Video Essay: Villains of Video Games

Notes

  • If your game is fun and lighthearted, make villain comical
  • If game is more dark and serious, make villain more serious so player feels more accomplished when they beat them
  • Two types of game villains:
    • Mechanical
      • “Big boss”
      • There for the purpose of the game
      • Something to shoot, punch, kill, etc
      • When player reaches mechanical villain they should have to use all the skills they have been learning in past parts of the game
      • Villain should have a justification as to why player can’t just fight them in the beginning and get it over with
    • Narrative
      • Purpose is to drive the story
      • Motivates main character
      • Aren’t there to be just an end boss
      • There to make the world the player is inhabiting more immersive
      • Conflict and drama of story
      • Lots of games use mechanical villains where there should be narrative villains, messes up games
    • To make a good narrative villain:
      • Ask what’s their motivation?
        • Worst dictators and criminals have reasons to doing what their doing
        • Ex. greed, philosophy, idealogy
      • How do you communicate your villains motives?
        • Actions speak volumes about who they are and what they want
        • No forced super-villain monologues
        • Narrative villains should be somewhat sympathetic
        • Makes player think about whether or not they are on the right side of things
      • Consider the protagonist
        • Should push against each others ideas, make each other question themselves
      • Villain should be “shown” not “told”
        • More actions, less dialogue
      • Know what’s essential to the game and to the plot
        • Plot is prioritized over character
  • Lots of great stories don’t need a antagonist
    • Some stories just have a large obstacle to overcome
    • Some have 2 protagonists that have different ideals and get in eachothers way
    • Some have a hero who ultimately turns into the villain
    • Some are about a person trying to decide which side is the bad or the good
  • If your story has drama, then a narrative villain is neccessary

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