CONSTRUCTING A CHARACTER

Constructing a Character
by NoblemanNick

Contents
I.Introduction
II.Setting a Role
III.Creating a Background
IV.Developing a Personality
V.Dating a Destiny
VI.Conclusion

I.Introduction
Welcome and Hello to all the readers out there. I would like to introduce myself my name is Nick also know by my user name NoblemanNick. I have high goal and ambition and I want to create games. I've written this Article not as a guide to follow by but a lesson to spark your own interests and maybe give you a new approach to making a character. Everything from a book to a game has a character. Whether how non-important they always have a character. There is no right or wrong way to create and develop a character, only the easy and sloppy and hard yet organized way. Now get out your pen and paper and start taking notes because the lesson is now beginning.

II.Setting a Role
Before you even have any idea in your mind for your character there is a certain preset you must decide. Whether to make your character of good, bad, or neutral alignment. By doing this you are providing a base for your character building. This will allow you to set the character into the story whether it be the protagonist or supporting character. Second thing you must decide is what significance does the character have? Is the character a main character or merely a supporting role? This allows you set a mindset of how much into detail you are going to need to think for this character. Now let's give your character a basis type. What I mean by a basis type is what the character is to the story.

Examples
Chosen Hero of Legend
Nobody who rises up to become a Hero
Best friend or Hero or villain
Love Interest to Hero or villain
Bounty Hunter tracking Hero or villain
Great Evil that will destroy the World

These are only a few of many types you can make up in your own mind. They just establish a slightly detailed role in the story than "Supporting Character" or "Main Character". This also gives you a basis for the background of your character. Now that we've established a role for the character we will now continue into background for are characters. Congratulations you've just completed the first step.

III.Creating a Background
We've set a role now we must establish our background. This is possibly the most detailed step of character creation and development. Write on paper a few note about the character's background. Maybe where he lived his lifestyle for his past. How his relationships with his family and others where, certain events. How successful he was and things relating to that. By doing this you can flesh out the character and bring this basic frame to a slight point of life. By establishing the background this will give you another basis of personality. Past experiences and lifestyles shape the character's personality. If a character has a negative lifestyle, his personality will reflect that. By creating a realistic background your character will also seem realistic. Also try to make your characters relate to the players, this improves the game and makes it seem even more realistic. Now that we've finished the background we will be approaching personality, a difficult part of character development. But as always congratulations you've completed step two.

IV.Developing a Personality
Personality? Before you create your character's personality think to yourself. What is personality? In my opinion personality is a few things.

A.The way someone approaches a situation
B.The reasons for someone to desire something
C.The character's true self.

On paper write a couple of generic situations. When you've done that write how the character would react and approach certain situations. How would the solve certain problems, would they solve the problems at all. Think how they approach certain people. How would they approach someone with a demeanor? How would they approach someone very bubbly? Would they even try to make friends? Do they try and make enemies? With each question and answer brings a little bit more detail about the character you are developing. What about desire? Why do they want something? Do the want it because they don't want someone else about it? Or maybe it makes them feel better. Desires are often a random possibility produced by our own thoughts and personality. Sound weird but yet very reasonable. Wouldn't a character who has a inferiority complex want something to feel a little bit more superior than they already are? Also, someone who has the exact opposite wouldn't they want something just to affirm there own greatness or what they think is greatness? Personality is known as a true self, it can be hidden from others and sometimes disguised to look like something else. But someone's real personality tells you a lot about that person. Personality often is what kind of person someone is. Now we move on to the destiny of a character possibly the funnest part of character development. Congratulations you've complete the third step. On to the fourth and final step.

V.Dating a Destiny
A simple step but gets you thinking about your character. What is the end for him in the story? What is his destiny? Will he die by the hands of the enemy, or will he vanquish the evil. Will he continue into a possible sequel or make a one-time appearance. This allows you to set a time-limit and deadline for the character's full development. If you do a great job you may also make a big impact on the player, maybe they'll feel justice when the villain dies or sad when a supporting character dies. If you do a poor job it can also damage the storyline a bit so be careful when you make an decision of killing off a character.

V.Conclusion
I hope you've learned something from this lesson. If you have, I can say my typing on my keyboard could be for something. Develop your characters and maybe you'll be the one I can use for an example in my future articles.

Until next time,
NoblemanNick