
experience in an intuitive way
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9. Character 2 Game Design
• Start by Designing Characters to come up with
new and innovative Game Ideas… to Design
Games: possible ???
• Focus on creating funky, engaging character’s
behavior patterns without any technical
constraints
• Gameplay to be driven by the Hero’s behavior
patterns & attributes
• Intuitive way of thinking and designing the
interaction and the player experience
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10. Back-story : how the met?
• Introducing the main characters and how
they met the first time (+ universe, time,
relationships, prevailing status-quo).
• A setting, the context for the game conflict
+ the motivation of the characters >>
engaging players to PLAY!
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11. Assignment
• Create a duo of Characters (from scratch)
– Present your characters
– Add some illustrations (if possible)
• Propose a Game Idea!
– Write the backstory of your game idea
– Be ready to pitch your game idea!
• Work in pair
• Pitch your idea in 15-20 min (max) during the
last session of the workshop, Tue 20th of April!
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