Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach

Katherine Isbister

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Description

Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences. This work has revealed that the key to good design is leveraging player psychology: understanding what's memorable, exciting, and useful to a person about real-life social interactions, and applying those insights to character design. Game designers who create great characters often make use of these psychological principles without realizing it. Better Game Characters by Design gives game design professionals and other interactive media designers a framework for understanding how social roles and perceptions affect players' reactions to characters, helping produce stronger designs and better results.

 

Table of Contents

About the Author Foreward by Tim Schafer Preface About the DVD I First Impressions What Is Covered and Why Who Will Find Part I Most Useful Overview of Key Concepts Take-Aways from Part I 1 Social Surface 1.1 What Is Covered and Why 1.2 The Psychological Principles 1.3 Design Pointers 1.4 Interview: Gonzalo Frasca 1.5 Summary and What Is Next 1.6 Exercises 1.7 Further Reading 2 Practical Questions—Dominance, Friendliness, and Personality 2.1 What Is Covered and Why 2.2 The Psychological Principles 2.3 Design Pointers 2.4 Summary and What Is Next 2.5 Exercises 2.6 Further Reading II Focus on the Player What Is Covered and Why Who Will Find Part II Most Useful Overview of Key Concepts Take-Aways from Part II 3 Culture 3.1 What Is Covered and Why 3.2 The Psychological Principles 3.3 Design Pointers 3.4 Interview: Ryoichi Hasegawa and Roppyaku Tsurumi of Sony 3.5 Interview: Lewis Johnson 3.6 Summary and What Is Next 3.7 Exercises 3.8 Further Reading 4 Gender 4.1 What Is Covered and Why 4.2 The Psychological Principles 4.3 Design Pointers 4.4 Interviews with Gamers&#151Personal Perspectives 4.5 Summary and What Is Next 4.6 Exercises 4.7 Further Reading III Using a Character's Social Equipment What Is Covered and Why Who Will Find Part III Most Useful Overview of Key Concepts Take-Aways from Part III 5 The Face 5.1 What Is Covered and Why 5.2 The Psychological Principles 5.3 Design Pointers 5.4 Summary and What Is Next 5.5 Exercises 5.6 Further Reading 6 The Body 6.1 What Is Covered and Why 6.2 The Psychological Principles 6.3 Design Pointers 6.4 Interview: Chuck Clanton 6.5 Summary and What Is Next 6.6 Exercise 6.7 Further Reading 7 The Voice 7.1 What Is Covered and Why 7.2 The Psychological Principles 7.3 Design Pointers 7.4 Further Directions—Emotion Detection 7.5 Interview: MIT Media Lab's Zeynep Inanoglu and Ron Caneel 7.6 Summary and What Is Next 7.7 Exercise 7.8 Further Reading 7.9 Answers to Exercises IV Characters in Action What Is Covered and Why Who Will Find Part IV Most Useful Overview of Key Concepts Take-Aways from Part IV 8 Player-Characters 8.1 What Is Covered and Why 8.2 The Psychological Principles 8.3 Design Pointers 8.4 Interview: Marc Laidlaw 8.5 Summary and What Is Next 8.6 Exercises 8.7 Further Reading 8.8 Acknowledgments 9 Nonplayer-Characters 9.1 What Is Covered and Why 9.2 The Psychological Principles 9.3 Dimensions of Social Roles and NPCs 9.4 Common Social Roles in Games 9.5 Design Guidelines 9.6 Summary and What Is Next 9.7 Exercises 9.8 Further Reading V Putting It All Together What Is Covered and Why Who Will Find Part V Most Useful Overview of Key Concepts Take-Aways from Part V 10 Process 10.1 What Is Covered and Why 10.2 Arguments for Bringing a Social-Psychological Approach to Game Development 10.3 The Development Time Line 10.4 Building in the Social-Psychological Approach 10.5 Interview: Tim Schafer 10.6 Summary and What Is Next 10.7 Further Reading 11 Evaluation 11.1 What Is Covered and Why 11.2 The Psychological Principles 11.3 Current Evaluation Practice in Game Design: Market Research and Play Testing 11.4 Taking Design to the Next Level with Preproduction Evaluation 11.5 A Note on Postproduction Evaluation 11.6 Evaluation Checklist 11.7 Games Usability Perspectives 11.8 Interview: Randy Pagulayan 11.9 Interview: Nicole Lazzaro 11.10 Affective Sensing: An Evaluation Method for the Future? 11.11 Summary 11.12 Exercises 11.13 Further Reading Appendix Index

商品描述(中文翻譯)

描述

遊戲正處於一個重大的演進階段,這是由技術的成熟度和受眾的擴大所驅動的。在遊戲過程中,能夠與玩家建立強烈的社交和情感聯繫的角色(不僅僅是在剪輯場景中)將成為下一代遊戲的關鍵。然而,遊戲開發社區對於複雜的角色設計和互動原則的理解並不廣泛。進一步複雜化的是強大的性別和文化問題,這些因素可能會影響對角色的認知。Katherine Isbister在過去的10年中一直在研究什麼使得與電腦角色的互動對不同受眾有用和吸引人。這項工作揭示了良好設計的關鍵是利用玩家心理學:了解真實社交互動對於個人而言什麼是令人難忘、令人興奮和有用的,並將這些見解應用於角色設計。創造出優秀角色的遊戲設計師通常在不自覺中運用了這些心理原則。《Better Game Characters by Design》為遊戲設計專業人士和其他互動媒體設計師提供了一個框架,以了解社會角色和認知如何影響玩家對角色的反應,從而幫助產生更強大的設計和更好的結果。

目錄

關於作者
Tim Schafer的前言
前言
關於DVD
第一印象
涵蓋內容和原因
誰會在第一部分中受益最多
關鍵概念概述
第一部分的要點
社交表面
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
訪談:Gonzalo Frasca
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
實際問題-支配、友善和個性
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
專注於玩家
涵蓋內容和原因
誰會在第二部分中受益最多
關鍵概念概述
第二部分的要點
文化
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
訪談:Sony的Ryoichi Hasegawa和Roppyaku Tsurumi
訪談:Lewis Johnson
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
性別
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
與遊戲玩家的訪談-個人觀點
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
使用角色的社交裝備
涵蓋內容和原因
誰會在第三部分中受益最多
關鍵概念概述
第三部分的要點
臉部
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
身體
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
訪談:Chuck Clanton
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
聲音
涵蓋內容和原因
心理原則
設計指南
進一步方向-情感檢測
訪談:MIT Media Lab的Zeynep Inanoglu和Ron Caneel
總結和下一步
練習
進一步閱讀
練習答案
角色行動
涵蓋內容和原因
誰會在第四部分中受益最多