Assignment 3 - Report & Prototype
My focus for assignment 3 was on my tool as a ‘character’ creator, meaning that it should produce real characters, with their own set of behaviours, traits, and style. I feel that I discussed my tool UGACE, and its usability and uses of design systems pretty heavily in my assignment 2 report so I will just discuss some changes and enhancements.
To expand on the idea of UGACE being used to create real characters, the generated parts and overall character designing elements of the tool will be greatly based on the type of game the user has chosen to design for. This restricts what the user is able to do, but puts more stress on the role of the designer rather then the tool-users own design abilities. This will make characters produced in UGACE consistent and more appropriate to the style of games the user creates them for.
The end result is that whatever the user creates in UGACE, it can then be appropriated to different games in the correct context and style without having to redesign the whole character again. The tool will then need to be limited to certain games that the program understands and has a database for. Custom models could possibly still be used but wouldn’t be interpreted correctly or will select a ‘closest match’ (determined by tags attached when importing the model) when opting the model for a different game.
Avatar vs Actor
In game design there is a very definitive purpose for characters, depending on the type of game being developed. Toby Gard suggests that there are two main genres in developing characters for games and it depends on the players perspective, whether third-person or first-person.
He discusses that a first person game is designed to immerse the player into the environment, meaning that the character is the player and the game character should simply just be an avatar, or a digital reflection of the players self. A third person perspective game on the other hand is usually more story driven, and so the main character (who is constantly in view), should have their own personality and behaviours that reflect through their movements and appearance. Because the user can see the character, when a character says or does something of their own accord (which is important for characterisation), it wont hinder the users experience because they are aware that who they are controlling or influencing is not actually them. While if this happens in a first-person game the aspect of the user actually being the in game character, becomes lost, because the character reacted in a way that the user didn’t intend or act upon.
When designing characters for specific genres of games, the character likewise needs to reflect the style of game they feature in, which is why a character like Mario, although a hero who constantly saves the princess, wouldn’t work in a game like Prince of Persia. Both share the same type of game “puzzle adventure”, but their settings are completely different, needing a completely different style. Bottom line is the characters cant simply be regurgitated from one game to the next and be considered to be successfully designed characters.
Game Characters in Game genres
Certain game genres can generally be assumed to have particular styles of characters. This is mainly due to their demographic and the types of people the games were designed for.
Adventure Games
Are represented by a hero character, someone who is the master of their profession and who the player can idolise and pretend to be. They are usually visually represented by attractive and fit people with good posture and a whole lot of confidence.
Shooters
Shooters and First Person Shooters, particularly multiplayer shooters, all have a certain hardcore adrenaline rage to them, and the characters are typically represented by serious soldier type males, with angry determined faces, and big butch builds.
Social Games
Usually require the making of a digital self or avatar. As a result they are supplied with many customisation options which the player can use to represent themselves. However more often than not people create ideal versions of themselves, meaning most of the characters made are either a thin females with enhanced features, or a tall toned male with great hair. Some games may not involve humans, but they are all generally cute and innocent.
Fighting Games
Fighting games is one genre that has a commonly mixed style. What I mean by this is these games are influenced by real life fight like UFC or wrestling which incorporate mixed martial arts meaning very different styles. But at the same time all fighting games have characters that are ready to “kick your ass” even Pikachu and Kirby in Smash Brothers. There is also a large number of games out there that incorporate mixed genre characters like: Soul Calibur 4 with Star Wars characters, Super Smash Brothers, and Mortal Combat vs DC Universe.
Although some of the combinations look a little weird when in game, and the reasons for them being there usually more for great marketability than interesting gameplay, they demonstrate how fighting games and its nature of mixed styles can still work if the characters are simply put into a fighters stance and have some angry looking eyes. I can also use this example to show how each game also has its own style, and the characters that get ‘imported’ into these games get a makeover and are restyled (e.g. in smash brothers brawl, Solid Snake from the MGS series makes an appearance but seems to be more stylised and exaggerated, particularly in his movements, which suits the Smash Brothers style, from his original realistic one. (SSBB MGS2)
UGACE for multiple genres
Giving my tool the ability to transform a user created character to different genres/styles is a very unique and innovative one. It would make user generated content for games a lot more controlled and lets the game still play out as how the developers intended. At the moment, customised characters are only available in games where the developer has designed the game with custom models in mind (i.e. like SPORE), however if game developers could trust that user created avatars and models would not influence their game negatively, it can be embraced amongst all games, producing a new generation of games where all of them are personalise-able meaning they will be much more advanced than books or movies, which is how many games are today with their controlled story driven mechanism.
A lot of people also don’t really have the ability to create something themselves, that they would like, in the game their playing, and this would let them do it comfortably. A negative would be the lack of variation and creative, however I could argue that those creative enough to create well designed characters that still suit the game are probably able to do it without this tool, which sets a definite target audience for this tool, the casual gamer who doesn’t need or want to do the hard work to enjoy the game with their own personal touch.
Problems I see with this system though is a lack of one. I don’t seem to think of any ‘generative’ way in which these characters can be appropriated. Tagging certain objects so they would relate, or rule based, if game A is chosen with option C choose head B, is very limited and would require just a large database of parts and knowledge.
Possibly I guess the characters can be generated through what the selected game model restricts or requires, for instance, the user creates a soldier for Battlefield 2, in using that same soldier for Battlefield Heroes the tool would firstly simplify the textures to certain colours, inflate and exaggerate some of the model thereby caricaturing it, as well as technically reducing polygon counts and livening up the colours (contrast). I guess also simply matching colour coordination would be effective enough in certain situations.
Prototype and example of appropriating characters in UGACE
This is an example of the final process once the user has designed their character, they have to option to export it to other games, the system generates one without having to design it all again in its style. The prototype is of a user who generated a version of Mario for Unreal Tournament and wants to convert it to a Nintendo Mii. Notice as a result of the unreal tournament moustache, the generated mii now has a handle bar moustache, while the real Mario has a bushy moustache. This is an example of the generated system referencing the created model rather than known knowledge of ‘mario’.
Reference list:
TOBY GARD. Game character design
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000720/gard_01.htm
information on character design on characters in general
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/20_character_design_tips
example character design for a fighting game
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/designing_new_games_retired/64497/1
game being developed about character customisation, an example of one style of game characters and its blog
http://rumblah.com/
http://rumblah-en.blogspot.com
a book on game character design and a video example from it
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/kth01.html
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/clips/kth01_clip.html
To expand on the idea of UGACE being used to create real characters, the generated parts and overall character designing elements of the tool will be greatly based on the type of game the user has chosen to design for. This restricts what the user is able to do, but puts more stress on the role of the designer rather then the tool-users own design abilities. This will make characters produced in UGACE consistent and more appropriate to the style of games the user creates them for.
The end result is that whatever the user creates in UGACE, it can then be appropriated to different games in the correct context and style without having to redesign the whole character again. The tool will then need to be limited to certain games that the program understands and has a database for. Custom models could possibly still be used but wouldn’t be interpreted correctly or will select a ‘closest match’ (determined by tags attached when importing the model) when opting the model for a different game.
Avatar vs Actor
In game design there is a very definitive purpose for characters, depending on the type of game being developed. Toby Gard suggests that there are two main genres in developing characters for games and it depends on the players perspective, whether third-person or first-person.
He discusses that a first person game is designed to immerse the player into the environment, meaning that the character is the player and the game character should simply just be an avatar, or a digital reflection of the players self. A third person perspective game on the other hand is usually more story driven, and so the main character (who is constantly in view), should have their own personality and behaviours that reflect through their movements and appearance. Because the user can see the character, when a character says or does something of their own accord (which is important for characterisation), it wont hinder the users experience because they are aware that who they are controlling or influencing is not actually them. While if this happens in a first-person game the aspect of the user actually being the in game character, becomes lost, because the character reacted in a way that the user didn’t intend or act upon.
When designing characters for specific genres of games, the character likewise needs to reflect the style of game they feature in, which is why a character like Mario, although a hero who constantly saves the princess, wouldn’t work in a game like Prince of Persia. Both share the same type of game “puzzle adventure”, but their settings are completely different, needing a completely different style. Bottom line is the characters cant simply be regurgitated from one game to the next and be considered to be successfully designed characters.
Game Characters in Game genres
Certain game genres can generally be assumed to have particular styles of characters. This is mainly due to their demographic and the types of people the games were designed for.
Adventure Games
Are represented by a hero character, someone who is the master of their profession and who the player can idolise and pretend to be. They are usually visually represented by attractive and fit people with good posture and a whole lot of confidence.
Shooters
Shooters and First Person Shooters, particularly multiplayer shooters, all have a certain hardcore adrenaline rage to them, and the characters are typically represented by serious soldier type males, with angry determined faces, and big butch builds.
Social Games
Usually require the making of a digital self or avatar. As a result they are supplied with many customisation options which the player can use to represent themselves. However more often than not people create ideal versions of themselves, meaning most of the characters made are either a thin females with enhanced features, or a tall toned male with great hair. Some games may not involve humans, but they are all generally cute and innocent.
Fighting Games
Fighting games is one genre that has a commonly mixed style. What I mean by this is these games are influenced by real life fight like UFC or wrestling which incorporate mixed martial arts meaning very different styles. But at the same time all fighting games have characters that are ready to “kick your ass” even Pikachu and Kirby in Smash Brothers. There is also a large number of games out there that incorporate mixed genre characters like: Soul Calibur 4 with Star Wars characters, Super Smash Brothers, and Mortal Combat vs DC Universe.
Although some of the combinations look a little weird when in game, and the reasons for them being there usually more for great marketability than interesting gameplay, they demonstrate how fighting games and its nature of mixed styles can still work if the characters are simply put into a fighters stance and have some angry looking eyes. I can also use this example to show how each game also has its own style, and the characters that get ‘imported’ into these games get a makeover and are restyled (e.g. in smash brothers brawl, Solid Snake from the MGS series makes an appearance but seems to be more stylised and exaggerated, particularly in his movements, which suits the Smash Brothers style, from his original realistic one. (SSBB MGS2)
UGACE for multiple genres
Giving my tool the ability to transform a user created character to different genres/styles is a very unique and innovative one. It would make user generated content for games a lot more controlled and lets the game still play out as how the developers intended. At the moment, customised characters are only available in games where the developer has designed the game with custom models in mind (i.e. like SPORE), however if game developers could trust that user created avatars and models would not influence their game negatively, it can be embraced amongst all games, producing a new generation of games where all of them are personalise-able meaning they will be much more advanced than books or movies, which is how many games are today with their controlled story driven mechanism.
A lot of people also don’t really have the ability to create something themselves, that they would like, in the game their playing, and this would let them do it comfortably. A negative would be the lack of variation and creative, however I could argue that those creative enough to create well designed characters that still suit the game are probably able to do it without this tool, which sets a definite target audience for this tool, the casual gamer who doesn’t need or want to do the hard work to enjoy the game with their own personal touch.
Problems I see with this system though is a lack of one. I don’t seem to think of any ‘generative’ way in which these characters can be appropriated. Tagging certain objects so they would relate, or rule based, if game A is chosen with option C choose head B, is very limited and would require just a large database of parts and knowledge.
Possibly I guess the characters can be generated through what the selected game model restricts or requires, for instance, the user creates a soldier for Battlefield 2, in using that same soldier for Battlefield Heroes the tool would firstly simplify the textures to certain colours, inflate and exaggerate some of the model thereby caricaturing it, as well as technically reducing polygon counts and livening up the colours (contrast). I guess also simply matching colour coordination would be effective enough in certain situations.
Prototype and example of appropriating characters in UGACE
This is an example of the final process once the user has designed their character, they have to option to export it to other games, the system generates one without having to design it all again in its style. The prototype is of a user who generated a version of Mario for Unreal Tournament and wants to convert it to a Nintendo Mii. Notice as a result of the unreal tournament moustache, the generated mii now has a handle bar moustache, while the real Mario has a bushy moustache. This is an example of the generated system referencing the created model rather than known knowledge of ‘mario’.
Reference list:
TOBY GARD. Game character design
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000720/gard_01.htm
information on character design on characters in general
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/20_character_design_tips
example character design for a fighting game
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/designing_new_games_retired/64497/1
game being developed about character customisation, an example of one style of game characters and its blog
http://rumblah.com/
http://rumblah-en.blogspot.com
a book on game character design and a video example from it
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/kth01.html
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/clips/kth01_clip.html
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