eliminating the protagonist in CG's

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curry nochi rice
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eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#1 Post by curry nochi rice »

Ever heard/seen of all event CGs being scene in the eyes in the protagonist?

I mean, when I write and call CG's, I've always noted that... [since I let my artists to what they want]
never include the protagonist in a cg... every cg must be seen form the POV of the protagonist... the only part of the protagonist that can be seen is his arms, his hands, his fingers, and his shadows.. nothing else...
naturally, when you draw an Event CG with the Protag in it, you just draw the protagonist without a face, right?

what are your opinions on this?
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#2 Post by YonYonYon »

curry nochi rice wrote: naturally, when you draw an Event CG with the Protag in it, you just draw the protagonist without a face, right?
Ummm...nooo?...Here's a lot of VNs(at least otome and BL games) with the protag with normal face in CG. I can remember only 1 "faceless guurll' - it's Tsukiko from StarrySky
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#3 Post by Marcelo_Orlando »

In the game I posted here a while back I didn't show the protagonist in any of the CG events. But I think it's a good idea to show the protagonist in the CG shots, example if they are being active like hugging or fighting or any other display that the creator wanted to emphasize by showing the full picture that works great. Although in my game there was one CG event where the protagonist was being hugged by his soon-to-be girlfriend and even that was done from his prospective. I think for me at the time, I was going for the first-person view effect for the full game but in my next game I will be showing the protagonist in the CG events because it will make for better visuals.
naturally, when you draw an Event CG with the Protag in it, you just draw the protagonist without a face, right?
The only reason I would see for doing this is if the creator wanted to give you the feeling as if you were in the game yourself and not playing as another person. That way by removing the face is takes away from the persona leaving just the body and arms and legs as an extension of your own.
Last edited by Marcelo_Orlando on Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#4 Post by J. Datie »

curry nochi rice wrote:naturally, when you draw an Event CG with the Protag in it, you just draw the protagonist without a face, right?

what are your opinions on this?
My opinion is that the protagonist should probably have a face. I mean, most people have faces, right? And the protagonist is probably going to have some kind of emotion during the game, right? Why not show it during CGs?

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#5 Post by Desu_Cake »

curry nochi rice wrote: naturally, when you draw an Event CG with the Protag in it, you just draw the protagonist without a face, right?
Never do this. Never. It looks horrendous.

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#6 Post by droopy »

My opinion is very simple here:

Protagonist with a face and body: in games where the protagonist has a strong life of its own (he/she has subjective thoughts that the player gets to read or they have significant reactions and behaviour of their own within the game and towards other characters).

Protagonist that is not visible or only fingers etc: in games where the protagonist does not have much impact on his/her own and it's the player that gets to decide most things about the protagonist's personality and reactions (the player is the protagonist)

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#7 Post by Omnificent »

I remember that all those faceless CGs in Tsukihime were pretty obnoxious. Draw your protag with some eyes unless there's a reason not to. :P
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#8 Post by Snow Blossom »

In my opinion, the protagonist needs a face. If everyone else in the CG has a face, there's no reason why the protagonist should get unfair treatment!! D:< I don't quite understand the logic behind faceless protagonists in CGs - is it because by eliminating the face, players can more easily imagine themselves as the protagonist? In my case, I find it even more alienating, since I evidently have a face. :p

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#9 Post by Fawn »

Protagonists are drawn without a face so players can "insert" themselves into their place (specially in bxg games, where the main point is to woo the girl of your dreams) Kind of like how Bella doesn't have a personality in Twilight xD

If your game is more than something that's made to fulfill the player's fantasies, give them a face!

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#10 Post by Death_HUG »

Draw your protagonist with a face! I think it looks creepy when you see the protagonist without a face >3>

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#11 Post by ShirakiHime »

Protagonist with face = win *A*

on vampire knight ds game yuuki didnt have face -.- even tho most us have already seen her face in the anime/manga.....it actually made her look like stalker girl in the game @.@

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#12 Post by HigurashiKira »

Trust me, you'll want to show the protagonist's face during CG's, especially if a scene relies on his/her reaction. Otherwise you'll have to struggle a bit to keep his face hidden and show his reaction. It can really look ugly:
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The protagonist's face is at an odd angle in this example, had he been looking at the girl normally, we would be able to see part of his face uncovered.
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#13 Post by Auro-Cyanide »

Plus, there is also the fact that if you did draw from the protagonists perspective, it wouldn't be very interesting sometimes. Say, a kiss scene. Most people would have their eyes closed, so you wouldn't be seeing anything, or it would be a bizarre close up of eyelashes and skin pores, which isn't very exciting. I think this is more than enough reason to take signficant artistic license with scenes.

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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#14 Post by curry nochi rice »

my mind blew apart....

>.>
I think I'll just have to go with the usual "show your scene with the protagonist in it while using a different POV."

I do remember reading one comment in a game that says more or less that it breaks the "immersion" in the game... especially f the player has successfully integrated himself on the protagonist, then there's this CG that shows a different face when the protagonist has "em placed" his appearance on the protag...

ARGHHHHH.. thanks guys, I was really writing and requesting CGs with the "Don't show protag" note... I wonder if it;ll be very awkward if we completed the game with cgs that didn't show a protagonist.
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Re: eliminating the protagonist in CG's

#15 Post by Deji »

curry nochi rice wrote: I do remember reading one comment in a game that says more or less that it breaks the "immersion" in the game... especially f the player has successfully integrated himself on the protagonist, then there's this CG that shows a different face when the protagonist has "em placed" his appearance on the protag...
Best way to avoid that is to show the protagonist on a CG near the beginning of the game, so the player knows what they look like and won't get all "Who the asdasdas is this dude/tte on the CG O___o?!" later on.
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