Image credits for week 2
All of the images used within week 2 of the course were produced by Abertay University teams, individuals, or friends of the university. The credits are as follows: Introduction: Image …
Course: Video Game Design and Development: Video Game Character Design
Suggested reading
VISUAL DESIGN Gurney, J. 2010. Colour and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing. McCloud, S. 1994. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper …
Week 2 summary
In this final week of the course, we have focussed on the visual design of game characters. Firstly, we considered the importance of visual design principles, taking a lot of …
Interview with Erin Stevenson
In this interview, we hear from Abertay University graduate and Puny Astronaut character animator, Erin Stevenson.
Nonverbal Communication Expression
Another lesson we can take from human nature concerns our universal behaviours, in the form of nonverbal communication. While many of the ways we communicate nonverbally are culture-dependent, we can …
Communicating character using physical cues
In this final slideshow, we will discuss how the human body contains visual cues that can inform character design, including cues for attractiveness, health, and age.
Understanding human anatomy
In this slideshow, we will discuss how an understanding of anatomy is vital to the practice of character art. We will discuss some general biological principles that help us to …
Creating character art part 2
In this video we hear from Abertay University lecturers Clare Brennan and Ryan Locke.
Defining visual style
Finally, we will discuss how we might define the overall visual style that can be applied to the design of a game character.
More Abertay Video Games Course on Futurelearn
If you enjoyed this course why not take a look at our other introductory courses on video games design and development: Abertay video games course on Futurelearn
Colour theory for character design
Following our discussion of line, shape, and silhouette, we will now discuss how colour theory can be applied to the visual design of game characters.
Line, shape, and silhouette
To begin our discussion of visual design, we will first consider how line, shape, and silhouette can be used to help communicate a character’s personality to players.
Creating character art part 1
In this video we hear from Abertay University lecturers Gordon Brown and Ken Fee.
Video game character art
In this slideshow, we will consider a brief history of the visual design of video game characters, from the very first computer game systems up to present day consoles.
Favourite character visualisations
Students of Abertay University provide some thoughts on their favourite video game character visualisations. After watching the video, please add a comment that identifies the character visual design you like …
These articles are from the online course:
Video Game Design and Development: Video Game Character Design