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[The Monster King]

someone said something about flashbacks. disregard flashbacks. those are terrible. the rest was fine.

A great villain has things to do. A great villain, from his perspective, is not the villain of the story. He is going about his business and some silly heroes are trying to stop his quest. ugh will you just LET ME DESTROY THE WORLD?? ___GOD___. Give them personality. Make them... Raw? Or maybe some complex mastermind.
Best tip I've read in this thread is "give them life".

A villain has a heart, it's just very dark and angry. Or maybe it just doesnt care. But it's a character, not just a mechanic.

[supershigi]

My favorite villains are the kind that make the player reevaluate a seemingly black and white situation.  I really liked how in Trigun, the villain (who happens to be intimately tied to the protagonist) points out how painfully "grey" the world really is, using a butterfly and spider to illustrate his point.  A butterfly gets caught in a spider's nest and the protagonist asks the villain to free it... instead of freeing the butterfly, he kills the spider.  The protagonist is shocked and disturbed by this, but the villain responds by explaining how the spider will die if you rob it of its food.  In trying to free the butterfly, the protagonist is essentially killing the spider anyway. 

Basically... I like villains that can open your eyes to another perspective; especially if it's to the point that you're actually empathizing with their actions.

[Paul Eres]

i agree with that. my favorite videogame villain is probably krelian from xenogears. for those who haven't played the game, his ultimate goal was to create a god and end all suffering, because he was hurt so much when his dead love died, and felt it was unfair that anyone should have to suffer at all. the player's team was against this because creating a god involved changing life too drastically for the people of the planet. if some players are or almost are on the side of the villain rather than of the hero, then it'll probably be a memorable villain.

[Inyssius]

if some players are or almost are on the side of the villain rather than of the hero, then it'll probably be a memorable villain.

Be careful of going too far when making the villain a sympathetic character, though. When a player empathizes with the antagonist much more than the protagonist, they might end up not wanting the protagonist to succeed. And if they don't want the protagonist to succeed, they might start to dislike helping the protagonist succeed--and, of course, "helping the protagonist succeed" is usually synonymous with playing your game. (Although not necessarily so, if you're careful).

[Coz]

Be careful of going too far when making the villain a sympathetic character, though. When a player empathizes with the antagonist much more than the protagonist, they might end up not wanting the protagonist to succeed. And if they don't want the protagonist to succeed, they might start to dislike helping the protagonist succeed--and, of course, "helping the protagonist succeed" is usually synonymous with playing your game. (Although not necessarily so, if you're careful).

I don't think this is so bad. I mean, it will surely be memorable if a player helps whoever he likes less to suceed. On the other hand, playing a game where you end up being the least likable character, will end up attracting different kind of players, so it's all good. You still got a target demographic.

[antymattar]

 

Amnesia...

I CAN'T Believe it. It is so weird.

[roobot]

Yep, make the character first, and then they'll let you know if they're your protagonist's enemy. I'm working on one thing at the moment that has the main character investigating a death that (DUN DUN DUN) turns out to be a murder. Heading into it, I didn't know myself who'd done it, just that there was something 'off' about the family that lived in this particular house.

The family turned out to be pretty large, and as I added each member in, I found that some of them would be more sympathetic to the protagonist, a couple were hostile, a couple were scared, and one was - whaddayaknow - antagonistic. From there, the plot was following the characters.

It's certainly not the only way to write, and it might be unintuitive when writing a game, as they're generally about getting from state A to state B, not *who* is going from A to B. But I've found it interesting, and it's good to remind myself that if I'm stuck on plot I can ask the characters what happens. 

(Having a large range of characters in a given situation also lets you avoid total black/white good/evil stuff, as its easier to convey the range of possible reactions. That said, sometimes your theme requires dichotomy...)

[TheGreekDollmaker]

 Make them Human.

 And by human, i mean to envoke such feeling and solitude towards him that thoughts  
 don't immidiatly come to us as instantly hateful;That behind such actions lies an
 indevidual-that can directly or indirectly be justified of his actions, and that such
 actions or throughts are natural processes.

 Not a Type;A great antagonist is not a pattern or group which you can lumb together and
 call them a common enemy.

 Not a Caricature;A fine crafted villain or a bad guy is by definition not a blank slate
 which you can fill up with ideologies and thoughts such that they envoke feelings of dread
 and laughter beyond human nature.

 The first one has never lived and the second one will never live.

 Beyond that what else you want to envoke with that villain is your concern.Make them
 sympathetic, make them apathetic but, my god, and this is not a call agaist common logic,
 make them human.

 P.S.:Unless they are not Homo Sapiens.From there you go into the realm of Sci-Fi or Fantasy.

[filosofiamanga]

I'm not a profesional writer, but I could tell you a few things I learned in the time:

FIRST:
-) Choose the subject of the story (Let's say the "theme" will be revenge)

-) Then create the avatar (But create it around the subject, give him an emotional need that motivate him to act, could be that he needs to pay for the surgery of his mother and he needs money, so he enters the army... or It's a girl who is trying to be appreciated in her school so she will start learning magic... NOT USE CLICHES like trying to conquer the world or I'm evil because well... I'm evil).

-) After you created the player's character (avatar), create an obstacle (not an enemy, an obstacle, like Poverty) that goes with the subject of the story.

-) With the obstacle, makes an antagonist that oposes the player but not because he's evil (REMEMBER, forget the clichés), but because the player it's trying to archieve something that will cause a harm or goes against the interest of the antagonist. (An example: The player will try to farm the biggest chicken to win the country fair so the antagonist wish to gain it too)

-) After you have those two character you will create the player and the antagonist team, designing the relationship of each character (Let's say the player has a sister but the sister is the girlfriend of the antagonist)

-) When designing characters, choose 4 traits of their personality (like: lazy, arrogant, vicious, sadistic) and some other characteristics (like: He likes to play baseball) and USE THIS TO CREATE THEIR DIALOG and BEHAVIOUR. (remember a smart guy that likes poetry will speak in Old english, a Cab man in NEW YORK maybe will speak very "vulgar" and cursing diferent than a priest)

-) Remember: When designing a team, neither the antagonist and the player should have an advantage, they should be equal, a soccer match (or fighting game) is fun because It's balanced.

-) Another rule: They should have the will to fight until the end, they should die before giving up (both the antagonist and player)

-) After that design their clothes based on their traits and the other characteristics.

-) Design also their movements, magic, like their clothes, maybe create a reason why he has that power, spell (a little of background).

AFTER THAT CREATE THE STORY.
-) With the character, create three steps or stages in the story.

-) First, The introduction: The world and characters is presented, their relationships, etc.
It should be the first 10-20% of the game.

-) Second, make a twist: Something happens that creates the emotional need of the character to act (not mandatory that the antagonist creates this situation)

-) After that, create the journey of the hero trying to solucionate his emotional need and the antagonist oposing him, clashing until you get the final showdown (CLIMAX).

-) After the Final Fight, you spend the last 10-20% of the game, showing the consequences of the story.

-) A Last rule: When making an scene, like a dialog, always think about creating conflict (clashing between characters), make them fight in the dialog (It helps to develop characters), make the characters in the dialog or acting throw darts to each other (in words or actions, remember when you joke with your friends?)

Well, I think that's all.

[NeoCeasar]

The most Interesting antagonist is one that you know little of, and see even less of. If you look at the movie Jaws, why is the shark scary, because you never see it until the end. Also look at Amnesia: The Dark Decent, you almost never come across the enemies in the game, and you don't hear from the main Antagonist till almost half way through the game. if you have the ability to fill in the gaps that exist in the story, the character becomes more menacing, since he is part your own creation and as such can scare you and get at you a lot more.