There’s a lot that goes into making a video game’s main character and our project is no exception. After all, the main character is the liaison between the player and the game itself. Of course a good character must echo the game’s style and convince players that they belong in the world they see around them. They also need to be relatable, responsive, and overall fun to stare at for hours at a time. All of these factors and then some were taken into consideration when developing our main character, Morvin. Here’s a look into how we came up with him from the name, to the concept, and finally to actualization.
What’s in a Name?: In the very early stages of the project there were a lot of specific details up in the air. We knew we wanted to make an alien gas station, but that was about it. When thinking of what to name the game, “Morvin’s Pitstop” just came out of seemingly nowhere (perhaps subconsciously adapted from Marvin the Martian) and we rolled with it. It not only filled in a title for the project (albeit temporary), but it also gave our main character a name that sounded both familiar (Marvin) and a little weird (replace the A with an O). Only knowing that we wanted Morvin to be cute, weird, and clad in a jumpsuit we set to work on coming up with concepts.
The Shotgun Approach: When coming up with a new concept we like to explore as many ideas as possible, even if they don’t seem like good ones at first. The many conceptual iterations of Morvin allowed us to find out what we like, what we don’t like, and combine features until a final result was narrowed down. Here are just a few of the many iterations Morvin went through during each phase of conceptualization.
Round 1: We like the buck teeth on the left and the weird number of eyes. The second candidate seems too bland. Lemon-head has some 5 o’ clock shadow going on, but we want Morvin to be a kid. Lastly, Morvin is NOT a cat! What if… Morvin had THREE legs?
Round 2: Hmmm. Maybe three legs was a little too weird. Back to the drawing board.
Round 3: You there, on the right! Yea, you! You got something we like. Let’s see more of that!
Round 4: Too chunky, too dorky, too Elmer Fuddy, but that last one looks like a winner! A few minor tweaks and additions often sneak in during the 3D modeling phase, but for the most part this is the Morvin we are going for.
The Wonders of Computer Graphics: Now that we have a concept nailed down it’s time to actualize Morvin in 3 dimensions. Maya is our 3D application of choice since we are well versed in its tools, interface, and uncanny ability to crash. The process usually goes something like this.
Perfect! Thanks, Maya. Now we can move on to animation. This is where we put the heart and soul into our characters. How a character moves is critical in defining their personality as well as providing visual feedback for the player’s actions. There are a lot of things for Morvin to do in our game and his actions must be swift and snappy since time is of the essence. To further reinforce how exhausting Morvin’s job is, we animated him to look more and more tired as the day wears on.
Even now, Morvin is in a continual state of development. More animations will be needed for his interactions with new machines. Also various cosmetic options will be available for Morvin throughout the game. Stay tuned for more updates on the evolution of our main character as he continues his journey toward becoming a model Quickstop employee!