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[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

Characters are very important to the story. The players relate to the characters. The characters are major selling points for the game. Character development applies to all key playable and non-playable characters. The antagonist has development as well.

Through a game characters will have many positive and negative experiences. These events may shape a character.

How important do you think character development is? Which types of characters do you development the most the protagnoist or antagonist.

[Muz]

How important do you think character development is?

Very important.

Which types of characters do you development the most the protagnoist or antagonist.

Protagonist.
Unless you're DC comics, where antagonist is more interesting.

[1982]

What is character development even? How does it differ from character reaction?

Is it like that Mario eventually decides to give up when finding out that princess is always in another castle? Is that development or reaction?

I don't personally care about character development, it doesn't mean anything. In character driven games I care about broad range of options to how to react to different situations.

[HöllenKobold]

Yeah, it's pretty iffy to define in games because character development for protagonists inherently takes from player choice. ofc this isn't really an issue where choice in storytelling isn't actually given to the player.

Of course, I guess you could call it pivotal to NPCs, to show reaction and growth that corresponds from player action as well as their own actions.

[Evan Balster]

A game's protagonist usually has a past; the question of where they come from is an opportunity to begin a process of character development that might then be handed off in some measure to the player.  In my current project I like the idea of the player interpreting the character's nature based on this background, then realizing that interpretation by acting it out -- this gives the player choice while constraining the story to actions the established character might reasonably take.

I think it's important for antagonists to be well-developed characters where they are used.  These days, though, I take more of an interest in stories with no antagonistic force at all.

[JMStark]

I cannot think of a good example of character development in a video game off the top of my head; the characters are always so static.

I guess the evolution of Samus's suit in Metroid counts towards being some sort of visual character development, and is pretty neat, but it isn't as if the upgrades actually change her character. Any of the psychological development of characters found in games is always so uninteresting and has no interaction at all with the actual play.

I am probably wrong, I hope.

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

Terra from Final Fantasy 6 is a great example of a character developing through the game. She went from an unsure woman to a very confident woman who knows her purpose in life.

[moi]

from primordial egg

[JWK5]

So here I am. I want to accomplish that. Suddenly this happened. To accomplish that I must contend with this. I overcame this and I've accomplished that. Because of that, this is who I am. I'm not the same.

[Evan Balster]

So, in a narrative I'm working on, the defining flaws of my lead characters are traits that are widely considered positive, especially in fiction.  Their character development lies in learning how these "virtues" by which they've been living sabotage their happiness and the state of their relationships.  The hard part is getting the player to participate in that -- my plan at this point is to confront the player and character with (ideologically) discomforting situations as a means of forcing them to think and develop their own take on the character's direction.

[JWK5]

Quit focusing on being the artist and focus on creating the art.

Make these virtues meaningful to the character, challenge the character with them and have him react believably. Let the player decide how they want to feel about it.

[AJA]

Well, if your game has a big focus on story then character development is a very important part of the equation. If the game is all about the mechanics, then character development isn't that necessary and might even get in the way.

No character development means the character acts the same way throughout the entire game. Nothing changes in his/her mind. So, the simple way to achieve some sort of character development for the protagonist that relies heavily on the player's actions (instead of, for example, dialog) is to change the way the player behaves. Modify the rules based on story events.

As a very crude example, think of a protagonist who drives his car recklessly, hitting numerous pedestrians. The game's rules are "just have fun". Then the story takes him to a mental place where he decides to become a better person. Now the rules have changed and hitting pedestrians while driving results in penalties. The player then tries to accommodate the rules and change his/her play style. And thus, you've achieved some form of character development.