Project Presentation 1

Today I had my pitch presentation at 10am in the HMC Cinema, where I introduced my project idea and direction. Instead of just linking to the relevant documents, I've shown the content here as there are new points I've brought up, and showing them as part of the presentation gives them more context.

Slide 1
Hello and welcome. I'm Katrina Craig, and this is my honours project pitch presentation.

Slide 2
I started out my project by evaluating my interests and skills. I knew that the topic shouldn't be trivial or for personal agendas, but instead driven by academic research. I sorted out my thoughts by writing down my ideas in a mindmap, and wrote rough research aims to determine each idea's potential.

Slide 3

The main ideas I was interested in were:

• Visual consistency of game world culture between characters, props, and their environment.
• Character customisation and the importance of personalised visuals to gamers.
• Character classes and the evolution of archetypes.
• Having a constant NPC companion and their effect on gameplay.
• The differences between playable character design and NPC design.

These topics got me thinking about the hierarchy of characters in games, and how the focus is always on the main character; their design, and their story. So what if it wasn't? Or if the spotlight had to be shared? How important are NPCs?

Slide 4

This then developed into my initial research aim: "To investigate the effective use of companion characters in games, and to research what influences their design."

Slide 5

I believe this is a valuable topic to investigate due to the rising popularity of games aspiring to be like movies in terms of a more dedicated focus on narrative and character development. It is my belief that characters are what evoke the strongest emotional responses, and are a key factor in bringing a game to life and giving it personality.

I've observed that the use of companion characters have been received with mixed reviews in the past, yet are a currently popular. I want to know what are the impacts of using companions instead of just one main character, and how different the design process is, and why.

I will explore this topic first by examining how existing products have used companion characters successfully, and look at the process to inform my own methodologies to be reflected in my practice based research.

Slide 6

With a defined topic at hand, I asked myself what it was that I wanted to explore about companion characters in games. I identified these questions with common themes that could influence their existance, and these were: visual design, story and interaction, and gameplay.

The main issues that I want to research include: the hierarchy of roles between the companions and their archetypes; how having two or more characters effects the various levels of customisation; the overall believability of the characters and game, and the sense of them belonging to the same world; how both characters can be appealing to a wide audience and having the same level of connection to the player; and the effect on design due to gameplay mechanics.

Slide 7

Throughout my research I intend to explore these influences I believe have an impact on basic character design as well as companion based designs. With many of these elements, I wish to experiment with practical exercises to see their individual potential, and then again later on in a framework to see how they work together.

I'm currently experimenting with designing purely with digital media, as I almost always sketch on paper then scan and enhance, but digitally is what seems to be the industry standard. Using my tablet to practice silhouettes of simple human figures, I wanted to just go with the flow and stop planning and thinking about what the design is going to look like.

Slide 8

I am currently reading The Art of Game Characters by Leo Hartas, and although a little dated, I think many of the principles still apply. I think this quote is a good expression of my thoughts when dealing with character design in general: How can I create not just one original character to stand out from the rest, but two?

Slide 9

So what makes a good game character? These two quotes cover the aspects that both these artists expect when designing a new character. There must be something aesthetically pleasing about a character, like their looks or personality, but most importantly they must have something relatable about them so that players can connect to them. Following down this direction, I hope to create a framework that would help describe the essentials a character needs to be successful.

Slide 10

As part of my research into companions in games, I intend to take a deeper look at games that already use them as case studies. This will hopefully not only allow me to see their pipeline, but how it was recieved by gamers - what was liked, and what went wrong.

Made in 2008, Prince of Persia was one of the first games that came to mind when thinking of companions in games. Looking at the balance between design, story and gameplay, I would say gameplay is put first. As a Prince of Persia game, it was all about fitting in with the previous style of acrobatic game mechanics and environmental puzzles. While the design is also strong, the characters visually memorable, most interaction had to be triggered by the player and is obvisously not as important.

Slide 11

2010's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West leans more towards story and character development, yet has the nice touch of the teamwork mechanics melding into the gameplay more seamlessly. There are a number of moves that are repeatable, but a new one is staggered into the storyline so it doesn't feel too distracting from the immersion. I think this game has a healthy balance between design, story and gameplay.

Slide 12

In the case of The Last of Us, made in 2012, it's of my opinion that the tables have turned from Prince of Persia, and the game heavily focuses on story and building the relationship between the characters. There are teamwork mechanics, but to me they're a little more obvious, and with a smaller amount of them, they become a little more repetitive.

Looking at these examples overall, it shows to me that as previously mentioned, I believe narrative and character development is becoming more popular in games, and the mechanics used between the characters has slowed in progress. I think what one of the problems are is the time it takes to activate a teamwork mechanic in recent games, as they are more heavily cinematic.

Slide 13

I intend to explore this further, looking into other games that have used companions such as Ratchet & Clank, Jax & Daxter, Spyro and many more. Many others that come to mind are non-human characters that have younger target audiences and genres. This is an aspect that needs more research.

Slide 14

As for my final outcome, at the moment I look to using what I've learned to create original companions, possibly sets for different genres and target market, and choose a pair to take into 3D as I've never modelled a character before, and feel it would be a good push for my skills to showcase.

Slide 15

Thank you for listening. Any questions?

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Feedback

Overall, I think my presentation went really well. I started off a bit jittery; I presented towards the end of the group, and in the beginning after listening to other's projects I started to feel mine had no meaningful purpose. When it actually came to my time, I felt a little unsure, and I had never been so nervous since my first presentations back in second year. My hands were shaking, and my voice kept wavering, my mind kept going blank and I had to keep referring back to my notes. But in the end I got through it, and the feedback really helped boost my confidence.

Lynn started off with saying that it was a very interesting idea, and that it had come a long way from what I had shown her in the first week. I had mentioned in one of the earlier posts where I had got to when I had my meeting with Lynn. She said it was good that I was looking at existing games using companion characters, and mentioned Ico and its uniqueness, which I'll be investigating at a later date.

Brian said I was thourough in my contextual research, and that I had built up my knowledge of the territory. Ryan was excited by my project idea, and that there's so much I could do for it. He said it was good I was starting to recognise companion types and to continue to explore their different roles, what makes a good companion visually and narratively, and why they are together in the first place. He also mentioned the effect of art style and genre, and how that relates to target audience. He said the project is a good idea because co-op is big right now, and it's interesting to see who really is the main character, and who's story is really being told.

All lecturers mentioned that I was at a good place so I shouldn't be afraid of really starting some practical work, and that there was a danger of having a good theoretical grounding, but my practical wouldn't be balanced and fall behind. It was recommended to just start reacting and drawing existing characters, evaluate how their relationship works and then change it up. Brian said to start to anchor my theory with practical activities, and that I could use what's called post-production rationale, where I just produce work and then find it's purpose after rather than the other way around, which is what's got me stuck.

Link to Honours Project Presentation 1.

Link to Honours Project Presentation 1 Script.

Action Points

• Finish reading The Art of Game Characters and document relevant quotes.
• Do more in depth case study documentation for the games already reviewed, then look at more games using companion characters.
• Start practical work! Finish silhouette figures. Evaluate existing characters by copying and playing with their designs.