3 Tips for Creating a Good Protagonist

[HappyMatt12345]

Hi, this is my first post to this subforum, and since I know and use a few tips and tricks to create a good protagonist for a mod, I thought I would share them here. let's get started.

TIP #1: Make the character relatable.

I will tell you right now, making a character in a custom story/full conversion that the player can empathize with is very difficult, but if done right, it can improve the storyline of your mod a ton. I find that a good way to do this is to try to make the character in the story as clueless at the start as the player themselves, in other words, spoil what the player knows early and keep what the player doesn't know a secret until the time comes to reveal it, this drives the effect that the player is the protagonist and vice versa. 

TIP #2: Make the character have some form of inner turmoil or change.

What I have been doing with Order of the Skull (my custom story) is making the protagonist, Gregory, have a sort of inner turmoil expressed through flashbacks, nightmares, and even subtle environmental cues. This is another good way to make the player feel connected to the protagonist, and if done correctly, can make the story of your mod feel truer. 

TIP #3: Make the character seem as ordinary as the player controlling them.

This is another useful tip to creating a protagonist the player can empathize with. in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Daniel was a man on an archeological dig to uncover a tomb, but when he finds the orb, gets thrown into the madness that is the game against his will, see what they did there? The protagonist was not trying to get involved in what he did, but dumb luck sent him down that path, this gives the illusion that the kind of stuff in your custom story could potentially happen to anyone, driving the immersion. Soma is also a really good example of a protagonist thrown into hell by dumb luck.