Characterization Takes Time

I recently finished the television series Supergirl. In the first few episodes, I had some reservations. I sensed way too many tropes and flat characters. Add that to the fact that I’ve never exactly been enamored with Superman as a concept, and I was about ready to drop the series altogether.

Fortunately a good friend convinced me to give it a bit more time. As the season went on, Supergirl’s supporting cast became much more vibrant. In fact, two of my least favorite characters—Cat Grant and Hank Henshaw—became my two favorite characters by season’s end.

High-power CEO Cat Grant from the show Supergirl (image found here)

Characterization takes time. If you want characters in your TV show, movie, or video game to develop, you need to give your audience sufficient time with them. If the characters change too fast, the development won’t seem realistic. And if you don’t change at all, you end up with flat characters that will never really capture your audience in a profound way.

In Alkanaur, we wanted to provide our audience with fun, insightful, and sincere characters. On the other hand, we also know that many tactical gamers want to focus on the gameplay with minimal distractions. Our compromise was too split most of the character building from the tactics battle system. While actions in the battle will influence character relationships and conversations, those conversations will take place in separate, optional events that we’re calling “tavern moments.”

These tavern moments will have characters sitting next to each other and discussing the most recent battle, and as relationships deepen their conversations will become more profound and open as well. As a writer and storyteller, I—of course—hope that players will participate in these tavern moments. With sufficient time, I think that they’ll fall in love with our characters just as I fell in love with Supergirl’s characters. However, I’m also glad that people who want to get right back to the core gameplay will have the option to do so.