'Contrast' and Characters — Polygon Treehouse

***Why is ‘contrast’ important and what role it played in designing Mythwrecked’s ensemble cast.***

WHAT IS ‘CONTRAST‘

When you hear the word ‘contrast’ you might first think of a setting you adjust on your TV or monitor, however let’s take a look at its broader definition below:-

‘the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association.’

‘Contrast’ is used to maximize the experience of many varied things, some are obvious but maybe some you haven't considered before:-

The colours used in a painting
The flavours present in your favorite meal (‘sweet and sour’ is a famous dish of contrasts)
The loud and quiet sections of a piece of music
The slower sections of a film compared to its action sequences

Contrast is used in most creative works to generate dynamism. This sounds fancy but basically just means that something doesn’t stay the same throughout, it changes, which makes it more interesting for us as viewers, diners, cinema goers or music fans.

**A simple example of visual ‘contrast‘ courtesy of our fruit bowl**

Now, you might wonder where we’re going with all this, but there is another creative endeavor where considering ‘contrast’ is important, and that’s when you design a cast of characters.

CONTRASTING CHARACTERS

If you think about the characters of a memorable TV show, cartoon (Steven Universe is a great example) or even the singers in your favorite pop group. Chances are, you can easily tell the characters apart from each other and they are each distinct and easily recognizable. This is because they contrast with each other.

This contrast can be created by any number of physical or behavioral factors; for example, are they short or tall, are they shy or a loudmouth and so on. You can see an example of the contrasting characters from our debut indie game Röki below:-

**The three principle characters we created for Röki, see how they contrast with each other…**

It’s these differences that make the characters ‘pop‘ or stand out from each other visually, but also create interesting group dynamics and relationships between them. Do they all get on? Do some characters argue frequently, does anyone have a love/hate relationship with someone else?

For us, creating contrast in the design of a cast of characters is critical, and after all, if we were all the same life would be pretty boring!

THE CREATION OF MYTHRECKED’S CAST

Of course, this challenge was at the forefront of our minds when we began to work the cast of Greek Gods for our upcoming indie game Mythwrecked, which stars the long-lost Greek Gods. The Mythwrecked cast is very much our own playful take on what the Greek pantheon would be like if they lived in today’s world. As you can see from the sketch below, even at a very early stage we considered them as a cast, rather than individuals.

**Some early character design scribbles for the Mythwrecked cast…**

In developing the designs of our characters as an ensemble, we can easily see when their designs (AND their personalities) become too similar to each other and push them in another direction to create the contrast we want. This would be much harder to gauge and orchestrate if we were creating the designs for each god in insolation.

In addition to this, ‘Family’ (and dysfunctional ones at that) is a central theme of the game, so we wanted to make sure we were thinking of them as a collective from as early a stage as possible.

Some more polished 2D character designs we created before making the jump to in-game 3D characters

This consideration also extends to the storylines you’ll be exploring as you get to know each islander. Even though these are the Gods of ancient Greece we were keen too explore themes relevant to today’s players in their day-to-day lives.

In terms of story design, It’s important that these storylines….you guessed it CONTRAST to each other. We really like the idea of using the Greek Gods as a lens to playfully explore modern issues, like men’s mental health, working too hard, egomaniacs, ostrich-ing and a whole lot more.

**The final 3D characters as seen in the Mythwrecked Key Art**

Hopefully this gives you a good insight into the importance of contrast and how we consider, foster and nurture it to create a vibrant and dynamic cast and story.

FOLLOW THE ADVENTURE

That’s all for now, but don’t forget you can keep up to date on Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island by following our Twitter, joining our Discord or subscribing to the Polygon Treehouse Newsletter and if you get the chance wishlisting and following Mythwrecked on Steam would be amazing.

Until next time,

Alex & Team