ABSTRACT

The visual style of virtual characters varies enormously from game to game. Appearance can be inuenced by game genre, targetaudience preferences, cultural dierences, the brand of the development studio, or even the gaming platform. In any analysis of a character’s appearance, the visual style is typically the most obvious element to consider rst. For instance, the photorealism of a character is frequently highlighted in criticism of video game graphics, and for many game developers photorealism is a stylistic ideal. When working with more distinctive styles, the aesthetic choices of a developer might have an even greater impact on the presentation of a character. Regardless of whether a developer opts to create a bespoke style or conform to an established style, the application of style can have a dramatic eect on character appearance and, subsequently, on player perception and interpretation. As such, it would seem logical to begin our discussion of virtual character appearance by rst considering artistic and visual design principles.