Emi
Bradley
Game Art Student
Art Research Practice Blog Project Year 2
Term 1
This is my Year 2 Term 1 Art Research Practice project.
For this Project I have to write a blog relating to a question I have given myself and do art research on that.
This page only works best on computer :))
GAR204 Art Research Practice
What makes a true villain in the game industry
For this project I would like to go on the journey to discover what makes a real villain in the game industry. I want to figure out this question with online research, primary and secondary research, analysing characters and designing characters. I thought this would be a fun question as players would focus more on their playable characters or one of the main characters and then focus on the villain. I feel like villains have such an interesting role in a game and are very important to the game. Villains should get more credit and talk about what really defines them and who is a true villain in a game.
Lets start with what is a villain in a game?
Well unlike any other villain anywhere else in entertainment media a game villain isn't much different. A villain in a video game is simply a character who is trying to disrupt the players main goal and trying to either defeat them or get in their way. There are different types of many villains in video games such as: The Back Stabber, The Purified, The Mastermind, The Pure Evil, The Machine, The Deception, The Beast, The Pitiful and The Classic Villain. I will cover these types of villains later and give some examples of these types of villains with characters in games. As you can see villains aren't as simple in saying "They are just back guys" there is so much more to it and it takes a lot of work into 1 villain, such as the backstory, the character design etc... to make a really good video game villain, players will enjoy fighting or just remember.
Honestly nearly every video game has a villain, and this is because it makes a game interesting, and it makes the player have more of a drive to play the game as they want to conquer the evil and become the hero. Also, the villain in some games spice the game up in general as it gives the player a purpose and to have an exciting experience. Yes, you can get chill vibe games like Stardew Valley, but that game is meant for relaxing and not a seat edge game as many seat edge games will have villains. So overall a villain is defined as an evil or wicked character that enacts evil action and/or harms others. A villain may have a justification for their actions that is in line with their own principles, but their actions inflict harm and create ruin in the process.
Reference:
Iggy Koopa. 2019. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo Switch).Nintendo.
Ralph. 2012. Wreck-It Ralph [Film].
Different types of villains
The Back Stabber
- A villain who acts like your friend/helps you but then back stabs you for their own greed
The backstabber villains are a very self-explanatory title. These are but a few of many backstabbing villains within games. More famous for its role is Wheatley. In Portal 2 grown to power Wheatley throws you back into test even though you did Wheatley no wrong and were thought to be companions. Backstabbing villains are defiantly great villains to have as they play with the players emotions which makes them hate the villain more and gives them more determination to get revenge. I think backstabbing villains are definitely one of the top villains if you want the player to really hate the villain as those types of villains are evil in trickery and make the player feel hurt when ‘your friend’ was using you the whole time.
For the art side of The Back Stabber villain, I feel like there wouldn't be any specific art style to go on as really the player isn't supposed to know they are the villain. I would say whatever suits the game would be the art style of it.
General Shepherd. 2009. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.Infinity Ward
Wheatley.2011.Portal 2.Valve Corporation
Albert Wesker.2009. Resident Evil 5.Capcom
The Purified
- Villains turned bad to good
Purified villains are great examples that even bad characters can get redemption for their actions. Yes, they may not be 100% forgiven but they still try and fix wrong to right. These villains give the players hope for the villain to become better characters. A lot of Purified villains are villains that do bad stuff to complete their goal not realising that what they are doing is bad. Or villains that get taken over with power and forget who they are. Luckily, they can justify their actions and become better. Take Riku for an example he had the same goals as the protagonist but then got consumed with power. Later, he realises the damage he has caused, then he spends the rest of the game series trying to atone for his actions.
knuckles. 1994 .Sonic the Hedgehog 3.Sega
Riku .2002 .Kingdom Hearts.Square
Lusamine.2016 . Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.Nintendo
For the art side of The Purified villain, I would say possibly some villain tones like shape edges and maybe some dark colours but then some redemption colours like green and blues. The style should be a contrast between good and evil as the character at the time have yet to know if they are good or bad. There needs to be some sharp edges even after they turn good as that still plays in their past story and it shows the player how the character as grown.
The Mastermind
- Mastermind villains are highly intelligent characters who pull the strings behind diabolical plots
Mastermind villains are very intelligent characters that create things to do their bidding. These villains may not look scary or do damage to you physically, but I wouldn't want to mess with their creations. Mastermind villains are great for players that want to destroy enemy's that the mastermind has created to then get to the mastermind and bring them to justice. Mastermind villains are villains that really have a big goal and to achieve their goals they will do and create anything to achieve it. I think Mastermind villains should make players feel scared as they are very intelligent not only with their creations but with their plans as well. Handsome Jack is a great and well-known example of a Mastermind villain as his plans were always to do with power and taking over the vault and releasing The Destroyer so he could obtain it for himself. To do this he created an army of intelligent robots to do his biddings of stopping the vault hunters in getting in his way.
For the art side of The Mastermind villain, I would definitely give them some gadgets on their clothing or something technical like that. But other than that, I think simple villain designs are fine for them as at the end of the day they are just normal villains with a very high IQ. I wouldn't make them buff or big characters though, as their strength is with their brains/smartness.
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.2017.Sonic forces.Sega
Handsome Jack.2012.Borderlands 2.Gearbox Software
William Afton (Purple Guy).2014.Five Nights at Freddy's 2.Scott Cawthon
The Pure Evil
- Pure evil villains are just that, 'pure evil' and working to destroy or dominate the world
These villains are the worst of the worst, pure evil villains. These villains have a very simple motive, to destroy and dominate the world and not caring what they must do to have power. When it comes to the villain side of things, they are very simple and they don't have a evolutionary story really, comparing to over types of villains but they are still amazing villains to fight against especially at the end of the game. I think when it comes to power and fighting them, they are the best villains for it. It's always a great boss fight with these villains. Take Ganon as an example, a very well-known villain that just wants pure power and is consumed in darkness. In the Zelda series the player will always defeat him, but it takes a lot to do so. I personally think Ganon is best represented in the latest Zelda game 'Tears of the Kingdom'. There is a little bit of back story that is shown to the player showing how Ganon started off and how he got power and the boss fight at the end was incredible.
For the art side of The Pure Evil villain, they definitely need some red and dark colours on them. I feel like their characters should be big and able to hold a lot of power. They should be designed in a way the player will know they are the big bad villain, so no rainbows and smiley faces as these villains mean business
Ganon. 2023. Tears Of The Kingdom .Nintendo
Calypso Twins.2019 .Borderlands 3.Gearbox Software
Mister dark.1995.Rayman.Ubi Soft
The Machine
- Machine villains are technological constructs who aim to kill or obstruct the hero
Machine Villains are really what the title says villains that are machines or AI. Machine villains don't really have an understanding of what it is like to be human which makes them a great villain as they will never understand human motives or emotions, so they are less caring and more destructive and get the job done. Machine villains are also very smart due to their programming and think beyond the human mind. However, this can be a pro and a con. As most of the time machines just follow programming and are unable to do more than that. I feel like Machine villains have a lot of weakness as well, like with John Henry Eden he is just a box that can't move and GLaDOS yes, they may move a little but still are very restrictive and she even ends up in a potato. Also, the fact I bet you can splash them with water, and they would malfunction (depends on the game and technology). However, they still have a lot of strength because they are machines and they can take over other electronical stuff and are basically immortal to some extent. Machine villains are defiantly refreshing to see in games and are a different type of obstacle you must take down as a player.
For the art side of The Machine villain the 100% need to look like a machine. Yes, John Henry Eden is presumed to be a human at the beginning of his game, but the core body of the villain needs to be some sort of a machine. Even if its metal parts on a human body like Cyberpunk they are technically becoming somewhat of machines. I feel like the Machine villains are very self-explanatory.
John Henry Eden . 2008 . Fallout 3.Bethesda Game Studios
Revenant.2019 .Apex Legends.Respawn Entertainment
GLaDOS.2007.Portal.Valve Corporation
The Deception
- A villain who may not look like who they truly are
Flowey.2015.Undertale.Toby Fox
Tom nook.2020.animal crossing new horizons.Nintendo
Lambert.2022.cult of the lamb.Massive Monster
Bowser Jr. 2019. new super Mario bros u deluxe.Nintendo
Monika.2017.Doki Doki Literature Club!. Team Salvato
Don't be deceived by these cute characters because they are all villains. The Deception villains are very clever and know their true goal. They will purposely disguise themselves as something they are not just to get what they want, or they just look cute because that is what they look like and are just evil on the inside. The Deception villains are a lot like back stabber villains, get all cosy with you and make the player a fool to their game. Or in some cases their looks are in their advantages. I love Deception villains they are amazing plot twist villains in games and it's a funny concept in making an evil character look all cute. Monika is a perfect example of a Deception villain. Monika fell in love with the player and does everything in her code power to only make the game just you and her. She kills off the other girls in a graphical way as possible however she stills puts on a cute smile face and acts clueless is perfect. I love the twist at the end of the game when she shows her true colours. Also, Lambert a cute little lamb going around killing enemies and helping people but really, he is starting a cult, and we all know how that ends. The Deception villains are perfect for games to take a whole new turn of what the game truly is or to just mess with the players, to make the players think twice on who to trust and who characters really are.
For the art style of The Deception villain, they need to 100% not look like a villain. So complete opposite of a villain, which makes them great as you can then have bright colours, friendly shapes and look all cheerful. However, I think it's also a great idea to even add a little villain to their design like some red shades. It doesn't have to be blood red but like some shades of reds and to also add some sharp shapes to give the contrast.
The Beast
- Beast villains are those who rely on their instincts and destructive abilities to achieve their goals.
Beast Villains are villains not to be messed with as they will use their destructive abilities to do whatever means to achieve their goals. Very similar to ‘The Pure Evil’ villains as they both have same motives, "do whatever it takes". Beast villains as well have worse thought patterns like killing/torturing innocent if necessary to get what they want. They also use their physical abilities to their advantages, and almost like animal ‘fight’ responses, to do what is needed to be done. Kraven the Hunter is a great example of the Beast villain as he literally will do anything with his abilities to do what he desires. Their destructiveness is amazing for a villain against a player who is determined to take down a unpredictable villain.
For the art side of The Beast villain, they definitely need to have some sort of animal representation on them like dead animal stuff on their clothing or overall look intimidating. If it is an animal character, then make them big and scary like a beast. The player needs to be intimidated and fearful of these villains so show that through colours body language or straight up scary representation.
Bowser. 2019. new super Mario bros u deluxe.Nintendo
Vaas Montenegro. 2012 .far cry 3 .Ubisoft Montreal
Eveline .2017.Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.Capcom
Kraven the Hunter.2023.Spider-man 2.Insomniac Games
The Pitiful/Sympathetic villains
- A villain that makes you feel sorry for them
The Pitiful villains are the saddest out of all of them. They are the villain who has a sad past or a general sad story to them. Or these villains just have justifiable acts in why they are the villain of their game. I honestly couldn't find a lot of villains under this category and mainly found these 2 characters. Let's take Marlene as an example she was the leader of the anti-government group known as the Fireflies as well as the former employer of Joel Miller. She is the villain because of her main action to sacrifice Ellie to create a cure for the world to be saved from zombie bites. Marlene genuinely wants to make the world a better place and hates the thought of Ellie's death. This is why the player can sympathize with Marlene as it is a hard choice. Flint Marko is also a villain players can also really feel sorry for because all the actions he does is because of his daughter. He robs banks with his power just to support her financially with her illness. He does all of this because of his fear of losing his daughter and at the end of the day, wouldn't you do anything to save a loved one?
The art side of The Pitiful villains don't really need an art style. Maybe add some calmer colours to them due to their sympathetic side of them. Other than that, there isn't much to say for the art style of these villains as they are just basic villains but with a sad past or motive.
Marlene .2013.Last Of Us.Sony Interactive Entertainment
Flint Marko (Sand Man).2023.Spider-man 2.Insomniac Games
The Classic Villain
- Classic villains have no redeeming qualities. They’re simply there to act as a foil to the hero
Lastly, we have The Classic Villain. These villains are very much known for their cliché up to no good or either be in the way of the protagonist path or just try and stop them all together. Normally classic villains in games are very much obvious that they are the villain of the game. They can be the yin to the yan of the player. They have sinister motives that are difficult for someone to support them making it easier for the player to hate them and want to take them down.
The art side of The Classic villain is mainly making sure the player know that they are the villain of the game. I feel this is a very wide-open art style as you can do a lot with this, like the colours, shapes, body language what tools they use etc. As long as the player knows the character is the villain then you're doing a good job.
Lady Dimitrescu .2021.Resident Evil Village.Capcom
Remor.2015 .Fran Bow.Killmonday Games
The Devil.2017 .Cuphead. Studio MDHR
Pyramid Head.2001silent hill 2.Team Silent
Does a villain from a different gaming platform change anything?
I want to look at villains from different platforms and see if that changes anything. So, let's look at villains from popular PlayStation game originals. My first impression when I look at PlayStation villains is that they are all human in some way (well the more popular titles and overall, like 80% of them).
Looking at these popular PlayStation villains we can see first that there are 2 main colours. Black and red. These 2 colours in character analysing are very much the cliché in 'bad guys', with red representing violence, danger, anger and black representing mystery, power, evil, death and fear. Also, my first impressions of these characters are that they are very intimidating in the way they were designed and their overall pose. I feel like you can show these characters to a random person, and they would definitely be able to identify that they are bad. So far, my overall opinion of these villains is that they are unique but they all kind of have a similar style (the realistic looking ones). This is just judging my first impressions of the character design and not anything else like backstory or game play.
Baldur. 2018. God of War. PlayStation.
HADES. 2017. Horizon Zero Dawn. PlayStation
Jacqueline Natla. 2008. Tomb Raider: Underworld. PlayStation
Sephiroth. 2020. Final Fantasy VII. PlayStation
Neo cortex. 2020.crash bandicoot 4. PlayStation
PlayStation Logo.1994.Manabu Sakamoto
First look at Xbox original villains they are very much fantasy and sci fi based but also have unique styles to them. They all again have the cliché colour pallets of 'villains' and have an intimidating first look. They all really have a similar style rather than the PlayStation villains that kind of have a little mixture. I personally if I saw them for the first time wouldn't guess them to be the main villain for their games rather like they are bosses the player need to defeat. However, I am still judging on first impressions and character design and not back story.
The Harbinger. 2021. Halo Infinite. Xbox
Queen Myrrah. 2011. Gears of War 3. Xbox
Gargos.1996. Killer Instinct 2. Xbox
Captain Flameheart. 2018. Sea of thieves .Xbox/Microsoft
Xbox Logo.1999.Microsoft
Nintendo villains are very interesting. They are bright colours mainly non-human characters, and fun to look at. Which makes a lot of sense as Nintendo is well known for their younger audience. I like though with a lot of Nintendo Villains or just their characters alone you would easily recognize that, that is a Nintendo character. What I'm trying to say is that they have a very well know design and just because the majority of their characters are cartoon styled, they still design their villains very well and that they can be recognizable/rememberable. When looking at Nintendo villains, again they have the same colour template as all the other villains in the other platforms which is mainly black and red. Personally though to their design for younger audiences, they don't 100% intimidate me but I can 100% recognize that they are the main villain in their game.
Bowser. 2019. new super Mario bros u deluxe.Nintendo
Ganon. 2023. Tears Of The Kingdom .Nintendo
dark samus.2007.Metroid Prime 3.Nintendo
King K. Rool.2018.Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.Nintendo
Nintendo Logo.1889 .Fusajiro Yamauchi
So what does this tell us?
So, do villains from different platforms make a difference of what is a true villain? Honestly not really , I feel like there are a lot of elements to it and looking at the 3 main game platforms in the world all I could see from first impressions they all mainly have the same 'villain cliché' check box but just in their own style so players would know what company they are from , which makes sense for selling points. Now for the villain itself and its back story? Well, that really depends on if the company wrote the story strong enough for the villain to be amazing. Let's take Bowser for an example not too much backstory if you look at him basically, as he just steals the princess and locks her away. So why is he SO well-known and such a familiar face to the world? Really, I feel like it's to do with advertisement and the success of the Mario franchise. From that over the years we have been able to see bowser story uncover more and more which makes him a very go to villain. Also due to the Mario franchise not really having a main target audience as Nintendo is known for their "all of the family can enjoy' games, so it is much easier as well for more people to know Bowser. But does popularity make a true villain? We will find out.
What should a Villain look like from an art perspective ?
Let's start with these very different characters. I have chosen Dr Eggman from the sonic franchise and Kerrigan from the StarCraft franchise. Now looking at these villain's designs only, they are very different.
Dr Eggman has bright colours with red being the dominant colour, he has a circle shape representing his main body however his moustache has some sharper shapes to them, his nose also has a pointy shape, and he has very much slender legs. Now going deeper with these quick looks Dr Eggman overall impression gives me 'not harmful villain' vibes as really, he seems harmless, just a man that kind of looks like a lab professor. I think that is what the designers were aiming to achieve because of their target audiences and to mislead the player. Now if we analyse these elements, I picked out earlier we can really understand Dr Eggman from an Art perspective. Let's start with his bright colours, nothing wrong with that, right? Wrong. Bright colours on a character or some designs can indicate the frog effect meaning bright colours on frogs are very dangerous and are poisonous. So, this shows how really Dr Eggman is dangerous from his colours let alone his main colour is red, and we all know what that means. Next, I want to talk about his gloves. I feel like gloves can represent not leaving a trace like fingerprints and how most people who wear gloves are doing hard work. Dr Eggman is very much known for his hard work with robots, so I feel like gloves suit his image. Also, he is always wearing blue glasses, to me this also shows a form of hidden identity and maybe a bit of being a coward. The colour blue can represent confidence, intelligence and inspiration which Dr Eggman has. Let's talk about Dr Eggman's shape language. His obvious main shape is a circle. Now in Shape language theory this indicates he is a soft, harmless and friendly character. Well of course he isn't these things as he is the main villain trying to destroy Sonic. I believe that using circular shapes with villains is purposeful and can mislead the audience about who the character is. I think adding circles to villains can imply their level of weakness and express that they do not have to look dangerous to be dangerous. However, he still has the villain pointy/sharp shapes to him like on his shoes, moustache and nose. Lastly, with his long legs I think this indicates power as he is tall and how he can look down on people and make them feel belittled.
Now with Kerrigan she is very much your scary obvious villain. With her dark colours to her very threatening overall design. A lot of her body is just sharp and pointy and ready for combat. My first impressions are she is definitely a villain or a boss fight character. I think with this character the designers wanted the player to know what they are going to deal with and prepare. I also think they wanted the player to feel threatened and scared and go 'this isn't going to be an easy fight'. Let's analyze these elements to understand Kerrigan from an art perspective. First let's start off with the colours, her main colours are black and purple. The colour black can represent death, evil magic, darkness and power which she has all of these. The colour purple can represent royalty, power, pride and fantasy. Which makes sense for it to be royalty as she is the Queen of blades. Kerrigan's overall look portrays very much spider like to me with her spider leg shape things attached to her back. Now from an art perspective this is very much a great design to put fear into players as the number one phobia in the world, you guessed it is spiders. At least the majority of players playing with be uneased at this imagery. Kerrigan's shape language is very much triangles based with some squares. I think the designers wanted a lot of triangles to her to give the sense of danger and aggressiveness to her character, with some square shapes showing strength and sturdiness. I personally have never played the StarCraft games or know anything about Kerrigan but just looking at her design I know not to mess with her.
So what does this tell us?
Well from looking at two totally opposite villains' art designs, what should a villain look like? Honestly, I think from an art perspective the villain needs to have its characteristics on the design to truly represent the character. Is the villain a secretive and manipulative character then show them as misleading as cute or something not threatening through design. Do you want your villain to be big and scary? Show some of that in the design like triangle shapes, glowing eyes, dark colours and just an overall scary design. What does the character do in the game, like does it work in a mine shaft? Maybe make the villain dirty and strong looking. My point is I don't think there is a right or wrong when it comes to designing a villain, but I do think it needs to show some characteristics to it, to tell a story, give a first impression and to show what the player is getting into. As long as the player can identify the character to be the villain, then you are doing a good job.
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.2017.Sonic forces.Sega
Kerrigan.2010.StarCraft II.Blizzard Entertainment
Shape Language #1.No Author.No Date. Source: https://www.nfi.edu/character-design/2/
Shape Language #3.No Author (@fuzzysprites).No Date. Source: https://fearthefuzzybear.tumblr.com/post/691697225807642624/hey-angie-how-are-you-also-do-you-have-any-tips
Different styles of villains
I love that the game industry has so many different styles of villains you can experience as a player. You can get the misleading type of villains like Flowey, smart robots like GLaDOS , cute villains like Bowser Jr, villains you wouldn't think are villains like Tom Nook and Lambert or straight up scary villains like Slender Man. These are only but a few examples of different styles of villains. None the less all these villains are unique and have an important role in their game. I think it is very important that we do have different styles of villains in games as games would just seem boring and recurring. Also, with different styles of villains in games it can have more of an impact to the player and be more rememberable from that game. This then helps the creator of the game to do more with it like advertisement, creating more games, etc...
Flowey.2015.Undertale.Toby Fox
GLaDOS.2007.Portal.Valve Corporation
Tom nook.2020.animal crossing new horizons.Nintendo
Lambert.2022.cult of the lamb.Massive Monster
Bowser Jr. 2019. new super Mario bros u deluxe.Nintendo
Slender Man.2012.Slender: The Eight Pages.Parsec Productions
Can you have a villain that doesn't follow the cliché villain art style?
Simple answer is yes. As we discussed before on the question 'What should a Villain look like from an art perceptive?' on panel 4, there is no right or wrong in what the villain should look like. I personally think sometimes it's great to break the cliché villain art style of big red evil characters and try something more outside the box. It also depends on the game as well and the story you are communicating. Flowey is a good example of this as he is shown as cutesy and friendly character but later, he is shown to be a scary, intimidating plant boss. However, you then can get cliché art style villains like Pyramid Head with his sharp shapes, red/blood colours, he has a sword, and his overall grotesque look makes him an obvious villain, but this still isn't always bad as for the game Silent Hill this is a perfect villain look.
King Ghost .2019.Luigi's Mansion 3.Nintendo
Pyramid Head.2001silent hill 2.Team Silent
Flowey.2015.Undertale.Toby Fox
Can the main protagonist or the player become the true villain?
Lets start of with 2 examples of main protagonist that do end up as villains at the end of their games. Joel from The Last Of Us and Jason from Fry Cry 3
First let's talk about Jason. Jason is an innocent protagonist who gets kidnapped and in his escape is forced to kill out of fear to survive. In this act we can see the player tremble in shock because of his actions, as from this point on his innocence is gone. As the player you continue throughout the game to kill people, animals and wildlife to first survive but then overtime you do it to feel something as Jason starts to go insane. Jason is also heavily manipulated by Citra (The leader of the local tribe) to help her goals of gaining more power. With these tasks Citra gives you, you slowly lose your judgment of what's right or wrong as at first you were doing it to help your friends but slowly over time you do the tasks because you enjoy it. With this overall information about the character you play, I would say by the end of the game you do turn into a villain, as Jason at the end has done so much destruction and evil acts not to survive but out of enjoyment. I also find that Jason's designs are that there isn't really nothing villain looking about him. His main colour is blue which is definitely great for a protagonist as blue is a friendly, calming colour and the colour blue represents trust and loyalty. Jason does have trust and loyalty, but it really depends on the players choice at the end of the game. Jason's overall character design is very fitting for a protagonist, and I think that really works as it still reminds the player at the end of the day Jason was at the beginning just a normal guy until is environment and actions changes him.
Now let's talk about Joel. Joel was a father that lost his child in the beginning of the game and from that he then turns into a hunter meaning he does whatever to survive (tortured, deceived, and killed countless innocent people). Then one day he is tasked to smuggle some cargo which is revealed to be a teenage girl called ‘Ellie’. He only takes this task as he wants something from it. However, after a while Joel starts to get soft with Ellie and then it is shown that they both have a father daughter relationship as the times get tuff, they help each other out. Finally, Ellie is set up for surgery to create a cure from her immunity from the zombie bites. Joel knowing this stops and hurts people to take Ellie away so that she can live, and he can keep her alive. By doing this act you are trading one person for all humanity. Joel also lies to Ellie at the end of the game about the truth of what happened with the surgery. So, after this quick sum up of Joel, realistically his actions makes him the villain. Because he chose Ellie and not saving the world, he basically robbed humanity of ever getting a cure. Also, in his early days he did chose to kill and deceive many innocent people to survive which logically there probably would have been different ways of doing so. He also continues to lie to Ellie about the truth of what she could have done. However, I would have to agree with Joel in these situations as sometimes it is survival of the fittest and if I had to choose between saving the person I love or saving the world I would pick the person I love. But even though these actions are somewhat understandable his actions are still villainous and would make him the villain. His choice of character design is very similar to Jason as a protagonist his main colour is green. I would say green is a friendly, inviting colour and the colour green represents positive and friendly stats. This is the same as Jason as the player gets reminded with his character design that at the end of the day before, Joel was just a normal guy that his daughter was killed and forced to live in this new zombie world.
So what does this tell us?
Yes, the protagonist can become the villain as this tells us just because you are the main character and presented as a good guy at the beginning it doesn't mean the actions you do throughout the game are morally justifiable.
Jason Brody .2012.far cry 3.Ubisoft
Joel Miller.2013.Last Of Us.Sony Interactive Entertainment
Does a villain's motive make them a villain ?
Simple answer yes. You can be a good guy but if your motive is destruction and killing that overall makes you a villain (As like what we talked about before with Joel Miller). Let's take Handsome Jack and William Afton for an example. Handsome jack's whole motive was to manipulate the Vault Hunters into opening The Vault to release The Destroyer so he could obtain it for himself. His whole motive is selfish and power hungry. William Afton's motive in creating the animatronics later in the game series is revenge to get back at his working partner Henry. Even though William does this because of the death of his child, his motive is to kill innocent children and revenge which is a bad motive leading him as a villain. Now Bowser's motive is a bit more complicated. Depending on what you see or believe in the games Bowsers main motive is to take over the Mushroom Kingdom and merge it with his own realm. To do this he needs to marry Peach and kidnaps her. However other theories suggest that he wants to marry Peach so that his children will have a mother. Honestly his motive is somewhat sweet and innocent but his actions in doing this are bad leading him to be a villain. I think a villain's motive is a very important part of their role in the game as it really makes them who they are.
I also did some survey research and asked people what they think about these 3 characters. This can be seen on panel 9.
Handsome Jack.2014.Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.Gearbox Software
Bowser. 2019. new super Mario bros u deluxe.Nintendo
William Afton (Purple Guy).2014.Five Nights at Freddy's 2.Scott Cawthon
Online Survey
On the 4th of November 2023 I created a online survey with questions to do with villains. I then sent this to friends and family to fill it out. All answers that were sent are anonymous!
So lets analyse the gamer survey:
So, lets tackle my first question I asked people. 'Who is your favourite video game villain?'. Now in the gaming community this is a very hard first question, I think if I had the answer this question I would struggle. However, there were a lot of great answers and some villains I have never heard of before.
There seems to be a lot of popular villains still in the mix and some new villains like Ketheric Thorm from the popular new game Baldur's Gate 3.
I asked that first question so I could make the reader get in the game head space. So, from that I asked them 'Why would they be your favourite villain'? With this question I could get intel on what players are looking for in a villain, like the art style or story etc...
Anonymous answers:
After reading all the answers I was given there was a lot of interesting information for me to use. With the information from this I cut it into 4 categories: Story/lore, Gameplay, Art Style and the villain's Personality. From reading the answers I got the overall results were: 9 people talked about how the Story/lore behind the villain was their favourite. 6 people talked about how the Gameplay from the villain was their favourite. Only 3 people talked about how the Art style of the villain was their favourite. 4 people talked about the Personality from the villain that was their favourite thing about them. Overall, this information is very interesting as it seems mainly players when it comes to what part of their favourite villain is that, they like is the story/lore behind them. Personally I would have said mainly the art then the story. I am quite surprised that the art style came last due to that really the first thing you see with a villain.
My 3rd question to the players were 'What do you think makes a villain in a game?'. I wanted to see if people would be more specific with the details and maybe talk more in depth about villains overall. Like maybe colours in villains etc...
Anonymous answers:
With these answers no one in the 14 responses I had received, talked about a villain's art style. Nearly every response I got from this question people talked about the role of a villain and the motive the villain has. Mainly people talked about how a villain is to stop the player or prevents you from completing the game etc... I guess from the information I got so far from the questions is that people really like a villain with a story and motive. It's not the art style or what the villain does it's what they went through before or what they are going to do now.
For my 4th question 'What is important to make a villain in a game?' I gave the readers a multiple choice question to lead them in more of the specific things a villain has. However I tricked the readers with this question as of my research so far, I have discovered that all the options I gave were correct so realistically they should have chosen every single one. But it seems that maybe people might have thought some were more important than others.
Google forms automatically made a chart for my answers as shown on the right. So, from the chart we can see that again it's the villain's story that people are most interested in. We also finally see that some people think that the character design is important. Also, again motivation is peoples favourite as well. So, what does this tell us? Well honestly it seems first impressions of art to people aren't as important as I thought it was. The character can look artistically horrible but if the villain has a good story players will love it. Now this isn't saying for everyone in the world thinks this but just from this anonymous research it shows what these people think. Also, the people who completed this might not be all artist and don't fully appreciate the art side of things which is fair enough.
It seems only 1 person out of 14 thought of another topic
For my final question I asked, 'What do you think a villain should look like in a game?'. I asked this question to make people possibly talk about the art and their opinion on it.
Anonymous answers:
With these answers a lot of them I must agree with. When it comes to designing a character yes, I think some things are important like shapes and colours, however a lot of people said that a 'villain could be anything', as long by the end of the game you know that's the villain, I think that's the way to do it. As we talked about in the beginning of my blog there are so many types of villains, even villains that don't look like villains, so really there is no right or wrong. Alot of people said as well that it depends on the game, and I would have to agree with them on that as well.
Bonus Round
These questions were mainly for my 'Does a villain's motive make them a villain?' question on panel 8!!
I gave the readers a choice if they wanted to contribute into a bonus round, I created. I chose famous iconic villains and asked a question about them.
I first picked Bowser to be my first question, 'Is Bowser a villain in the Mario games?' As when doing online research about bowser a lot of people online had mixed feelings about this. So, I wanted to see what the people taking the survey had to feel about him.
Anonymous answers:
With these answers majority of people said yes. However, a lot of people said yes but you can sympathise for him. So really when it comes to Bowser its mainly your opinion if he is a villain or not. As we learn in the lore later, he does bad things for Bowser Jr and other reasons. But does those reasons justify his actions?
I then asked about Handsome Jack another iconic villain in the game industry.
Anonymous answers:
(Sorry about profanity)
With these answers I'm going to say I'm not surprised because everyone is right. Handsome Jack is a straight up villain. His backstory and motives are very classic villain. All he wants is power and he is smart enough to create machines to do his bidding for him.
Lastly, I asked, 'Is William Afton a villain in the FNAF series?'. Honestly knowing his lore and background I know everyone is going to say yes as nothing he does is good as he straight up kills children or makes machines to kill children.
Anonymous answers:
Everyone who answered the question wrote yes and rightfully so. I sadly don't think William Afton has any redeeming qualities or has a justifying reason to feel sorry for him or to be looked at as good.
All screenshots from this panel were taken from my google form survey, expect from the pie chart that i made myself using:https://www.meta-chart.com/pie
All information from questions where anonymous
Google Forms.2023.Emi Bradley: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevipoeIxhJ0L6DMQgqry6iG5zr9KVdQNB7A7DneHWjFzZ6rw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Designing a villain
When doing this task, I kind of just went with my imagination and went into the fantasy side of things. I also will note now that I am not strong with 2D/concept work as I am specialising in 3D work so these art works might not be 'amazing'. I honestly was having fun with it. First to get my ideas flowing I was drawing different styles of faces. I was going for scary but deceiving. I really liked the idea of the research I did before of spider phobias so I thought maybe adding that to my design would also make a good villain. I chose the face that is labelled 'my favourite' and from that I started planning my villain. I also did maybe want to go with the angel idea (the first face), but I couldn't really think of a design behind it.
At first, I played with the idea of having a villain looking like a beast, but I thought that was too basic. Then I thought what if I had some sort of fire demon with a suit. I thought the clothing of a suit would make my villain mean more business and give it more personality to it and from a first glance a player could probably make up a story just from the first impression. I also came to really like this design and went with it.
From that I was able to create its normal base form when shown to players. I wanted the original form to kind of give off cute spider vibes to a player to then finally deceive the player into who this villain really is. Kind of like a spider and its prey getting stuck into the spider web. So I drew its angry form its true scary side. I gave the villain some realistic looking teeth and a shaking effect around the body. Personally these 2 things are quite off putting to put on a cartoony looking character. I thought of Doki Doki literature club when they give the character Yuri realistic eyes, to me that was very off putting and scary as its breaks the points of cute anime style to real life. I wanted as well for my villain to be scary and off putting to make the player feel intimidated and get ready for a fight.
Now that I did my outline and was happy about it I then did the colouring in. Yes, yes I know I did the classic red, however honestly when thinking about hell, demons and fire my mind immediately goes to red. I also added some sharp and circle shapes to show the whole deceiving part of my villain. I really liked how my little demon villain turned out. Here are some better close ups:
After designing my fire demon villain, I also wanted to try and create an animal villain. I started off sketching the type of animal I wanted, and I ended up with a dog looking creature. Then I added features I thought that would give it personality and more it look more like it belonged in a sort of enchanted forest. I wanted to achieve some sort of bone death dog that looks cute from a far but up close will collect your soul or something. I gave it a bone mask and spine to show the death part of it. I wanted to add the same shapes as my fire demon like the circle face to deceive player's to trust it.
From that I just picked colours for the bone dog to blend into the forest so like browns and greens and went from there. I feel like now looking at both of my villains, they could probably belong in the same universe or even be companions. I tried to add features from my research into them both and I think I somewhat achieved that. They may not be the best villain designs but as my research has come to so far anything can really be a villain when it comes to the design.
Yuri.2017.Doki Doki Literature Club!. Team Salvato
All other screenshots. 2023.Procreate.Emi Bradley
Why I am not covering 'butterfly effect' games?
Honestly the reason is why I'm not covering butterfly games is that the whole reason with them is that 'your actions have consequences' meaning you can literally change how the game ends or how characters view each other. Let's take Kenny for an example from the first Walking Dead game. Depending on the choices you make with Kenny the player can either experience friendship with Kenny or Kenny can become your enemy. If you choose to not side with Kenny through the game or don't get along with him at the end, he will abandon you at your weakest point. However, if you choose to be on his side and be his friend, he will be your stronger friend that the game gives you. This is the same concept with many Butterfly effect games. Yes, in some games there might directed villains towards the player like Josh in until Dawn, however depending how you view it Josh isn't really a villain (I can go on about this subject, but it's doesn't help with my art research). Overall, Butterfly games don't count when considering my main question for this whole art research blog.
Kenneth (Kenny).2012.The Walking Dead.Telltale Games
Joshua (Josh). 2019. Until Dawn.Supermassive Games
Enemy vs Villains
Are enemy's not villains in games? Short answer no. Realistically enemies are just characters that have no background story have no other motive than to kill or stop the player. They have an instinct of killing the player like a zombie or a wolf would. I would classify Sevastopol Drone also known as ‘The Creature’ as an enemy. Yes, it may be the main antagonist of the game but really all it does and knows is to hunt and kill the player. You can go deeper into this and say otherwise but straight forward answer is that a villain is a character with a motive story and an enemy is just a character programmed to kill the player.
Sevastopol Drone.2014 .Alien: Isolation.Creative Assembly
Clicker.2013.Last Of Us.Sony Interactive Entertainment
Enderman.2011.Minecraft.Mojang Studios
Does the original concept anatomy make a character a villain? (Life Drawing Work)
When I was doing my Life Drawing task I wanted to see if the concept of the anatomy is what makes a character a villain. I did this by getting a model and drawing it 3 times. From this I used shape language to see how the shapes can overall change the look of a character. I used pink to symbolise the circle language of soft and harmless. Blue to symbolise the square language of strong and reliable. Then red to symbolise the triangle language of danger and unpredictable. When doing an overall look on these 3 models you can definitely tell a difference. The circle model looks comfortable and harmless. The square model looks sturdy and strong. The triangle model looks like it's ready for combat and is sharp. I then next to the triangle model, I drew these shapes if they were a face. I think with these faces you can see a difference in how the overall represent themselves and the shapes even give them some personality.
I also drew more shapes to see if different angles or how the shapes are drawn would change anything. Doing this I realised that yes if you change the way a triangle looks it can change the overall outcome. Like the middle triangle I feel like can be used on a soft yet intelligent character to still give it a soft look but to also give it some edge.
Then on the bottom drawings I drew characters just using their shapes. This also makes a big difference in the overall out come in what they look like. You can definitely give them personality's or what type of character they will be just by looking at the overall shapes and look. I feel like shapes are very important when it comes to character design as just by the shape's outline if you have done a good enough job the players could recognise your character by just seeing that (Like shown on the right image).
Lastly, I drew the famous character Sonic the hedgehog. With this I outlined all the shapes used to make him to also show that you don't just have to use one shape to represent a character. Sonic is a very strong character which shows is squares. He is also very unpredictable when it comes to combat and his decisions this shows with triangles. Also, if we look at his character like an actual hedgehog his spikes would be a warning of danger to other creatures. Lastly overall he is a kind and a hero character, that is why the circle shapes will be more visible.
Here is some simple Life Drawing work I did as a warm up:
Perspektive.2007-2024.Silhouettes: Mario Characters. Available at:https://www.sporcle.com/games/Perspektive/silhouettes-mario-characters
All other screenshots. 2023.Emi Bradley
What I think makes a true villain from my results?
After all of that it finally comes back the main question: What makes a true villain in the game industry? So, what do I think makes a true villain in the game industry? Well honestly after a lot of thought, research and learning new things along the way I don't think there is a right answer especially when it comes to the art side of it. Me personally I think what makes a great villain from an art perspective is that you are using art to portray what villain you want the player to see and its characteristics. Is your villain a cute little teddy bear that wants to rule the world? Well from this description I would make 2 sides of the teddy bear. One side it being its deception side of tricking the player its good, but once it reveals its true side show a scary traumatising looking bear. Show this through shapes, colours, expressions, clothing choice etc. If you succeed in showing your villain through art, then I think that's what makes a true villain. Yes, there is needed of a good background story and motive but that's for the writers to think about. When I started, I didn't really realise that it doesn't just take a big scary character to be a villain, it's also other features you use in art to show a villain's character and role in a game. I've learnt there are so many styles and category's a villain can be placed in with their art style alone. I never really thought before of the detailing and small things character artist do to show a villain. It's not just the main features you see on the villains it's also what they represent. Overall, did I find a clear 'yes or no answer'? Not really as its more than just a yes and no, as there are so many elements that need to be talked about when it comes to the design. As long as you are able to identify the true meaning behind a villain with your art, I think that's what makes a true villain from my research.
All research and work done in this blog is done by me. All other images/screenshots have been referenced at the bottom of each panel.
All decorative items used in my blog like strips and like the 'gaming hearts' at the beginning are from the Wix website given to me to use freely
Word count for this whole blog (not counting titles and referencing)
around 8,500 words
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
My Poster
I created my poster based on my new fire demon I designed. My inspiration was more like an old paper movie poster you would see outside cinemas.