Character Design: The Perks of Quirky Jerks

Greetings, my name is Ryan Hall and I am the lead game designer and artist for Dark Clutches. The characters in a game are often an important conduit for communication with the player.  In Dark Clutches, the characters help set a silly and colorful tone that informs the entire experience.

The main characters are lovable misfits who have been cast out by society for their quirks.  These quirks and character flaws form the basis for my visual design of the character and later inform their animations and in-game voice. As a designer, I endeavor to know more about the character than I plan to show in the game so that her every action can hold purpose and meaning.

In order to design a band of outcasts I began with a list of reasons that one might be fired from a job. Then a determined which of my reasons could form the basis for a lovable character. (I use the term lovable loosely and with the understanding that some find both Dora the Explorer and Don Draper “lovable”) Being too sleepy, sickly, nervous or just plain crazy were some of the quirks that I came up with.

For scope reasons we are planning to bring only two of our band to life (that’s them up there in the banner), but here is a peek at some of their friends who may appear in the future.