Week 10!

Character design has become increasingly more important in gaming. A good character is an essential part of any story and a pivotal part of engaging with the audience.

Thinking of characters I have encountered my memory is not great so i will comment on a character who rate and who I re-visited recently. I thoroughly enjoyed the bourne movies, Identity, supremacy and most recently ultimatum. I am currently reading a book which continues the Jason Bourne character, titled the Bourne legacy.

Unfortunately however, I have never read the original books the movies are based on so I'm not sure how the character was originally envisioned by the author (Robert Ludlum). So the character in the movies is the one that appealed to me. Jason Bourne is a top assassin but rather than being an armed to the teeth, gun swinging action hero, Jason Bourne comes across as a believable person doing believable things.

I think the movies really captured the sense that Bourne is highly trained killer but that is not it, he is resourceful and highly intelligent, subtle touches like slipping in and out of a multitude of languages give depth and help reinforce this element.

I think this is one of the things that was appealing to me. It was reinventing the action hero and it was interesting to me to see how Bourne would deal with the situations he was placed in, both the combative, and the everyday.

I think any character is helped by a good script and performance. A good character needs to have good things to say and know the right way to say them. This is relevant in all aspects of story telling. The performance doesn't always have to require actor though an example that springs to mind is the "birth" of sandman in Spiderman 3. Not an actor in sight but it is a captivating and emotional moment built within a computer.

I do like a hero story. Someone selfless and/or triumphing against adversity whether it be the real world that exists in the Bourne movies or the more fantastical Spiderman etc. and this does filter into the sort of games I play.