tailieunhanh - Better Game Characters by Design- P9

Better Game Characters by Design- P9: The game industry is a powerful and driving force in the evolution of computer technology. As the capabilities of personal computers, peripheral hardware, and game consoles have grown, so has the demand for quality information about the algorithms, tools, and descriptions needed to take advantage of this new technology. To satisfy this demand and establish a new level of professional reference for the game developer, we created the Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology | CHAPTER EIGHT PLAYER-CHARACTERS FIGURE a b A day in the backyard washing the dog playing chess and chatting in the hot tub. The Sims Unleashed image 2005 Electronic Arts Inc. The Sims is a registered trademark of Electronic Arts the other countries. All rights reserved. action. This feature has been used by players in the aid of creating elaborate graphic novels available online see Figure . Interestingly players seem to hop between experiencing their Sim characters as extensions of themselves and as separate agents. Will Wright in an interview with Celia Peirce Fullerton Swain and Hoffman 2004 133 talks about how players switch from I when they are controlling a Sim to he or she when the Sim does something unexpected or undesirable. Sims walk the line between self and other and allow the player to explore identities and fantasies in a flexible and low-risk way. Focusing Player-Character Psychology Tools Puppets and Masks Not every game needs full treatment of player-characters at all four levels the core game play of some games can lead to irrelevance or minimal value of a particular layer. This section examines three styles of in-game player representation that emphasize subsets of layers of player psychology. Tools Warcraft III and DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution see Figure are two examples of games that do not require much of a social persona for players but for different reasons. Warcraft III is a real-time strategy game in which the player commands a large number of NPCs in war campaigns. The player does not have a direct character interface to the game rather she or he uses a heads-up display to observe what is going on and to give troops directions. Given this 212 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES FIGURE Players create stories using the family album feature in The Sims then upload and share them on the game s Web site. The Sims Unleashed image 2005 Electronic Arts Inc. The Sims is a registered trademark of Electronic Arts .