Lets Hook Some Players

First impressions are everything, especially in media. That initial hook for people to latch onto is critical for creating a lasting and memorable work. This can range from anything from a setting, a theme, or even an event, but the best way to draw people in is with Characters. Doubly so in video games, because if we don’t like the guys we’re playing as right from the get go that might make the game less fun to play simply because your not invested in the lives of the characters you’re playing and don’t want to see the rest of their story unfold. However, anyone will tell you its hard to make a good first impression, so imagine what its like with a quarter of the time and multiple introductions.

Welcome reader to today’s topic, do mind the debris.

Now if your scratching your head not knowing what the Hell I’m on about or you do know what I’m talking about and are either waiting for something new to come or preparing your retort in the comments, allow me to elaborate.

A hook is essentially the part of the narrative that is supposed to draw you in and make you engaged or interested in the story or Character going forward. Take the classic example of Star Wars, at the beginning of a New Hope we are placed right in the middle of Vader chasing down Princess Leia; there we are introduced to both Vader and Leia as characters. The former being this intimidating goliath of a figure who embodies so much about the Dark Side and then the latter, Leia, gets as close as the Stormtroopers escorting her will allow to their boss and demands to know why Imperial forces have attacked her peaceful craft. Now of course we find out she’s lying and working with the rebels but the important thing to remember is that she stands up to Darth Vader, a figure everyone else on the ship, Rebel or Storm Trooper fears, painting Leia as a courageous rebel not only for not jumping ship during the attack but lying straight to one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy without a second thought or ounce of fear. This simple act of bravery makes the viewer identify with Leia right off the bat creating a link with the character, so we care what’s going to happen to her as well as making us want to know more about this badass space princess.

So with this in mind lets take a look at some character hooks from one of my favorite games, Fire Emblem Awakening.

Awakening is the game that showed me that good three-dimensional characters are possible in video games, and its all though its mastery of Character Hooks. However, there is a notable difference between their Hooks and Star Wars, that being time and number. See Awakening has a cast of over sixty units, all with personalities and backstories, some better than others, but still there. Awakening is also a video game were in the player mainly cares about the part where they can push more than one button. So, Awakening is tasked with creating quick but equally effective Hooks for close to seventy characters. “How did they do this?” Good question reader and if you’re now wondering, yes, I can read your thoughts through your computer screen, but to answer your first question, it’s really comes down to good word usage, understanding the core element of your characters and information density. Video games have less than a third of the words movies and TV get per minute, meaning if you want to do game narrative you got to pick your words very carefully, making each line convey something about the world, character or over all plot. However, you have to be careful, too little information and you end up with a throw away line; meaning players won’t be interested or engaged. While on the other hand, too include too much information and you’ve boarded your players to tears. Awakening doges both of these issues and falls right in the middle however and manages to get across a core trait of their characters in only a few brief text boxes. They do this by taking the most distinctive and easiest to understand aspects of the character and devoting the scene to it. Showing us the most unique thing about them without wasting too much time. A prime example of this is early on in the game when the player character Robin is introduced to four members of the cast: Vaike, Maribelle, Sumia and Kellum.

In this brief scene told purely in text boxes and portrait art, each one of those Characters gets there moment to shine and leave their impression on the player, all in the span of about 33 total lines. The first to go is Maribelle who rushes into the scene to make sure Lissa, the person showing Robin around, is safe, chastising her for making her worry so much before changing on a dime showing her disappointment in Robin’s lack of manors. Next to bat is Vaike who, referring to himself as ‘Teach’, asks mockingly if Lissia’s brother Chrom had a tuff time out there without him and his ax to back them up. To which Lissa responds:

“Oh, so you're "Teach" now, Vaike, is that it? Hee hee! And here I thought people were just born lacking wits. It can be taught?”

Leaving Vaike to figure out if he’d just been insulted or not. Next is Sumia who meekly asks if Chrom had made it back as well, only with a lot more sincerity. And when Lissa finds it sweet that she cares so much Sumia begins to stammer and make excuses to hide her true feelings. Finally, at the very end when everyone is moving out Kellum speaks up only to be forgotten and left behind, leaving him to chase after the party.

In this whole scene, each character gets about 3-4 lines each. Yet so much is packed into those lines, so much personality, so much history, so much humanity. That is the key to Awakenings characters.

(if you want to read the whole conversation the link to a wiki page where you can find it is below.)

http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Shepherds_(Chapter)/Script

So next time you start a game or get ready to write your own character take a few moments and examine the first time they appear on screen. Note how they talk, there mannerisms, their interactions to other characters, anything that makes their personality stand out; because that my friends is the gateway to a character, and if you cant get though that they no ones going to see what’s on the other side.

Thanks for reading. Hope something was worthwhile.

Peace.