Visual Character Design

Lecture 02

CO5034 Characterisation and AI for Interactive Environments

Lee Beever

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Last Week

This module
Assignments
3D Pipeline refresh
3D Modelling exercise

Learning Outcomes

You will be able to describe the different techniques for

developing an art-driven character (LO1, LO2).
Visual appearances
Stereotypes
Accessories
Silhouettes
Colour palette

Be able to demonstrate the use of polygon manipulation

tools in 3DS Max (LO2).

Visual
Appearances
CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

Visual Appearances

Well look at:

Specific/non-specific
Humanoids, non-humanoids and hybrids
Stereotypes
Cartoonlike qualities
Accessories

Specific/Non-specific

Its important to know if your player avatar will be specific or nonspecific.

A specific avatar is one that is fully designed and fleshed out by the
designer:
Lara Croft (reboot)
Nathan Drake

Non-specific are characters that are more of a shell than a fully

fleshed out character:
Link
Gordon Freeman
(Adams, 2013, p. 184-185)

Designed/Player Designed

Specific characters allow for detailed narratives and

story. The player relates to them as they would a
main character in a book.

Non-specific characters are harder to develop deep

narratives around but the player sees them as an
extension of themselves.

Humanoids, non-humanoids, hybrids

Characters tend to fall into one of these three

categories:
Humanoids
Non-humanoids
Hybrids

Dont think that all your characters have to be

humanoids. Be creative.

Humanoids, non-humanoids, hybrids

Humanoids

Non-humanoids

Hybrids

Human like. 2 arms, 2

legs and a head. Stand
up right.

Shaped like vehicles or

machines, animals or
monsters.

Think mermaids or
human/machine
combinations.

Any human like

character.
They dont have to
look human, but
should have the same
bodily structure.

Cylons in Battlestar
Galactica
R2-D2, Transformers.
Marthain LOZ: Links
Awakening

(Adams, 2013, p 186-187)

Stereotypes

In games we rarely have large amounts of time to go

into depth about NPCs backgrounds and their
character.
Cut scenes do help, but are often limited to main characters.
Talking in game to NPCs is an option.

One simple way to convey a character type quickly to

the player is through stereotypes (Ibister, 2006, p. 916)

Stereotypes

Stereotypes can apply to peoples:

Races (origin)
Jobs
Personalities
Sexuality
Etc

Stereotypes should be used with care to avoid offending

people.
However they are effective when used correctly. Well look at
this more next week.

Accessories/Uniform

You can utilise accessories and uniforms to help

inform the player of a characters job/intentions.

This uses stereotypes to help the player quickly

understand a characters purpose.

Unique clothing can be used to quickly identify and

differentiate characters.
(Adams, 2013, p. 191-193)

Examples

White lab coat = Doctors, lab technicians, scientists.

White lab coat + stethoscope = Doctor.

A swordsman with a Foil = sophisticated, trained

killer/guard.

A man with a meat clever = Murderer and madman.

Cartoonlike qualities

Vast majority of characters (even realistic characters) will

have an exaggeration of some sort in games to ensure
they are interesting to the player.

This can be done visually, in the way they stand and

dress.
Or even their proportions.

Or through the way they act and interact with other

characters.

Some examples of Cartoonlike

Qualities
Cool
Cool

Tough
Tough

Cute
Cute

Rarely get upset

Rarely
get upset
about anything.
anything.
about
Body language
Body
is verylanguage
relaxed.
is
very
relaxed.
Movements
are
Movements
are
often over the
often
over
top and
fullthe
of
top
and full of
energy.
energy.

Exemplify
Exemplify
physical
physical
aggression.
aggression.
Generally
large,
bulky
Generally
bodylarge,
type
bulky
body
type
(exaggerated
(exaggerated
Exaggerated
body
Exaggerated
language
body
language
and movement.
and movement.

Often designed
with
Often
designed
proportions
withofproportions
a baby.
of
a baby.
Baby
faced.
Baby
faced.
Animations
Animations
often allow
often
them allow
to do
them
do
thingsto
they
things be
they
wouldnt
able
wouldnt
be
to do. able
to do.

Sonic
Nathan Drake

Ryu (SF)
Bowser

Captain Olimar
Pikachu

Goofy
Goofy
Often have
slightly
Often have
odd
slightly
odd
proportions.
proportions.
Comedic

Comedicand
animations
animations
and
body
language.
body
language.
Physically
Physically
awkward.
awkward.
Goofy himself
Scooby doo
Raving
Rabbids
Minions
(Adams, 2013, p. 187-190)

Cool

Tough

Cute

Goofy

Task

Start a new PowerPoint presentation.

For each of the categories below, pick one character that

represents the category well and list how they have
achieved this. Use a slide for each, with an image and
description on each slide.

Bully
Cute
Laid back/cool
Military personnel.

Silhouettes
CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

Silhouettes

Its important to think about the silhouette of your

characters.
Most memorable characters have unique silhouettes.

The silhouette can influence your player immediately.

It also aids in the readability of characters when in

encounters and in game action.
Especially important for enemy characters.
(Rogers, 2010, p. 138-141)

Who is it? What does the silhouette tell us about the character?

Differentiation

Unique silhouettes can help with differentiating

between enemies.
This is vital in fast paced games with orthogonal enemy

design.

It also helps to create more interesting characters to

look at and fight against.

(Valve, 2012, p. 2)

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf

Which is the more powerful enemy?

What do the silhouettes tell us about the characters?

Humanoid Characters

It can be difficult to create unique silhouettes for

humanoid characters.

This is where accessories and colour palette will help

with differentiation.

Task

Continue the task from before.

This time add a new slide and add a collection of

characters that you feel have well-developed
silhouettes.

Colour Palette

CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

Colour Palette

When developing a character it is important to think

about the colour palette.

The colours used in your characters palette can tell

the player a lot about a character.

Colour Palette
The colour palette can be used to inform on the
following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Reaffirm the theme of the game and game world.

Create a memorable character.
Visual aid.
Evoke a reaction or emotion from the player.

Theme

The colour palette used for a character should match and also
help reinforce the game (world) theme.

A realistic FPS (Arma) would require characters to use realistic

colour palettes.
Camo colours, etc.
Bright pink soldier outfits would look odd.

A cartoon-like game like Mario or Zelda allow for far more

colourful and bright character colour palettes.
The bright colours help to reinforce the world style.

Battlefield 4 - DICE

Super Mario 3D World - Nintendo

World Theme

This also applies to reinforcing the world theme.

A cartoon-like game thats based on vampires and in

the underworld would work better using a darker
colour palette.
Using lots of bright colours for characters would break the

more sinister theme.

Bright colours could be used for comedic effect.

Dont Starve Klei Entertainment

Visual Aid

The colour palette can also help with identifying characters.

Giving your main character a unique colour palette will help

with visibility for the player.
Original Tomb Raider games the only asset in the game that was teal

was Lara.

It can also be used to differentiate between friend and foe.

Hints of green for friend
Hints of red for foe.
Etc.
(Adams, 2013, p. 194)

Visual Aid

Its best to pick 2/3 bold and contrasting colours.

Block out contrasting sections with the primary

colours.

Especially important for 2D/pixel games.

(Valve, 2012)

http://www.valvesoftware.c
om/publications/2010/GDC10
_ShaderTechniquesL4D2.pdf

Emotion

All colours have

a emotional
connotations
attached to
them.
You can use
different colour
palettes to
ensure a
character evokes
a certain
emotion.

Colour
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Pink

Emotion/Feelings
Intensity, strength and anger.
Calming, tranquillity, good luck, health, and
jealousy.
Feelings of calmness or serenity, but also
sadness.
Cheery, happy and warm
Calming, associated with love and romance.

(Colour Affects, N/A)

Task

Continue the task from before.

Finally, add a new slide and character that you think

uses the colour palette well. Discuss how you think it
achieves this.

Task

CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

Character Research

In pairs or small groups you are to discuss the following:

Choose 1 character that you think is memorable/or does its job

well in a game. Choose a 2nd character that you think does a
poor job. Can be a main character/NPC or an enemy.

Discuss how they utilise (or dont the following):

Stereotypes (incl cartoonlike characteristics).

Accessories/clothes/uniforms.
Silhouette.
Colour palette.

3D Exercise

CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

Part 2 3D Exercise Adding Detail

You are you continue developing your 3D windmill asset started last
week.

You should have completed the block out for the model.

Now you need to start adding more details to the mesh.

Start to use the polygon manipulation tools to add details to each

element.

Once complete you need to tidy up and optimise your asset.

You should have a basic block

out.
Now start using the polygon
manipulation tools to edit the
elements to add more detail.
To do this youll need to
convert your objects to
editable poly. Right click >
Convert to > Convert to
Editable Poly.

https://
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.c
om/originals/a6/8d/22/a68d
22315be1df59b5c9dd72492b44
fe.jpg

3D Exercise Peer Review

You are to submit your windmill asset 3DS Max file to

Moodle for peer review.

You will find the peer review submission box under Week 2.

You are to submit this by 16:00 on Monday afternoon.

For information on the peer review process please see the

document on Week 2.

3D Refresh
Demo
CO5034 Characterisation and AI

Lee Beever (2016-

3D Refresh

Quick refresh to cover the following topics:

Converting meshes to editable poly.
Polygon manipulation tools:
Extrude
Inset
Chamfer
Connect
Weld
Attach
Smoothing groups and optimisation

References
Adams, E. (2013)Fundamentals of Game Design (3rd ed.).San Francisco, CA: New
Riders
Colour Affects. (N/A) Psychological Properties of Colours. Retrieved from http://
www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours
Isbister, K. (2006). Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach. Boca
Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Rogers, S. (2010)Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design (1st
ed.).Chichester, United Kingdom: Wiley.
Valve. (2012) Dota 2 Character Art Guide [PDF]. Retrieved from http://
media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf

Additional Reading

Valve Dota Characters

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2Chara
cterArtGuide.pdf

Colour Wheel
http://colorschemedesigner.com/csd-3.5 /

L4D2 Character development

http://
www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2010/GDC10_ShaderTechniquesL
4D2.pdf