Twisted Pixel's Bear: Character Key To Games

Author: by Staff

Using examples, the creative director of games such as Comic Jumper and Splosion Man explains how personality makes games stand out in Gamasutra's latest feature. With Capcom's Mega Man as a starting point, Bear investigates characters from Mario to Bayonetta to explain how distinctive features and exaggerated expressions bring games to life. "For our character Captain Smiley [pictured above right] in our new game Comic Jumper, we designed him to be the most generic character we could think of, since that fit with the story we were trying to tell," Bear writes. "Aside from the generic style of it, another reason we decided to go with the smiley-based head is that it would be much easier to show extreme expressions with it through animation than if we went with a human face." Character design is just one way to imbue games with personality, however. Bear also covers animation, gameplay, and more in the full feature, which is live today on Gamasutra.