Need tips for a Fangame: Creating Characters and Dialouge

[ShatteredSkys]

Hey! So I've been trying to make a fangame for quite awhile now and I've recently been having trouble with something. I'm having a lot of time trying to create good characters and dialogue for them. i have most of the dialogue for ep 2 of my game ready to go but I kind of feel it's dry and I just can't get the characters to have the personalities I imagined.

Does anyone have any tips with this? Anything would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Skullgasher]

Hm. This kind of thing isn't easy at all. Don't you have a team?

[pbood2]

Hello ShatteredSkys.

My only advice is to try to differentiate your characters by giving each a unique backstory and personality and with a bunch of potential characters, I know it's probably tough to do so. I highly recommend getting a team if you don't have one already together though because you have quite a bit of progress and if you don't have one, you're at the point where you would need one I think.

I'm actually going through this myself for my game and so far I'm being able to distinguish characters from each other. If you think dialogue is dry, I would recommend you get someone you trust to look at it and give you their honest opinion about it and suggestions about how to improve.

I wish you the best of luck and sorry if this wasn't very helpful for you. If you would like some assistance, maybe I could help you and if you would like my assistance, please PM me and I'll be glad to help.

[mde2001]

My writing differs. Some of the characters I develop are better than others.

Generally with my better characters I come up with really deep backstories for everyone so I get to know them really well. That allows you to think as them rather than as yourself. Then the problem is coming up with a balance between giving enough back story and boring people. I don't know how to deal with that yet.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

One thing that I've made sure to keep in mind for myself is that different characters should have different ways of speaking. For example, a character that gets easily excited might have a lot of sentences ending with an exclamation mark. A character who's supposed to act formal/high-class would have a more eloquent way of speaking. A character that's timid might have some pauses (ellipses) and stuttering when they talk.

[Commander]

(cracks knuckles) This is going to be a long one. It's actually kind of difficult to create characters out of thin air so often I either pick a character I know that's going to be in it or start creating a world...usually both hand in hand. It might seem confusing why creating one character is important for creating another, but I'll explain that near the end. The world is a bit trickier. Generally, you just kind of want to get the idea of customs and beliefs so that you know how the said character will fit in. This is especially important for appearance which actually does affect how good a character is. Now let's get started with building a great character:

Since you already have a plot laid out (or at least a general one) it's kind of time to start picking out that core for a character. Generally, I just pick something random or maybe strange such as an old man with Alzheimer's (I'm going to use Hermit from Revolution...so this will contain a couple minor spoilers). It kind of just seems out there for a moment especially as to why he's a gym leader with a condition like that. It'd make sense if he was forced out of retirement due to an accident so it was a desperate time for the league and had to let Hermit step back up. At this point, you kind of get a feel for how this character fits into the world so personality is the next step to work on.

To make a great character, you have to put a little bit of yourself into it. You don't exactly have to be the character, but sometimes a memory can help you better flesh it out. Hermit has a memory problem similar to how I have a short term memory. It kind of feels like you don't know what happened for the last few seconds which usually left me confused and frustrated. I'd put those feelings into the character by making him seem a bit flustered whenever his brain goes kaput. What the players should feel is something similar to those around them though. Hermit is generally a Hermit and often gets on people's nerves or leaves them going more or less WTF! So seeing him do something to PO players off might hit them the same way as what a person in that town would feel. This creates a connection (no matter how bizarre) to the character and heightens the engagement. Just look at any video game you've played and you'll quickly catch on to first impressions of a character. See what made you notice that character and what made you keep wondering about them.

First impressions are always good, but they don't always make a character. Once you get somebody's attention, you'll eventually want to let them get to know the character better. I'll use old Hermit again. Later on in the story, the player visits the doctor where they find out a little bit more on his condition and how the doctor had to implant a machine inside his brain to keep his mind stable. The said machine causes some memory loss which is why Hermit acts the way he does. So now there's a connection between the Doctor and Hermit. That's not the only place where the character branches and seeing the relation from one character to another works. Just look at the number of relations in Reborn. It's kind of like Anna's string theory for Shelly which is exactly how to make a character good.

That's basically how you build a character, but your concern is what makes a character bland. You don't need to go over the top or opposite personalities to make your characters stick out. Bland is more of it's expected, it's predictable, and it just feels boring. A good way to test this is to line up a set of characters. I'm actually going to use a novel idea I have in this example since it's the least spoilery one. Let's say in order to save a village, an innocent person has to be killed. Person A wouldn't do it because it'd mean breaking his code of not killing the innocent. Person B wouldn't do it because he was in a similar situation earlier. Person C wouldn't do it because of a promise he made a long time ago. All three have the same action but different reasoning and their personalities would also make them take a little bit different actions. If your characters are all doing the same thing for the same reason...you'll want to look a bit deeper and see how to adjust them or make them stand out a bit more (emphasize the differences).

But yeah, you rarely get the character on the dot the first go around. Sometimes you just need a little bit of time to work out the kinks of the characters. Revise, revise, revise. I've had characters I've absolutely hated, but over time some of them turned into my favorites. You just can't expect a character to turn out perfectly the moment you think of them. That's generally why I spend a couple months and even to a year planning out a story before even starting it. It just doesn't all fall into place right away. Nothing in writing ever does.

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Now onto dialogue. Dialogue is usually where the bland and boring stuff comes into place. If everyone speaks the same, it's going to become a bore fest reading it all. You have to inject personality into them or it'll get boring. Avoid being monotone is probably my best advice. The best way to describe that is everybody kind of speaking like Florinia in Reborn. If everyone did that, the story would be boring as hell. That tone works for Florinia because she's supposed to have a robotic personality...given her diary entry. It actually clashes well with Julia's peppy personality which pretty much shines through every time she speaks. Just try to take notes on characters and notice the word choice for each of them. Florinia uses a higher grade vocabulary while Julia uses made up and funsies type words.

Another thing to do is to help balance out the types of dialogues. Basically spread out the humor moments after something serious happen and make sure to keep the moments of foreshadowing spread out and all well done. And no, the dialogue doesn't have to have strange quirks to be good. It just has to be well written (Xenoblade Chronicles is a good example of this).

[Tomas Elliot]

Adding to the above, I have found that creating characters on your own is much harder, compared to having someone to discuss them with. Leaving aside the fact that, if you are trying to make a fangame, you should definitely have a team (I am talking from direct experience here, you cannot possibly hope to do everything on your own), this is a general matter: characters are people. And the best way to figure out how people would behave is to talk to actual people. And by this, I don't mean "ask people for advice in creating a character", I literally mean "borrow quirks, verbal tics, idiosyncrasies and whatnot from people you know".

Many authors, specially in anime/manga/jap games (thanks to the fact that Japanese has MUCH more different speech patterns compared to English, making for a more flexible narrative tool) make their characters colorful and easily recognizable by inserting something memorable, if minor, in the way they speak. Allow me to make an example from Fairy Tail, which is my fav anime: let's say that Natsu is facing off against two mooks, that is, two minor characters hired by the current villain to mess with him. Basically, the message the dialogue is trying to get across is simply

Mook 1: Let's beat him down!

Mook 2: Yeah, we will kick his ass for sure!

Natsu: Bring it on!

However, this isn't very creative nor very memorable, is it? So Hiro Mashima adds a little quirk to spice things up:

Mook 1: Let's beat him down, Zatou-niichan!

Mook 2: Yeah, we will kick his ass for sure, Gatou-niichan!

Natsu: Uh... How comes both of you are the older brother?

There. It's the same exact dialogie as before, but while in the first example there was nothing worthy of being remembered, the second one will be remembered by loyal fans as "that one scene with those two guys who were both the older brother".

So yeah, Commander in his post spoke about the substance, here I am talking about the appearance: because sure, the substance is the most important thing, but in narration appearance is important too, the first impression a character leaves on the public is the one that is going to define said character, for better or worse. Which means that making your characters unique (by doing what Commander and the others suggested) is good and all, but it won't be as effective if the public cannot immediately tell that they are indeed unique. So yeah, unfortunately you are making your game in English, which means you have much more limited means at your disposal to achieve this result, compared to Japanese or Italian, but there are still many things you can do: some characters could end every line of theirs with a specific word, some characters could overreact to something very specific, and some characters could insist to be addressed with specific titles or terms.

And your source of inspiration for such quirks should be... Well, pretty much anything: minor characters from anime/manga/games/western comics/movies/books/whatever you like, people you know, or even yourself. That is why I said, it is important to interact with people, in order to create characters, who are also people.

[pbood2]

OMG you and Commander gave such well detailed and thought out answers and advice. I feel bad now that my advice isn't very helpful but I hope to become better as I progress with the game and then maybe I can be just as knowledgeable as you guys are.

Great answers you two. Same with you mde. Your answer was well done as well.

[IdleThoughts]

Oh why not, I'll post something that may not add a substantially huge amount. I've recieved advice from others in creating characters to privately create a characters's backstory and personality, and focus on a characters behaviors and sentence structure based on those. As an author of the dialog, you should know everything about why a character says something or does something, but limit your in-game explaination of why to only certain amounts, that leaves each character a bit mysterious and furthermore interesting -- even when what guides your actions appears obvious to yourself. Perhaps they want to avoid a certain topic or inexplicitely hate Psychic Type Pokemon, that may contribute to another reason why we would want to continue playing, due to our investment and curiosity in every character.

Also keep in mind not to make anything too objective, whenever we relay information, we have our own attitudes and opinions on nearly every single topic we discuss. Think of how your character WOULD feel in each situation and choose their words carefully, even if they are just repeating a message, they could still pause, draw emphasis to certain details, and etc.

Another thing that I really seem to love about characters is when they're detailed enough for us to have an opinion on them. In Reborn, we Alove to hate Fern, and we also enjoy being uncomfortable around Cain. Perhaps in summary, I'm suggesting for every character, establish a basis for the conception of the character, and use that as your secret causation behind their behaviors. As a final peice of advice, I suggest instead of having characters act autonomously to carry on the plot, create outlying scenarios that urges characters to act a certain way that indirectly carries on the plot.

Cain doesn't raid the Orphanage so that the protagonist can later challenge the gym leaders in confinement and recieve both keystones held by the children there. He more so appears to raid the Orphanage due to his concern for Heather, which he likely relates to due to his similarities between her total loss of family, and Cain's falling out with his family. This establishes more to the characters than using them as a mere plot device.

Wow that was long than I thought it would be, I expected like one paragraph max.

[ShatteredSkys]

Thanks a ton for the tips everyone ! It definitely help a lot! I'll try and incorporate as much as I can but it's a lot XD

As for a team, nope I don't have one. I know it's probably for the best to find one but I'm not very good with people and I prefer to do things myself. If things get too rough I guess I'll find one.

Thanks again for all your tips everyone!

[pbood2]

The big problem with doing it all yourself Shattered even if you work better alone is you would most likely end up like how Aegis's creator did which is completely exhausted and ending the project part way through because of it being too much to do for one person.

I wish you luck with everything whatever you decide to do and hope the game will be amazing. Have a great night/day.

[Hiss13]

The way I see it, writing dialogue for a character boils down to two important points.

1. You have a solid idea of who your character is, what their motivations, personality, etc are.
2. You are able to put yourself into your character's shoes and understand their perspectives during situations in which they speak.

The character does not need to have any deep, tragic backstory or personality with 50 hidden layers. It just needs to be something solid. In fact, too many tragic backstories tend to make the viewer more jaded in terms of that kind of thing. As long as you know what your character is, you should be able to work dialogue.

It does not have to be quirks like verbal tics. Like Commander said, alteration in vocabulary and preferred word choices are the best way to get this across. English may not have as much character in its language but it's something we can manipulate well enough to fit our needs.

For example, my own fan game idea has a pair of characters who are basically a pop idol duo (and a pair of gym leaders). One, who I'll refer to as YH, is far more energetic and outgoing (but not air headed) while the other, who I will refer to as MH, who is more calm and subdued, though not shy. If you ask them the following question (Do you love singing and why?), they will answer the following.

YH: Of course, I love singing! Isn't that pretty obvious? I mean, that feeling of your heart pounding while you expose and share your emotions for the world through song is so much fun. Plus, singing with MH always gives me a rush. That resonance we have is pure bliss.

MH: M-hmm. I do. Singing is one of those rare things that allow me to share my emotions with the world. For someone like me who people poked fun at for being so subdued, being able to share your emotions at their pinnacle is a wonderful feeling…Ahh…singing with YH also helps that. I think it's because we've been joined at the hip since we were kids but singing with her always feels really nice.

As you can see, these two basically gave the same answer but each fits their respective personalities (though I did just write that all on the fly). By creating a difference in word choice and mannerisms based on a personality you can understand, the character's dialogue can become very well-integrated with and indicative of their personalities.

It all boils down to how well you understand the character you've created, how much you've solidified them, and how well you can put yourself into their shoes and thought patterns.

[Commander]

The big problem with doing it all yourself Shattered even if you work better alone is you would most likely end up like how Aegis's creator did which is completely exhausted and ending the project part way through because of it being too much to do for one person.

That is a bit of an ignorant statement. I have known quite a few people who worked by themselves mostly on hacks who have had successful games. You do not need a full team nor would it help if anybody can't get along. If anything, that'd just hurt the project.

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Thanks a ton for the tips everyone ! It definitely help a lot! I'll try and incorporate as much as I can but it's a lot XD

As for a team, nope I don't have one. I know it's probably for the best to find one but I'm not very good with people and I prefer to do things myself. If things get too rough I guess I'll find one.

Thanks again for all your tips everyone!

There are two big areas in making a fan game. The stuff inside of RPG maker and the stuff outside. There's a lot of simple and tedious stuff that might burn you out or might not be skilled at such as programming or bug fixing. I mean having a couple people work on some stuff is kind of a win-win situation. They don't have to sacrifice their free time to basically this while you don't have to getting held up on that stuff slowing you down.

If you have story trouble, we have plenty of good people who can peer review or help you. Plenty.

[mde2001]

I don't think you need a team.

I think part of the fun of making a game is learning how to do new things and try out things you never thought you'd do.

Also when teams are formed by people who don't know each other it can result in "creative differences" making the project much harder for all involved.

I'd say at least for now work on it by yourself.

[Tomas Elliot]

I don't think you need a team.

I think part of the fun of making a game is learning how to do new things and try out things you never thought you'd do.

Also when teams are formed by people who don't know each other it can result in "creative differences" making the project much harder for all involved.

I'd say at least for now work on it by yourself.

Well I strongly disagree with this. Firstly, the whole point about "creative differences" is moot: such differences can arise just as well among people who knew each other beforehand. Disagreeing is par of the coure when you interact with other people, you cannot expect everyone to always agree on everything. And this is FAR from a bad thing: it is by discussing with others, it is by finding compromises between seemingly contrasting ideas, that you can mold and refine a project, improving it more and more. A project you make on your own will never improve from its initial stage, because the only person who has a saying on how it should be done is yourelf, and of course you are going to agree with yourself on every idea you have. Having someone to tell you "look, this idea is bad/convoluted/impossible to code in" is critical to the success of a project: sure, this can cause arguments, but... Do you honestly believe that members of succesful projects never argue? That professionals never argue? Heck, Se7en's team is as cohesive as ever, and our project is about to become a reality: want to know how many times we have argued over even the mallest thing to get to this point? But again, arguing is part of social interaction, and if done constructively it helps you evolve and improve: "I shall do everything on my own, thi way nobody will contraddict me and I won't have to argue" is a very poisonous mentality, which can lead you to be stubborn, underestimating difficulties and refuing help in critical times... Which in turn will lead your project to failure.

And there is also the fact that a game made by a team, whose members are each great at one aspect, is going to turn out better compared to a game made by a single person who is mediocre at everything. This is mere common sense.

[CallMeFreak]

Well, um... Writing kind of comes naturally to me. I usually don't have to think much about how my characters will develop. It just kind of happens, but I think I know another trick that can help. Hopefully it's an easy trick...

First, choose a gender. Then, choose a character trait. (You can even use a nature of a Pokemon if you're really stuck.)

Let's say you choose an unusually quiet girl. Why is she quiet? Well, let's say that her mother died when she was young enough to be in grade school in a way where it traumatized her. Ever since, her father doesn't talk to her much in fear that he'll get too attached to his daughter before he loses her as well. Her favorite Pokemon is Cubone, and she wants to raise all of the Cubones in the world so they wouldn't be lonely anymore.

I'll probably use that idea in the future, actually...

...Or we can choose a simpler one. Let's say, a boy who's hesitant of everything because his parents warned him about the world, and the Internet. Let's say that he's from Cerulean City. He barely trusts anybody who he doesn't get to know pretty well, which is why his dad had to give him his first Pokemon. He stayed at home for a while to train until he felt confident enough to leave, but not without taking a few self-defense items with him, just in case.

And then eventually you can get to the development part. He never trusted trusted anybody, and only gave people younger and more innocent than him a chance, until he broke his leg in Mount Moon on his way to Pewter city where he would get his first badge. That's where he met Brock, a teenager who's almost legally a man. Brock helps him get through the rest of the cave by using his Onix (becausewhynot) and into a hospital. In the hospital, the character was forced to trust the nurses and doctors if he wanted to get better, and that one encounter with Brock in Mount Moon helped him open up to people.

...Well, like I said, it comes naturally for me. In fact, I was about to add a whole 'nother section to the second example about how he meets a mute girl with burns in the hospital... Basically it would, once again, turn complicated.

So I really hope that this trick helps you out, because I have no idea if this is even a good trick or not. ^^;;

Also, if you need help choosing a trait, I'm sure there's a few character generators that you can use.

Edited October 29, 2015 by CallMeFreak

[pbood2]

Okay so this thread is a huge resource for game makers when it comes to creating good characters and dialogue because all the experienced people are putting their thoughts and expertise into one place. I'm really glad this was made by you Shattered because it has helped me create better characters for myself tbh so thanks to everyone here for putting your thoughts.

I don't know about others but I believe this should be pinned considering it can be a resource to new game makers. Just my opinion.

Tomas I completely agree with you about everything you said and my proof for why is I was working on characters yesterday in my document but I always had micky and Trevo around to critique what I was doing in order to improve it even if I thought it was good, I was being told, no this is a way you can improve it and it really helped me do so. I do agree everybody whether you know or don't know them will argue, it's just natural when you work with other people. I have never had a team in my life where there has not been arguing or discussion among people. I also agree that a game with a team is so much better than one made alone because with a team, you have many mindsets developing the game and it can be good or bad but I find the final result is usually better than worse so far.

Commander I wasn't trying to say all games would fail if you don't have a team and that's why I specifically used Aegis as the example. As just a heads up about both potentials should Shattered not go with a team in the end. I do agree working on some things alone is good like bios but then I think in my experience you do need somebody who you can work with well to critique what you are doing. Also I never said a full team was necessary, I just was advising to get a couple other people to assist her because it would be beneficial. I appreciate you calling me out though. it helps me be able to make myself more clear.

Hiss13 and CallmeFreak, you two have very informative and I think very useful tools if you ever get stuck with the character and dialogue creation process, to be able to get things started so thanks for making your posts because I know I have learned some really cool things from reading and thinking about you wrote.

Have a great day everyone.

Edited October 29, 2015 by pbood2

[fireheart4560]

As much as I like rejuvination and reborn, don't rely on randomness and memes to define characters.

Having a level of depth and personality can make them likable.

Reborn and rejuvination definitely do this too but, there are those types of characters.

Have them react to the situations around them, make them feel like they are real people. Show emotion, define them.

For example, look at Cain from reborn. He's written as a goofball, but he's more than that.

Down to earth tend to be my favorite.

Don't rely on swearing, it can be very juvenial. It's unrealistic to have nobody swear in a real world but not everyone needs to. Always seems forced.

[MellowSlinky]

Hi ShatteredSkys

1. IMHO writing is a personal thing. People can give you suggestions but at the end of the day you will need to synthesize a bunch of different ideas and find a method that works for you. Practice helps a lot. Even full-time writers throw out a huge chunk of their work so don't be afraid to write and re-write

2. I know its mentioned that you don't want anyone else to do actual writing, but if you ever want a second pair of eyes to review dialogue and give comments on what does/doesn't work well I would be super down to give any feedback . I've never written dialogues specifically for games before but I do like to write sketch comedy and would be more than happy to give my opinion on anything.

3. Not sure how useful you will find this but there is a concept in stage acting that I think applies here. The idea is that your characters are completely defined based on two things:

a. Their wants

b. The methods they will use to achieve their wants

All writing for your characters should stay true to these two main points and that's what will make the characters feel grounded and consistent. Each scene is a competition between the characters in it to get what they want from each other. As the story evolves so too can the characters wants and the methods they are willing to go to. For example, we find characters like the "fallen hero" interesting because we see the change from what they were willing to do at the start vs the end of the story.

[Simon]

No need to pin this thread since Sky is merely asking for assistance for his own fangame and there is thread already where that helps people who are interested in making their own fangame -> So you want to make a Pokemon fangame.

If Thomas wants to put some of this information from this thread into there, that is perfectly fine with me.

[Tomas Elliot]

I had had that very idea, but I ultimately decided against it because Sky is asking specifically about dialogues and character development here, while that guide deals with other aspects of a fangame.

[pbood2]

What idea did you have Tomas?

I was going to say Tomas' guide about doing a fangame covers a bunch of topics but this thread covers very thoroughly only doing characters and dialogue which is why I suggested pinning this because it's a quick resource for information just on this topic instead of having to sift through all the tomas guide but if not, then okay it was just a suggestion.

[ShatteredSkys]

Holy S*** this thread exploded 0_0

[Jacobliterator]

Don't be too concerned with making overly complex characters unless the details impact the story. Sometimes, keeping it simple is the best thing to do.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Jacobliterator

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

The real key is that there is no key. None. It varies on character to character basis. There's no one simple answer or one single miracle trick that works. Not every character can e some drop of golden sunshine every one will remember and like. Some characters get less screen time than others and never get a chance to really develop. Other characters are flat pieces used to progress plot and move it along without being much more than a stock character((doesn't mean they can't be interesting or fun though.)). After all, each character's importance in the plot etc and how much we see them really plays into how they are made.

I also wholly disagree entirely with anyone saying you need a backstory or a well thought out origin. That stuff is literally pointless as it's just nice little fluff. While it might help inform you as the Writer, it's really not actually needed. These things don't need to be in place to as what is important is Motivation. After answering What they are doing there's a simple process that follows.

Why is the one of the most important questions of the 5 Ws and the H. Perhaps it's is the second most important. While WHAT gives us context and a situation it's easily the least important along with WHO. When and where are also more or less side-information that don't provide us direct information on the character. It's an account of events. While this groundwork matters, it doesn't matter to the character. ANY character could do this action. ANY Location would suit really and ANY time. However, WHY a character would do this is what's important. Why are they doing it? This answers a fundamental question in who they are and informs you as the writer about what person they might be. However, this question can be simply answered and doesn't need a long winded explanation. You can simple a Motivation to the core of it's essence and the character and that to a sole essence and understand these things within them. It needs not be more than a sentence Then expand. Answer how they do it. This is the most important. How one does something is more important than why they do it. It provides us the true context of who they are in a much more concise manner. Because this changes things drastically.

Let's use a hypothetical situation here. I'll use a fantasy setting since it's what I'm most familiar with.

Say we have two characters and both have the what event of going to a fellow kingdom and getting them to join them. Not a lot of context here. Any character could be sent on this task. Would all of them be good? No, but this has no bearing. Any person could easily ride into the other kingdom and try and convince them to their side.

So, why do our two Knights ride out and except this task? Well perhaps Knight A rides off to get them to align to help them fight a larger force.

Perhaps Knight B rides off to because he wishes there to be peace between their kingdoms.

So, we can draw that Knight A might be doing it of a selfish reason. Perhaps his kingdom is under attack and they know they can't survive. Perhaps, she rides off into the distance hoping that the other kingdom will come to their aide and prevent them from being wiped off the map. However, we can garner that she's loyal to her kingdom most likely.

Knight B we can glean that perhaps, he wishes to stop some bloodshed or to bring together the two countries fro some other reason. Perhaps he has an estranged brother who lives there. He could also be doing this of a selfish reason. We could also say he might also be loyal to his kingdom, trying to stop bloodshed from another war breaking out by preemptively patching up sore spots during a time of peace.

Both Knights however, seem similar no? At least these things can be garnered from both their Whys.

This is where hows come into play and why they are important.

Knight A gets the other Kingdom to join her cause by speaking to them and holding negotiations. She takes a diplomatic route.

Knight B Rounds up his soldiers and in the middle of the night rides into the Kingdom and cuts down the Knights and most of the other army in the dead of night. They then force the citizens to submit to their will and become a part of their empire.

Suddenly, both characters are more defined. And both could still be considered Loyal to their country both their Why conclusions remaining intact. Both could've still done what they did out of selfish reasons. Both still could be loyal dogs. But, we now know Knight A probably values human life higher than Knight B. As well as a slew of other things.

In short, the most important thing of a character for defining them is HOW they do, HOW they act, and HOW they react. However, we must know the why before we can answer the how. All of these answers weave us a tapestry that begins to unravel into who this character is at their core. Not a shred of backstory needed. Of course one can go back and add things over top, but Backstories tend to jsut be draped over a character after to make them feel like they've been in the world. It's window dressing. Knowing those things isn't necessary, in fact... it can really dull one's writing if they try to Exposition it all out at a player. Only that which needs to be known should be known and nothing more. Even imo, to the writer. After all, if a character is mysterious, it's all the much easier to write them not knowing their true origins or how they ended up that way. That way the writer would see that character more clearly to the way the player would see them. They would also be the outsider looking in. You aren't bogged down by all the drivel and backstory in your head.

Another tip, write what you know. It's hard to write things that you yourself have not experienced. Mind you, it's not impossible but it's difficult to pull off in a good manner. So, be careful when jumping out of your comfort zone a bit and try to see things from all angles if you wander out of the things you know. Try to use the things you do know to inform, but research that which you don't entirely understand or know yourself. After all, it'd be a bit difficult to write a character who's very different from the people you are around etc if you don't know how they operate. It's hard to write a character who's experienced something you did not. If you've never painted, it's hard to write about a character who paints. If you've never skateboarded it's hard to write a character who does. Stick to experiences you know unless you feel comfortable moving outward and doing the research ((hands on at times.)) to understand.

This also ties into the "Use quirks from yourself/people you know thing", which is very true and a helpful tool. After all, what's better than taking a bit of what makes your friend wonderful and slapping it on a character going to hurt? Now... don't make it 100% them, but use it to inform and to guide rather than 100% sticking to it. There should be cases where you would be like, "I think Bobby would do this." and times you are like "I don't think Bobby would do that in 8 million years!" after all either or being 100% of the time shows that the character would be too much like them ((or not like them even a tad to the point where the effort of asking that question to yourself diminishes greatly.)). Just don't make Sues by accident. While friends are great characters shouldn't be self-inserts or Friend Inserts. These always go badly since they start to get more and more attention from you as you based them off someone you like or care about. This lead to favourtism and shoving them everywhere you can in a story, sometimes to it's detriment. Keep these things as mere inspirations and not full parts of characters. Trust me, you'll thank me for that one later.