Believable Characters

Abstract

The interactive entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In 1996, the U.S. entertainmentsoftware industry reported $2.6 billion in sales revenue, this figure has more than tripled in 2007 yielding $9.5 billionin revenues [1]. In addition, gamers, the target market for interactive entertainment products, are now reaching beyond thetraditional 8–34 year old male to include women, Hispanics, and African Americans [2]. This trend has been observed in severalmarkets, including Japan, China, Korea, and India, who has just published their first international AAA title (defined ashigh quality games with high budget), a 3D third person action game: Ghajini – The Game [3]. The topic of believable characters is becoming a central issue when designing and developing games for today’s gameindustry. While narrative and character were considered secondary to game mechanics, games are currently evolving to integratecharacters, narrative, and drama as part of their design. One can see this pattern through the emergence of games like Assassin’s Creed (published by Ubisoft 2008), Hotel Dusk (published by Nintendo 2007), and Prince of Persia series (published by Ubisoft), which emphasized character and narrative as part of their design.