What makes a monster appealing? A short study of myth-inspired monsters in 3D computer games.

Abstract

Through extensive research which was based on case studies of 3D myth-based monsters in computer games, the goal of this paper is to determine what makes a monster appealing. Are there any necessary features, and if so, what are they exactly? Is there one single property of successful myth-based monsters which can be extracted? Or, perhaps, are there many? The research paper is initially based on 3 case studies of myth-based monsters from games created in the years 2001-2011: Troll, from Gothic, 2001, developer: Piranha Bytes; Sirens of the desert, from God of War I, 2005, developer: Sony’s Santa Monica Studio and Hagravens, from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, 2011, developer: Bethesda Game Studios. Then, as a way of comparison, another 3 case studies of myth-based monsters from games made in the years 2015-2019. Leshy (pl. Leszy), from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, 2015, developer CD Project Red; Draugr, from God of War IV, 2018, developer: Sony’s Santa Monica Studio; Divine Dragon (jap. Sakura Dragon) from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, 2019, developer: From Software. According to the findings in this paper, a successful monster should contain the following elements: the animation should be smooth, the model should be of good quality, and the rig should be usable, and easy to animate. For this, a whole team of highly skilled specialists, and artists, is needed. These criteria are not particularly groundbreaking. What is interesting, though, is that whenever a fully myth-based version of a monster is not appealing enough, artists have no issue with changing the creature’s concept, to make it more interesting, either in the way they look or in the way they move. Monsters are not myth-based, only remotely myth-inspired.