Protagonist design nowadays doesn’t often come without its controversies, it's crucial to emphasize the growing demand for diverse characters in gaming and film. Recent studies show that only 26% of video game characters are female, despite women making up nearly half of the gaming community. For instance, to not consider female protagonist character design, is basically to reject 50% of your market. To address this, developers could prioritize diversity and inclusion from the start of the game development process, assembling teams with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

So hopefully, even if developers don’t care about representing human consciousness in its totality, they care about making money.

It’s not always easy. The gaming industry has long struggled with designing characters that resonate with audiences, be it male or female. Gamers criticize certain portrayals of genders and identities, investors hesitate over potential backlash, and developers are grappling with how to authentically represent diverse identities while creating compelling narratives.

The Key to Believable Fictional Characters

What makes a character truly unforgettable? It's a combination of authenticity, depth, and narrative purpose. The most compelling characters are those who feel real - they struggle, evolve, and overcome challenges in ways that reflect the human experience. Their strength isn't just a given; it's earned through their journey.

Ellen Ripley from Alien, one of the most loved fictional character designs to exist in film

Character Design Example of a Believable and Strong Character: Ellen Ripley (Alien)

Ellen Ripley is one of the most beloved protagonists because she wasn’t written just as a character but as a survivor. The audience didn’t root for her around her identity, gender, or something else on the surface of anatomy; they rooted for her because she was human. She wasn’t invincible; she struggled, showed fear, adapted, and overcame challenges. Her strength wasn’t forced but earned through her choices and circumstances.

Make no mistake, the fact she was a female protagonist did matter, specially for the time, but it just added to the quality of the movie, it was unexpected, a good surprise, a breath of fresh air.

Character Design Sin: Dolores (Westworld)

Dolores from Westworld, one of the pivotal characters of the series

Dolores started as an engaging character but later became unrelatable due to her overwhelming invincibility. She lost her vulnerability, making her less compelling. When a character can do everything without struggle, their journey feels unearned. This isn’t about gender—it’s about storytelling. The problem wasn’t that Dolores was a strong female character; the problem was that she became a God-like entity overnight, as if her console turned the hacks on, and went on without limitations, making her impossible to connect with. She could do all, see all, and manipulate all without effort.

A twitter screenshot of an actress showing her thoughts about the character reception — It’s not just my view, the audience has spoken.

I don’t want to add salt to the wound, as I know this is a popular take, but I want to have an actual conversation about why rather than dismissing it as an assumption.
It’s easy to dismiss archetypes and stereotypes, but this works for male characters as well: Batman has always been way more popular than Superman for the same reasons: the former is vulnerable and relatable, the latter is overpowered and alien. We relate the most to those who are like us.
Two things to think about: If Dolores was to show more emotion or depth into her motives of why she was doing what she was doing, would the audiaence have perceived her differently?
If her transformation had not been as radical and overnight, and perhaps if she was to fail every now and then, would the audience have related to her motives a bit more and even root for such motives? It’s often not the things you do, but why you do them.

Character Design that Works: Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Furiosa from the film Mad Max. A Character design that has been praised to work well by audiences

Furiosa exemplifies how a character's strength can be intrinsically tied to their narrative context. Her capabilities feel earned and necessary, complementing rather than overshadowing other characters. This approach creates a richer, more engaging story overall.

She isn’t god-like, but she’s capable, she wins but she also loses, there’s a sense of anticipation, you don’t know what challenge she’ll go through next, but you know she’s going to make it in the end, and you root for that, you know it from a sense of hope, not a sense of certainty. You don’t know Furiosa will win because she outguns her foes, you she will because there’s a deeper motive inside of her.

Designing Characters for Modern Audiences: Modernizing Lara Croft

Lara Croft evolution from left to right, where's the older model of this character design goes to left and the modern game visuals are shown on the right

Lara Croft's redesign is an excellent example of character growth. Early iterations were criticized for being oversexualized, but recent portrayals ground her character in realism. She now feels like a person rather than a fantasy, making her more compelling.

Here’s her design evolution over the past decades.

The Pitfall of Tokenism

The biggest mistake in modern character design is not prioritizing strategy and storytelling. When a character’s defining trait is simply the way they look, without integrating it meaningfully into the narrative, they often feel hollow. Their depth, personality, and content span beyond the way they look and how cool they may or may not look. Looks are powerful communicators, and colors and shapes can symbolize a lot to serve the story; don't use them to overshadow it.

Conclusion: Design Better Characters through Strategy and Storytelling

A Mindmap that Miguel Nogueira uses for his concept art strategies when freelancing with clients or consulting for discovery. The mindmap shows art reference that map the creative brief to the character design to conceive. — Example Mind Map that Miguel Nogueira uses, as Freelance Concept Artist, to help clients dig deeper into the narrative and uncover the character’s look. One that makes sense, and doesn’t just look like it does.

The best characters, regardless of looks, gender, and surface pattern identity, are those with depth, struggles, purpose, and a personal mythology. If a character is strong, show why. If they are vulnerable, make it matter. Audiences don’t reject specific characters just because, they reject poorly written ones. The key isn’t to force strength—it’s to craft characters who earn it.

By focusing on storytelling first, we create characters who stand the test of time, not because they check a box, but because they resonate with audiences on a deeper level, because they are someone worth getting to know from a first impression onwards.

I know I focused a lot on female character design, but male character design can use the same touchstones, for instance, Batman has before seen as vulnerable while Superman as overpowered - these concepts matter, Batman is seen as more relatable than Superman by the general audience, and therefore, more likeable, we root for the underdog, we root for someone we relate to, not the alien who doesn't go through the same kind of struggles and emotions as we do.

About the author:

Miguel Nogueira is a AAA Concept Artist and Design Director who focuses on delivering top-tier quality solutions for those who want to represent deeper themes in their video games, movies, and entertainment design projects.

Miguel has previously collaborated with IPs and studios such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts DICE, Embark Studios, and Sony PlayStation.

If you need help with your project, I'd love to chat! Say hi over to hello@menogcreative.com

How to Design Believable and Strong Characters