Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media

Chapter 5

Context, Story, and Gameplay

Now that we have established a basic understanding of the psychology of personality and emotion, the aim of the current chapter is to consider how characters can be designed to perform in creative contexts. Specifically, we look to examine a selection of narrative and game design theories that can impact on virtual character performance.

In many ways, this is arguably one of the most important chapters on theory in the book. The ideas that we discussed in previous chapters are clearly of value to the design and analysis of characters: it is essential that we know how to build visually appealing characters, that we understand how to use and manipulate anatomy, that we aim to reflect the diversity and depth ...