The birth of a video game character

We established that our game is the kind that requires characters. Where do we start?

Let’s have a look at one of the simplest video games (and yet, one of the most influential of all time) – Space Invaders. It features only five characters – one is the ship controlled by the player and the other four are the enemies – small, medium, and large invaders and the UFO ship.

There is probably a backstory to these aliens – who they are, where they are coming from, and why they are invading, but none of it is important for the design of this game.

Let’s see how they behave in the game. All the invaders have the same speed and the same attack, and they are all destroyed with one hit. But they come in different sizes that make them more or less difficult to hit. The UFO appears only every now and then, quickly crossing the screen from left to right, giving extra points to the player if shot.

Space Invaders...