NOTE: Please use this secondary article based upon gathered original and secondary resources for future reference when creating a character design or as a case study that examines female leads.
Game Design, a technical course for college students to understand the principles, methods, and process of developing concepts for video games, has increasingly become more available and accessible in academic places, while significantly evolving over the years. According to a recent research by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in September 11, 2014, Dan Hewitt reported that three-hundred and ninety colleges, universities and other academic institutions in the United States now offer professional certificates and undergraduate or graduate degrees in video game design. Meaning, prospective students are now seeing a 50% increase since 2009, when 254 academies provided these unique programs.
While some folks learn from a classroom setting, others gravitate for a hands-on-learning experience, such was the popular and only accessible method for older video game developers. Thanks to advance technology and social media, these video game developers also offer their solid advice and thoughts toward their character designs. Instead of looking at heroes or monsters, readers finally have this rare opportunity to find out the reasons why these well-known as well as indie game developers have chosen female leads in their intellectual property (IP); this classification is a common term associated for new independent projects that audiences have never seen in the gaming community.
These community members might recognize the first entry as Ninja Theory’s upcoming project called Hell Blade.
From one of their on-going development diaries, this third footage (released in September 15, 2014) was prepared to provide some in-depth reasons behind the creation for a female protagonist named Senua. Through their message, they revealed that the inspiration came from an article that discusses a historical Celtic finding that mentions a mysterious goddess called Senua. To fully capture the Viking and Celtic themed game, they started to create notes:
“To create a character with intense realism, beauty, anger, and history. A mystery that drives the action and story forward revealing more and more seductive details as she descends deeper into a vision of hell. She is a challenging female form. Not sexy, not skimpy, not young, not skinny, yet stunning, compelling, and believable.”
Note that the last statement is a providing a fresh new perspective for audiences who often have seen several ladies in mediums for entertainment that have portrayed these women in seductive or lustful ways or forms. While the portrayal of women is a common discourse that is often further discussed by both consumers and developers, some ambitious and modern companies seek other ways in shaping these role-playing characters.
The next entry focuses on the upcoming Life is Strange and comes from a video interview with Dontnod Entertainment creative director, Jean-Maxime Moris, and Shacknews in August 27, 2014.
Unlike the previous video who took the time to carefully tailor their answer, Mr. Moris was not prepared for the second question that starts at 1:20. Why do they gravitate toward female leads? Though he stumbles in providing a concrete answer at the beginning, he recovers by passing on this information:
“I don’t know. It’s true. Max and secondary character Chloe, both are believable strong female characters as was Lyn in the Remember Me. It’s not us trying to be different for just the sake of it, and it’s not us trying to fix the industry. It’s just that–you know–we look at the stories we want to tell and then we pick the characters that we think are best for that. There is no gravitating toward females. In one of our next games, we might have a male character. But for now, we’re happy with these characters, and I think they resonate well with people that we show them to. We’re happy to have those choices in place. It’s not a minante* act. If it is one, then it’s a subconscious one.”
Another interesting statement drawing from his message is “about fixing the industry”. As previous mentioned, numerous articles and writers have criticized the gaming industry for the lack of female character design in their products. Yet, the main and consistent theme from developers’ perspectives seem to be about looking at the stories first.
For the third entry, folks get to look at a world game called Never Alone about an Alaskan Tribe girl and her Artic fox. While they didn’t provide an answer through a production video or interview, E-Line Media and Upper One Games provided a brief blog labeled “Why a Girl?” about their reason in August 12, 2014. Here’s their written message:
“The team really wanted to create a strong, resourceful, smart, brave character who could be a great role model for girls. Great female characters have historically been woefully under-represented in video games and the team wanted to help change that – particularly since many have young daughters themselves.”
Unlike the previous entries, the team actually aimed for “changing the industry”. While they should be recognize for their efforts, they also provided more back details about how they view the genderless narrator or storyteller; regardless of the sex, they usually announce the credit to the story creator.
“In Inupiaq culture, the storyteller who has been telling a story for the longest time is considered to “own” the story and other storytellers will refer to that person when telling “his or her” story – for example, another storyteller might start off by saying “This is Nasruk’s story” or “I heard this story from Nasruk.” before telling Kunuuksaayuka.”
These details are relevant when designing the character through a specific culture. How residents verbally or physically communicate in a culture should reflect on both the male or female character; in return, these virtual individuals will represent that culture as foreigners play these video games.
Finally, interested spectators could evaluate the concept for the little lost girl in a nightmarish landscape from Murasaki Baby that was recently released in September 16 in North America.
Sometimes, a compelling idea or inspiration starts with an emotional moment. Massimo Gaurini, the CEO/Creative Director of Murasaki Baby, explains that moment in touching reminiscent story about a little girl holding hands with her mother and a balloon. Here’s his message:
“I was traveling on a train on a business trip when I saw this beautiful image of a little girl holding her hands with her mother and a balloon in another hand. And I thought–emotionally speaking, that image was so beautiful that I immediately sketched out on paper these two characters holding hands. Immediately, thought about dropping the baby hand with my finger on the paper, on the paper sheet on the train, and that’s where the beauty of this game comes from.”
Though little lost girls who are frighten might not seem like an original but a stereotypical idea, the image of baby along with players using their fingers to lead the lost child through the strange land can create a unique connection on how realistically people cannot control children, but they can comfort them and provide them courage.
For more information about these masterpieces, please visit the official websites for Hell Blade, Life is Strange, Never Alone, and Murasaki Baby.
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