Development update #3: Bringing Characters to Life
Welcome back to another dev update on Starkeepers!
For this update, we sat down on a zoom meeting with our Narrative Producer, Rudolf, and our Junior Narrative Designers Kirsten and Niea about making relatable game characters.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]What got you into writing for games?[/h2]
Rudolf:
When I was younger, I played a lot of games and enjoyed the narratives they told. This led me to recreate these stories in my own way. As I got older, I realized I could actually make that into a career, through writing for games.
It also comes from wanting to create a very immersive story world, that made sense and brought an emotional and moral weight that I felt that some games were missing at the moment.
Kirsten:
I got into writing for games around the time that I started getting into drawing. Through that, I combined my interests for the two and told little stories. It was through role-playing games that a light bulb in my head went off going like, “Wait a minute, I’m pretty sure someone actually designs the narratives of these games I play!”
So I started practicing and writing my own tiny little stories that I could play with my friends who are also into that sort of thing.
Niea:
I can clearly remember the first instance I got into writing and it was because of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children DVD I discovered when I was 11 years old. I had only heard of the franchise in passing, but from the second I played the film, I was mesmerized and confused beyond belief having never actually played any of the games before.
I was completely sucked in and I remember it was during that same evening that I wrote my first piece of work based on the world that I saw in the movie, adding my own characters and scenes. It was completely terrible, but it brought me to where I am now. The movie changed my life because up until then, I didn’t think it would be possible to create my own world through writing. Here I am now living the dream of my 11-year-old self!
[h2]What is your narrative design process like?[/h2]
It is not just a solitary process, it’s also about brainstorming and collaboration.
Rudolf:
Writing is stereotypically seen as a solitary activity. If I asked you to imagine a typical writer and you may think, all alone they sit on their desk, pen and paper in hand, finishing their next brilliant masterpiece for their readers to be in awe of. That is the complete opposite to what we do as a narrative design team. We first accept that human beings are flawed and we always want to improve on our first few ideas. We do a lot more than just type or scribble away on our keyboards or papers.
“Taking the best ideas and formulating them into a coherent story.”
Whenever we start off on any project, the first thing that we do is get together as a team and brainstorm a variety of topics and ideas. We put ourselves in the shoes of a character and ask ourselves what would we do in a certain scenario? Which approach would we take when faced with obstacles? It’s all about taking the best ideas and formulating them into a coherent story. Through that, we develop the strongest ideas and pitch them to the rest of the game design team.
Additional filters — convincing everyone on the team to go with a story concept.
There are additional filters when it comes to writing for games. As a team, we have to convince everyone else to be on board with the story we want to tell about a particular character. So the pitching element of the story is also very important. We get the critical points of feedback like, “I don’t get it”, “there’s just too much detail there”, or questions like, “why is this character suddenly here when it wasn’t there to begin with?”
We also get to see if people are actually excited about our additional ideas.
The actual writing process! Getting from A to all the way down to Z.
We start to do the actual writing after the pitching stage. It’s where we take the skeletal elements of a story and build on the backbone of the story, considering how things go from point A to Z.
We critically examine each other’s bullet points of steps that are going to happen within a certain story and decide whether it feels logical and believable. This is the actual stage where our ideas become text on a screen that players can digest.
Tying up the loose ends.
Narrative design for games is different from writing a novel. There will be lots of text that’s going to be good to read, but we limit that to important moments within the game otherwise, you would read a book instead! As a team, we have to ensure that the text in the game is motivating and with purpose.
[h2]How do you create interesting characters?[/h2]
Kirsten:
That is the big old question, isn’t it? Because whenever you write for games, you want people to play and feel for the characters and stories. To achieve that, I first have to care about the character and the story.
There is something very personal about wanting to create a character that is relatable and someone people can empathize with. As for myself and I believe also other writers, we’re always trying to empathize with the beings in stories, which is why we enjoy writing them so much.
I also tap into some of my own characteristics — or someone else’s — that forms a direct inspiration and are able to recognize myself in this. I believe that is at the core of creating a relatable playable character.
“Making a character I want to play as.”
Rudolf:
There’s a very selfish answer to that question, which is I create the characters that I would want to play as, getting to decide how characters express themselves and how they might navigate the world they live in. We also have art and animation that’s already been done before we do any of our writing, so there is already some framework to work with.
Once we have some foundation to work with, we try to express that to the best of our capabilities. We begin by linking cultural associations that other people may have. We also make use of emotional associations that are broadly shared with people across the world when working with a roster of characters. As a team, we have to make sure that there is a diverse range of personalities that people can relate to.
Niea:
I focus on the believability and relatability of a character by figuring out their quirks, habits, and how they might react to a certain situation. I also focus on not trying to create a flawless superhero that always has things going well for them.
I want to create characters that have their own strengths and struggles that are communicated through their backstory. My hope is that the ideas that we as a narrative design team put into these characters get felt by the players that experience their stories.
[h2]Where does research come in?[/h2]
Niea:
I absolutely love doing research and I will take any opportunity to do that. So when we receive concept art of a character, I focus on the main things that I can see. What are the colours? What link can I have to real-world cultures and countries? Once I have that figured out, I research on cultural nuances of a specific country. The nature of how we create our characters requires us to make these references as ambiguous as possible while showcasing all the wonderful cultures we have in our world.
[h2]How important is representation when creating characters?[/h2]
Kirsten:
Representation is everything and comes back to that relatability. I am in a privileged position as a white woman where I can see myself represented in games. As a narrative designer for games, I am aware that I am in a position to do the same for others with a dedication to respect and research. You can’t just slap a label on a character and say, “oh, this is X, so now you are represented!”, because that’s not how that works. There is a need for authenticity and conversation. There’s this saying that goes “if you’re doing something for us without us, you might as really not be doing it at all.” So that is definitely a thing that I like to keep in mind.
[h2]Which Starkeepers character do you like most?[/h2]
Rudolf:
I know it’s a very lame answer, but I like all of them. [laughs] I think that they’ve really come out of the woodwork very well. But my favourite so far is Colborn. He is stoic and has a very strong presence, but at the same time, there is a secret funny side to him, something that people probably wouldn’t expect from his character at first glance. I always like characters that surprise you in the way they present themselves.
Kirsten:
My favourite character so far is a fennec fox-like character named Encore. They are passionate, cool and confident. I poured my heart and soul into that one and it is the type of character that I would enjoy playing as because they’re similar to me enough that I can relate, but different enough that they have these qualities that I aspire to be.
Niea:
My favourite Starkeeper character out of the ones we have so far has to be Rika. I love her attack animations as well as her sassy and sarcastic attitude. Her character design is one of my favourites out of all of our heroes. I also might be biased because foxes are one of my favourite animals!
Until next time,
Drew & Angela
—
Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3mCSmsgMfv
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers
Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New
For this update, we sat down on a zoom meeting with our Narrative Producer, Rudolf, and our Junior Narrative Designers Kirsten and Niea about making relatable game characters.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]What got you into writing for games?[/h2]
Rudolf:
When I was younger, I played a lot of games and enjoyed the narratives they told. This led me to recreate these stories in my own way. As I got older, I realized I could actually make that into a career, through writing for games.
It also comes from wanting to create a very immersive story world, that made sense and brought an emotional and moral weight that I felt that some games were missing at the moment.
Kirsten:
I got into writing for games around the time that I started getting into drawing. Through that, I combined my interests for the two and told little stories. It was through role-playing games that a light bulb in my head went off going like, “Wait a minute, I’m pretty sure someone actually designs the narratives of these games I play!”
So I started practicing and writing my own tiny little stories that I could play with my friends who are also into that sort of thing.
Niea:
I can clearly remember the first instance I got into writing and it was because of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children DVD I discovered when I was 11 years old. I had only heard of the franchise in passing, but from the second I played the film, I was mesmerized and confused beyond belief having never actually played any of the games before.
I was completely sucked in and I remember it was during that same evening that I wrote my first piece of work based on the world that I saw in the movie, adding my own characters and scenes. It was completely terrible, but it brought me to where I am now. The movie changed my life because up until then, I didn’t think it would be possible to create my own world through writing. Here I am now living the dream of my 11-year-old self!
[h2]What is your narrative design process like?[/h2]
It is not just a solitary process, it’s also about brainstorming and collaboration.
Rudolf:
Writing is stereotypically seen as a solitary activity. If I asked you to imagine a typical writer and you may think, all alone they sit on their desk, pen and paper in hand, finishing their next brilliant masterpiece for their readers to be in awe of. That is the complete opposite to what we do as a narrative design team. We first accept that human beings are flawed and we always want to improve on our first few ideas. We do a lot more than just type or scribble away on our keyboards or papers.
“Taking the best ideas and formulating them into a coherent story.”
Whenever we start off on any project, the first thing that we do is get together as a team and brainstorm a variety of topics and ideas. We put ourselves in the shoes of a character and ask ourselves what would we do in a certain scenario? Which approach would we take when faced with obstacles? It’s all about taking the best ideas and formulating them into a coherent story. Through that, we develop the strongest ideas and pitch them to the rest of the game design team.
Additional filters — convincing everyone on the team to go with a story concept.
There are additional filters when it comes to writing for games. As a team, we have to convince everyone else to be on board with the story we want to tell about a particular character. So the pitching element of the story is also very important. We get the critical points of feedback like, “I don’t get it”, “there’s just too much detail there”, or questions like, “why is this character suddenly here when it wasn’t there to begin with?”
We also get to see if people are actually excited about our additional ideas.
The actual writing process! Getting from A to all the way down to Z.
We start to do the actual writing after the pitching stage. It’s where we take the skeletal elements of a story and build on the backbone of the story, considering how things go from point A to Z.
We critically examine each other’s bullet points of steps that are going to happen within a certain story and decide whether it feels logical and believable. This is the actual stage where our ideas become text on a screen that players can digest.
Tying up the loose ends.
Narrative design for games is different from writing a novel. There will be lots of text that’s going to be good to read, but we limit that to important moments within the game otherwise, you would read a book instead! As a team, we have to ensure that the text in the game is motivating and with purpose.
[h2]How do you create interesting characters?[/h2]
Kirsten:
That is the big old question, isn’t it? Because whenever you write for games, you want people to play and feel for the characters and stories. To achieve that, I first have to care about the character and the story.
There is something very personal about wanting to create a character that is relatable and someone people can empathize with. As for myself and I believe also other writers, we’re always trying to empathize with the beings in stories, which is why we enjoy writing them so much.
I also tap into some of my own characteristics — or someone else’s — that forms a direct inspiration and are able to recognize myself in this. I believe that is at the core of creating a relatable playable character.
“Making a character I want to play as.”
Rudolf:
There’s a very selfish answer to that question, which is I create the characters that I would want to play as, getting to decide how characters express themselves and how they might navigate the world they live in. We also have art and animation that’s already been done before we do any of our writing, so there is already some framework to work with.
Once we have some foundation to work with, we try to express that to the best of our capabilities. We begin by linking cultural associations that other people may have. We also make use of emotional associations that are broadly shared with people across the world when working with a roster of characters. As a team, we have to make sure that there is a diverse range of personalities that people can relate to.
Niea:
I focus on the believability and relatability of a character by figuring out their quirks, habits, and how they might react to a certain situation. I also focus on not trying to create a flawless superhero that always has things going well for them.
I want to create characters that have their own strengths and struggles that are communicated through their backstory. My hope is that the ideas that we as a narrative design team put into these characters get felt by the players that experience their stories.
[h2]Where does research come in?[/h2]
Niea:
I absolutely love doing research and I will take any opportunity to do that. So when we receive concept art of a character, I focus on the main things that I can see. What are the colours? What link can I have to real-world cultures and countries? Once I have that figured out, I research on cultural nuances of a specific country. The nature of how we create our characters requires us to make these references as ambiguous as possible while showcasing all the wonderful cultures we have in our world.
[h2]How important is representation when creating characters?[/h2]
Kirsten:
Representation is everything and comes back to that relatability. I am in a privileged position as a white woman where I can see myself represented in games. As a narrative designer for games, I am aware that I am in a position to do the same for others with a dedication to respect and research. You can’t just slap a label on a character and say, “oh, this is X, so now you are represented!”, because that’s not how that works. There is a need for authenticity and conversation. There’s this saying that goes “if you’re doing something for us without us, you might as really not be doing it at all.” So that is definitely a thing that I like to keep in mind.
[h2]Which Starkeepers character do you like most?[/h2]
Rudolf:
I know it’s a very lame answer, but I like all of them. [laughs] I think that they’ve really come out of the woodwork very well. But my favourite so far is Colborn. He is stoic and has a very strong presence, but at the same time, there is a secret funny side to him, something that people probably wouldn’t expect from his character at first glance. I always like characters that surprise you in the way they present themselves.
Kirsten:
My favourite character so far is a fennec fox-like character named Encore. They are passionate, cool and confident. I poured my heart and soul into that one and it is the type of character that I would enjoy playing as because they’re similar to me enough that I can relate, but different enough that they have these qualities that I aspire to be.
Niea:
My favourite Starkeeper character out of the ones we have so far has to be Rika. I love her attack animations as well as her sassy and sarcastic attitude. Her character design is one of my favourites out of all of our heroes. I also might be biased because foxes are one of my favourite animals!
Until next time,
Drew & Angela
—
Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3mCSmsgMfv
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers
Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New