How to make the perfect Bad Guy

from StarControl Forums

Rock, Paper, Shotgun just did an amazing exposé/think-piece on the beauty of Star Control and what makes it such an incredible game experience. 

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/02/15/star-control-ii-retrospective/#more-347263

There are a TON of good points in there, and it's a great read altogether, but the point that stuck out the most is what he commented on about the "evil" bad guys in the game. He nailed it. 

They're just not that evil. 

Sympathetic, even. Generous overlords, even!!! 

Turns out its pretty true, though! And what an interesting spin to send the genre in weird, new directions. You see, it's easy to hate most bad guys. Almost all games have an irredeemable easy-to-use baddie. There's no depth to that. But both types of Urquan were magical BECAUSE they weren't easy to hate. 

The Kzer-za and Korean both had very justifiable reasons to either enslave or extinguish all sentient life in the Galaxy, and just because humans may not take that route - aliens, by definition are unknowable. Eventually understanding and even sympathizing with an unfathomable alien evil brings heart to a story that would be so much less enthralling with a simple "I'm evil and going to kill you for fun" alien race! 

We have to make this happen with the main badguys in the SCR. WE HAVE TO! What are some ideas you guys have that could bring such a strange, empathetic dichotomy to our new Star Control story?

Let's help design the bad guys' origin story!! Get creative, folks! 

5,168 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top


he Kzer-za and Korean

 

You mean Korh-ah (or sumtin' like dat).......

 

The "bad" guy in the movie "Watchmen" was actually quite "good".

A good place to take down some notes........

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Xenove, reply 1


he Kzer-za and Korean



 

You mean Korh-ah (or sumtin' like dat).......

 

The "bad" guy in the movie "Watchmen" was actually quite "good".

A good place to take down some notes........

 

Lol, damn that Autocorrect - it doesn't register the word "Kohr-Ah"?!?!?!?!? Hahaha

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Reply #3 from StarControl Forums Top

The black Ur-quan were from the North, while the green ones were from the South. 

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Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Vaelzad, reply 3

The black Ur-quan were from the North, while the green ones were from the South. 

Some would consider that a right-fitting analogy!

Reply #5 from StarControl Forums Top

I think the point being made is that a villain is only believable when they're complex. One of my professors for interactive writing for games always brought up what he called the "Human" rule. "If a character can't be written as a human, they have no point of reference in a human mind." I don't think that COMPLETELY writes off weird and bizarre villains (ie machines, demons, etc etc) where the point is that they don't understand us because they're not human, but it's a fair point.

Reply #6 from StarControl Forums Top

Although if we reflect on the question:

"How to make the perfect Bad Guy".

 

Does that mean a believable humane (human) bad guy?

OR

The perfect-incarnation-of-evil bad guy?

 

In the movie the "Fifth Element" you have the inherently EVIL thingy and bad guys. They were bad, nothing to understand or sympathize there.

Bad is as evil gets.

 

But then you have the "bad guys" like in the movie "Watchmen", or "X-men".

 

What kind of perfect bad guy are we talking about here? Because there really is no such thing as a bad guy unless they are inherently evil.

It is always about the circumstance and context. It is not like the Ur-quan were set in the beginning to conquer the universe, they turned into what they are because of the Dynarri.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Xenove, reply 6

Although if we reflect on the question:

"How to make the perfect Bad Guy".

 

Does that mean a believable humane (human) bad guy?

OR

The perfect-incarnation-of-evil bad guy?

 

In the movie the "Fifth Element" you have the inherently EVIL thingy and bad guys. They were bad, nothing to understand or sympathize there.

Bad is as evil gets.

 

But then you have the "bad guys" like in the movie "Watchmen", or "X-men".

 

What kind of perfect bad guy are we talking about here? Because there really is no such thing as a bad guy unless they are inherently evil.

It is always about the circumstance and context. It is not like the Ur-quan were set in the beginning to conquer the universe, they turned into what they are because of the Dynarri.

Exactly! They were only "bad guys" because they wanted to protect themselves from a Dnyarri-like situation happening again. I mean, the first axiom of Cosmic Sociology is that the NUMBER ONE goal of an alien species is Survival. How each race chooses to survive in this galaxy is up to them, and judged on an entirely separate scale than our own.

So, it's important that the "bad guy" be multiple-layered and complex, with its own motivations that - although the human race may disagree - can at least be fathomed. Like the Urquan. Or Magneto in X-men! We may not AGREE, but we at least can UNDERSTAND.

So, ideas?

Reply #8 from StarControl Forums Top

I always liked Boltar from the original Battlestar Galactica.  He is just this evil nemesis rubbing his hands together and wanting to destroy all humans other than himself... for no apparent reason at all.  Why does Boltar want to exterminate humans?  What is his plan?  What would he do if he succeeded in wiping out the humans and was the last human left alive?  None of it makes any sense at all, which is what makes Boltar so comically great as a villain.  He is just evil for the sake of being evil.  He has no reason, no motivation... other than being a bad guy for the sake of being a bad guy.

Boltar is a great villain if you like bad B movie villains.  The writers needed a bad guy, here is a bad guy.  Don't ask why, he's just a bad guy:-)

 

Reply #9 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Kavik_Kang, reply 8
The writers needed a bad guy, here is a bad guy.  Don't ask why, he's just a bad guy:)

 

Actually Baltar betrayed the humans so the Cylons would destroy only 11 of the 12 colonies, leaving his colony intact for him to rule over.

The Cylons broke their word though since they wanted all humans dead, and were planning to kill Baltar as well but the Imperious Leader who ordered him dead was killed/destroyed, and his successor believed that Baltar being human could help the Cylons in the pursuit of the surviving humans, and since that is better than dying he agrees.

Later on something happens that makes him really hate Adama though so he actually has reaons to hunt them other than purely his own survival.

 

Reply #10 from StarControl Forums Top

Aww... No you ruined it for me.  I really liked Boltar when I thought there was absolutely no reason or motivation for his evilness.  Now you had to go and make it all make sense.