Female Character Design in Video Games

As a female gamer, I’m often alienated from games by their presentation of female characters.  From revealing armor to jiggle-physics, game design is a male dominated area.  Shaylyn Hamm, feeling the same alienation from her games that I do, set out to design interesting and engaging female characters and conduct a study as to gamers’ reactions to the female characters.  Hamm describes her project:

The goal of this project is to follow an effective process that will encourage unique and appealing female characters that fit the style and artistic specifications of a given game. The information gathered in for this project will suggest whether or not females, designed with the same considerations as their male counterparts, are well-received by both male and female audiences.

Hamm starts with a game that already has a wonderful variety of character design, Team Fortress 2– a game with an all male cast.  She then mocks up designs for female counterparts with an eye for individuality and charm instead of sex appeal.  She even makes working in-game models with which you can play. 

Along the way she posts her progress to various fan board to gage gamers’ reactions to her designs.  Some (male) gamers voiced a want for a more sexually appealing character, but on the whole, gamer reaction was positive to her unique designs– proving that we can have broad base appeal without boring stereotypes.

Her analysis of existing female characters is spot on, and her designs are amazing.  Check out her entire project and study HERE .