I was chatting with a good friend of mine about the previous blog, character design, and we came to a discussion about love interests in video games and how they can also make the player feel they are immersed in the world and make it much more believable to the player because whatever we do in life, love has some sort of hold on it. Unless you are a badass lone ninja or Duke Nukem then you can make the exception.

Mario and Peach, Cloud and Aries, Tim and the Princess, Donkey Kong and Candy Kong, Link and Zelda, Zombies and brains are just some examples of relationships found in video games. We may overlook some and just enjoy the game but Mario isn't just jumping over barrels and venturing down pipes because he was bored one day, he's doing it out of his love for the Princess.

Love interests give the player motivation to accomplish a quest and give some purpose behind it so it's not just another "point A to point B" mundane quest. Why am I still jumping over 1000 barrels? Oh yeah, that babe up at the top next to the ugly ape. This ties into how love interests can add to character design into a game.

As mentioned in the previous character design blog how characters are presumed in the world is how it comes off as believable in the environment. Having a love interest for the player adds in a believable element to the environment immersing the player more into the game and giving them motivation for accomplishing that game, to save that princess or to slay that dragon...or ape. Two thumbs up for love in games!