I’ve got a habit of acting out in my head what I think a video game character might be thinking. Even when it serves no purpose but to amuse me. If I’m playing Super Mario Brothers, I’m imagining the turtles as aiming to get someplace to the left of the screen, and hoping they won’t get jumped on. Or worse, picked up and used as a mere object to be thrown at other creatures. The violation and indignity they must feel!
So if I’m making my own game, (and I am) you bet I want to add some personality to the enemies in the game. I can give them a voice.
Below, you can see Emm (player character) starting a level. Below her, a single adversary guards the level exit. This fellow is a Beard. He won’t become aggressive unless Emm steps on grass. (It’s against the law to step on grass, in this world, and Beards enforce that.)
The only path forward requires stepping on the grass, which Emm does. This triggers some dialogue with the Beard, where he complains and offers her a peaceful option – just stay out of the center area.
But Emm has to get to the center to leave the level. So she uses her flinging power to get around the Beard. When Emm arrives at the center, the Beard is very irritated.
There’s a bunch of other dialogue on the level. Emm can continuously leave and return to the center to further upset the Beard. She can wander off to other rooms, interrupting conversation. A nice thing is that none of this scripting changes the behavior of the Beard. He is a predictable game element following general rules. But adding a little dialogue on top lets us imagine he’s something more complicated. It’s more fun to win against somebody that cares about being beaten.
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The Godkiller – Chapter 1 is a 3D puzzle-solving adventure game available for Windows and Mac on Steam! |