The Study On The National Character Design For Chinese Computer Game

With the development of computer technology, computer game has become the entertainment of more and more people. As the visual focus point of game player, the character in the game is the most important part of the game visual design. In China, national game industry has been booming during the first decade of the 21st century, especially in the field of net game. As a part of culture industry, game has a positive effect on promoting national culture. However, there is a great deal of game character design which is copied from foreign design works in too many aspects. The thesis dedicates to start the study on the national character design in Chinese computer game, based on traditional Chinese culture, with emphasis on the possible way to show the national culture features in game character. The definition of "the national character for Chinese computer game" in the thesis is:the character in the game that is developed by Chinese team based on national culture background.Nowadays in the world, the art style of design in Europe country, America and Japan is the main-stream kind of game character design. According to the research on foreign design works, the author drew the conclusion that the national culture feature of game character design lies in character's appearance, costume and the art form. However, the present situation of game character design in China shows the deficiencies in these three aspects, which cripples the communication of national culture feature in character design. The problem is caused by two reasons:the first is the deficiencies of national-culture-orientation concepts; the second is the lack of understanding of traditional Chinese culture. The thesis proposes the solution at the same time. Firstly, the designers must reinforce the necessary thought under the national-culture-orientation concepts and strengthen the consciousness of promoting national culture. Secondly, the designer must make an intensive study on Chinese culture, add appropriate traditional elements in character and try to merge the traditional art form in design work, which makes the character design more conformable to Chinese traditional aesthetics and more contributive to the visual communication of the national spirit. Chinese culture is a profound culture system with a long history, which plays a radical guiding role of art creation. The thesis puts emphasis on Chinese personae appearance, traditional costume and the traditional art form of Chinese painting, which can guide the designer to the proper way to create the game character that displays the feature of splendid Chinese national culture.The significance of the thesis is pointing out the root cause of the abuse in Chinese game character design, providing the practical solution and confirming the guiding function of Chinese traditional culture in national game character design, which is proved in practice and also sheds light on the thoughts and methods of national character design in the context of globalization.