作者：Marc Saltzman

马里奥，皮卡丘，Lara Croft，索尼克，吃豆人，Crash Bandicoot，Duke Nukem，Earthworm Jim以及Pajama Sam，这些单词有何共同点？答案很简单，它们都是一些家喻户晓的名字。它们既不是来自知名的好莱坞电影或者热门电视剧；也不是每周六早晨播放的动画片中的角色或者最近深受儿童欢迎的玩偶。它们是电子游戏中的主角，互动游戏的市场潜力让它们在多年以后还深受大众欢迎，并为其创造者带来源源不断的利益。

很多开发者和发行商都尝试着创造下一个能够带来高收益的游戏形象，但是如果只是取一个容易记住的名字或者创造一个可爱的外表是远远不够的。秘诀到底是什么？本篇文章将贯穿上述游戏主角的创造者提出的智慧箴言展开。但是这并不是我们要讨论的全部内容。

本文所贯穿的主题便是“如何将你的创造性理念记录下来”。一些游戏设计师会选择在纸上草拟出角色的初步轮廓或者游戏背景；也有一些会画出有序的游戏情节以更好地整合自己的想法；除此之外，有些设计师也会撰写游戏小说或者脚本（游戏邦注：主要是用于需要较多对话情节的冒险游戏或角色扮演游戏等）。

包含整个游戏蓝图的设计文件常常由一些冗长的报告所构成，包含所有游戏功能，故事元素，角色，位置，对话，智力问题，图像，音效，音乐等。这些文件经常以模块的形式呈现出来，让开发者能够在改变游戏设计形式时做出适当更新与调整。

宫本茂（任天堂）

谦虚的宫本茂是互动娱乐产业中一大传奇人物。他构思出许多我们非常喜爱的电子角色，如马里奥，Luigi，大金刚以及《塞尔达传奇》系列游戏中的Link。

当问道如何创造出这些具有国际知名度的游戏角色时，宫本茂将其归结为一个有趣的因素：

制作一款“有趣”的游戏是我们唯一的目标，而我们也一直在努力达到这一目标。而游戏角色的创造也只是为了达到这一目标的其中一个过程。如果《马里奥》这款游戏不够有趣，那么马里奥这个角色也不可能获得如此高的知名度。

但是，如何才能制作一个有趣的角色？仅仅只是依靠外表？可爱的声音？还是便捷的控制？为什么如此多开发者不能够创造出如马里奥一样受欢迎的游戏角色？

我不确定为何开发者难以创造出一个让人难忘的角色。游戏玩家会将电子游戏角色当成另外一个自己，这是游戏角色与其它媒体色存在的最大差别。例如，当马里奥在驾车或者跳跃时它所体现出的意义也是完全不同的。其它设计元素也将影响角色的外观和感觉。

宫本茂认为自己设想的角色都很可爱，亲切，所以并不能同时满足各种类型玩家的需求：“我想很多玩家可能会觉得‘如果宫本茂的角色酷一些，我便会喜欢它们。’而我也只能对这些玩家说抱歉了。”

（上图是宫本茂针对任天堂Gamecube创造的《Super Smash Bros. Melee》中的新角色）

宫本茂创造出大受欢迎的游戏与角色的灵感来自哪里？他是如何创造出马里奥这个角色？

灵感来自四面八方，包括童年时经历的冒险，成长过程中听过的各种故事以及日本传说等。我们可以以另外一种角度去看待日常生活中的种种事物，从中寻找灵感。关于马里奥的创造要追溯到1980年，那时候因为种种技术限制，我们并不能针对电视游戏机创造一些复杂惊喜的设计，我便不得不扩大马里奥的鼻子并为他添加胡子，以便玩家能够注意到他也是有鼻子的。而给他穿上工装裤也是为了让他的动作变得更明显。所以，马里奥是这些合理观念的产物，从中还能体现出我所喜欢的意大利设计风格。

最后，宫本茂警告设计师不能想当然地理解玩家首次接触游戏时的感受，因为设计师是最接近游戏项目的人，他们与玩家的感觉存在差别。

Lorne Lanning（Oddworld Inhabitants）

Lorne Lanning创造了《Oddworld》系列游戏中让人印象深刻的角色，他将在引讨论创造出像Abe或Munch这些优秀游戏主角的“秘诀”。

首先，你必须明确你想要创造什么类型的主角。是英雄角色？歹徒？还是间谍？他们有何背景以及他们代表什么？你还必须明确他们应该如何与玩家进行交流。你的脑海中必须形成更多关于这些角色的信息，比如他们喜欢什么或不喜欢什么，他们会面临何种困境，什么事物能够触动他们等等。搞清楚这些内容你才能够创造出具有深度的游戏角色。在你开始设计角色外观前，你必须先搞清楚这些深度问题。

第一步是什么？Lanning列举了《Oddworld》中可爱的外星人角色：

在我们真正开始绘图之前，我们的初设想是创造一个输家形象的主角。他们并不是传统的英雄角色，玩家根本猜测不到它们会经历些什么，他们属于何物种以及它们的文化是什么等。这些角色属于社会最底层，主要来自于土著阶级，工人阶级，甚至是一些野人。在他们的世界中，他们甚至只是一种商品般的存在，没有生命，没有感觉。他们不是你所期待的拥有壮硕肌肉的超级英雄；他们只是一些平凡的笨蛋。我们希望通过创造出如此角色以让玩家更加关注于他们的内在。

然后你便需要经历无数次设计迭代。当Farzad Varahramyan（游戏邦注：Oddworld中的一名游戏设计师）开始设计Munch时，我们已经经历了无数次的游戏设计。我们已经明确了Munch将是一种只有一根腿的两栖动物，就像路上的一种鸟类形象，并且能像海豚一样在水里游泳。我们知道他有一根腿，两只小小的胳膊，一张大嘴巴以及一颗大头。我们知道他还很年轻，并且是该物种的最后一员。我们知道他拒绝提及他们物种的现状。我们知道他很孤单并不断寻找着其同伴。他并未接受过任何教育。他只是个孩子。当Farzad真正开始进行角色设计时我们已经掌握了所有的这些内容，但是却未真正达成我们的目标。

接下来，Lanning表示他们将各种迭代内容递交给了Oddworld Inhabitants的执行制作人兼首席执行官Sherry McKenna。

她总是能够客观地看待每一个问题，就像是从一个“旁观者”的角度进行分析。她会仔细看一样事物，并如实表达自己的感受。对于我们来说，她就是一名有效的测试者。我们希望Munch这个角色能够同时赢得男性玩家和女性玩家的喜欢。这个角色的设计非常困难，我们花了很多时间去完善他。Farzad也一直坚持设计，并毫不气馁。最后他克服了种种困难，我们也最终能够创造出预想的角色。他的风格就是Oddworld游戏的风格，一看就是来自我们公司的创造，而且能够吸引玩家的注意力。

有趣的是，Lanning表示一开始很多发行商都怀疑他们所创造的这种生物能否引起玩家的注意。

而最后一次迭代也证实了我们的成功，即使饱受争议，最终的Munch设计也受到众多玩家的欢迎。从那以后，所有看过这个角色的玩家都对此留下了深刻的印象。如果我们未坚持自己的观点，可能Munch就不会是现在的样子了。你必须相信，如果你想要传达某些内容给用户，那么你就必须明确这些内容能够为你带来什么以及为何具有这些功效。你同样也需要在出错时听取反馈意见。你首先必须相信自己的设计才能够进一步去说服别人相信你的设计。

虽然你们站在创新的前沿，但是那些愿意为你的产品花钱的人（即发行商）却希望，你们能保证这种“创造性”能够吸引目标用户。而有保证就意味着这种观点是经过历史验证的。不幸的是，历史并不能告诉你今天或者明天的用户喜欢什么类型的创意。所以能够成功推售新创意与能够创造新事物的能力同等重要。

Lorne Lanning表示，他的团队正是通过反复迭代而创造出《Oddworld》中大受欢迎的游戏角色，如Munch和Abe。上图是用于推广游戏的Abe宣传图。

Lanning同样也跟我们阐述了他关于设计文件和脚本的观点：

设计文件很重要，它们就等于电影剧本或者商业计划；如果没有设计文件，你在制作游戏的道路上就缺乏一个明确的路线图，帮你克服各种挫折，更别说帮助你获得首次融资了。

而且，今天的游戏多是一些投入巨大人力物资的大成本游戏，这就意味着团队中的所有成员都必须了解设计文件的相关内容，如此才不会浪费过多开发成本。不论是开发团队，发行商还是管理层人员都希望了解你的规划。所以设计文件也是你在开始创造游戏项目时必须明确的基本规划。

脚本对于电子游戏更是重要，但是却比获取资本这项工作还困难。然后我们便开始进行一些视觉效果的创造，以此帮助我们更好地创造游戏理念。我们利用3D数据描述游戏角色的移动，灯光效果，以及动画特效等，并最终运行游戏引擎。没有什么能比看到自己的设想被具体化更棒的体验了，如此也能帮助你更好地将新理念传递给团队成员们。

《Oddworld》系列的第三款游戏是发行在微软Xbox上的《Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee》。这是该系列游戏中的第一款3D游戏。

Tsunekazu Ishihara（Pokémon Co.）

很难想象《宠物小精灵》在过去几年里带动了来自世界范围内巨大的游戏热潮。刚开始它只是日本的一款掌机游戏，后来还慢慢成为了广受欢迎的儿童电视节目，纸牌游戏，玩具，以及电影产品等等。

说到这里我们便不得不提《宠物小精灵》以及任天堂所有该游戏相关产品的制作人——Tsunekazu Ishihara，他也是创造了许多成功电子游戏角色的传奇人物。

首先我们肯定想了解创造出像皮卡丘以及其它大受欢迎的《宠物小精灵》角色有何诀窍或技巧？Ishihara回答道：

我想《宠物小精灵》的成功应该是归功于游戏角色的细节刻画吧。更具体地说，每一个《宠物小精灵》的角色都拥有明确的重量，身高，有效的攻击性和防御性以及其它属性；反过来说，也是因为这些细节让皮卡丘等游戏角色能够更具有现实性。如果明确了这些信息，玩家便能够在脑海中清晰地浮现出皮卡丘的形象，深刻感受到每个游戏角色，就像他们真正地参与了《宠物小精灵》的创作过程。所以，我认为这些周密详尽的角色特征应该就是皮卡丘等角色深得全世界儿童欢迎的原因。

虽然取得了国际反响，但是Ishihara却表示“这并不是我们最初的目的。”相反地，他们设计《宠物小精灵》的初衷是用于迎合日本游戏玩家。Ishihara还补充道，其实最初他只是想为自己的侄子侄女设计游戏角色。

在日本取得成功之后，我们便打算将这些角色推向美国市场，而且因为考虑到美国玩家的不同需求，我们打算美国化这些角色。例如，美国玩家认为皮卡丘太可爱了，他们更喜欢看到一些阳刚的属性，如与妖怪打斗等内容。但是最后我们也未能满足这些玩家的要求，因为如果我们据此做出了改变，《宠物小精灵》就不再是《宠物小精灵》。而正是这一选择帮我们获得了更多来自全世界的儿童用户。

不管你信不信，Tsunekazu创造《宠物小精灵》的初衷是为了取悦侄子侄女们，并没想到它能够成为享誉国际的游戏。

David Perry（Shiny Entertainment）

Shiny Entertainment的总裁兼游戏设计师David Perry在过去为我们带来了许多大受欢迎的角色。包含了《蚯蚓战士》，《孤胆枪手》，《Wild 9》，《Messiah》，《Sacrifice》以及《The Matrix》等游戏中的主角。

Perry提出了创造一个成功游戏角色的3大建议：

1.幽默是娱乐中非常重要的一部分内容。如果你能够创造一个有趣的角色，那么这便是最简单的方法。独特的能力也很重要。就像蚯蚓战士会使用某种独特的能力去达到目标。而趣味感就像是添加到你所创造的角色身上的调味料。

2.有人说过，真正优秀的角色必须具有独特的外观，如果玩家能够通过外观识别一个角色，这就证明你创造了一个足够突出的角色。

3.新的且有趣的武器同样也很重要。没有什么比玩一款只会漏水的玩具枪还糟糕的游戏体验。所以强劲的火力是吸引玩家的有效方法。

不同设计师的看法和建议也许会大相庭径，例如在设计文件的重要性方面，Perry便与Lorne Lanning和其他人持相反意见：

我过去认为制作设计文件是一件浪费时间的工作，而说实话，我现在仍然这么认为。比起这个，我更愿意制作一些对人们来说重要，并且愿意花点心思去阅读的文件：

游戏攻略脚本。我们编写了所谓的最终草案，并写下了我们希望在游戏中看到的包括起点和终点的体验。它有点类似于电影脚本，但主要是描写环境，比如谁在那，你看到了什么，没看到什么，行动，以及他们说了什么等等。

列表。通常都是记录在Excel表格中并随时保持跟踪记录。列表的内容可以是任何事物，包括目标，武器，角色，平衡统计等。

Perry是否制作情节串联图板？

在过去几年里，我接触了各种各样的商业人士，有些人成功地做到了这点，但是也有些人因为缺少创造性的想象力而失败了。俗话说得好，百闻不如一见，我们也开始广泛制作情节串联图板，以便让任何想了解我们游戏的人只要观看图板上的图画便可。这省去了很多不必要的讨论时间。

同时我也发现塑造角色的3D雕塑也是一个很好的方法，因为这样我们面对的就是一个显而易见的对象，让你能够在描写角色设计时给观众留下更深刻的印象。你要如何制作一个好的角色雕塑？以下是我认为最适合的两大方法：

邀请专门刻画动作角色的专业雕塑家帮忙。而你只要提供角色的照片即可。

使用快速创建原型技巧。你只要将游戏的3D模式数据交给那些专门提供这种技巧帮助的公司，如Gentle Giant，他们便会使用激光帮你雕刻出游戏角色。我们的许多角色雕塑甚至都未耗费过自己的任何努力。

George Broussard（3D Realms）

自从1996年3D Realms第三款大受欢迎的系列游戏《Duke Nukem》发行以来，许多游戏开始模仿该游戏中充满男子气概，但是爱说大话且到处惹是生非的主角Duke Nukem的形象。

3D Realms的总裁George Broussard为那些希望创造出受角色驱动的动作类游戏开发者提供了一些建议：

首先，你必须创造出一款足够优秀的游戏。如果没有强大的游戏作支撑，再出色的角色也没有用。我们尝试着创造出让人容易记住的角色名字，如Duke Nukem或者Max Payne，并因此立刻吸引了玩家的注意，或者引起了他们的想象。这是一种“诱饵”。一旦玩家对你的诱饵感兴趣，你便只需要充实游戏角色，为其添加个性化特征，特殊习性以及专属名言等即可。

Broussard建议雇佣一个作家：“根据我们的经验，所有的游戏都需要一个能够赋予角色真正个性，对话以及生命力的作家。”上图是Duke的其中一个镜头。

Broussard解释了为何Max Payne不仅仅是一个很酷的名字：

Remedy Entertainment在该角色的命名中发挥了重要的作用。Max Payne是个具有诱惑力的名字，并且带有双关的作用，即会让玩家联想到“maximum pain”——最大的疼痛。他是一名便衣警察，在妻子和女儿死后他背靠着墙开始寻思着复仇。最后，你通过让Max开口说话而赋予其个性。Max开始隐喻似地阐述自己的经历，而展现在玩家眼前的就像是20世纪四五十年代的警探片场景。而你最终能够获得的便是游戏中独一无二的角色，以及玩家对于他所做出的反应。现在的玩家变得越来越难以取悦了，所以我们也更加难以满足他们的要求。

Broussard还补充说明这一点主要也是依赖于你所创造的角色类型，他解释：

我们创造的是一个过度夸张的游戏角色，即像是你在漫画或者动作类电影中所看到的。对于这些过度夸张的角色，我们必须设立一些基本的出发点。

为了更好地重申并总结上述观点，Broussard表示我们可以将角色的特性分为以下几点：

性格特征。这主要是关于角色的性格以及他/她如何对不同情境作出反应。

外观。你的角色需要具有不同的外观，以便玩家能够根据外观做出识别。如Lara Croft，Superman（或者任何超级英雄），Darth Vader。

动机。为何角色要这么做？他们受到何种力量的驱动？如果你明确了这种动机，你的角色便能够更好地满足玩家的期待并变得更加强大。

名言。一个优秀的角色会因为在玩家心中留下一些简单的名言而更加受欢迎。是否记得Wendy‘s（游戏邦注：美国第三大汉堡包快餐连锁店）的广告“Where’s the Beef？”举些例子来说，Bugs Bunny的“What’s up, doc?”；Superman的“Up, up, and away!”；Robin的“Holy hand grenades, Batman!”；The Terminator的“I’ll be back”以及Dirty Harry的“Go ahead, make my day”。

名字。角色的名字必须让玩家容易记住并且具有独特性，以便让玩家在听过名字时能够立马联想到角色的形象。押韵和头韵是命名一个容易记住的角色名字的好方法。例如：Duke Nukem，Sonic the Hedgehog以及Earthworm Jim。

为了进一步阐明他上述所说的特性，Broussard提供了以下例子：

看看你是否能够在听到角色名字之前，单凭以下元素便猜出游戏角色：

个性：傲慢自尊

外观：戴着太阳镜，穿着红色圆领无袖健美衫，系着弹药带，金发，留着平头

动机：踢外星人的屁股/拯救婴儿

口头禅：“Come get some”

名字：Duke Nukem

个性：果敢，好管闲事，孤独

外观：穿着黑色西装，白色衬衫，带着领带，佩着手机

动机：服务于FBI代理/寻找阴谋的根源

口头禅：“The Truth Is Out There”

名字：《The X-Files》中的Fox Mulder

Broussard表示：“上述内容只是你在创造角色时的出发点，你可以依据不同需要添加或减少难度。而最终，这些特征都将致力于创造一个让人难忘的游戏角色。”

你要如何将草图中的形象转变为游戏中的真正角色？是否需要遵循Duke Nukem的创造过程？

当电子游戏变得越来越复杂之时，我们也开始尝试一些电影中的方法。今天，很多游戏都拥有电影剧本般的脚本，所有的动作，过场动画以及对话都经过各种细节的刻画。游戏采取的另外一种方法便是概念草图的构思。这种草图用于强化游戏元素的外观和感觉，如角色，地点以及动作序列等。

如何看待设计文件？是否所有类型的游戏都需要设计文件？

《Duke Nukem 3D》甚至未拥有一个设计文件。我们始终按照自己的步骤进行创造，不时添加一些有趣的内容或者摒弃一些无用的观点。我们必须着眼于游戏的结果。之前所做的一些规划只是关于游戏今后发展的模糊概念，而剩下任务则存在于一个更加多元化的开发过程中。

而《Duke Nukem Forever》在一开始便更加侧重于书面形式表达，因为这是一款更紧凑且更大型的游戏。但是对于那些预先撰写了300多页设计文件的人来说真的是在浪费时间。游戏设计过程是一个不断进化的过程。你需要不断完善并重新设计你的游戏，努力学习如何把事情做得更好。在真正投入游戏制作之前你根本很难想出一些合适的理念，所以你必须变得更加灵活，根据预定的时间表反复完善你的游戏理念。

根据我们自己的经验，设计文件只是一种指导方针，能够帮助你更好地完善游戏。你可以在开始落实行动的前3，4个月开始进行规划，并且你所规划的设计文件必须一直伴随着游戏设计，直到最终游戏的诞生。

同时我们还需要牢记，3D动作类游戏并不复杂。游戏中有坏人，枪支，道具，水平地点。都不是什么复杂的内容，所以根本不需要300页的长篇大论。

Scott Miller（3D Realms）

在听取了3D Realms的总裁George Broussard描述如Duke Nukem般热门角色的创造后，3D Realms的CEO Scott Miller将为我们揭示创造成功角色的“秘诀”。

定位与差异化。Duke是首个白人动作英雄。没有一个角色能够挑战Duke的地位是因为他的初创性，我们都知道第一个总比接下来的好（这也是定位的关键概念）。同样地，Max Payne也属于这种初创角色，他是一个非英雄角色的治安巡警，而其它开发者很难再创造出比它还优秀的角色。因为根据著名的人类心理学观点，第一个总是最好的，初创地位更加关键。

我和George花了将近10年的时间在研究并讨论角色，并最终在过去的5-6年里，我们能够比其他人更好地处理一些解谜元素。然后我们便开始进行大胆的尝试，即规划Max作为我们的下一个男性动作角色，并且从开始设计游戏的第一天便履行该角色的特许权，由Remedy指导整个开发过程。并且我们也将使用这一方法去落实即将诞生的两个游戏角色——Bombshell（首次出现于《Duke Nukem Forever》中，并且最后主导着自己的同名游戏）以及另外一个角色。

Miller也承认，关于这个主题很难简短地描述清楚，因为它值得大书一笔。

但是同时还有一些指导方针能够帮角色取一个容易记住且让人印象深刻的名字。如以角色为主的游戏要用角色名字来命名。而只有一个音节的名字也更加容易记住。例如：Johnny Quest, James Bond, Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker, Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Indiana Jones, Max Payne, Han Solo, Lara Croft等等。

除此之外，角色名字也必须反映一些与角色相关的内容。Miller解释道：

Duke Nukem和Max Payne在这点上便做得很好。但其它游戏中的角色，如Lara Croft, Kate Archer, John Mullins, John Blade却并没有体现人物的个性。

Jason Rubin（Naughty Dog）

作为Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.的全资子公司，Naughty Dog因为《Crash Bandicoot》（1996-1999）赢得了全世界的赞誉，该公司的联合创始人兼首席设计师是Jason Rubin，接受采访时他正针对Playstation 2平台全力开发3D平台游戏《Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy》。

创造一个成功的游戏角色有何公式？

这个问题并没有一个明确的答案。因为很多方法能够做到这一点。优秀的设计，意味着涵括了正确的人员并落实了正确的意见。优秀的整合，意味着角色适合游戏，游戏值得体验。优秀的市场营销，意味着角色拥有准确的市场定位，玩家希望进一步了解角色。优秀的持续活动，包括周边产品，如玩具，衣服等用于加强游戏与玩家之间的联系，并让游戏能够更深刻地留在公众的印象中。当然了，任何一个成功的角色都必须包含所有的这些内容。最典型的例子包括《口袋妖怪》和《马里奥》，它们不但在各个方面表现良好，而且可以说是一直都很出色。

创造一个热门的游戏角色并不容易——Naughty Dog的Jason Rubin承认，他们共花了4个多月的时间去充实Jak和Daxter，远远比Crash Bandicoot多花了2倍的时间。

所以，在今天的电子游戏中可爱或者有个性的游戏角色有多重要？就像是Crash Bandicoot或者Jak和Daxter。

随着游戏越发深入广阔的市场中，“角色”就变得更加重要。这个“角色”可以是游戏主角，Tony Hawk的授权或者NBA团队官方标志等内容。今天的电子游戏之所以能够比它在80年代更具有吸引力是因为，原先不会玩《Pong》或者《吃豆人》的用户现在却对《古墓丽影》产生了兴趣。当现实或科幻以及游戏视觉效果之间的鸿沟越来越窄时，便有越来越多人被吸引到这个领域中。当游戏中融入更多故事与情节时，甚至那些没有任何竞争意识的人也能够开始游戏了。细看最近畅销的游戏，都是一些侧重于角色描写的游戏，而这种趋势也将会一直持续下去。

相信很多读者都会对Rubin以及该公司如何创造出Crash Bandicoot这个角色充满好奇，以下他将给出答案：

Crash Bandicoot是由Naughty Dog的许多成员以及两名好莱坞动画设计师Charles Zembillas和Joe Pearson所创造。我们画了很多草图，并汇聚在一起最终挑出最优秀的功能，同时也在开发过程中不断添加一些新特色。在不断演变过程中，我们诞生了2D效果的Crash。然后我们使用3D工具包为其建模，并不断完善它的属性以更好地适应3维模式。最后我们将其放到PlayStation中，再次进行调整以确保它能够拥有足够优秀的功能，最终我们获得了一个高分辨率且多边形的立体形象。整个过程大概花费了我们4个月的时间。

关于Crash，它的成功到底有何关键因素？Rubin回答道：

Crash Bandicoot吸引了各种类型的玩家，包括年轻人和老人，男人和女人，日本人，北美人以及欧洲人等。很多第一次购买《Crash》的玩家，无论国籍，都是受到广告宣传片或者游戏封面的吸引。如果一个角色失败了，那就更不用谈游戏的成功了。Crash的成就主要归功于优秀的初始设计以及Sony Computer Entertainment出色的全球性营销活动。

有了如此优秀的先例，Jak和Daxter是否能够更容易地获取成功？

Jak和Daxter的设计过程类似于Crash，但是他们所耗费的时间却是后者的两倍。我们组成了一个更有想法且更有经验的团队，并且我们也与来自于Sony America, Sony Europe以及Sony Japan的制作人和营销团队共同协作，希望能够创造出迎合全世界玩家的优秀角色。相比之下，Crash并未明确这种国际性目标，所以它真的是一个足够幸运的角色，并且Sony的市场营销活动也起了关键性作用。总之，比起Crash我更喜欢Jak和Daxter。我喜欢他们的外表，而且我认为作为角色他们拥有更多发展的潜力。

Toby Gard（Confounding Factor）

也许你会对这位设计师的名字感到陌生，但是说到他所创造的游戏角色Lara Croft，你便不会陌生了。作为大受欢迎的《古墓丽影》的首席图像设计师以及游戏设计师，Toby Gard离开了Core Design，与同时来自于Core Design的首席程序员Paul Douglas创建了自己的开发工作室。他们的首个作品是动作冒险类游戏《Galleon》，发行于2001年。

首先我们先听听Gard对于一般游戏设计的看法。

你必须基于所具有的资源去确定目标。如果你被迫使用一种技术，如某种引擎或者你的平台或程序所缺少的技能，那么你就要考虑看看是否该改变方向。例如，如果你在制作一款基于Game Boy的游戏，而你也知道你的2D技巧，速度和储存容量具有很大的局限因素。如此你便很难创造出一款优秀的3D游戏。

假设你将制作一款PC游戏或者3D掌机游戏，就像近来我们所看到的一些案例，而你的局限因素也大大放宽了。我更喜欢这种工作方向，因为你只要确定一个纯粹的理念便可以按照某种形式去落实它——不论实践过程有多么困难。所以这时候你便需要一个合适的理念。当然，我们拥有无数的理念，包括任何能够让你激动的内容，如想要成为《星球大战》中的一员或者向别人展示滑板的乐趣等。而你需要做的便是不断向你的合作伙伴描述这个理念的过人之处。

这时候你就需要解决一些如“我们究竟要怎么做？”的技术问题。虽然你可能只会说“好的，我们需要一些阴影。《Quake》这么做了，但是它是怎么做到的呢？我们是否能够使用相同的技术？”在这个阶段你必须仔细思考许多有关控制系统的问题。我认为将控制系统压缩到只剩下一些按钮总比拥有一个笨重的控制系统来得舒畅。你必须先在脑海中形成一个关于游戏的清晰理念，而如果你能够努力落实这个理念，你便能够在创造一些糟糕内容之前尽可能地解决其中的各种缺陷。

因此，对于我来说最重要的三大点是1）呈现你的控制系统，包括游戏机制；2）拥有一些能够执行上述内容的技术理念；3）将其记录下来！

（上图是《古墓丽影》角色Lara Croft，而下图是Gard的下一款游戏项目，即针对PC和Xbox平台的动作/冒险类游戏《Galleon》。）

Gard表示，当你在创造一款电子游戏的主要角色时，必须确保自己真心喜欢这个设计内容；如此别人才会喜欢你的角色。他详述道：

如果你对你的角色没有信心，那么请放弃它。如果你只是反复地进行实验，不带任何目的地进行绘画，并采取一些较为自由的方法，那么你将会发现你的这些行为都只是出于本能而不能为你的游戏带来多大帮助。当你开始喜欢上你的角色时，它便会开始散发出光芒，因为从你的绘画中能够慢慢体现出角色的个性。我想这也是你为何需要反复设计角色的原因。只要你能够画无数次角色（并享受这个过程），你便有可能创造出真正优秀的角色。这便是我所使用的方法。

创造像Lara Croft如此受欢迎角色应该做些什么或应该避免什么？

制作一个简单且突显的角色，就像漫画中的角色那样。你的图像应该是一张标志性的图解，同时也是一个经过渲染的图像。例如：灰色，黑色和黄色便等于蝙蝠侠。大胆的颜色以及简单的整体设计。不论你为他确定了何种类型，蝙蝠侠就是蝙蝠侠，因为他的设计如此形象，可以说他本身就是自己的标志。

进行彻底的改变。几乎任何内容在适度扭转之后都能够带来不错的结果。大多数玩家都不喜欢反复看到类似的角色，所以你就需要努力做出改变。

如果你希望别人喜欢你的角色，那你就需要重视这个角色。它必须拥有令人称赞的质量，并且它必须是能够让玩家心甘情愿投入时间去了解的对象。

Yuji Naka（世嘉）

作为Sonic Team Corporation的总裁，Yuji Naka参与了世嘉许多优秀游戏的制作，包括《Nights》，《Samba de Amigo》，《梦幻之星Online》以及《索尼克大冒险》等。

Naka阐述了一些关于游戏设计以及如何创造成功的主角的相关内容。

Naka认为尝试并创造出一款拥有特殊主角的游戏，并且尽可能添加更多感觉和特性。

说到角色，刺猬索尼克便是红遍全世界的一个电子游戏吉祥物。那么如何才能创造出下一个索尼克？

游戏角色总是会吸收游戏中的一些乐趣元素。这一方面与卡通和电影不同，你需要针对于游戏本身创造角色。

我想游戏的发展便是索尼克能够诞生的原因。在《超级马里奥》出现之时，我们想要设计出一个与任天堂不同的角色——并不是出于竞争意识，我们只是希望能够以此角色为傲，结果索尼克便出现了。

为了寻找这款游戏的灵感，Naka将关注点放宽到日常生活中的点点滴滴，如每天的娱乐活动等。

如何才能创造出像《梦幻之星Online》这般优秀的大型多人掌机游戏？“重视通信工具的创造。”这是维系游戏与玩家间交流的重要方法。所以当你在创造一款如《梦幻之星Online》的游戏时，你应该思考的是游戏设置应该匹配何种通信工具。

Naka是否认为多人游戏是掌机游戏的未来？他回答道，“我想有这种可能性，但是这并不是掌机游戏的唯一发展方向。可能有30%的玩家会成为多人游戏玩家，但是还有70%的玩家并不会这么做。”

Naka还强调用户界面是游戏设计师必须重视的一个内容：“忽略了用户界面和控制器的游戏不可能获得成功——这是游戏本身最重要的内容。”

Yu Suzuki（世嘉）

同样来自于世嘉的Yu Suzuki主要致力于创造科幻游戏，如以角色为主的《Shenmue》，《Virtua Fighter》系列，《Virtua Cop》系列，《Hang On》以及《Space Harrier》等。

Suzuki是如何创造出如《Shenmue》中的Ryo这般优秀的角色？

创造性是最关键的。同时重视一些无形内容的创造，如背景或角色的个性等也能够为后来的游戏开发拓宽机遇。最后还需要注意的便是自我推销：你必须积极地为游戏争取更多认知度，如提高曝光率或者利用杂志或主页刊登的方式进行宣传。

Hideo Kojima（Konami）

作为创造了《Metal Gear Solid》等游戏的著名设计师Hideo Kojima，将回答关于游戏主角，如Solid Snake的重要性以及如何创造出一个成功的游戏角色。

Hideo Kojima认为电子游戏角色的成功取决于玩家是否能够很好地掌控他/她。Solid Snake是《Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty》的主角。

这是一个很难回答的问题。主角是一个故事中最重要的元素。如果观众不能够融入电影或小说中的主角角色，那么不论故事情节多么优秀，观众们也不会感受到的。游戏中亦然。唯一不同的是，你可以控制游戏中的主角。这就是为何要慎重考虑主角与玩家的观点和心理之间的“兼容性”。我们总是难以维持这种平衡。关于角色本身的描述和设置也很重要。当玩家真正开始操纵角色时，它才算是真正完整的内容。玩家能够赋予角色真正的生命。

Michel Ancel（育碧）

作为育碧在巴黎的项目总监，Michel Ancel创造了具有全球知名度的角色Rayman。Michel Ancel因为创作了各种版本的《Rayman》游戏而走红，并且在过去两年间致力于一款绝密游戏的制作，将在2002年或2003年首次公开。

Rayman的最初创意来自哪里？首先，其实它是一种没有手脚的动物，而手脚只会如魔法般出现在它们本应该出现的地方！

Ancel提供了一些游戏设计的诀窍。他先说到“具有创造性，逻辑性，并理解玩家的立场”。随后他以Rayman为例子继续阐述：

Rayman的创造性体现于它的图像风格。我们总是在想象一些奇特的游戏内容，如被海盗船追击或者与一些很厉害但是有点可怕的朋友合作。逻辑就是必须符合规则，并遵守游戏设置技巧，即你必须谨慎地处理Rayman的进化，技能的级别以及智力问题的设置。而为了更好地理解玩家的立场，这款游戏必须能够同时迎合各种类型玩家的需求。这就意味着我们必须考虑到玩家在游戏中的反应。典型的问题主要是关于控制，故事，挑战以及奖励等。这些内容是否合理？是否容易理解？等。你必须在游戏创造之前就解决这些问题。

创造出如Rayman这种世界知名的游戏角色有何特殊技巧？

当我在创造Rayman时，我并未真正去分析角色。我只是在创造能够让我和朋友感到有趣的角色。同时我也希望能够创造出一个具有生命力的角色。你的角色不应该看起来像其它角色，但是同时它也必须具有玩家所熟悉的内容。这就是创造具有独创性并容易理解的角色的挑战。

Rayman虽然拥有独特的外表，但是从某些方面看来它也符合人们对于英雄的幻想。外观对于给玩家留下第一印象非常重要。而通过动画能够体现出角色的个性。最重要的一步——特别是对于游戏来说，便是角色的特殊能力以及特别行动。它的哪些行动能够带给玩家新鲜感？这是一个很重要的问题。而最让人印象深刻之处便是角色的感受，个性，以及它对于特定情境（如危险，爱，吃惊，胜利等）所做出的反应。你必须考虑所有的这些认知过程，并确保自己不只是在复制一些其它的英雄角色。

Angel表示：“Rayman身上包含了50%的行动与50%的幽默。这就是大多数年轻玩家希望看到的。”

最后，他还谈到了控制设置问题。Ancel认为制作一款游戏所面临的最大挑战便是设置直觉型且让人舒适的控制。《Rayman》系列游戏在这方面便做得很好。Ancel解释道：

你必须着眼于玩家会有何反应。为了避免造成玩家的挫败感，你必须思考玩家会对此做出何种反应。邀请好友，妻子，孩子等任何能够给予你反馈信息的人帮助你测试新的游戏控制。任何一个按钮的延迟，摄像机的加速等都是你在创造出真正优秀控制时所需要考虑的参数。你的游戏中必须拥有超过100种的此类参数，并且确保你能够依据玩家的反馈不断修改并完善它们。

Tim Schafer（Double Fine Productions）

创造了许多大受欢迎的电子游戏角色的Tim Schafer最近离开了待了8年的公司Lucas Arts而创立了属于自己的工作室Double Fine Productions。Schafer创造了许多让人难忘的角色，如《Grim Fandango》Manuel Calavera，简称“Manny”和Hector Lemans以及《Full Throttle》的Ben和Malcolm Corley。

Schafer认为，游戏设计的主要秘诀是“实现愿望”。他解释道：

不要忘记你所提供的角色能够帮助玩家尝试一些日常生活中难以接触的内容。并且这些挑战必须是玩家真心想要尝试的。就像在《Full Throttle》中，玩家将成为一个摩托车骑手：高大，坚强，酷。骑着一辆巨大的摩托车到处驰骋。并且没有佩戴安全帽。试问自己在这这款游戏中实现了何种愿望？因为这款游戏得到了何种满足？并且这种方法更适用于冒险类游戏，而不是《刺猬索尼克》这种游戏，因为冒险游戏总是充满各种幻想内容。

Schafer阐述了冒险游戏的故事脚本和设计文件的重要性：

在《冥界狂想曲》中，我们为每一个单独的镜头撰写故事脚本，并且证明了这些内容是非常有价值的。因为基于故事脚本，美术人员知道应该创建什么内容，以及从哪个角度进行设计更适合等。同时它也能够帮助负责角色设置的人员更好地在不同场景安插适当的角色。这是电影产业中常用的一种方法，但是游戏产业却刚刚发现它的益处。

设计文件是游戏设计师在游戏开发过程中所遵守的规则。它不只是那些你在初期阶段草草写下的观点，而在开发高潮所忽略的内容。它应该是指那些你在每次头脑风暴中不断修订并更新的内容。是团队成员在忘记自己的计划是什么时能够引以参考的内容。资深开发者的建议：“如果你并未拥有一份设计文件，你将会慢慢远离预先目标。”

Gabe Newell（Valve Software）

总部设于华盛顿Kirkland市的Valve Software的创始人兼总经理Gabe Newell跟我们阐述了如何创造一款如《半条命》一样成功的动作类游戏。他在此简短地评价了创造游戏主角与撰写设计文件的相关内容。

“实际上，我并不清楚在第一人称游戏中，游戏主角是不是真的必要或者是否能给游戏带来利益。”他继续说道：

我们在创造Gordon（游戏邦注：《半条命》的主角）时希望他能是一个容易理解的角色。你在游戏中唯一能够听见自己的声音便是在面对灾难时的呼吸声。而我们也拥有许多第三人称场景，但是慢慢的，我们意识到这些场景其实正在破坏游戏体验。Newell也承认了他们使用了设计文件：

我们不能离开设计文件。我们的成员们都需要从细节方面思考所有设计内容的含义，并因此才能够进行下一款游戏的创造。在设计过程中每花费一个小时便能够帮助我们在后来的执行阶段节省10个小时。

Alex Garden（Relic Entertainment）

创造了《西格玛：Rex Chance的冒险》以及《家园》的年轻游戏设计师Alex Garden谈论了设计文件的重要性以及如何创造一个合适的设计文件。

对于那些致力于实践各种创造性理念的团队来说，设计文件就是一张路标。当团队成员产生疑问时便可以参考设计文件中的相关内容。实际上，因为游戏设计是一个有序的过程，所以设计文件也必须具有有机性并提供给玩家准确的信息。在Relic，我们有一个强大且核心的设计文件，被当成游戏的基础；我们便是基于这一文件完成较短且较简单的“设计更新”。

故事脚本对于今天的游戏有何重要性？

考虑到电影和动画的高成本与制作的复杂性，我们必须在开始创造完整的游戏产品（非常非常昂贵）之前完成更多的前期制作内容（相对来说较为廉价）。虽然规划看起来很浪费时间，但是它却是一种很简单且很便宜的方法能够帮助你创造出最后的优质游戏。

Bruce C. Shelley（Ensemble Studios）

Ensemble Studios的设计师Bruce C. Shelley——他所创造的电子游戏《帝国时代》成为了世界上上最成功的一款即时策略游戏，他提供了一些关于使用设计文件的建议：

设计文件（DD）是游戏设计的蓝图。它围绕着一个较短的段落或者一个较长的原景声明，总结游戏的内容。它遵循于一个2至3页的原景文件——提供更多关于游戏外观和感觉的细节内容。最后它终会慢慢发展成一份长达百页的成熟DD。并且会有不同章节专门描写所有的主要系统，解释每个系统运作的细节内容。例如《帝国时代》的DD有一个场景是专门描写建筑。在这里我们列出了所有关于建筑的内容，包括功能，成本，先决条件，建筑时间，属性（如生命值，装甲）等。参与游戏创造的每一位成员都必须了解DD，以此掌握一个特殊的建筑应该如何运转。基于这份文件，编程团队能够创造出技术设计文件，以此记录下所有编程任务，如哪些人负责哪些任务以及每项任务所需时间。而美工团队能够创造出美术组件列表。测试团队能够创造出那些需要进行测试的系统列表。发行商将会拿DD与他们收到的游戏版本进行比较。DD可以说是整个开发过程的支柱。并且这是一份需要定时更新的文件。我们将其保存于公司内网中，以便每个人都能够在需要时轻松获得。我们同样也创造了一份“DD简版”，让成员们能够从这些简要说明中更快速地获得相关信息。

Phil Steinmeyer（PopTop Software）

《铁路大亨》以及《海岛大亨》等游戏的创造者Phil Steinmeyer表示设计文件的类型多种多样，我们必须清楚它们之间的区别：

根据发行商所总结的范围，一般游戏设计文件都是1-10页，而详细列出了每一个编程或图像细节的技术架构文件则可能需要15-50页（甚至有的设计文件长达1000页或更多）。

Steinmeyer表示他通常会撰写并遵循两份设计文件。第一份是针对于发行商的简短总结内容，主要强调游戏的市场营销，预算，销售，竞争性等。而第二份则是用于内部参考的一份较长设计文件。

《海岛大亨》的设计文件长达40页，并附加了许多电子表格。而团队中的许多成员都在抱怨《海盗大亨》的设计文件不够详细，并且内容大多过时，所以我将会努力添加更多细节内容，保证它能够跟得上我们下一款游戏的脚步。

Phil Saunders（Presto Studios）

Phil Saunders将为我们进一步描述冒险游戏的设计文件和故事脚本的内容。

Saunders先说道：“在我们的游戏开发过程中，故事脚本只用于过场动画中，即我们能够完全掌控着玩家的视野。”他继续阐述：

前期制作的重要一部分便是原型创造。我们在早期制作了一个简单的模型以明确道路并观察玩家在特定区域是否能够看到这些道路。在这个阶段，我们能够发现玩家是否能够理解这些内容，并且什么时候能理解；我们能够在他们眼前藏起哪些东西并且揭示哪些内容等。除此之外，原型还能够让我们掌握游戏的规模和范围。根据原型，并基于距离与易用性问题，我们能够判断哪些细节应该被安插在哪部分环境中。

为什么投入了这么多精力？

因为我们发现初步规划的辛苦能够在最终得到回报。我们总是不想看到某些人的设计仅仅是因为时间不够而被删除，或者某些技术因为不合理而被抛弃。在《神秘岛III：放逐》中，我们共花费了1年的事件去创造游戏设置，故事以及早期的视觉理念。大约在第11个月的时候，我们已经拥有了一份长达160页的设计文件。这份设计文件能够帮助你节约不必要的设计投入，并且避免那些我们花费很多时间去创造的成果被淘汰的情况。几个月的投入如果能够合理地调节游戏中的方方面面，那么这一切便都是值得的。

设计文件是否必要？Saunders总结道：“我认为这是游戏制作过程中最重要的一部分。”

Ragnar Tørnquist（Funcom）

近来最重要的一款冒险游戏《最长的旅程》的创造者Ragnar Tørnquist，将谈论如何创造一个成功的游戏主角以及设计文件和故事序列的重要性。

当被问道如何才能够创造出如《最长的旅程》中的April Ryan这样优秀的主角的“诀窍”时，Tørnquist说道：“创造一个强大的游戏角色其实并不如人们想象中那么困难。”

我们必须处理大多数有关深度的内容，如个性深度，背景深度，描述深度等。我们必须尽量避免一些老套的描述，其中一个方法（至少是在最初阶段）便是以真人为模型创造你的角色。思考一个人的独特之处在哪里：是说话方式，走路方式还是笑的方式？观察他或她的表达方式，包括面部，口头以及肢体语言等，并深入挖掘他或她的背景。如果观察对象的背景越复杂，你的准备越充分，你便能够更加轻松地创造一个强大的游戏角色。你还必须花时间去记录关于角色的一些个人信息（即使并未在游戏中体现出来），如家庭背景，喜好，喜欢的宠物等符合你希望创造的游戏角色的内容。

也就是，如果你正在创造一个充满怨恨的海军战士，你就不需要去考虑他喜欢何种颜色，而是应该思考为何这个人会成为一名海军战士，是什么事情激励了他以及他想要达到何种目标。

能否说说April Ryan的创造过程？

《最长的旅程》的April Ryan虽然拥有许多背景故事，并且未能在游戏中直接呈现出来，但是却因此赋予了这个角色更多深度和个性。她在游戏中所说的和所做都有着必然的原因。当我开始为她编写对话时，我了解她从诞生以来的所有故事，我知道她受到了何种元素的激励。我知道她如何讲话，对于任何情境如何做出反应。如此，我便能够很容易地创造一个角色并且让他自然地融合到游戏故事和设置中。

虽然我之前说了要避免老套的描述，但是有时候这种方法却能够帮我们立刻创造出一个无需过多对话的角色，特别是当这个角色的曝光时间较少时。不要随便抨击刻板印象，那些遵循着这种老套做法的设计师们也有自己的一套理念。在《最长的旅程》中，我们有Surly Detective，Funny Sidekick，Mysterious Stranger，Mad Wizard等角色，他们能够吸引我们的一个基本原因便是：我们了解他们。我们之前看过他们。我们知道他们适合什么场景。等等。如果你不希望你的主角只是围绕一个模具而成型，那么老套的方法便能够帮助你更好地填充这个角色。你将慢慢接受这种所谓的“陈腔滥调”，并为了让玩家至始至终感受到游戏乐趣而适当地作出调整与完善。

《最长的旅程》创造者Ragnar Tørnquist表示他为了其游戏中的重要角色都创造了非常详细的背景。关于April，Tørnquist说道：“显然，她所说和所做的都必须具有意义。在我开始撰写她的对话内容之前，我就已经了解了这个角色从出生，也就是游戏诞生那一刻起到现在所经历的所有内容。”

Tørnquist还说道，在使用故事，或者更详细地来说应该是情节，应该始终牢记，真正优秀的角色（至少在游戏中）是将一个普通人安置在一个特殊的情境下诞生出来的。

这比本来就够非凡的人还出现在特别的情境下还有趣：基于游戏世界的改变以及你的角色关于这种改变所作出的反应，你将会发现游戏主角在慢慢进化着，并且更加深刻地影响着你，而不管你最初的想法是什么。让玩家从主角的角度去感受游戏世界；而如果这时候主角看到的都是一些平淡无奇的内容，那么玩家肯定会觉得无趣吧。如果像April这样，能够在旅程中不断遇到一些新鲜事物，玩家肯定也会因为她的惊喜而惊喜吧；这就是玩家与他所控制的角色之间的即时连接。

Tørnquist还谈及了冒险游戏的设计文件：

设计文件是程序员，美术人员以及关卡设计师的蓝图。它详细描写了游戏概念，系统和功能，以及可使用的所有游戏功能——包括明显的（如视觉用户界面）以及不是很明显的（游戏邦注：如AI，脚本，保存，加载等等）内容。

Tørnquist进一步提到了脚本内容：

设计师的工作是思考任何可能出现的情况，如玩家可能采取的行动，突然出现的问题等，并且还要努力创造一个有趣的世界，一个强大的故事背景，吸引人的游戏角色以及有趣的游戏设置。因为我们难以猜测到所有可能发生的事情，所以只能事先做好万全的准备。不管你愿不愿意，设计总是会贯穿于整个生产过程之中，直到产品最后的的诞生。因此，设计文件也是一份不断发展的文件，设计师需要不断更新其中内容，才能为游戏提供更多与时俱进的内容。

故事脚本是屏幕上可能呈现的内容的视觉再现，但是它却只是整个设计过程中一个很小的部分。故事脚本描述了玩家可能看到并做到的内容，所以在游戏能够真正运转之前，白纸黑字地写下游戏进程其实很有趣，但是故事脚本却不能取代设计文件。在《最长的旅程》中，我们撰写了一些重要的游戏序列，但却并非全部——也不是绝大部分内容。我们详细描写了所有场所以及每一个单一角色的理念——这也被称为是一种视觉或图像设计。根据这个方法，我们便能够规划出所需要的动画，音效，角色对话和编码了。当然了，所有游戏场景都将会完整地出现在脚本中，就像是一部活生生的电影作品。

为了提醒我们不要忽略剧本——创造冒险游戏所需要的最重要一部分内容，Tørnquist强调道：

最后，但同等重要的是，冒险游戏需要剧本；剧本就等同于一种用于“讲故事”的文件，包括对话，事件，对于任何可能行动的回应——与电影剧本类似，但是前者的内容更加广泛。在开始制作游戏之前，你需要完成3个任务——设计（包括技术，系统和用户界面），撰写故事脚本并创作剧本；这时候你便会意识到创造一款冒险游戏比真正体验游戏来得有趣。

Ron Gilbert（Humongous Entertainment）

作为许多著名游戏角色，如《猴子岛》的Guybrush Threepwood，《疯狂大楼》的Bernard和Maniac Mansion等的创造者，Ron Gilbert认为：“游戏角色在外观上必须是容易辨认和理解。”他解释道：

我们并未拥有足够的带宽资源能够设计出如电影中的角色，所以我们只能通过简化并依套用固定的模式，然后围绕故事内容去完善它。在动作类活即时策略游戏中，我们依赖套用模式让玩家能够立即知道游戏角色是什么。在这类型游戏中，故事是次要考虑的内容，但是在冒险游戏中却并非如此。

Daniel Greenberg（Freelance）

充满天赋的Daniel Greenberg是一位备受赞誉的自由游戏设计师，他已经创造了数十年大受欢迎且获得巨大商业利益的优秀游戏。这些游戏包括《星舰迷航记-星云学会》，《吸血鬼：化妆舞会》，《星际控制3》，《天诛2》，《独立战争2：混沌边缘》，《海狗》，《进阶龙与地下城：拉丁传奇：精灵的诅咒》以及《X战警：变种人之战》。他同时也是许多知名电脑和掌机发行商的顾问。

Greenberg为新手游戏设计师提供了一些重要的建议：

学徒精神：学习规则。待在学校里。比起淌入竞技的死水中，游戏设计还有许多发展方向。最好的方法便是学习沉淀了几千年的前人经验。如果你保持时刻的警惕，便能够在大学甚至中学里发现许多对你有帮助的好东西。你应该利用在学校的时间学习一些基本内容——至少精通英语，以帮助你更好地写出角色对话并避免使用被动态表达；至少学习一些必要的戏剧理论以更好地理解为何亚里士多德理论在2千年后仍然让人如此受益；至少学习一些程序设计内容以创造出有效且有意义的流程表；至少学习一下艺术理论从而能够与美术人员顺畅地交流颜色，形式，动作以及资产管理等内容；至少学习一下商业理论，市场营销知识以及公司文化等内容，以帮助你能够更加自信地同投资者进行洽谈。对于任何希望将自己所学到的东西全部运用于游戏中的人来说，这些内容都非常有趣。一旦你成为了一个能够掌握多学科知识的人，你便能够以任何方式进入这个领域，不论是作为质量保证人员或者行政助理。而一旦你踏进了这里，你便很容易找到一个对你更有帮助的导师。了解规则能够帮助你有效避免栽进不必要的陷进里。

专业性：遵循规则。不论你是16岁还是60岁，都没有借口不按专业规则办事。处理一些基本内容。当你许下一个承诺时，你的老板，合作人或者员工是否会信任你？你必须确保他们能够时刻相信你的决定。并努力做得比承诺更好。

之所以要遵循规则办事是因为这些能够让你的工作更有效率。规则能够让你避开一些错误的理念，并消除压力，帮助你最终创造出一款优秀的游戏。

创新性：打破规则。传统的游戏设计总需要遵循一些老旧的常规，不断地复制着前人的成功。但是创造性却要求我们突破这种常规。并且这也不难。只要你能够创造出一款突破常规的出色游戏，你便能够发挥想象力去推销你的创造性游戏。如果你在第一步骤中学到了公司文化的知识，那么你在这个过程中便具有一定的优势。虽然遵循规则能够帮助你创造出优秀的游戏，但是为了让游戏变得更好，你就应该适时打破某些规则。

拥有20年游戏制作经验的Greenberg应该是最有资格作为其建议中现实案例的人吧。

在几年前，为了能够获得更多优秀的理念，我依旧在不断地学习着。对于自闭症儿童的心理研究便在我创造《星舰学院》的最后一个秘密任务时给予了我很大的帮助，在这里要想在与星球舰队的对抗中生存下来的唯一方法并不是让它们去理解你，而是你需要真正融入它们那个分离的世界中，并理解它们。

在《进阶龙与地下城》中，Genie’s Curse便是我对中世纪哲学理念的尊敬与追求的产物。让玩家能够真正体验到权益与困难选择之间的抗衡。

以下Greenberg将和我们谈谈故事本身的重要性：

亚里士多德的戏剧结构仍然延续到今天的数字化时代，但是为了更好地迎合用户的需要，我们必须做出适当调整。故事结构必须遵循行动起伏的基本模式，但是玩家希望能够改变自己的节奏，或者只会让游戏故事看起来更加不自然。但是就像Arthur Miller（游戏邦注：美国知名剧作家）调整了亚里士多德结构以迎合现代观众的需求创造的《销售员之死》，我们认为游戏也是时候基于新媒体去改变这种戏剧结构了。

很多游戏的角色都还不够深入，主要是是因为我们的艺术形式仍然不够成熟。尽管发展速度势不可挡，PC游戏仍然还不够精致。这类型游戏包含了非常有潜力的艺术形式，如互动故事。但是与其它成熟的艺术形式，如书籍或电影不同，游戏媒体仍然处在发展初期，还未形成完整的结构。

那些接受了我们的互动娱乐模式的玩家仍然还只是较少的数目（尽管这一数值正以一种难以想象的速度发展着）。是否如此我们就可以名正言顺地添加更多符合玩家互动需求的机制而不是填充更多细微特征或复杂情节内容？如此说来只能说我们被那些因为技术的发展所带来的虚化不实效果所迷住，而未能真正透过电子游戏去探索人类心理的深度性。所以总的来说，Lara Croft的出现是因为她符合游戏的风格。游戏玩法不断在变化着，然而真正具有重要意义的还是游戏故事。

好的故事将会引起玩家的共鸣，我们会局的故事背景就是我们曾经经历过的某次旅程，我们曾经忍受过的冲突或者压力。即使是科幻类故事也能够在某种意义上与我们联系在一起。故事的影响力真的很大，尽管很多人未能真正意识到故事对于他们情感，行动以及生活的影响。游戏与书籍和电影一样，也能够搅起玩家内心的涟漪，让我们在游戏中找到自我。优秀的游戏能够让玩家控制游戏过程，并探索更深层次的领域。而其中一个秘诀便是使用多样优秀结果。

Greenberg跟我们分享了创造一个优秀的互动媒体故事的秘诀，并以游戏《吸血鬼：化妆舞会》和《星舰迷航记-星云学会》为例子进行说明：

多样“优秀”结果

创造顶级的互动故事理念的一大秘诀便是使用多样优秀结果理念，并且这里涉及了多种“优秀”的程度。

当我开始进行游戏设计时，大多数游戏呈现的都是线性故事情节；互动选择大多都是“骗人的”，只要出现任何偏离故事情节的内容玩家便会死亡（或者游戏就会结束）。但是因为这种方法太过明显，所以游戏设计师便决定不直接杀死角色，而是让他们自己选择通往死亡的道路。这一变化便让游戏明显活跃多了，不过却会因此给玩家带来挫败感，即当他们意识到自己“甚至在不知不觉的情况下而死去”时便会感到非常沮丧。如此很难让玩家定义自己到底在哪个关卡死去并重新在那里复活。最终，互动故事设计中便出现了第三种选择，即一种更加模糊的选择以为明显的生存选择和明显的即时死亡选择增添乐趣。虽然这种选择能够改善混合选择的弊端，但是其本身也具有一定的局限因素。

我最喜欢的解决方法是限制即时死亡选择（即你选择号码2就会立刻死去！）而更加关注于主体故事中各种不同的追踪选择。玩家不会面临一些方向明确的俗套选择，反倒是一些难以捉摸的选择。每个选择都拥有真正的结果和奖励，而不只是关于死亡或生存。它们将带领玩家穿越故事中的不同内容，并导致不同的结果。这种设置让玩家感受到自己能够真正主宰角色的命运。

这种“多样优秀选择”方法还有另外一大优点。即玩家可以最大程度地定制自己的角色，从而更加亲近游戏角色。举个例子来说，如果玩家需要问非玩家角色一个问题，那么他将能够拥有一系列对话方法的选择。即他能够选择是要用恐吓的方式还是花言巧语等进行交流，如此便能够塑造出其控制角色的个性。所以，玩家不仅能够掌控自己的命运，而且能够形成专属于自己角色的个性。

技术提示：如果你希望在游戏中提供给玩家这些选择，你就必须在游戏初期尽早设置一个简单且冲击性较弱的选择和结果。玩家总是希望能够尽早感受到选择的结果，以了解游戏是否能够对其决策做出有效的反应。

你必须验证游戏中的所有变量设置，并确保它们都能够正常运转。同时玩家也希望知道自己为何会获得这样的结果。他不需要理解每个选择的直接结果，但是却必须具有一定的想法。（如果让玩家知道每个选择的直接结果，他便会选择回到任意的关卡中重新游戏。然后他们也会在游戏网站上公布关于游戏的细节内容。）

提供多样优秀选择的一大方法便是在一时的辛苦，长久的收获和一时的快活，长久的损失中做出选择。以有利的选择诱惑玩家，但是暗示他们将在后来付出相应的代价。或者让玩家先付出代价，并在后来得到回报。这是一种张弛有度的约束，为玩家创造出一种结构有序的选择——因为两个选项都不存在明显的客观劣势。而当玩家在面对选择时出现了忧虑或紧张状态时，你便达到了预期的效果。

Greenberg提供了两个关于“多样优秀结果”的例子。

《吸血鬼：化妆舞会》主要是基于游戏中的道德行为而提供给玩家多样的结果。虽然有道德的吸血鬼听起来很矛盾，但是实际证明这却是一种不错的设计。游戏运用了人道主义系统，让玩家在游戏生与死的选择中考验自己的道德。即如果玩家遇到困难，但是在处理与别人的关系时需要牵扯到道德标准，所以他便可能会逃避这个情景，或者尽量寻找让自己精神得到救赎的方法。而游戏还设定这种“不好”的结局将会给予玩家打败boss的能力，但必须以他们的灵魂作为代价。从而让游戏的基本选择变成了一种衡量，即我们是否愿意为了能量而付出灵魂，即失败战胜胜利还是胜利摧毁了失败。

Adrenaline Vault说过：“结构紧凑的故事情节和角色发展系统让《吸血鬼：化妆舞会》成为了近来少见的一款吸引人的高质量游戏。”

还有一个例子是《星舰迷航记-星云学会》。这款游戏要求玩家管理一组学员并将其培养为一个团队。除了需要做出职业生涯的决策，解决成员内部关系等，玩家还可以帮助他/她的科学官解决任何突然出现的问题。因为从游戏的开始，最大的胜利便是最先从学院中毕业。所以，所有的学术选择瞬间变得非常重要。同时，玩家还知道自己所进行的研究项目将能够达到非常惊人的结果，并且能够帮助他们节省更多生命值。玩家可能会因此牺牲那些看似非常重要的内容，而命令自己的船舰先争取毕业。而研究计划的弊端在于可能会让玩家从自己的学习时间中分心。但是游戏适当地给予了玩家提示信息，包括与学院特殊教练Kirk交流时，他会提供给玩家一些暗示。很多玩家能够在第一次游戏时便创造出一些特别的结局，但是并非所有玩家都能这么做。

Cnet Game Center评价称《星舰迷航记-星云学会》拥有非常巧妙的故事情节设置，并很好地阐述了Trek神话主题，甚至超越了当前许多电视节目和电影。所以这款游戏最值得我们学习和借鉴之处便是故事主题的设置。

Bill Roper（暴雪娱乐）

设计文件和脚本在RPG中是否扮演着一个非常重要的角色？暴雪娱乐的Bill Roper和暴雪北方的Matt Householder将与我们分享这个问题的相关看法。让我们先听听Bill Roper的观点：

暴雪娱乐中的不同团队通过不同角度去看待设计文件。《暗黑破坏神II》的开发团队将文件设计过程融入游戏中，即边创造游戏边进行设计。如果怪兽的作用发生了变化，那么他们便能直接在电子表格上进行修改。《魔兽争霸III》的开发团队以网络格式创造设计文件，让非程序员成员也能够轻松地遵循任何改变内容。这两种方法有利也有弊，主要取决于每个团队的不同需要以及开发者的要求。

而两种方法的共同点在于设计文件是经过定义并在开发过程中遵循的内容。在《魔兽争霸III》中，我们想要创造一款即时策略游戏并将角色扮演游戏的元素融入到设计中。于是我们便创造了角色扮演策略（RPS）这一术语从而让每个成员都能够专注于团队所做出的决策。而游戏的基本理念是强调较少且更加强大的单位，简化资源模式，探索游戏中的关键组件，创造更加有活力的战役，让其成为比《星际争霸》更有吸引力的游戏。寻找游戏的核心本质，然后基于游戏的发展理念构建游戏，而相关的设计文件中记录了我们在整个过程中做出的决策和萌发出的理念等内容。

看到暴雪娱乐的惊人过场动画场景，你肯定很难想象这是一个基于故事脚本然后由CG美术人员制成的短片。Roper解释了这个过程：

故事脚本对于战役场景的创造和过场动画设计都非常重要。在暴雪娱乐的动画制作部门中有几面墙写满了每个游戏场景的故事脚本内容。开发团队始终围绕着故事脚本进行创造，如此才能确保将游戏的外观和精神更好地带进动画场景中，并确保他们的创造具有适当的延续性。来自于动画部门和开发团队的成员汇聚在一起进行头脑风暴时，便最终创造出合适的故事脚本。而作家将利用这些脚本创造角色对话，并因此影响行动执行的视觉效果，音效以及音乐设计等。

当然了，这一切都将牵涉到游戏的战役情节设计，所以关卡设计师也必须参与这个过程。他们同样也需要创造故事脚本，尽管他们创造的内容多倾向于文字和关卡概要。如果能够使用游戏引擎创造游戏内部的动画场景，我们认为有必要在战役地图中整合故事元素或者让玩家能够在完成某些战役任务时获得奖励。总之，这是需要公司中各个团队相互协作的一个过程。

Matt Householder（暴雪北方）

《暗黑破坏神II》的另一大功臣便是Matt Householder，他同样也阐述了RPG游戏的设计文件和故事脚本的重要性：

设计文件的目的是通过一种更有效持久的方法向开发团队（以及发行商）展示游戏的外观和感觉。刚开始以1、2页内容简短地概述玩家的看法，游戏玩法以及游戏控制等内容。

解释游戏为什么有趣。确保简短地阐述所有内容，包括单人游戏，多人游戏，掌机游戏，PC游戏，玩家角色，敌人角色，动画风格，背景设置，音效/音乐，故事等；然后在后面阶段详细阐述这些内容。绘画——草图，角色设计，模型等都能够帮助我们更好地塑造游戏创想。而如果是对于一款大游戏来说，设计文件甚至会长达数百页！设计文件就像是创造一款游戏的食谱，而真正优秀的厨师会不断地尝试并修改这份食谱。同样地，暴雪北方将设计文件当成指导方针，而不是“圣经”般的规则，并以此鼓励制作团队中的所有成员发挥创造性的想象——并且在开发过程中适时调整设计内容。而关于脚本：

对于动画产品来说它是必不可少的内容，但是对于游戏代码或图像来说，它就不再那么重要了。然而，故事脚本在游戏制作过程中扮演着非常重要的角色，通过创造用户互动并让他们做出选择而开始游戏，并在游戏菜单屏幕上做出引导等。

Chris Taylor（Gas Powered Games）

作为许多大受欢迎的游戏，如《横扫千军》以及《地牢攻围》的创造者，Taylor跟我们解释了如何创造出一份设计文件。

设计文件可以是高度理论化也可以是侧重技术和细节等内容。过去几年我围绕着一个系统创造了一份综述文件，以及添加了一些细节内容的附件。然后我便基于这些内容制作了一份详述文件，为那些将要执行特定任务的人提供特定的分析。模版形式能够引导你更好地前进并不断地往模版里添加内容。然后你需要努力回答出10个问题，也就是别人可能会问你的关于设计的问题，即使这些问题很难也很无聊。如果你答不出这些问题，你就需要好好思考为何你选择制作这么一款游戏。

Taylor表示，故事脚本的重要性基于不同的游戏类型：

如果你创造的是一款基于很多图像的游戏，你就必须勾勒草图，故事脚本以及采取任何能够避免反复无用功的方法。糟糕的规划会挫败成员们的斗志，打击他们的信心，而故事脚本却能够帮助你更好地串联起整个规划，游戏外观和感觉，风格以及范围。

Warren Spector（Ion Storm Austin）

《地下创世纪》系列，《网络奇兵》以及《骇客任务》等知名游戏制作人Warren Spector阐述了设计文件的重要性：

对我来说设计文件非常重要。我很惊讶地听到很多非常成功的开发者表示从未费心去创造游戏的设计文件。这真的让我难以想象！

对我来说，设计文件就是：路标——可以说它等同于一个抽象，图像版本的游戏。如果你在前期制作以及制作过程中保持内容的更新，那么它就等同于你的游戏的映射，能够真实地展现出你的游戏当前的发展状况。一份合适的设计文件将包含各种资料，资产以及销售信息等，从而帮你创造出游戏早期的新闻报道内容（甚至不需要开发团队的参与）。而对于最终的项目成品，如果你能适时更新设计文件，它便是游戏读者的最佳指南和说明书，也等同于QA团队所制作的攻略和功能列表。最重要的是，设计文件还是一种很重要的交流工具，同时包含内部交流（确保所有团队成员都出现在同一个页面上）和外部交流（针对于发行商，市场营销以及各种媒体对象）。如果缺少了设计文件，我甚至不知道如何去制作并管理一款游戏。

所以，Spector以及其他游戏设计师是如何撰写游戏设计文件？

不幸的是，根本不存在两个完全相同的项目，两个完全相同的团队，两个要求完全一致的类型，因此，也不存在两个完全匹配的设计文件。你必须寻找适当的元素以帮助你更好地向团队成员以及发行商描述你的游戏。想出你的团队在执行游戏理念时需要哪些信息的支持；允许团队中的每位成员都能够依照自己的能力和兴趣提供适当的建议，以确保每个人对这份文件都拥有“所有权”。（换句话说，在形成最终文件前，团队中的每个人都对文件中的任何理念具有表决权。）在游戏的开发过程中适时地修改文件内容，确保文件能够随时反映出游戏的发展与变化。

但是Spector却承认故事脚本在其游戏开发过程中并未占据着较大的分量：

脚本很重要，特别是在规划动画场景时更为重要，但也就这样了。在你投入大把的金钱去建模并创造角色前，你同样也需要针对于角色和地理位置/地图/关卡等概念艺术内容，但是从本质上来看这却不属于故事脚本。我记得曾经看过一本名为《Behind the Scenes at Sega》的著作，讲的是如何制作一款平台游戏，其中描述了游戏的任何一方面内容都必须关于故事脚本。但是这个观点却不适用于我们工作室所制作的一些游戏（这就说明了制作游戏没有唯一的方法，必须有所调度地进行）。尽管对于游戏来说故事脚本真的非常重要，因为它能帮助设计者分析玩家的每个前进步骤，并且明确自己所设置的智力问题以及这些问题的答案等。

故事脚本是《Wing Commander》系列游戏中一个重要部分，游戏还着重强调了动画场景，并且我敢保证Lucas Arts的冒险游戏都非常重视这一元素。但是如果你创造的是一些更加开放的游戏，那么故事脚本的作用就不再那么明显了。毕竟我们并不是在制作电影…

游戏邦注：原文发表于2002年3月15日，所涉事件和数据均以当时为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Game Design: Secrets of the Sages — Creating Characters, Storyboarding, and Design Documents

by Marc Saltzman

Mario. Pikachu. Lara Croft. Sonic. Pac-Man. Crash Bandicoot. Duke Nukem. Earthworm Jim. Pajama Sam.

What do these words have in common? The answer is simple—all of them are household names, but they’re not famous actors from a Hollywood movie or some hit TV show. They’re not Saturday morning cartoon characters (okay, some of them went on to that) and they’re not the latest doll craze for kids. These are the video game heroes, the stars of the interactive screen whose marketing potential has kept them in the limelight for many years, and lined the pockets of their creators with green.

Many developers and publishers have tried desperately to create the next billion-dollar game icon, but a catchy name or cute look often isn’t enough. So what’s the secret? This chapter contains words of wisdom from many of those aforementioned creators. But that’s not all we’re going to explore here.

If there was a common theme running through this chapter, it would be “how to get your ideas down on paper.” Some game designers prefer to sketch out rough characters or backgrounds on paper (or work with artists to do so); others draw sequential storyboards to help shape the vision and flow of the game or a cinematic cut-scene sequence; and in other cases, designers write fiction or game screenplays (usually for adventure games or RPGs where there’s a lot of dialogue).

Design documents are often lengthy paper reports used to communicate the entire blueprint of the game, covering all its features, story elements, characters, locations, dialogue, puzzles, artwork, sound effects, music, and much more. These documents are usually designed in a modular fashion so they can be updated and modified if the design of the game takes a new form.

This chapter highlights how some of the more famous characters in the gaming industry were born, plus we talk with game designers and artists about storyboarding, script writing, design documents, and other ways to flesh out your hit game before you type your first line of code.

As a special addition to this lengthy chapter, veteran freelance game designer Daniel Greenberg (http://www.danielgreenberg.com) has written an educational and enlightening essay on interactive script writing. But wait—there’s more—designer American McGee has provided us with the complete narrative to the beginning of American McGee’s Alice.

Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo

A man who needs little introduction, the humble Mr. Miyamoto is a living legend in the interactive entertainment industry. He has conceived some of our most beloved electronic characters, such as Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Link from the Legend of Zelda series.

When asked how to create such internationally recognizable and deeply loved characters, Miyamoto said it all boils down to the fun factor:

Making games “fun” is our only objective, and we’re always making an effort to accomplish this goal. I believe that the creation of game characters is simply one of the processes to achieve this goal. If Mario games hadn’t been fun to play, the character wouldn’t be popular at all.

Exactly what makes a character fun? Is it solely appearance? A cute voice? Ease of control? Why do many game developers fail when trying to create the next Mario?

I’m not sure why some fail to create a memorable character. A player can emotionally relate to the video game character as his/her other self, which is the decisive difference from the characters in other media. Mario, for instance, can be a character with completely different meaning when he’s driving a car and when he’s jumping. The other design elements will affect the look and feel of the character.

Miyamoto recognizes that his characters are quite cute and family friendly, and therefore won’t appeal to all kinds of gamers: “I think a number of game players feel, ‘If Miyamoto’s characters had cooler appearances, I could love them.’ All I can say to them is, “I am sorry.”

Some new characters from Miyamoto’s repertoire, Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube.

Where does Miyamoto find inspiration for his beloved games and characters? How exactly did Mario come to life?

The inspirations come from all over: my childhood adventures, the stories I heard growing up, the legends in Japan. After all, we can get inspiration from the ordinary things that everyone is experiencing in our daily lives, by looking at them from a different angle. In the case of Mario, back in or around 1980, when we couldn’t reproduce sophisticated designs on TV game machines due to the technological limitations, I had to make his nose bigger and put on a mustache so that players could notice he had the nose. I had to let him wear overalls so that his arm movements became noticeable. Mario was the result of these rational ideas, plus the Italian design touch that I loved.

One last note: Miyamoto warns that designers may not be able to objectively comprehend how players will feel when playing the game for the first time, because the designer is so close to the project.

Lorne Lanning, Oddworld Inhabitants

In Chapter 2, Lorne Lanning, responsible in part for the memorable characters found in the various Oddworld games, talks about game design theory and production. Here, he discusses the “secret” to creating protagonists such as Abe or Munch.

First you have to know what you’re after when designing lead characters. Is it a heroic character? An outlaw? A spy? What are they all about and what do they represent? You have to know exactly how you want them to communicate to the viewer. You need to know as much about them as you can conjure up. What they like and dislike, what their dilemmas are, what makes them tick. These are the things that give characters depth. The depth of the character is something that you should understand before you even start to design how it looks visually.

What’s the first step, then? Lanning references Oddworld’s lovable aliens:

Before we hit the drawing table, our focus was to create hero characters who were true underdogs. They’re unlikely heroes who couldn’t believe what had happened to them, their species, their cultures, etc. These characters would be considered the garbage of society. They come from the native aboriginal class, the working class, or from the wild. They’re looked upon as pure commodity in their world, but not as living, sensitive beings. They’re not the muscle-bound superheroes that you wish you could be; they’re the poor schmucks that we already are. We wanted characters that embrace the notion of finding their inner strength and purpose.

You then have to be willing to go through a ton of design iterations. When Farzad Varahramyan [a production designer on the Oddworld games] started to design Munch, we went through literally hundreds of designs. We already knew that Munch was an amphibious creature who hopped on one leg like a bird on land, yet swam like a dolphin in the water. We knew he had only one leg, two little arms, a big mouth, and a big head. We knew he had a remote zap port implanted in his skull. We knew that he was young and the last of his kind. We knew that he was in denial regarding the condition of his species. We knew that he was lonely and searching out others of his kind. He was uneducated. He was really just a child in the scheme of things. We knew all of these things when Farzad began to create many, many cool designs…but still we weren’t hitting the emotional mark of our goal.

Next, Lanning says they passed different iterations past Sherry McKenna, executive producer/CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants.

Her read is predictably non-biased—as she puts it, “completely pedestrian.” She looks at things and just registers how it makes her feel. She’s a great litmus test for us in this respect. We wanted to make sure that Munch held a place in the hearts of males and females. It was a very difficult character to design and we spent a lot of time finalizing him. Farzad stuck to it and didn’t get discouraged. In the end, he came through and we were able to create a new hero who hooked those who saw him. He had to look like he came from Oddworld; he had to look as though he could have evolved there, and he had to capture our hearts.

Interestingly, Lanning says their various publishers were skeptical at first that this critter could win people’s hearts.

However, we believed we had hit the mark on our final iteration, and after much debate the final Munch design prevailed. Since then, it has gone over extremely well with all the audiences who have seen him. Had the publishing forces had their way, Munch could have been watered down into something less strange-looking, and thus less edgy. You need to believe when you have something that communicates to an audience, and you need to be prepared to defend and substantiate what you believe works and why it works. You also need to listen to feedback in case you’re wrong. It’s one thing to believe you have a solid design; it’s another to be able to convince others.

When you’re on the creative front, the people who are paying for the product want assurances that the “creative” will work for the target audience. Of course, to have assurances usually means that it’s proven historically. Unfortunately, history doesn’t reveal what will creatively work for today’s and tomorrow’s audience. So the dance of selling something new and different is almost as important as the ability to create it.

Lorne Lanning says his team went through many iterations of Oddworld’s beloved characters, Munch and Abe. Here’s a couple of publicity shots of Abe used to help promote the game.

This chapter also discusses the importances of design documents and storyboarding. Lanning contributes his thoughts on these topics:

Design documents are critical. They are the equivalent of a movie script or a business plan; without one, you don’t have a roadmap that will keep you on course throughout the storm that is production—let alone getting you financing in the first place.

In addition, today games take large teams of people and have multimillion-dollar budgets. This means that everyone needs to have clear communication or else a lot of money can be wasted very quickly. The team, the publisher, the management—everyone needs to know what you’re getting into if you’re to pull it off and have production go smoothly. It also becomes the basis of your schedule at the beginning of the project.

Storyboarding is critical to us in the video sequences. We used to do storyboards for gameplay, but this became more of a burden than an asset. Then we started doing actual visualizations, which helped to communicate ideas much more clearly. For these we used 3D data to illustrate the moves, lighting, effects, animations, etc. that the game engine would eventually run. There’s nothing like seeing something do exactly what you want it to do—before it has been coded—to help communicate new ideas to a team of people.

The third game in the Oddworld series, dubbed Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, is a Microsoft Xbox launch title, slated for a November 2001 release. It’s the first 3D game in the popular series.

Be sure to visit Chapter 8, which contains some stellar advice from Lorne Lanning on how to create good puzzles in your games.

Tsunekazu Ishihara, Pokémon Co.

It’s hard to argue that Pokémon has become one of the world’s biggest phenomena over the past few years. It first started out as a Game Boy title in Japan and then became a popular kid’s TV show, collectible card game, successful toy line, movie franchise, and more.

Here to speak about creating successful video game characters is Tsunekazu Ishihara, the producer on all Pokémon and Pokémon-related products for Nintendo.

Naturally, the first question is whether there’s a formula, secret, or technique to creating characters such as Pikachu and other mega-popular Pokémon icons. Ishihara responds:

When talking about Pokémon games, its success is because the characters are described in thorough detail, I believe. More specifically, for each Pokémon, there’s weight, height, effective offense/defense, and other attributes. These details help make Pokémon video games very well balanced; on the other hand, they help make such imaginary Pokémon characters as Pikachu have more of a realistic existence. With this information, children form their images of each Pokémon in their minds, empathizing with each of the characters and feeling as if they were actually traveling with Pokémon. Such well-detailed characteristics may be the secret of why Pokémon characters such as Pikachu are well received by children around the world.

On its international success, Ishihara says “It was not something we had originally intended.” Instead, Pokémon was designed originally for the Japanese people, says Ishihara. Honestly, he later admits, it was designed for his nephews and nieces!

After the success in Japan, when we were to bring them to the U.S., our U.S. people demanded a variety of modifications in order to Americanize them. For example, they said that Pokémon are too cute and that they wanted to add muscular nature and such themes as fighting against evil. In the end, however, we haven’t complied with their requests. If we were to do so, Pokémon would not be Pokémon. As a result, children around the world fell in love with Pokémon.

One final, funny note. “It has turned out that my nephew and niece are happy they sort of brought Pokémon to the rest of the children in the world!” jokes Ishihara.

Believe it or not, Tsunekazu Ishihara says he created Pokémon to please his niece and nephew, and never dreamed it would become an unprecedented international

David Perry, Shiny Entertainmen

President of Shiny Entertainment and game designer extraordinaire David Perry has brought to life a number of hit characters over the years. This includes protagonists from the Earthworm Jim games, MDK, Wild 9, Messiah, Sacrifice, and soon The Matrix.

Perry was asked to provide three (in)valuable pieces of advice on creating a successful game character, and all three of his answers are thought-provoking:

1.Humor is a very important part of entertainment. So if you can make it amusing, that’s the easiest way to go. Unique abilities are also good. Earthworm Jim’s suit would use him to achieve its goals. Funny stuff like that adds spice to the characters you’re creating.

2.Somebody once said that a great character has a unique silhouette—if you can identify a character just by its outline, you know you’ve made something that will stand out in a crowd.

3.New and interesting weapons are also important. Nothing is worse than playing a game with a leaky peashooter. So great firepower is a good way to pat a gamer on the head.

Perry says he hates to advertise this, but…

I have to say that the best way to learn how to make a great character is to take this class: http://www.beyondstructure.com. I highly recommend it. If you’re new to the business, you’re not going to get away with Pac-Man anymore; you have to make real, intelligent, interesting characters. This seminar will tell you exactly how to do just that.

Many times throughout this book you may see conflicting advice on certain topics. Case in point: Asked about the importance of design documents, Perry directly contradicts Lorne Lanning and others:

I used to think they were a waste of time. I still do, to be honest. I prefer different documents that matter to certain people that they will bother to read:

The game walkthrough script. We write in a program called Final Draft (http://www.finaldraft.com) and we write the experience we would love to see from the beginning to the end of the game. It’s written kinda like a movie, but describes the ambiance, who’s there, what you see, what you don’t see, the action, what they say, etc.

The lists. These are done in Microsoft Excel and are tracked. These are lists of everything—objects, weapons, characters, balance statistics, etc.

Does Perry storyboard his games?

Over the years, I’ve worked with all sorts of business people. Some “get it,” but some are completely flatline when it comes to any ability to think creatively. I found that the saying is indeed true, “A picture paints a thousand words.” We extensively draw storyboards now, so that anyone that needs to understand the vision can just look at the pictures like a comic book. It saves a lot of discussion.

I’ve found that taking 3D sculptures of your characters to meetings is great because it’s an instant conversation piece, and the people you’re pitching become mesmerized by the sculpture as you describe the design. How do you get a good sculpture? There are several ways, but these are the best two I know:

Use a great sculptor who works with action/pitch characters. Just ask for photos of previous work.

Use a technology called rapid prototyping (search on the Net). Companies like Gentle Giant will take your game’s 3D model data and then sculpt it using lasers so you get an exact replica of your character. We have some quite amazing sculptures from these guys that took zero effort at our end.

Perry’s words of wisdom can be found in other places throughout this book—be sure to read his thoughts on general game design theory and implementation (Chapter 2) and on breaking into the industry (Chapter 21).

George Broussard, 3D Realms

Ever since the third game in 3D Realms’ popular Duke Nukem series came out in 1996, countless others have tried to create a successful lead character by mimicking its overly macho, mouthy, badass hero, Duke Nukem. (Heck, his name says it alone!)

3D Realms president George Broussard offers some advice to those looking to create character-driven action games:

First off, your game has to be great. Without that, nothing you do with a character matters. We try to create catchy character names—like Duke Nukem or Max Payne—that instantly get a reaction from people, or create an image in someone’s mind. That’s the “hook.” Once you have a hook that people find interesting, you just flesh out the character with personality traits, mannerisms, and catchphrases.

Broussard suggests hiring a writer: “We’re at the point today where all games need a real writer who can breathe real personalities, dialogue, and life into characters.” Here’s a shot of the Duke in all his glory, which eventually made the box front for Duke Nukem 3D.

Broussard explains why Max Payne is more than just a cool name:

Remedy Entertainment did a great job with Max Payne. His name has a unique hook and people usually get the pun—that he delivers “maximum pain.” Then you give Max a compelling reason to act and be motivated. He’s an undercover cop, with his back against the wall, out for revenge after the death of his wife and daughter. Finally, you give Max his “personality” through the way he speaks. Max narrates his journey metaphorically, in the style of detective films of the1940s and 1950s. What you end up with is an interesting character who’s fairly unique to games, and hopefully people respond to that. Our gaming audience is getting more sophisticated every day and won’t settle for less.

Broussard adds that this advice really depends on the types of characters you want to make. He explains:

We typically create over-the-top characters that lean more toward what you might find in comic books or high-action movies. Characters that are larger than life, and for those types of characters there’s a pretty basic starting point.

To reiterate and summarize his points made above, Broussard says you can break down any character into the following characteristics:

Personality traits. This defines the character’s personality and how he or she reacts to situations.

Appearance. There should be a distinctive look to your character, so people will learn to recognize the character from appearance alone. Examples: Lara Croft, Superman (almost any superhero), Darth Vader.

Motivation. Why do your characters do what they do? What drives them? Once this is established, your characters will get stronger from doing things the way people expect them to.

Catchphrase. The best characters become famous and well known for a simple catchphrase that sticks in people’s minds, and usually becomes part of pop culture. Remember the “Where’s the Beef?” commercials for Wendy’s? Examples: “What’s up, doc?” (Bugs Bunny); “Up, up, and away!” (Superman); “Holy hand grenades, Batman!” (Robin); “I’ll be back” (The Terminator); “Go ahead, make my day” (Dirty Harry).

Name. A character’s name should be “catchy” and unique in some way, so people hear the name and get an instant image in their minds. Rhyming and alliteration are good tools to come up with a catchy character name. Examples: Duke Nukem, Sonic the Hedgehog, Earthworm Jim.

To further illustrate his point on the “parts” of a distinguishable character, Broussard provides these examples:

See if you can guess the character before the name is given, simply from the basic elements:

Personality trait: Egotistical

Appearance: Sunglasses, red muscle shirt, bandoliers, blond flat top

Motivation: Kick alien ass/score with babes

Catchphrase: “Come get some”

Name: Duke Nukem

Personality traits: Determined, inquisitive, loner

Appearance: Black suit, white shirt, tie, cell phone

Motivation: FBI agent/uncover conspiracies

Catchphrase: “The Truth Is Out There”

Name: Fox Mulder, from The X-Files

Says Broussard, “The above is merely a starting point for developing your own characters, and you can make them more or less complex, depending on your needs. But in the end, these characteristics are needed for a really memorable character.”

How do you translate sketches to real characters in the game? Is it necessary for a series such as Duke Nukem?

As video games have gotten more and more complex, we’ve started to adopt the ways that movies do things. A lot of games today have scripts much like a movie, where all the action, cut-scenes, and dialogue are carefully laid out in every detail. Another thing that has been adopted is the idea of concept sketches. These sketches serve to solidify the look and feel of elements in the game, such as characters, locations, and action sequences.

But what about design documents? Are they necessary for all types of games?

Let me tell you about design docs. Duke Nukem 3D didn’t even have one. We did stuff as we went, adding bits that were cool and discarding ideas that didn’t work. Look how the game turned out. All we had was a vague notion that the game would be based in a future, seedy L.A. The rest came from a dynamic development process.

Duke Nukem Forever has substantially more on paper from the start because it’s a much more cohesive and large game. But people who write 300-page design docs beforehand are wasting their time. The game design process (for most) is an evolutionary process. You refine and redesign as you go, learning and making things better. It’s insane to write a 300-page doc, then just make the game. There’s no way you can think of every cool idea before you make the game, and you have to be flexible enough to roll with the punches and add and refine ideas as you go, all according to the timeline.

Speaking from our experience, design docs are merely a general guideline that gets more and more polished as you go. You just try to stay three to four months ahead of things as you go. The design doc isn’t done until the game is.

Also bear in mind that 3D action games are not that complex. They have bad guys, guns, items, and level locations. Not exactly rocket science, or something needing 300 pages.
Be sure to read all about the exciting Duke Nukem happenings at 3D Realms’ official web site.

Scott Miller, 3D Realms

We just heard from George Broussard, president of 3D Realms, about creating such hit characters as Duke Nukem—but we’ll also turn to 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller to reveal the “secret” to creating successful characters, while so many others have failed.

Positioning and differentiation. Duke is the first white male action hero. No other character will ever have a chance knocking Duke off his particular pedestal, because it’s better to be first than it is to be better (a key concept of positioning). Likewise, Max Payne is the first character of his type—a true antihero vigilante cop—and no other developer will ever have a chance making a better character with this description. Thanks to the well-known psychology of the human mind, better doesn’t win; being first is what really matters.

George [Broussard] and I have studied and discussed characters for almost a decade, and finally in the last 5–6 years we think we’ve put together the key pieces of the puzzle better than anyone else in this industry. A bold statement, maybe, but consider that we planned Max to be the next great male action character and franchise from day one of the games design, and guided Remedy (the developers) in the key ways to make it happen. And we’re going to do it again with two more coming game characters, Bombshell (appearing first in Duke Nukem Forever before starring in her own games), and another game I can’t announce yet (wait for E3 2002).

Miller acknowledges that this is a tough topic to cover in brief, because, as he puts it, “It’s worthy of its own book.”

But there are specific guidelines to naming a character properly, so that the name is better remembered and has a catchy hook. A character-based game should be named with the character’s name (much like most comic books do—which was our inspiration for this particular idea years ago). One commonality of catchy, memorable names is that one of the names is only one syllable long. For example: Johnny Quest, James Bond, Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker, Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Indiana Jones, Max Payne, Han Solo, Lara Croft, on and on. There are several important rules like this that should be followed to create a great character name.

Another piece of advice, something that was also touched on by Broussard, is that a character’s name should reflect something about the character. Explains Miller:

Duke Nukem and Max Payne do this very well. Other game character names like Lara Croft, Kate Archer, John Mullins, John Blade are just generic, valueless names that say nothing about the personality of the character they represent.
In other areas of this book, Miller shares a lot of great advice on general game design, building a franchise (in Chapter 2) and on breaking into the industry (Chapter 21).

Jason Rubin, Naughty Dog

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., Naughty Dog has won worldwide acclaim for its Crash Bandicoot games (1996 to 1999). Jason Rubin, co-founder and lead designer, is hard at work on Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, a 3D platformer for the Playstation 2.

Is there a formula for creating a successful game character?

Ah, the impossible question to answer. Certainly, there are many things that contribute. Good design, which means making sure that the right people are involved, and the right opinions are sought. Good integration, which involves making sure that the character fits the game, and the game is worth playing. Good marketing, to make sure that the character is positioned correctly, and the public wants to know more about it. And good follow-through, including derivative products like toys and shirts to reinforce the connection, as well as properly timed sequels, and continued placement of the character in the public eye. Certainly, no successful character that I can think of has failed in any of these categories. The best, like Pokémon and Mario, have not only done well in each, but have always excelled.

It’s not always easy whipping up a hit character—Naughty Dog’s Jason Rubin admits that Jak and Daxter took about four months to flesh out, which is twice as long as it took to get Crash Bandicoot right.

So, how important is a cute/cool character in a video game today, such as Crash Bandicoot or Jak & Daxter?

The farther into the broader marketplace gaming goes, the more important “characters” become. That might mean a lead character, or a license like Tony Hawk, or the official NBA teams and logos. The reason that video games are interesting to more people today than they were in the ’80s is that people who couldn’t identify with a Pong paddle or Pac-Man are interested in playing Lara Croft. As the gap between reality or fantasy and the visuals in games narrows, more people are drawn to the medium. And as story and plot become more involving in games, even the non-competitive have a reason to play. A look across recent bestsellers yields (besides the venerable I) a list of games that focus on characters broadly defined, and the trend should continue.

Without a doubt, many readers of this chapter would be interested in how Rubin and company came up with the Crash Bandicoot character. He answers with the following anecdote:

Crash was designed by multiple Naughty Dogs and two Hollywood cartoon designers named Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson. We did dozens of paper sketches, and then we bred them together, picking the best features from each, and adding new mutations along the way. After dozens of generations, we had a 2D Crash. Then we modeled him in a 3D package, and further refined his attributes to work with the added dimension. Finally, we put him on the PlayStation, and refined him yet again to make sure that features stood out, and that he worked at the resolution and with the number of polygons that we were using. The whole process took about four months.

Speaking of Crash, if Rubin had to summarize it into a paragraph, what would he say is the key to Crash’s success? He ponders the question, then answers:

Crash Bandicoot, the character, appeals to the broadest variety of people: young and old, male and female, Japanese, North American, or European. Most first-time Crash purchasers, regardless of nationality, are buying from advertising, promotional material, or the box cover. If the character fails, then the game fails. Crash excelled in this department thanks to both a good original design and Sony Computer Entertainment’s amazing worldwide marketing campaign.

With this in mind, was Jak & Daxter any easier, more difficult, or about the same?

Jak and Daxter’s design process was similar to Crash’s but it took twice as long. We asked more opinions and had more experience as a group. We also designed Jak and Daxter in conjunction with our producers and marketing teams from Sony America, Sony Europe, and Sony Japan. We set out from the beginning to make a character that appealed to the whole world. Crash was designed in a less global manner, and I think that only luck and a great marketing effort by Sony facilitated his international appeal. Overall, I’m more excited about Jak and Daxter than I was with Crash. I love the way they look, and I think that they have more possibilities for growth as characters.

Want to catch Rubin’s advice on game design? Fling yourself back to Chapter 2.

Toby Gard, Confounding Factor

You may not be too familiar with this designer’s name, but chances are you’re aware of his most beloved creation—Lara Croft. Toby Gard left Core Design as lead graphic artist and game designer on the revolutionary title Tomb Raider, to launch his own development studio alongside fellow Core Design lead programmer Paul Douglas. Their first game, Galleon, is an epic action/adventure scheduled for a 2001 release.

In a minute, we’ll get into creating successful characters. (And Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft is as successful as it gets—complete with her own live action movie starring Angelina Jolie!) First, a few words from Gard on general game design.

Your objectives should be contingent upon your resources. If you’re forced into using a type of technology, such as a certain engine, or are limited in any other way by your platform or programming, then you have to come at your design from that direction first. For instance, at its most severe, if you’re making a Game Boy game, then you already know you’re limited to it being 2D and having pretty serious speed and memory restrictions. No Quake 12 for you.

Assuming that you’ll be making a game for the PC or one of the newer 3D consoles, however, as is more often the case these days, your restrictions are pretty loose. I prefer working from this direction, because you can take a pure idea and you know that in some form you’ll be able to make it happen—however hard that route is. So then you need an idea, right? Well, I think we all have about a million of them each—it’s whatever gets you excited, like wanting to be in Star Wars or showing people how much fun snowboarding is. Then all you need to do is go down to the pub and talk endlessly with your mates about what would be cool about it (or preferably with whoever you’re going to make the game with).

During that time, you need to be constantly solving the “How the hell can we do that?” technical questions. Even if you’re just saying stuff like, “Well, we need shadows. Quake does shadows, so how are they doing that, and can we use a similar technique?” During this period you should be thinking an awful lot about how your control system will work. I’m a believer in compressing your control system down to the minimum number of buttons to achieve your aims; that way you tend to get an elegant rather than a cumbersome control system. You’re basically aiming to be in the position where you have such a clear idea of what the game will be like that you can actually play it in your head. When you can do that, if you’re visualizing it hard enough, you’ll be able to see and address loads of the flaws in the idea before you’ve implemented a damn thing!

Therefore, the three most important things for me are a) visualize the control system, including game mechanics; b) have technology ideas for how to implement all of the above; and c) write it all down!

Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft, Gard’s claim to fame. Also, a shot from Gard’s next project, an action/adventure epic for the PC and Xbox, dubbed Galleon.

When creating a lead character for a video game, Gard says to be sure you really like what you’ve designed; then other people have a good chance of liking it too. He expands on this notion:

If you aren’t sure about your character, dump it. If you experiment all the time, drawing without any particular purpose, and explore avenues that look good in a fairly freeform sort of way, at some point you’ll get something that you just instinctively know works. Then, you see, you’ll start to love the character, and that will shine through in your work because the character starts to take on its own personality through your drawings. I think that’s probably it—you need to design and redesign again and again, until you can’t anymore. Then just draw that character about a hundred times (having fun with it), and you’ll be there. Well, that’s the method I use.

Can Gard offer are specific do’s or don’ts for creating a hit character like Lara Croft?

Make a character simple and clear; look at comics to see why. Your art should be an iconic piece of graphic art, as well as a nicely rendered piece of art. Example: gray, black, and yellow = Batman. Bold sections of color and a simple overall design. Whatever style you draw him in, Batman is always Batman because he’s so iconic he’s almost a logo in his own right.

Do something radical. Almost everything can work equally well turned on its head. Most people are sick of seeing the same sorts of characters, so break the rules.

If you want people to take to your character, then you should have respect for it. It should have admirable qualities; it should be something you kind of wouldn’t mind spending a few hours stepping into the shoes of.

After all, that’s the whole point, right?

Yuji Naka, Sega

As president of Sonic Team Corporation, Yuji Naka has worked on a number of beloved Sega games, including Nights, Samba de Amigo, Phantasy Star Online, Sonic Adventure, and others.

Through an interpreter, we chatted with Mr. Naka about game design and creating successful lead characters.

Asked to give some advice for those interested in making games for a living, Naka’s answer was to try and create a game with its own unique identity (regardless of what others are doing) and to add as much feeling and character into the game as possible.

Speaking of characters, Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the world’s most recognizable video game mascots. How can someone create the next Sonic?

Characters produced from the games are naturally born of the fun elements of the games. Because it’s much different in that respect from animated cartoons and movies, think about the game itself and then create characters.

The game’s movement and flow are the necessary reason why Sonic was born. There originally was Super Mario, and although much different from Nintendo’s character, we designed—not as his rival—but as a game that we can be proud of on the same level…and Sonic was born.

On finding inspiration for games, Naka says he tries to direct his attention to various kinds of things in his everyday life—like everyday entertainment, for example.

What’s the best advice Naka can give for creating massively-multiplayer console games such as Phantasy Star Online?
“Carefully create the means of communication.” That is, one of the most important points is the communication among the game players. So when you create a game such as Phantasy Star Online, you should think about what communication means to the gameplay.

Does Naka believe multiplayer games are the future for consoles? He responds, “I guess it is in a way, but I don’t think it’s the only way. I would say that 30 percent of players will become multiplayers and the rest won’t.”

Naka emphasizes that the user interface (see Chapter 14) is one of the most important considerations for the game designer: “Games that don’t take the interface and controls into account have not been successful in the past—they’re the most important points in the game itself.”

Yu Suzuki, Sega

Also at Sega is the one and only Yu Suzuki, responsible for such fantastic games such as the character-driven Shenmue, the Virtua Fighter series, the Virtua Cop series, Hang On, Space Harrier, and others.

While Chapter 2 houses Suzuki’s answers on creating fun and challenging video games, here we just asked him one question: How does he create such great characters as Ryo in Shenmue? Suzuki says:

What’s most important is originality. Also, by tightly creating invisible parts like background stories or personalities of the characters, later development opportunity will be broadened. And lastly, a note on self-promotion: It’s necessary to make an active effort to gain more recognition, like exposure or advertisement to media such as magazines or home pages.

Hideo Kojima, Konami

The celebrated game designer responsible for the Metal Gear Solid games was asked the discuss the importance of a lead character, such as Solid Snake, and how to create a successful one.

Hideo Kojima, creator of the insanely popular Metal Gear Solid games, believes that the success of a video game character is directly related to how well the player can control him or her. Solid Snake returns as the protagonist in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

This is a tough question. The lead character of a story is the most important element. If you can’t associate yourself with the lead character of a movie or novel, you won’t enjoy the storyline, no matter how great the storyline is. This holds true for games. What’s different is that in games you control the main character. This is why it’s necessary to take into consideration the character’s “compatibility” to the viewpoints and psychology of all the people who would potentially play the game. Maintaining this balance is very difficult. The basic character description/setting, along with the character itself, is one thing. When the player actually moves the character, the character becomes complete. The player is the one who adds to the character what’s missing.

Be sure to turn back to Chapter 2 to read Kojima’s advice on general video game design.

Michel Ancel, Ubi Soft Entertainment

As project director at Ubi Soft in Paris, France, Michel Ancel is the designer who created the character Rayman, a huge international hit. He stars in all the versions of the Rayman games (available on multiple platforms) and for the past two years has been working on a top-secret project to debut in 2002 or 2003.

How is Rayman visually original? Well, for one thing, he’s got no arms or legs—the hands and feet just magically appear where they should!

Before we dive into Rayman as a character, Ancel offers some game design tips. “Be creative, be logical, and understand the player’s point of view,” he begins. Using Rayman as an example, Ancel continues:

The creativity aspect of Rayman comes from its graphic style. We also tried to imagine some unique game sequences, like being chased by a pirate spaceship or cooperating with a powerful but fearful friend. The logic part is about the rules, the gameplay techniques that you have to follow precisely, like the evolutions of Rayman, the level of skills, the puzzles. And to understand the player’s view, the game must be playable for maybe millions of people. It means that we must consider how people will react when playing. The typical questions are about the controls, the story, the challenge, the rewards, etc. Are they good enough? Easy to understand? etc. The questions that must be answered early in the game’s creation.

Is there a special technique for creating world-renowned characters such as Rayman?

When I created Rayman, I didn’t really analyze it. I just made it like this because it was fun for me and my friends. I also wanted an easy-to-animate character. Your character must not look like [other characters], but at the same time he must appear familiar to people. That’s a challenge between originality and an easy-to-understand character.

Rayman is visually original, but in some aspects he’s close to what young people are wanting from a hero. The visual aspect is important for the first impact. After this first feeling, the next one is about animation. A lot of the personality is revealed by the animations—the way your character move in common actions. The next and most important step—especially for games—comes from his powers, his specific actions. What can he do that will surprise the player? This is an important question. The next and deepest aspect will come from his feelings, his personality, the way he reacts in particular situations: danger, love, surprises, victory, etc. You must consider all these steps of perceptions and be sure that you’re not completely copying another hero!

“Rayman is 50 percent action and 50 percent humor. That’s what most young people care about,” says Ancel.

Finally, he discusses the issue of control (discussed in depth in Chapter 14). Ancel agrees that one of the biggest challenges when making a game is to make the control very intuitive and comfortable. The Rayman series is a good example of it done right. Ancel explains why:

You must look at the player’s reflexes. To avoid frustration, you must think about what’s natural for people. Test your new control with your friends, wife, children—everyone who will give you feedback. A single delay on the buttons, the acceleration curve of the camera—all these parameters are important to tune if you want good control. You must have more than 100 of these kinds of parameters in your game, and must be able to change them easily depending on the player’s feedback.

Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions

Some of the computer game industry’s most beloved characters were created by the affable Tim Schafer, who recently left an eight-year stint at Lucas Arts to start Double Fine Productions. Schafer brought such memorable, time-withstanding characters to life such as Manuel “Manny” Calavera and Hector Lemans from Grim Fandango and Ben and Malcolm Corley from Full Throttle.

According to Schafer, wish fulfillment is the main secret to character (and game) design. He explains:

Never forget that you’re providing players with the chance to do something they can’t do in their daily lives. It should be something that they really want to do, if just for a little while. With Full Throttle, we were banking on the secret desire to be a biker: big, tough, cool. Riding a huge hog around. Without a helmet. Ask yourself, what’s the wish fulfillment that I’m providing with my game? What secret desire am I satisfying? This is more important in adventure games than in a game like, say, Sonic the Hedgehog, because adventure games are always about fantasy.

Schafer comments on the importance of storyboarding and design documents for creating adventure games:

We storyboarded every single shot that appears in Grim Fandango, and it was invaluable. It helps the artists know what to build, what angles it has to look good from. It tells the people who are placing the characters in the scenes where everybody should be standing. People have been doing it in movies for years, and games are just figuring it out now.

A design document is the game designer’s bible for the development of the game. It shouldn’t just be a burst of ideas you scribble down in the beginning of the process and then forget about as you enter the heat of production. It should be a living document that you revise after every brainstorming session to keep fresh and up to date. It’s for the team to reference when they (or you) forget what the plan was.
Take heed to this veteran’s advice: “If you don’t have one, you’ll drift off target, I promise.”

Read more from Schafer on general game design tips and techniques (Chapter 3) and how to create good puzzles in an adventure game (Chapter 8).

Gabe Newell, Valve Software

In Chapter 2, Gabe Newell, founder and managing director of Kirkland, Washington’s Valve Software, talks about creating successful action games such as Half-Life. He briefly comments here on creating lead characters and writing design documents.

“Actually, I’m not sure that a lead character is necessary, or even beneficial, in first-person games,” admits Newell. He continues:

We made Gordon [Freeman, the protagonist in Half-Life] as transparent to the player as possible. The only time you ever hear yourself is when you’re breathing during the disaster sequence. We had a bunch of third-person scenes, and we slowly realized that they were hurting the experience, not helping.
However, Newell does admit to using design documents:

We couldn’t work without design documents. We have too many people who need to think through all of the implications of the design in all of the millions of details that go into a next-generation game. Each hour spent on the design probably saves us 10 hours of implementation.

Alex Garden, Relic Entertainment

The young game designer responsible for Homeworld and Sigma: The Adventures of Rex Chance talks about the importance of a design document and how to best tackle one.

A design document is a road map for a team tasked with creating your wacky idea. Members of your team should be able to reference your design document when they have questions. Practically speaking, game design is a somewhat organic process though, so the design document has to be somewhat organic as well to keep people informed correctly. At Relic, we have one mega, central design document that’s used as the basis of the game; then we supplement it with “Design Updates” that are much shorter and easier to update.

How important is storyboarding a game today?

Considering the cost and complexity of cinematic and animatic sequences, it’s critically important to do as much pre-production as you can (which is relatively cheap) before you start working on full product (which is very, very expensive). Planning may look like a waste of time, but it is in fact the single easiest and cheapest way to make your game good in the end.

Bruce C. Shelley, Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios designer Bruce Shelley—whose Age of Empires computer games have become one of the most successful real-time strategy games on the planet—offers his advice on using design documents:

The design document (DD) is the blueprint of the game design. It begins with a short paragraph or a long vision statement that sums up what the game is about. This is followed by a longer two- or three-page vision document, which provides more detail on the look and feel of the game. This grows into a full-blown DD that may reach several hundred pages for one of our games. All major systems have separate chapters that explain in detail how each system will work. For example, in the Age of Empires games, the DDs had a chapter on buildings. Here we listed all the buildings, their functions, their costs, their prerequisites, when they could be built, their attributes (hit points, armor), etc. Everyone on the project could go to that part of the DD to see how a particular building was supposed to work. From this document, the programming team would create their technical design document, which would list all the programming tasks, who was assigned to them, and estimates of creation time. The art team builds a list of art components from the DD. The test team builds its list of systems to be tested. The publisher compares the DD to the build they receive. The DD is the backbone of the development process. It’s a living document, updated regularly. We keep it on our intranet so it’s easily available to all. We also create a “DD Lite” that someone can read more easily for a quick overview of the product.

Phil Steinmeyer, PopTop Software

The creator of Railroad Tycoon, Tropico, and others says there are all kinds of design documents, so it’s important to clarify the differences between them:

[They can] range from publisher summaries, which can be 1–10 pages, to general game design documents, running 15–50 pages, to detailed technical architecture documents listing every bit of code and art asset that will be needed by the game (sometimes running 1,000 pages and more).

Steinmeyer says he typically writes and follows two design documents. The first is a short summary for his publisher, highlighting projected marketing, budget, sales, and competing games. The second is a longer document for internal use.

For Tropico, it was about 40 pages of text, plus lots of spreadsheets. My team has complained that the Tropico design document wasn’t detailed enough, and it wasn’t kept up to date, so I’m going to try for more detail and keeping it up better on our next game.

Phil Saunders, Presto Studios

Earlier in this chapter we heard from Tim Schafer, best known for his games when employed by Lucas Arts, and now we have Phil Saunders from Presto Studios to chat further about design docs and storyboarding in adventure games.

“In our process, storyboarding is really only used for cinematic sequences where we’re in complete control of the player’s viewpoint,” begins Saunders. He continues:

In environments that are fully realized and navigable, the important part of pre-production is prototyping. We create simple models early on in the process to define the path and to show what will and won’t be visible to the player in any given location. At this stage, we’re able to discover what players will and won’t learn, and when; what we can hide from them; as well as what’s revealed. As an additional benefit, prototyping allows us to have a good grasp of the size and scope of our production. We can tell what level of detail must be put into what part of the environment, based on its distance and accessibility to the player.

Why this amount of effort?

We’ve learned the hard way that preliminary planning pays off in the end. It’s sad to see someone’s designs being cut from the game because you’ve run out of time, or technically it just won’t work. For Myst III: Exile, we spent about a year developing the gameplay, story, and early visual ideas. At the end of about 11 months, we had a design document 160 pages long. The design document saves you from over designing and eventually cutting out work that took someone months to prepare. Months that could have been better spent fine-tuning other areas.

Is a design document necessary? “In my opinion,” concludes Saunders, “it’s the most important part of production.”

For more about the creation of Myst III: Exile and what could be learned from it, hop back to Chapter 3.

Ragnar T?rnquist, Funcom

The brilliant and articulate Ragnar T?rnquist—creator of The Longest Journey, arguably one of the most critically acclaimed adventure games of late—talks in this chapter about creating a successful protagonist and the importance of design docs and storyboard sequences.

“Creating strong characters in a game is not as hard as people think,” begins T?rnquist, when asked to reveal the “secret” to creating a successful lead character such as April Ryan in The Longest Journey.

Most of it has to do with depth: depth of personality, depth of background, depth of characterization. It’s important to avoid clichés and stereotypes, and one way to go about it (at least initially) is to use real people as models for your characters. Think about what it is that makes a person unique: Is it the way he or she talks, walks, laughs? Observe his or her expressions—facial, verbal, body language—and dig deep into that person’s full history. The more complex the background, the more thorough your preparation, and the easier it is to develop a strong character. Even if it isn’t mentioned in the game, take the time to write down personal details such as family history, likes and dislikes, favorite pets—anything and everything that’s suitable for the kind of character you want to create.

In other words, if your character is a butt-kicking marine with a grudge, you probably don’t need to think about his favorite color, but you’ll need to find out why this guy became a soldier in the first place, what makes him tick, and what he wants to accomplish.

Okay, so what about the creation of April Ryan?

With April Ryan in The Longest Journey (TLJ), there was actually a ton of background material that’s only briefly hinted at in the game, but that gave her depth and character. There’s a reason for everything she says and does, and I think that’s quite apparent. Long before I started writing her dialogue, I knew everything that had happened to her from the day she was born to the day the game started. I knew what made her tick. I knew how she spoke, how she would react in any given situation. At that point, it’s a lot easier to develop the character and to have him or her become a natural part of the story and the setting.

I said earlier to avoid clichés and stereotypes, but sometimes clichés and stereotypes are great ways to establish a character immediately, without a lot of dialogue, especially in the case of supporting characters who may not get a lot of screen time. Don’t knock stereotyping; there’s a good reason why some people do conform to stereotypes. With TLJ, we had The Surly Detective, The Funny Sidekick, The Mysterious Stranger, The Mad Wizard, and so on. These types of characters, done right, appeal to us on a very basic level: we understand them. We’ve seen them before. We know where they fit in. While you don’t want your lead character(s) to fit into an easy mold, clichés and stereotypes are tools that can be used to fill out your character gallery. After a while, you’ll probably want to play with these clichés and stereotypes, twisting them ever so slightly to keep the players on their toes throughout.

The Longest Journey creator Ragnar T?rnquist says he creates thorough background dossiers for most of the important characters in the game. Of April, T?rnquist says, “There’s a reason for everything she says and does, and I think that’s quite apparent. Long before I started writing her dialogue, I knew everything that had happened to her from the day she was born to the day the game started.”

And on the development of these characters, and using the story—or, more precisely, the plot—T?rnquist says to keep in mind that good characterization (at least in games) comes from placing ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

This is usually a lot more interesting than extraordinary people in extraordinary situations: By virtue of the changes in the game world, and the way your characters react to these changes, you’ll find that your protagonist(s) often start to evolve and grow on you, regardless of your original intent. Let the player experience the world through the eyes of the protagonist; if the protagonist’s eyes are jaded or all-knowing, it’s not particularly interesting. But if, as with April, the extraordinary things that happen on her journey are as surprising to her as to the player, there’s an instant link between the person playing and the character he or she is controlling. And that’s a good thing.

On design docs for an adventure game, T?rnquist mirrors many of the sentiments found in this chapter:

A design document is a blueprint for the programmers, artists, and level designers. It describes in detail the concept and ideas, the systems and functions, and the suggested implementation of all game features—both the obvious ones (visual interface, for example) and the not-so-obvious ones (AI, scripts, saving and loading, and so on).

T?rnquist expands on this comment, and also touches on storyboarding:

The designer’s job is to think of every eventuality that might occur, every action the player may want to perform, every problem that could pop up, as well as create an interesting world, a strong story, intriguing characters, and fun gameplay. It’s impossible to cover every eventuality—to second-guess all possibilities—but the point is to be as well prepared as possible. Design will happen, whether you want it to or not, throughout the production, until the day the game ships (or, in the case of online games, even after the game has shipped, and for years to come). A design document is therefore an evolving document, constantly updated by the designers, providing a living record of intent as well as result.

A storyboard is a visual representation of what occurs onscreen, which is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the actual design. A storyboard visualizes what the player will see and do, and so it’s an interesting way to “play the game” long before the game is up and running, but it doesn’t replace the design document. For The Longest Journey, we storyboarded a few important in-game sequences, but not all of them—not even most of them. However, we did make detailed concept drawings of all locations and every single character in the game—this is called the visual or graphic design. By doing that, we were able to plan out what animations, sound effects, dialogue, and code we needed. Of course, all of the game’s cut-scenes were fully storyboarded, much like with an animated movie.

And lest we forget about a script—arguably the most important part of a creating an adventure game, T?rnquist has a few words to say on that topic:

Last but not least, an adventure game needs a script; this is the document that “tells the story,” in dialogue, scripted events, every possible response to every possible action—much like a movie script, but much, much bigger. Combine the three—the design (technical, systems, interface), the storyboard, and the script—and you’re ready to start production, at which point you’ll realize that making adventure games is even more fun than playing them!

Ragnar T?rnquist offers sagely advice in Chapter 3 on creating adventure games.

Ron Gilbert, Humongous Entertainment

The gaming genius behind many of our most lovable characters, such as Monkey Island’s Guybrush Threepwood, Maniac Mansion’s Bernard, and Pajama Sam, believes that “there has to be something about the character that’s visually recognizable, and simply understood.” He explains:

We don’t have the bandwidth yet for complex characters like in film, so we simplify and often rely on stereotypes, and then we build them up through storytelling. In action or real-time strategy games, we rely on these stereotypes for you to instantly understand who the character is. The story is secondary, more of an afterthought, but not for adventure games, of course.

Daniel Greenberg, Freelance

The talented Daniel Greenberg is an award-winning freelance game designer with almost two decades of experience making critically acclaimed and commercially successful games. Some of these include Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption, Star Control III, Tenchu II: Birth of the Stealth Assassins, Independence War II: The Edge of Chaos, Sea Dogs, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Al Qadim/The Genie’s Curse, and X-Men: The Mutant Wars. He is also a consultant for a number of well-known computer and console publishers.

Greenberg was first asked to provide some important pieces of advice to share with newbie game designers on becoming a success in the industry. His answers are quite thorough, so dig in and get comfortable.

Apprenticeship: Learn the rules. Stay in school. There’s a lot more to game design than being really into deathmatching. The best way to learn it is to absorb the distilled essence of what mankind has learned over the last few thousand years. There’s a shocking amount of good stuff in college and even high school—if you keep your ears open. Learn the basics—at least enough English to write crackling dialogue and avoid passive voice; at least enough dramatic theory to understand why Aristotelian theory is still essential 2,000 years later; at least enough programming to create flowcharts that are efficient and meaningful; at least enough art theory to be able to speak intelligently to artists about color, form, motion, and asset management; and at least enough business and marketing and corporate culture to talk coherently to people who will turn your games into cash. None of this stuff is dull to an active mind that is restlessly churning everything it digests into fodder for games. Once you’re firmly grounded in a multidisciplinary approach, get inside the business any way you can—quality assurance, administrative assistant, etc. Once you’re inside, it’s easy to learn the ropes and even find mentors. Knowing the rules will help you avoid the pitfalls that tripped up so many designers before you.

Professionalism: Follow the rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 60; there’s no excuse for unprofessional conduct. Handle the basic stuff. When you give your word, can your boss and coworkers and employees count on you? Make sure they can—every time. Underpromise and overdeliver. The temptation to do just the opposite is often overwhelming. Resist it.

The rules are there for a reason: they work. The rules can help you isolate bad ideas and eliminate the pressures that result in crappy games.

Revolution: Break the rules. Game design is full of devotion to stupid conventions that are slavishly copied in hopes of duplicating success. Innovation requires a leap of faith into the void. And that’s the easy part. Once you’ve created a brilliant, unconventional, defiant design, harness your creative powers to create imaginative ways to sell your innovations to marketing. If you learned how risk-averse corporate culture is during step 1 (apprenticeship), you should have an edge in this process. Following the rules makes good games. To make great games, you have to know which rules to break.

With the nearly 20 years of experience Greenberg has under his belt, he can easily support his advice above with real-world personal/professional examples.

I’m still pillaging classes I took years ago for good ideas. My psychological studies into reaching autistic children became the basis for the secret final mission in Starfleet Academy (“A World of Their Own”), in which the only way to survive a confrontation with a planet-killing vessel is to not try to get them to understand you, but to understand them by getting into their dissociative world.

In my Advanced Dungeons and Dragons computer game, The Genie’s Curse, I drew on notions of honor and sacrifice from a Philosophy of the Middle Ages course, in order to let players make meaningful choices about expediency versus the difficult but honorable path. (The Computer Shopper magazine reviewer said “…it is refreshing to see a game where honor and courtesy are an integral part, and portrayed in a way that isn’t trite.”)

Much of this chapter looks at storyboarding, the various theories on why storyboards are important, and how to approach them. Greenberg looks at the importance of the story itself and offers the following paragraphs:

Aristotelian dramatic structure has not been repealed in the digital age, but it needs some adaptation to account for user input. Story structure needs to follow the basic pattern of rising and falling action, but the player needs some ability to alter the pacing, or the story will feel forced and labored. But just as Arthur Miller had to seriously rework Aristotle to reach a modern audience with “Death of a Salesman,” good games need to rethink dramatic structure for the new medium.

Many games have paper-thin characters because our art form is still in its infancy. For all their rapidly accelerating power, PCs are actually still a very crude canvas. They’re bursting at the seams to contain an art form as potentially explosive as interactive storytelling. Unlike mature art forms, like books or films, our medium is in its infancy, and our ultimate structure is utterly unknown to us—though many of us suspect it will make the Holodeck look like a child’s toy. (Wait. The Holodeck is a child’s toy.)

The people in our audience who “get” interactive entertainment are still a small subset of the general population (though this subset is growing and evolving faster than the keepers of our culture understand or imagine). So we can be excused for catering more to the more primal interactivity needs of our audience than the more subtle forms of characterization and intricate plot construction. It only makes sense that we (and our audience) are more enthralled by the gimcrackery of the exponentially increasing technology than exploring the depths of the human psyche via video games (though that, too, is happening). So the simple conclusion is that Lara Croft is about as developed as she needs to be for the style of game she appears in. That style of gameplay is evolving, however, as we find what’s really meaningful in storytelling.

Great stories resonate in us, because somewhere the story relates to journeys we have taken, struggles we have endured, and burdens we have borne. Even the most fantastic story can connect with us on a symbolic level. This has tremendous power, even if most people are not fully conscious of the effects of story on their emotions, actions, and lives. Games can illuminate our own inner landscape just as books and movies can, showing us a little bit about ourselves as we play. Good games let us take charge of that process, and let us explore that inner landscape. One secret to illuminate that path is the tool of multiple good outcomes.

Any secrets Greenberg can share on storytelling in an interactive medium? Indeed there are. Greenberg provides the following, and supports his comprehensive words of wisdom with examples from games such as Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Multiple “good” outcomes

A big secret of superior interactive storytelling is the concept of multiple good outcomes, with varying degrees of “good.”

When I first began designing, most games had a very linear storyline. Interactive choices offered were largely illusory, as any deviation from the storyline was punishable by death (or at least game over). This became too obvious, so some games decided not to kill characters immediately after the player chose the death path. This made the game livelier, but led to terrible frustration when players realized they were “dead without knowing it.” It was often quite difficult for players to locate the killer choice point and start over from there. Eventually, interactive story design evolved to the point where games could offer a third, more ambiguous choice to spice up the mix of a fairly obvious survival choice and a fairly obvious insta-death choice. These good, bad, and ugly choices improved the mix, but were still very limited.

My favorite solution was to make the insta-death choice very rare (You chose door number two? You’re dead!), and focus on a wide range of variables to track choices within the main story. Players don’t have cut-and-dried choices that point in obvious directions, but more subtle choices that could each turn out well. Each choice has real consequences and real rewards far beyond issues of death and survival. They take the player along differing paths through the main story, and result in a range of consequences and endings depending on the preponderance of choices made throughout the game. This lets the player feel more in charge of his destiny.

This “multiple good options” approach has another beneficial effect. Players can personalize their character to a greater extent, and therefore feel a closer connection to their avatar. For example, if the player needs to question a non-player character, consider providing a range of dialogue approaches. Choosing between dialogue options like browbeating and sweet-talking lets players sculpt their characters’ emerging personalities. Players not only control their destinies, but shape the kind of ride they have on the way to that destiny.

Technical note: If you’re going to offer the player these kinds of choices throughout the game, it’s important to reveal this experientially early on, by setting up a simple, low-impact choice and result early in the game. The player needs to feel the consequences of his choice very quickly to know that the game is indeed responding qualitatively to his decisions.

The trick is tracking all the variables set in play, and making sure they’re all paid off. It’s also important that the player has a sense of why he gets the outcome he did. He doesn’t need to understand the direct consequences of each choice, but should have some idea. (If he wants to know the direct consequences of each choice, he’s free to replay from a myriad of saved games, and believe me, a lot of players will. And then they’ll post the consequences in great detail on gaming sites.)

One of the best ways to offer multiple good options is to use the approach of short-term pain for long-term gain versus short-term gain for long-term pain. Tempt the player with expedient choices, but hint that there’s a price to pay later. And offer a price to be paid now for hope of a return later. This is a diabolical bind, and makes for very textured choices for the player—neither of which is obviously objectively bad. When players are wracked with nervous apprehension while making choices, you have done your job.

Examples (and reviews to show how the goal was accomplished):

Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption offers the player multiple endings based on ethical conduct during the game. While ethical vampires might sound confusingly contradictory, in practice it works well. We implemented the Humanity system that we had used quite successfully in the paper game version. Vampires are unliving creatures who either cling to the tattered shreds of their former humanity or yield to the beast within and become ravening monsters. So if the player made difficult but ethical choices in his dealings with others, he could forestall the slide to oblivion, and even find a kind of redemption. If he acts like the monster he’s becoming, he hastens his slide into oblivion. However, even this “bad” ending can give him power to defeat the boss villain, but at the cost of his soul. In the end, the game’s basic choices became a meditation on what we sacrifice for power, on defeat in victory and on victory in defeat.

Adrenaline Vault said: “The well-constructed storyline and character development system give VTM: Redemption an overpoweringly immersive quality, possessed in very few offerings today.”

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy requires that the player manage a crew of raw cadets and mold them into a team. Besides having to make career path decisions, resolve inter-crew squabbling, and deal with opportunities to cheat (just like James T. Kirk), the player has the option to neglect his studies to help solve a serious problem he and his science officer have stumbled upon. From the very beginning of the game, it appears that the top victory condition is graduating first in the class. Therefore, all the academic choices seem far more important than more fun distractions. And, for the most part, they are. But the player gets an inkling that the fringe research project he has embarked upon could have tremendous, far-reaching consequences, saving more than a few lives. The player will have to sacrifice what appears to be the whole point of the game—winning command of his own ship by graduating first in his class. The research plan that will let him crack the problem is presented as yet another tempting distraction from his limited study time. But clues interspersed throughout the game, including interactions with Academy Special Instructor Kirk, hint that it could be far more than that. If you actually dare to ask Kirk audacious questions about his notorious defiance of the Prime Directive, you learn all about how and when to break rules. Many players figure out the special ending the first time through the game, but not all. Which is as it should be.

Cnet Game Center’s review said that Starfleet Academy’s “…clever writing and an understanding of the Trek mythos (and its implications) surpasses most of the current TV shows and movies. In fact, the question of what we are to learn from Kirk himself and his “Cowboy Diplomacy” (based on the original series and first set of movies) is one of the major themes of this story.”

Bill Roper, Blizzard Entertainment

Do design docs and storyboarding play an important role in RPGs? To enlighten us, Blizzard Entertainment’s Bill Roper and Blizzard North’s Matt Householder (see the next section) speak on these issues. First, let’s hear from Bill Roper:

The different teams within Blizzard approach design documents from different angles. The Diablo II team kept most of the design within the game. If a change was made to the way monsters worked, those changes were made directly in the spreadsheets and were recorded that way as well. The Warcraft III team has integrated their design documents into a web-based format to make it easier for non-programmers to follow the changes to the game. Both ways have their strengths and weaknesses, and in the end it’s up to each team to find the method that best suits their particular needs and group of developers.

The common ground that our teams share in regard to design documents is in defining and following the vision of the project. In the case of Warcraft III, this is to create a real-time strategy game that infuses elements of role playing into the design. We created the term role-playing strategy (RPS) to help focus the decisions made by the team. From this basic idea came the concepts of focusing on fewer and more powerful units, simplifying the resource model, making exploration a key component of the game, creating more organic campaigns, and making the game even more immersive than Starcraft. Finding the core essence of the game and then building upon that concept is how we grow our games, and the documentation involved is recording decisions and ideas that are made along the way.

With Blizzard’s stunning cinematic sequences, you can bet these start out as storyboards before the computer graphic (CG) artists begin animating these short films. Roper explains how the process works at Blizzard:

Storyboarding is essential in regard to campaign creation and cinematic sequences. The cinematic department at Blizzard has walls filled with storyboards scripting out each sequence they’re going to create for each game. They work closely with the development teams to ensure that the look and spirit of the game are translated into the cinematic sequences and to make sure that [they've created] the proper continuity. Models are shared when appropriate and artists from both the cinematic and development teams get together to brainstorm and eventually create the storyboards. The writers utilize these storyboards to shape the dialogue, and this can result in a change in the visuals as well as the acting performances or sound and music design.

Of course, this all has to tie into the game’s campaign storyline, and so the level designers get involved in the process as well. They also create storyboards, although these tend to be with both words and level outlines. With the ability to create in-game cinematic sequences using the game engine, we’ve found it necessary to find key elements in the campaign maps in which to integrate story elements or give players rewards for completing portions of the campaign. All in all, it’s a very collaborative process involving several different groups within the company.

Matt Householder, Blizzard North

Another key member of the Diablo II group is Matt Householder, who also shares some comments in Chapter 4. He adds to Roper’s discussion on the importance of a design documents and storyboarding of these mega-popular RPGs:

The purpose of a design document is to present the look and feel of the game to the production team (and publisher’s management) in an efficient and maintainable way. Begin with a one- or two-page overview, briefly describing the player’s viewpoint, gameplay, and controls.

Explain why it will be fun to play. Be sure to cover all the basic issues in brief—single-player, multiplayer, console versus PC, player characters, opponent/enemy characters, animation style, background settings, sound/music, story, etc., and then elaborate on them in later sections devoted to one major topic at a time. Drawings—sketches, character designs, screen mockups—are very helpful to visualize the game. For a large game, the document could grow to hundreds of pages!
A design document is a lot like a recipe for the building of a game, but the best cooks often experiment and modify recipes as they go. Likewise, Blizzard North uses a design document more as a general guideline rather than a “bible” and encourages creative expression by all the production team members—even exploring major design changes during the development process.
And on storyboarding:

It’s essential for cinematic production, but not strictly necessary for the production of game code and artwork. One place storyboarding can help a great deal in game production, however, is in flowcharting the user interactions of making choices to start up a game, navigating through game menu screens, and the like.

Both Householder and Roper discuss the art and science that is RPG game design in Chapter 4.

Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games

The creator of such beloved games as Total Annihilation (when at Cavedog Entertainment) and Dungeon Siege has provided this book with a design document template (see Chapter 6) that you can use as a basis for your own custom document, plugging in the necessary game details to suit your project.

Here, Taylor explains that creating a design document can be approached in many different ways:

Design documents can vary from highly theoretical to very technical and detailed. Over the years I’ve settled on a system in which I create an overview document and then a series of appendices that add the details. From this I then produce specification documents that break down everything for the person who will implement the specifics. It’s great to have a template to work from because then you can just go through and fill in each section. You begin with the high concept, then the feature set. Then you must answer the 10 most jaded and difficult questions that you think someone might ask you about your design. If you can’t answer them right from the beginning, you may need to go back and think about why you want to make a game like that in the first place.

Taylor says the importance of storyboarding depends on the type of game:

When there are a huge number of art assets involved, you absolutely must do concept sketches, storyboards, and anything else you can to reduce risk and any chance of doing stuff over and over again. Poor planning will frustrate people and de-motivate them, so storyboarding is a great way to communicate the overall plan, look and feel, style, and scope of the game.

Warren Spector, Ion Storm Austin

In Chapter 4, Warren Spector—best known for games such as the Ultima Underworld series, System Shock and Deus Ex—chats at great length about creating award-winning role-playing games. His suggestions can also be found in Chapters 12, 17, and 21.

Here he discusses the importance of a design doc:

A design doc is absolutely vital to me. I know some other hugely successful developers (who will remain nameless) who insist they never bother trying to document their games. I can’t imagine that!

For me, a design doc is many things: It’s a roadmap—an abstract, iconic version of your proposed game. If you keep it updated during pre-production and even during production, it’s a snapshot, a picture of where your project stands today, right now. If done “right,” it includes materials, assets, and information that marketing can use to generate early press coverage of your game (without bugging the development team too much!). Toward the end of the project, a design doc that has been updated appropriately can be a vital tool for manual and cluebook writers, as well as for QA teams looking to generate playthrough and feature checklists. Most important, though, a design doc is a vital communications tool, both internally (ensuring that everyone on the dev team is on the same page) and externally (for publisher, marketing, and even press). I just wouldn’t know how to make or manage a game without one.

So, how does Spector—or any game designer, for that matter—write a design document?

Unfortunately, no two projects are the same, no two teams are the same, no two genres have the same requirements, and therefore, no two design docs are going to be the same. You just have to find the elements necessary to describe your game to your team and to your publisher. Figure out what you need to provide to ensure that your team has enough information to implement the vision of a game. Allow each person on the team to contribute to the extent of their capabilities and/or interests, but give one person “ownership” of the doc. (In other words, one person should say yes or no to any idea before it’s incorporated into the final doc.) Plan on revising throughout development, to ensure that the doc reflects the changing reality of your game’s development. Recognize that a time will come when reality overtakes your doc and continued updating may (MAY) be unnecessary. And then read the book I obviously have to write on this subject! I’m completely overwhelmed by how much there is to say so I better stop. Sorry…

Spector admits that storyboarding has never been a big part of his development process:

It’s vital, obviously, when planning cinematics, but that’s about it. You always want concept art for characters and locations/maps/levels before you spend a lot of money modeling and creating them, but that isn’t really storyboarding per se. I remember reading a fine little book called Behind the Scenes at Sega, about the making of a platform game, that said every aspect of the game should be storyboarded. That idea just isn’t applicable to the kinds of games my studio produces (and illustrates the fact that development processes have to be appropriate to the game you’re making—there’s no single Right Way to make a game…). Storyboarding is probably vital to games where you know exactly what path players will take every step of their journey and where you pre-plan every puzzle and its one solution.

Storyboards were certainly an important part of the Wing Commander games, with their emphasis on cinematics, and I bet the Lucas Arts adventure games use them heavily. But if you’re making something more open-ended than that, storyboards just don’t seem all that useful. We’re not (or shouldn’t be) making movies here…（source:gamasutra）