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Part One
In this essay, there is going to be an in-depth examination of character design as
well as the individual elements that are in the process of character creation.
There is also going to be a comprehensive discussion on each elements
significance and effects on the medium of computer games utilising market
leading examples.
A characters design can start in many different ways such as a drawing, one of
the biggest examples of this being Mickey Mouse and then the personality and
name of the character coming later. However, some experts such as Meretzky
believes you should know your characters background inside and out before you
can continue. He recommends techniques such as the high concept which is a
short description of a character at a base level, an example from Meretzky being
a marsupial whos been genetically enhanced by a mad scientist (Meretzky,
2001) as a high concept for Crash Bandicoot, which then can be used as a basic
to further flesh out the character.

(Gamespot, 2014)
Meretzky also recommended a method for this which he called the
Backgrounder, which is a series of questions you answer for your character in
order to better under him, her or it. Meretzkys justification for this is theyll (the
player) see your character acting and reacting in real, natural ways; dont do
this, and your character will be a shallow cliche. Which he believes makes your
character less relatable to the player and less likely to become successful as a
consequence of this. Another way you can flesh out the background of your
character is a relationship diagram which is an image that demonstrates how all
the major characters relate to the player character in terms of aggression /
friendliness and in terms of dominance/submissiveness. This diagram below was
created by Isbister and represents how all the characters in Jak and Daxter relate
to the titular character such as his love interest Kira being friendly but slightly
dominant over Jak, whilst his sidekick is friendly yet submissive. Isbister also
goes on to say shifts in friendliness or status that will happen during the game

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between these characters and the player-character. which means you could
either create a second or third diagram for different points in the game to see
how they change or make notations of arcs and relations on the lines for each.

(Isbister, 2006)
She found this helps with defining your player characters position in the story,
and how the character would react to any given character.
Another more shorthanded way of defining your character is through
stereotypes, these are visual shortcuts which help you give the player a basic
understanding of a character with little to no dialogue or exposition. These are
often used for minor NPCS and enemies because they get very little time to shine
in the game and have to be characterised easily. However, these can be used on
major and player characters, but typically will be expanded later. Isbister
discusses that a good way to expand a character is to go against type an
example she gives is Guybrush Threepwood from Tales of Monkey island who is
less your masculine swashbuckling fighting hero, but more your bumbling more
effeminate and quick-witted hero who likes to talk his way out of a fight, making
him atypical when compared to other pirate characters.

(Garota Gamer,
2014)

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There is also a more immediate way to define a character almost immediately
and entirely visually that is through both colour and silhouettes. Silhouettes have
been demonstrated to be very important in multiplayer character based games
such as Overwatch, this is because the player needs to be able to identify which
character they are up against in order to make the best possible snap decisions
in combat. Because each character has different abilities, strengths and
weaknesses making this all the more important.

These silhouettes also make their characteristics rather immediately obvious to

the player in some form or manner such as Reinhardt the grey silhouette being
massive and towering makes him obviously a tank type character, very physical
and masculine. Whereas Zenyatta, (Light blue, far left.) is a slim and small
character which transfers into him being the character with the lowest health
pool in the game however his silhouette floating hints at some form of internal
power.
The final use of visuals which can inform the player this essay explores is use of
colour palette, there are many things that players associate with different
colours psychologically and also uses of colours such as a muted or bright
palette some of the best examples are provided by Adams with that of Superman
and Batman characters in the same universe, wearing similar costumes and are
both heroes. Contrast a large amount visually mainly due to their colour palette,
supermans colours are bright and cheery; the red and blue of his uniform recall
the American flag, Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham City a much grittier, more
run-down place that Supermans Metropolis dresses in more somber colours
(Adams, 2013) This point also discusses how the colour pallets of these
characters match the world in which they are presented, such as if these
characters switched backgrounds they would be out of place creating a less

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cohesive art direction, which most games desire.

Part Two
The second part of this essay is going to explore the advantages and
disadvantages of different types of AI systems for computer game NPCS. Then
compare and contrast utilising meaningful examples from games when
necessary. Artificial intelligence is responsible for two things in the context of
computer games, how in game characters navigate and how they decide what
they are going to do. In this essay, there is going to be a comparison of methods

for both categories.

(Indiegames, 2013)
The first example of a navigation AI system is a navigation Mesh-based system,
Navigational meshes are created using the 3d level geometry, which is used to
calculate distance using the edge of the polygons. Typically, then the A*
pathfinding algorithm is used to find the most efficient path available to get the
point needed. This method is considered the standard in most modern computer
games, whereas in the past Tozour describes that the use of a more simplistic
waypoint method was more present as the standard in the industry, this is where
you will manually mark numerous points in your environment which will store the

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distance data within them. This means that the character will have to proceed
along these lines.

(Rosen, 2010)
There are a few disadvantages to using this older style, for one this method
becomes exponentially less effective as the complexity of the game environment
increasing meaning that most modern games in development would struggle to
use Waypoint style navigation with the modern amount of complexity required.
An advantage is that because the waypoints hold the distance data for the A*
algorithm it makes it have less of a processor load which can improve game
performance. The advantages of Navigational Meshes according to Huff because
it provides an optimal blend of efficiency and accuracy. . And that they allow the
characters to follow the most efficient path possible in terms of distance because
they dont have to follow Waypoints and can cut corners where possible ( in
comparison to waypoint as shown below).
Another excellent advantage is that because of this small memory cost, they
can be searched quickly. This means that if we are attempting to build a path,
the AI can sort through the polygons fast and the player is none the wiser. (Huff,
2015) meaning that this system can run real time and have little to no effect on
player experience but always be available to the game developer.

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(Huff Et al, 2015)

Next, let's analyse the other side of artificial intelligence and compare a goal
planning system against a finite machine state system. Finite machine system is
the most basic form of artificial intelligence. Which is when you assign states and
link them with transitions, rules and events that will trigger a change in the state
of the character, an example being, if this character is in combat state, the
character will find cover. The main advantage of an FSM is that they are simple
and easy to create meaning there can be a quick testing turn around. However,
they can quickly become overwhelming to maintain when requiring more

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complex AI behaviours

(Evans, 2013) An Example of how it can get complicated fast.

Another method of AI decisions is a Goal Based system, in a goal based system
you work backward first defining a goal, then all the ways the AI can meet that
goal. And then the method of completion with the lowest required value will be
selected coming up with the most efficient method of completing a goal. This is
the current standard in modern games because it's more efficient at more
complex levels because multiple actions can be assigned to multiple different
goals without having to make separate rules such as with an FMS. An example
being moving or driving both getting a character to a location. This means that
there can be a greater more intuitive system for the AI without having to create

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10s or hundreds of different intricate rules for every specific situation.

Bibliography
Garota Gamer (2014). The evolution of Guybrush Threepwood. Retrieved from
http://garotagamer.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/evolution_of_guybrush_threepwood.png
Gamespot (2014). Naughty Dog Open to a New Crash Bandicoot, but the Time
May Not Be Right. Retrieved from
http://static5.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/123/1239113/2604521crash.jpg
Isbister, K. (2006). Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach.
Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Meretzky, S. (2001) Building Character: An Analysis of Character Creation
[Article]. Retrieved from
http://www.gamasutra.com/resource_guide/20011119/meretzky_01.htm
Koch, Gretchen. (2014) The Overwatch Girls [Blog] Retrieved from
http://cheapsignals.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-overwatch-girls.html
Adams, E. (2013) Fundamentals of Game Design (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA:
New Riders
Patel, A. (2015). Introduction to A* [Article]. Retrieved from
http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/GameProgramming/AStarComparison.html
Tozour, P. (2008). Fixing Pathfinding Once and For All [Article]. Retrieved from
http://www.ai-blog.net/archives/000152.html

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Rosen, D. (2010) Automatic navigational Meshes. Retrieved from
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Automatic-navigation-meshes
Indiegames (2013) is this free AI tool right for you? A Rain(Indie) Review
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http://indiegames.com/2013/04/is_this_free_ai_tool_right_for.html
Hardwidge, B. (2009) How AI in Games Works [Article]. Retrieved from
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2009/03/05/how-ai-in-games-works/1
Valve Navigational Meshes. Retrieved From
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Navigation_Meshes
Huff, B. Wang, J. (2015) Navigating an Unfriendly World: An Exercise in NavMesh
Retrieved from
http://bretthuff.com/wp/navigating-an-unfriendly-world-an-exercise-in-navmesh/
Evans, M. (2013) Finite State Machines (Are Boring) in which the author talks
about something he never intends to use. Retrieved from:
http://martindevans.me/heist-game/2013/04/16/Finite-State-Machines-(AreBoring)/