CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Far from existing solely for the player’s enjoyment, a good game character needs a narrative arc all their own. Their obsessions must drive their actions, their hopes must be either achieved or dashed, and by the end of the story their deeper needs must be either fulfilled in a moment of triumphant catharsis or left achingly unmet.
The Five Branded Heroes
Game: Weird West
Weird West presented a unique challenge—the player inhabits the lives of five vastly different heroes all tied together by a strange similarity: the same mysterious brand at their necks.
As the player hops from one character to the next, unraveling the mystery, they can revisit the heroes they once were. How do these characters feel about the story they lived while the player was in control? With all the possible playthroughs, we needed multiple versions of each character’s narrative arc—the result was a tapestry of different stories, and each had to be equally captivating.