Pop quiz boys and girls, this character from our game is:
a) Smoking hot
b) One hot mama yama
c) A hottie bombalottie
d) Substitute your own word/phrase (but please keep it respectful and no “Limbaughing” allowed!).
Pop quiz time
March 6, 2012
Apple, Entertainment, games, iPad, Mobile, online games, Technology Apple, Entertainment, games, iPad, mobile, online, online games, Technology 8 Comments
Mar 06, 2012 @ 11:24:08
Gonna go with B here.
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:04:29
Yes, the character has fire-based powers, which uses the same descriptive terms as used for people who are attractive. And there’s nothing wrong with designing attractive female characters, particularly when using a variety of different body types and shapes.
But the “Let’s decide which catcall to use on this woman!” quiz still panders to the sexist crowd, and strikes a tone that I think we, as video game enthusiasts, need to be careful to steer clear of.
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:13:43
Hey, I tried to send you an email as well to talk about this but your email address was invalid.
As a general rule, I agree with you 100% on the catcall thing as well as having overly sexy characters. If you look back at DAOC, our female characters actually wore real armor and weren’t running around in tongs and workout tops like some other games.
One funny story from E3 that year was that the women who were acting as our models were pissed at us because we wouldn’t let them wear sexier clothing. 
FYI, in the case of this character, it goes even deeper than just the fire-based powers, which again we’ll reveal in a few weeks. And just as another FYI, I asked all the women at our studio if they thought this was okay and they all said they loved it. Now, before you say “But you’re the boss, they had to say that!” let me just say that I’ve lost track of the times that people here have said an idea for a game, parts of this game, etc. are not exciting/good/etc., we have a really, really open studio/dialogue. Nobody is afraid to speak their minds, especially to me.
I do thank you for your comment and please, after we announce the game and go into a little more detail about the character (as well as my preference for lots of bad puns, insider jokes, etc. in the material) if you still think this was pushing things a bit too much.
Thanks again,
Mark
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:06:37
D. All of the above.
Your tags say iPad, if that’s true please tell me you’re working on Android too!
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:17:11
Right now we are baselining an iPad release first, then a PC release and then an Android release (though that might change a bit depending on a few things). We have both lots of iOS and Android devices here and are cross-platform development capable so an Android release will definitely happen. I take it that you like what you see so far?
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:25:23
Definitely liking what I’ve seen. The characters have… character. One can’t say that about most recent games.
Mar 06, 2012 @ 12:31:17
I’m glad you said that, one of my core instructions to the team was to build a ton of character into both factions. What we are trying to do is create an IP that is made up of living, breathing characters and not just try to do ” Clone #47″ but rather create IP that people will be interested in, regardless of what type of game it is even if they don’t want to play that particular game. We still have to make a great game of course if we want to succeed but I’ve always believed in starting with the IP and working up from there. Fortunately here, we’re able to do that without interference, focus groups, disapproving elders, etc.
Again, I’m really pleased that you have taken an interest in our first project and I hope you’ll like our game(s) going forward.
Mar 06, 2012 @ 23:22:48
I like option B the best.
I’d also like to submit:
A steamy lil’ sweetie
(or A steamy lil’ meany – depending on her disposition)
She seems modest enough, clean and well designed. When thinking of a phrase I wanted to try and mix a flower and fire term in but I couldn’t think of anything meaningful.
Great stuff so far, I look forward to more!