Creating My Protagonist (intro)

 One of the first things I wanted to accomplish when looking at producing this game was a successful protagonist or player character, especially since you spend the entire game with this character.  But what is a successful character?

Is a memorable character successful?

An easily recognisable character?

A relatable character?

A believable character?

Or none of the above?

For me the success of a character is determined by the goals you're hoping to achieve from creating them, and is split between visual design (how they look) and personality (how they act).  Separating these two elements can be more understood when creators are trying to purposely subvert their audiences expectations - think something looking really cute but being incredibly dangerous, or a character who appears to be very powerful but is actually easy to defeat or not even an enemy.

The cute but extremely powerful Kirby and Pikachu

Nearly all giants in Dark Souls 1 are boss encounters or difficult enemies then along comes Hawkeye Gough who, though as fearsome as he appears, actually assists us.

These examples clearly show how visual design and personality of a character are not intrinsically linked but are both elements to be looked at when creating a character to allow for more depth.

In the next couple of posts I will be looking at these elements separately as well as how other professionals deal with them whilst further developing my own protagonist into a style that can be applicable to the game as a whole.