""Plot is overrated": game narrative is all about your characters"

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213337/Plot_is_overrated_Game_narrative_is_all_about_your_characters.php

In an article on Gamasutra, written by Mike Rose, Tom Abernathy, the "narrative lead at Riot Games, and Richard Rouse III of Microsoft Game Studio, discuss structure for narrative in video games." They "not that in games, when we say that a game has a great story, we're usually talking about how great the characters are, rather than the plot itself." I am not sure I fully agree with this point, as I do appreciate games for the story, a good character on it's own may not grab my attention enough if the story is boring. When I think of my favourite games, Final Fantasy VII, IX,  and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few, I remember both the story as well as the characters. I suppose what made Final Fantasy VII a memorable game to me, and many others, was perhaps indeed due to the characters, especially Aeries, due to her death being very emotional. Additionally, the twist of Cloud's memories not being his own, was another memorable moment. I suppose you can't have a good story in games without the characters, as the characters further the story, thus the two are interlinked. Aeris on her own was not a particularly interesting character, neither was Cloud, however what happened to them or what was revealed about them made them interesting and memorable. This is seen in the newer Final Fantasy games, where the similar character archetypes are shown, for example Lighning being similar to Cloud, however, the characters and story are considerably lacking in comparison, which is why they are less successful in my opinion. However, when you look at other games, such as The Witcher, you see more of the character development, and you form more of a relationship with Geralt, and in some way that overshadows the plot. This shows the difference between a story-driven RPG and a exploration-driven RPG.

"People remember characters, and they care about them... Focus on character first, and align character motivations with player motivations."


Concerning character design, I came across this image highlighting the issue of copying other artists' work. The new League of Legends character, Kindred looks incredibly similar to Chiara Bautista's characters of the moon lady and the wolf. This has caused a bit of a stir for Bautista's fans, thinking that Riot stole the artistic ideas from her. However, the idea of black and white, yin and yang, wolf and lamb are not particularly original, nor new. This highlights the struggle of creating original work and avoiding copying other artists.

http://imgur.com/gallery/8hONl