Playable characters, NPCs, and enemies
There are three different types of characters in a video game:
- Playable characters: These are the characters the player directly controls. In some games there is just one (the main protagonist), while in some other games, there are multiple protagonists. Sometimes the player can temporarily take control of an NPC. In other games, there might not be protagonists at all. In a strategy game such as Starcraft, for example, the player controls units. Some of those units might be unique heroes or commanders, some might be vehicles: tanks or even spaceships. The rules for creating a protagonist such as Joel in The Last of Us or a Battlecruiser unit in Starcraft might be very different, but in the end, the principles you use to conceptualize and design them are not so different.
- Non-Playable Characters (NPC): NPCs are characters that inhabit the game world, but are not playable by the player. They are controlled by predetermined behaviors designed by the game...
