Bullet Heaven is a game by the popular Newgrounds.com user, Matt-likes-swords. It is based off the style of popular straight down view RPG games but also incorporates a bullet hell element into the mix. The characters are original and chibi-styled, with very big eyes, cute little faces and are all unique. Their in-game design is top down so you can only see the characters back but I think it still works effectively. The enemies are all very cute too, albeit they look more monstrous, as to look more like enemies. I think that I want my game to be kind of cartoony, but less cute and either more retro with 16-bit sprites or modernised and darker.

Super Meat Boy is an indie platformer created by Team Meat in 2010. It is one of the most highly rated indie games ever and has achieved more than 3,000,000 downloads since it's release. It is based around a little red meat boy that is trying to save his girlfriend. The game is stupidly difficult but the controls are so good that when you die, it's always your fault. The character design is very clever as the cuteness of the characters is very different in comparison to the multiple death nature of the game. I love these designs and I would like a rather small but cute hero for my own game.

Time Fcuk is a popular indie game created in 2009 for the site Newgrounds.com. It is based around the concept of switching from one plane of existence to the next, with different platforms to jump on in each existence. The characters here are so simple but they scream emotion. The simply black and white characters contrast beautifully with the coloured world and I love these designs. I want the character for my game to be human like, like these characters, but with a little more detail.

As I have now concluded I want to have a small, human character to be the star of my game, I will now into research of human character design, both in-game and fan-art, along with some real pictures.

 As I want my character to be a young humanoid, preferably a male, I have taken various images of male child models from the internet in order to decide what kind of look might be best for my character. I think a humanoid shape is the best way to go but as of now I am unsure as to whether I want my character to actually be human. I would prefer a more humanoid creature in shape.

This post will be dedicated to various 8Bit character designs. I will explain what I think about the design and how it is either effective or in-effective in my own opinion.

This is the main character design from the side-scrolling shooter Metal Slug. His design is very typical of that for a soldier, with the stereotypical army gear and the big gun. His design looks very good and very smooth but I fail to see any reason that design would be a memorable one. it is very generic for that of the 'hero' soldier and has nothing about him that really makes him unique.

Seen here is the main character design for Mega Man, the main character from the globally popular Mega Man series of games. His design is very futuristic in order to match the futuristic setting of the game, although his iconic blue suit really makes him stand out. His levels were designed with difficulty in mind but would never throw a new obstacle in your way without warning and a chance to avoid and / or defuse the situation. This would be so that when you died in-game, it would make it feel like it was all your fault, not the games. The background design is plain in a way but simply oozes style and the solid backgrounds really made your character stand out.

This is the main character design for Mario in the game Super Mario World. His design is easily one of if not the most recognisable from the world of gaming. His red overalls, iconic moustache and overall design are instantly recognisable. He isn't your average typical hero and he certainly isn't like anything else in the game industry. He is iconic and I would really like to have a design similar to this for my own character. The level designs are also very bright, colourful and iconic in order to match the characters design and the combination of the two is a true graphical masterpiece. Nothing is out of place.

These are the sprite designs for the main characters of (from left to right) Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Cream the rabbit from the Game Boy Advance games Sonic Advance 1, 2 and 3. Their designs, like Mario have become very iconic as they are unique to only this series of games. Sonic's design personifies speed making it look much more effective whilst his blue shading only adds to that. Each character also has a cute appeal while having a cooler edge, so these designs appeal to a large number of people. I really like these designs and the appeal of them, but I think I would like my character to be more simple and perhaps 8-bit instead of 16-bit.

Here you can see the evolution of character design of several of Nintendo's biggest stars including (from top to bottom respectively) Pikachu, Mario, Link, Donkey Kong and Samus. As you can see, these characters started out as very basic sprites and have evolved to graphically into more detailed sprites and then into 3D models. Each character is still very recognisable from their original sprite and I wish to capture this element in my design. I want my character to be memorable whilst also maintaining a basic but intelligent design.