Dark Heroes and Darker Villains

[Roland_Deschain]

So, it's not going to be as broad as Phayre's tutorial, but here's my take on what makes a good hero for a darker themed game.
EDIT: changed it, now the references have been either removed or swapped for FF7 references.

Anyway, the tutorial:
The Past (AKA: Backstory):
Many, many games have a hero with a troubled past. Maybe he committed a heinous crime, maybe his girlfriend was killed by the villain, maybe he worked for the villain, who nows? Well, he knows, and it bothers him. The dark hero should always have a dark past. Why else would he act how he is? For example, Cloud Strife of FF7 fame was a SOLDIER (member of the Evil Army) prior to Sephiroth almost killing his girlfriend Tifa. He then quits to join Avalanche, the terrorist group that fights Shinra Corp (because, you know, you guys don't already know this.)
Another tip for making a dark hero: their past should remain a mystery, at least for part of the game. Why is this? It adds depth to the character, IMO, and makes whatever happened to them seem bigger and far more devastating.

The Present:
Although the hero had a dark past, he should not whine about it constantly. This makes the hero seem like a brat, and brats get really annoying really fast. Instead, the hero should show subtle hins as to what happened, IE:
Party Member: "Josh, don't you think that was harsh?"
Which would be a better, more real reply:
Josh: "Don't you think the death of my parents was harsh? Huh? I can't afford to delay, I have to get my revenge on the villain!"
or
Josh: "The world is a harsh place. He had it coming to him."
Personally, they're both a bit stupid, but the second is better, if only because the hero is less sensitive about the comment.
No reference material here, I can't really think of a spot in a game where this was implemented.

Personality:
I don't know about you, but I for one am sick of playing games with a "badass" hero who has the same personality as Squall or Cloud.  Personality is what fleshes out the character and makes them who they are. No two people have the exact same personality, so why should two video game characters? For making the dark hero, his persona and identity are crucial to making him stand out from the crowd. For example, would you rather play a game starring a retired soldier who was called out of retirement by a draft and forced into the army against his wishes, or some whiny ex-imperial soldier who joined the rebel faction out of spite? And is it just me, or do all ex-soldiers seem to have the same personality: angry, hot headed, arrogant, and a little selfish? While arrogance can be used effectively as a character flaw, all characters have 'em, as can selfishness, combining it with the others and a whiny way of talking makes for a very generic hero.
Also, for the love of god, don't make your hero blatantly apathetic. It's fine to make him display a few traits of apathy, i.e. saying things like: "It seems like it's not such a big deal. Why not try it yourself?" and "I don't know, you seem to be doing alright," but not "I don't care. Just as long as I get my revenge," or "I'm not here to baby you." Why? It makes the character seem more human, less selfish, and, most importantly, like he's at least trying to feign interest in the conversation. Wow, long rant.

More to come later! Next chapter: Making a believable villain!

[Dragoon de Sol]

Well, people think that if they had a badass hero, the people would play their game more, or want to play the game more at any rate. What people seem to be failing to grasp is that people want to play real people with real problems. They don't want to play some badass whose mere existence is a oh so woeful tale. They want to play young adults dealing with problems, such as being lazy, having to do a chore, and all of these events leading to their adventure.

People want to play heroes who aren't always brave in the face of danger. Almost everyone I know, probably including myself, would **** their pants if they were given the task to save the world, where in video games, the main character is either in mild disbelief or just says, "Yeah, Okay! Let's go for it!"

People forget to give their characters flaws and want them to be the flawless hero with a dark past that constantly haunts his mind. Seriously, how many people actually know someone like that. I don't know anyone with a dark past hautnignt heir mind, because all my friends and myself are too young to have dark pasts that coulda developed from anything sensible. We're only eighteen!!! And as for flawless...No, hell no.

[Meiscool-2]

If you wanna make a tutorial... try using things that arn't from your game as examples. I don't remember if Phayre did or not, but I remember that many of her examples didn't come from her game, which is why I personally liked her tutorial.

[Roland_Deschain]

Meis: I'm actually going to stop and go back and edit the other post. I needed references for heroes, which I didn't have at that point.
Dragoon: What?

[Phayre]

*thumbs up*
But yeah. Point out the good stuff in existing characters, even the usuals, you know, your Clouds and Squalls. Also, maybe poke at the darker side characters to show traits too.

[Roland_Deschain]

 

Villains

Villains are pretty easy to make, but extremely difficult to make believable. Far too many villains are just generic bad guys with no real motivation, but some sort of plot to take over the world or what have you. Villains are usually portrayed in RM games as evil with now goodness in them, some form of emperor (okay, I can be accused of having a villain be an emperor...) who has no particular reason to go around killing people for his goal. Now, Sephiroth from FFVII (as if you didn't know... )
was a believable villain. He was psycho and pretty angry over finding out that he's a clone of a dead ancient named Jenova. Thus, his insanity and hatred drive him to think that Jenova wanted him to blow up half the world and become a god. He has clear motivation, clear personality and a clearly good half: he wants to keep Shinra corp from finding the Promised Land and draining it of Mako.
 

Personality

This is perhaps the BIGGEST part of having a believable villain. A villain who has no personality, or one who's over-the-top evil and sadistic both make for very uninteresting villains. Now, a better villain is one with a political motive, such as the director of Shinra or the Sorceress for the early parts of FF8(I haven't played through it all yet, mostly cause the disc broke...), is a good villain. Their motives make sense, after all, who doesn't want power and fame that comes with a high political standing? A bit trickier are villains with a good-natured reason for killing so many people, such as, well, Darksied from Super Man. Darkseid, believe it or not, wants to find the Anti-Life Equation to bring order to this chaotic universe in the form of total annihilation. this may not seem so good-natured, but I'm sure Darksied and his followers see the benefit of order where once was chaos. The side effects, of course, are decidedly evil but the good-natured villain doesn't care.  His motivation is for a good cause, right?
The hardest form of villain, IMO, is the good old fashioned megalomaniac. They may seem easy enough, sure, but making them believable is nigh-on impossible. One way to avoid a too-cliche villain is to restrain from kidnapping of princesses and plots revolving around such. Cults devoted to evil gods/demons are cool for bad guys, making them need X-amount of princesses/jewels/stones to summon the god is not cool. The megalomaniac should be spurred on by his desire for wealth, but for what purpose? Well......
 

Motivation

Motivation for the villain's evil is actually really easy to come up with. All you need is a story to back it up. For example, let's say that there's a peaceful kingdom, let's call it Charas, ruled by a tyrannical dictator, who I suppose will be me, Roland Deschain. Roland and the heroine, Phayre, if she's cool with her name being used, both are searching for an artifact of great power, let's call it the Phoenixblade. Roland is motivated by his paranoia, as he's been hearing rumors that a prince he exiled upon taking the throne, Alex, has returned to kill him and reclaim Charas for his royal bloodline. He also learns that Phayre is helping Alex's return, and thus decides she is too much of a threat.

That makes a decent backstory, don'tcha think? Adding a bit more detail wouldn't hurt, but that's for another tutorial. The villain, Roland, is motivated by fear in this example. Fear can be excellent motivation. Other emotions that could work well as motivators are love, lust, hatred(overused, tho), anger, sorrow, and in rare cases even joy can motivate a villain to slaughter innocents and raze cities. Well, you get my meaning. Motivation is extremely important to the villain and must be (here's the b-word again) believable. No one wants to hear about Narcissus the Immortal lord of the Evil Empire who kills people for fun just because he's evil, unless of course there's a reason your hero wants to fight him besides because it's "right."
Huh, maybe I should include reasons to fight villains in my next badguy installment.....

Next chapter: Anti-Hero dos and don'ts.


(Note to Phayre, Warxe, and Alex: you will not be paid royalties for appearing in this tut.  )

[Phayre]

I am SO suing you, RD.
I do have a lawyer after all.
Wait.... no.... I don't.... I used to.... erkk....
*throws Phoenix Wright at your head*
Keep up the good work. Or else I might throw Edgeworth next.

[Roland_Deschain]

Why would you sue? I DO have a lawyer. Er...
I have a poodle. The poodle counts right??
 

[Roland_Deschain]

Aye, tis a double post, but, it's my tutorial topic so this would've ended up being posted anyway.

Back on the subject of dark heroes this time. I suspect I'll be alternating, if you guys are cool with it.

 

Anti Hero dos and don'ts

Anti heroes are pretty cool sometimes, when done correctly. However, there are a few things you should avoid.
Don't:
*make the anti hero overly evil. That's what we have villains for. Instead, DO make the anti hero kind of evil but who works for the good guys.

*have him be a whiny pretty-boy. This is a trend that needs to stop. No ways of improving it except not doing it.

*make him learn to love in the end. All people can love, but not all have found the one yet. DO have him express emotion like all people do, even if it's in his own way.

*for the love of God, DON'T make him an ex-whatever unless there's a VERY good reason for it.

Example character: Frank, the ex-marine.
Frank was discharged from the marines due to being a drunk and having no code of values to live by. Forced to wander aimlessly, searching for a job, Frank joins the shadowy mafia to get money and remake his life. However, Frank finds he cannot stop, and soon he's a major part of a plot that threatens the country...

A not-so-good example, but plausible and has a sensible past. However, he should NOT be:

Frank, ex-marine captain.
Frank quit the corps due to a falling-out between him and the president.
Using his amazing skills with everything, Frank the Ex-Marine joins the mafia to get revenge on the president and become an international terrorist.
That character would SUCK to play as because he'd be overly predictable, overly evil, and just another guy out for revenge. Revenge is a great motivator, but one used far too often. The other Frank is only trying to get a life, when he's thrown headfirst into something over his head.

*Don't make the dark hero be dressed in all black and have long grey hair. This worked with Sephiroth, and a ton of people like Sephiroth, so why won't it work for you? Well, it's been done. DO make your hero unique, whether dark or normal.

Next chapter: reasons why villains are villains, and why heroes fight them.

EDIT: wow, this was kind of short. I could post more, but those would be common sense.

[aboutasoandthis]

I like this article, but it seems a little opinionated. At least you're writing something so keep up the good work.

It doesn't compare to Xanqui from Gaming Worlds tuts though. =)

[Roland_Deschain]

Not just my opinions, tho. I talk to friends of mine about what they like in villains and anti-heroes before each installment.

[Roland_Deschain]

Hey, another installment. This one's about reasons to fight villains and why they are villains.
So, the number one reason most heroes antagonize the villain? "Because he's EVIL. Duh." Well, sorry, but that simple of an answer won't really make for an interesting plot, not to mention bad guy. Now, a better response would be: "Because he burned down the hero's house and massacred his family. Duh." While this is a very-overused plot device, it CAN be turned to the erm..... Would it be Dark or Light side? Meh. All I'm saying is that it can be a decent story crutch for first time game makers. Revenge, as I know first hand, can be an excellent motivator. Now, for a more experienced RPG maker, you're going to want something original and that fits your methods of storytelling, which may amount to nothing more than "He stole my puppy" as the hero's main conflict. However, as an example of a good reason for the hero to fight the villain, I'll use FF7 and a random, somehow Charas-related plot to a game that doesn't exist. So, Cloud wants to fight Sephiroth because the gray-haired demigod wants to become a full god by destroying half the planet and sucking up the mako that flows in to heal the wound. Or something like that. Anyway, that gives a clear motivation (kinda) on both sides and isn't something you see in every RPG known to man.
In the nonexistant Charas-related game, as stated in our last Badguy installment, Phayre and Roland, evil dictator of the kingdom Charas, are both looking for the legendary Phoenixblade. We clearly see  [STRIKE]my[/STRIKE] Roland's motivation, as this weapon is one of the few things that can kill him, but why does Phayre want this weapon, whose sole purpose in existing is killing evil dictators like Roland? Roland stole her vanilla coke, and so Phayre seeks to bargain for it using the Phoenixblade as leverage. When she learns Roland already drank said coke, she becomes motivated by anger and now needs the Phoenixblade to kill Roland.
Now, we know why the hero wants Senor Badguy dead, but why is he evil or perceived as the antagonist? Well, that's where it gets tougher.
Most villains are motivated by greed: More power, more wealth, more total domination, and more gorgeous female followers . Greed is overused, though, and while it's still viable, it's a tad cliche. Now, here's a twist for you: How about a villain who does what he does out of love?
How often have you heard of that in a game? I mean, think about it: the villain could be summoning demons and collecting souls to save his dying/dead wife, a la Mr. Freeze, from Batman. Or mayhap revenge, for example the hero killing the villain's father in a game of golf a few years ago? Now, as far as I'm concerned, and you may disagree, the ultimate in underrated, underused motivations for both heroes and villains is:
 

PRIDE or ENVY

!!!!
In no game that I've played at least have I seen a villain whose pride has been wounded or who wants what another tribe or nation has. NEVER. I think that the MOST realistic motivation and the motivator behind most of today's CEO's and billionaires is pride: the pride of owning a mega-corporation like Microsoft, of seeing your name in the news, of being a household name. Envy is much like pride, however far more focused. For example, a sample motivation for a villain would be: "The gods are immortal, why not me?" Or maybe "Hey, the hero dude has a ton of cash, I want some!" Pride and greed go hand in hand for motivators, I'd recommend playing around with both.

So, ther you go. I got a new update up. The next one will be about the meat and potatoes of a dark hero, and possibly my last segment about 'em: the backstory.

[Phayre]

I'll KILL you! *stab!*
Erk...
I mean...
keep up...
the good work?
I might later attack your PM box again with more questions about the  initial antagonist from Ember Sky, who, of course, no one knows about yet..... *glare*

[A Forgotten Legend]

Originally posted by Phayre
*glare*

?


Nice tut.  Could you take a look at my villian in my game thread?  If you can, that'd be nice.  Phayre gave me some tips when she analyzed my characters, but I'd like to focus a bit more on the villian.

[Roland_Deschain]

Holy crap I'm.... no, wait. I just spontaniously died again.
Hi guys! AFL, if ya still need help, okay. I'll help. *Sigh*
Now, for the post tutorial update whatever thingy which I really shouldn't do with no sleep. Oh well, here goes:

 

The Backstory

This is where our darker hero gets interesting. The character's backstory fleshes out why they act like they do and what made them the way they are today.
Most backstories I've seen in RPG maker games recently have consisted of one of the following, so I'll start with them:

-Hero's parents are killed: Been there, done that. It's cliche but it would  mess a person up. Out of 5, I give it a 3.

-Hero witnesses a horrible crime: Meh, not too common but when it's there, it tends to leave an impression on a guy. I mean, how many murders do you witness daily? This can also be in addition to any others you may be using. 4.5/5

-Hero COMMITS a horrible crime: More common, and similar to his parents dying. It leaves a scar, not physical but emotional when the hero kills a whole town, wipes out a nation or some other terrible act in the name of his commander/god/mother/electric spork. 5/5

-Hero fights in a war: No matter the outcome, war is hell. My brother is currently in Iraq and when he calls and I get a chance to speak with him, it's not like he was before he left. He's come inches from death many times and had to do things he'd never want me to repeat. It's changed him entirely as a person and demolished his fun-loving, sarcastic personality and replaced it with a grim, harrowed mentality.
(Sorry for the story, didn't have an example ready.) 4.9/5

Now remember, these are just GUIDELINES. You should make a unique story that fits the game and environment your hero lives in. In closing, a few questions you should ask yourself about your Dark Hero:

*Is he realistic enough? By that I mean his persona lity and general attitude, not appearance.

*Is he a multidimensional character or is he flat and boring?

*Does his relationship with everyone else make sense?

*Is he too cliche or too much like Sephiroth?

*Most importantly, do YOU like the character? If you don't like the hero, then who d'ya think will?

Next badguy installment, and last unless you guys want more, is: How to balance hero and villain personalities