Gamers relax by playing interesting strategies, simulations, RPGs, and MMORPGs, and many want to create a special hero that can conquer the virtual world. Unique characters for games become iconic. In the gloomy world of WoW, everyone remembers fragile fairies, and in Angry Birds, everyone remembers Red, the face of an entire franchise. Creating characters for video games is always in trend, but such a process requires a lot of work.
Features of Modern Character Creation
A quality game always has its own unique, inimitable style. It can be bright and cheerful, or it can be dark. The entire game world, gameplay, and in game characters must be created in a single design to create the right atmosphere. Today, technology in the field of mobile phones has stepped far forward, and it is not uncommon to see full-fledged 3D games on smartphones, with graphics that can compete with those on computers some ten years ago. But many mobile games are still made in 2D.
How to Draw a Game Character – Game Art Tips
How to create video game characters? The creation of in game characters requires skills in drawing, design, and even psychology. When creating a character, you need to know exactly how it will be, both externally and internally: develop a demeanor and character. The inner world of the hero is often displayed in appearance.
Creating graphic objects and two-dimensional images is delicate work. In the example of retro games, you can see that even minimalism can be easily made modern and optimized.
The imagination of game designers is limitless. So many different cult heroes have already been created that there is nothing to add. Creativity is always in demand, but it is extremely difficult to develop a completely new one without affecting one of the popular characters by type: mechanical, bestial, fantasy races, etc.
Stages of Game Character Development
It is possible to formulate an average algorithm, according to which the process of creating a character most often moves. These are the following stages:
- Development of terms of reference. Includes sketches and a description of the future game, as well as other details;
- Analysis of preferences and needs of potential future players;
- Collecting information about the anatomy and mechanics of the character.
- Selection of textures;
- Creation of in game characters concept art. This stage is one of the basics, and game dev studios often outsource retrostylegames.com/outsourcing/character-concept-art/ to understand the action plan.;
- Formation of the concept of the character;
- Refinement of the features of the hero and his appearance;
- Creating a texture map, the final drawing of the character.
Depending on the specific game, this traditional instruction may undergo certain changes. It is very important to work on the movements of the hero and the voice acting: sometimes, very beautiful and detailed characters look bad in motion.
Game Character Creation Principles
Gamers appreciate the art of game character design. If you do not consider modern detailing, graphics, and animation, then there are only 3 criteria for creating a hero: shape, silhouette, and color. As for the basic principles, the following stand out: achieving emotional attachment – you need to make sure that the hero is liked, not disgusted; otherwise, they will be superfluous in the game, and this is a failure; a recognizable silhouette is half the success in the development of any genre; “correct disproportion” – the ideal character of gamers in everything only infuriates and does not attract attention; the combination of elements – a full-fledged image consists of a combination of details, so you should combine the shape, color, and other features in different proportions, without exaggeration.
An important indicator is the genre of the game because the hero’s clothes, images, accessories, and demeanor depend on it. It is especially important to connect the color scheme, but at the same time not to lose the characters within the game. A psychological contract between the player and the character is created due to the character or dialogues. An example is the game Disco Elysium, where the main character is always in the center despite the fading, uniform colors.
Conclusions
Creating interesting, lively, ambiguous characters is the key to success for any game. Character development includes work on the shape, silhouette, colors, details, character, and other points. A good character is remembered and brought back to the game repeatedly.
If you still do not know how to make a video game character correctly, we recommend visiting various Discord servers, where a good community will advise you on solutions. Also, in such communities, you can find various examples of references, concept art, or ready-made 3D models.