What makes an interesting, dramatic character? I’ve been asking myself this because so often NPCs in games are little more than roving guns / sidekicks or are Interesting Tidbit / Humor Dispensers.

The essential component of drama is conflict. Game designers tend to limit conflict to combat or obstacles, but that’s casting aside a whole host of possibilities. What we tend to miss is internal conflict, which ends up based on an internal contradiction. What happens when a pacifist is backed up against the wall or is put in a dangerous situation? Will they hold back or will they fight?

Many games can't ask that question. Everyone the player meets is an ally or an enemy and, aside from the odd dramatic betrayal, keeps the same tone and personality through the game.

I imagine a game that tests NPCs as well as the player. We create games with the player at the center of all action and all import, but what if we raised a small group of NPCs up to the player’s level. Suddenly, yes, the player isn’t the messiah. But the player could interact with these characters, find out where their contradictions are, and then later in the game be put in a situation that tests those characters.

That is a game I want to make. A game with NPCs that have motivations and conflicts that players have to deal with. The question is, can we do any of this with limited processing power without making everything scripted? I guess someday we’ll find out.