Animal Characters in Game Design
In Context of "Book of Theo" novel series authored by Melanie Ansley
Published February 2025, Written by Abigail Miller
There are some of us who grew up on the fantasy stories of wild animals that waged wars in clans, discovered mystical powers, or lived in a quiet colony where they tried to survive from threats from fearsome forces.
The Book of Theo series portrays such a world where all kinds of creatures have societies and cultures which co-exist with humankind.
Transforming Characters from Writing to Game Production
The logistical translation of these worlds into video game design is always a bit of a puzzle. When game developers put a human character into a video game, they have a real world example and can transmit that into creating a 3d shape with examples from the shape of real humans and the motion of real humans.
However, real rabbits don't usually walk on two legs, live in complex societies, and conversate and interact with other talking beings. At least I have not yet witnessed them doing so. That being, whatever choices we make in artistic character design are already going to deviate so far from realistic design that it makes it difficult to discern the value of real world reference.
When we are inventing a design for a character as would exist in The Book of Theo, there are different branches and methodologies which forms of media can choose in order to resolve the fact that we are creating something new that doesn't exist.
Cartoonism Methodology
Creating all characters with minimalistic design elements and details allows ambiguity and suspension of disbelief to fill in details that are not specified. Cartoonism tends to result in a character that seems cute or babyish in form.
Animalism Methodology
They look like an animal, they walk like an animal, but they also might happen to talk and wear clothes too. You get to keep strong elements of realism, but it can seem a bit comical or out of place to have very animal characters performing very human functions.
Humanism Methodology
Anthropomorphism helps as a tool to reflect human characteristics onto an animal character. If the character acts and walks exactly like a human, the "animal" character begins to feel more like a mask or an outfit than anything with more meaning.
Historical Implementations of Animal Player Characters
Jazz Jackrabbit (1994)
Is an example of a “cartoonism methodology” implementation in which given the low resolution detail and pixel graphics, we don’t have to think too hard about whether the animal character looks realistic or is physically capable of holding a weapon.
Biomutant (2021)
Is somewhere in the “humanism methodology” with an intentionally ambiguous animal species with the full motion capability of a very short ninja. Because of the character’s proportional size to the world, their short torso, and their digitigrade legs, they still feel very firmly to the player like a strange animal-like species.
Stray (2022)
Is a very solid “animalism methodology” in that you play as a cat. You don’t play as an intelligent cat or a magical cat or a cat that can wave a sword around. You play as a cat, and the gameplay and thematics are very clear about that. This is not a virtual pet simulator though. The world and challenges you interact with as the players unveil a deeply compelling fantasy through the limited eyes and interactions of your small feline character.
Elder Scrolls Skyrim (2011)
Has a feline species that you can play as or interact with in the world. Aside from their very feline head and tail, they are built nearly identically to every other humanoid character in the game. It is a fantasy species, so the player doesn’t necessarily need to expect a realistic animal character and the uniform body type makes it ideal as a player character option. Player controls and animations that work for the broad chested, muscular human characters work in exactly the same way if you choose to select a Khajiit character.
Implementation Factors
While choosing the design direction for The Book of Theo world, there are a number of factors to consider.
- The dark fantasy tone will call for a bit of gritty realism
- Animal characters should be able to wear clothes, use tools, and perform actions that would normally require the dexterity of opposable thumbs.
- Animal characters exist alongside human characters as well as other "pacified" animals
- Characters of significantly different height ranges may share dwellings, or have social interactions within the same society.
Closing
I am greatly excited to be able to help expand the world Melanie has created. Fantasy is a wonderful tool to help inspire and spread joy to others and I hope that through this process, more people will get to enjoy the world she has created.
I am reluctant to promise a great number of things because the development process is unpredictable and always a process of discovery regardless of how much experience the development team already has. I do hope that through this process that we can reach out to others who have enjoyed Melanie’s work and allow them to experience her work in a new way.
Here are some small spoilers in the development process for the time being
