Dream Daddy

In this game, you have just moved into a new town with your 18-year-old daughter, where there are seven other single dads that you can romance and unlock different endings with.

Each dad has a different aesthetic, occupation, and attitude, and each dad has at least two endings. You are able to go on dates with these characters, and you have to go on three dates to unlock their good ending. These characters are jam-packed with lore, personality, and mystique. Some theorise that the dads' different personalities represent the different kinds of stereotypical gay men; for example, Joseph could be the "twink" stereotype, while Brian would be the "bear".

The character design in this game is just incredible. I am in love with the art style, and while I won't be taking inspiration from the style itself, I will definitely take note of the way that this game uses shape language, clothing, and dynamic poses (all topics that I go into more detail on in my character design subpage) in order to convey more information about these characters. Each of these dads is very different in design and personality, and no two characters display this more than Damien and Brian.

Damien (top left) is the game's "goth dad", and is characterised by his love of the Victorian era and his prickly exterior. This is shown in multiple ways through his character design; for one, he wears full Victorian garb, which is a very clear indicator of his appreciation for gothic culture. There are more subtle ways to convey his personality, however; for example, his design is entirely comprised of triangles: his body shape, his face (nose, eyes, eyebrows, and face shape), and his clothing. The pose that he is in also lends itself to this triangular theme, as the hand on his hip creates a triangle, and the other arm creates a sharp edge to the right of his design. As I have discussed, triangles convey unpredictability, power, mystery, and sharpness. These are all aspects of Damien's personality, as the game describes him as intimidating, alternative, and strange. His colour theory also alludes to this, as purple and black are both unnatural and indicate elegance and mystery.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you have Brian (bottom left). He is known as the "rival dad", and is characterised by his love of dogs, fishing, and his 10-year-old daughter. He represents the stereotypical "gay bear", which is a type of older gay man who projects an image of rugged masculinity, although personality-wise, he is about as loveable as you can get. This is reflected in his character design: he wears very baggy clothing, showing his laid-back attitude, and his design is made up entirely of circles. His beard, nose, body shape, and posture are all very rounded. In shape language, circles indicate positivity, comfort, and innocence. This coincides with Brian's personality as a fun, bubbly dad. His theme colour is green and orange, which both show energy, life, and natural things (which could link to his love of camping and fishing).

While this is not the poster for the actual game of Dream Daddy, it is rather the cover of the comic book published in 2019 by the same people who created the game. While this is not necessarily the exact same as a video game promotional poster, theory-wise, it still requires the same techniques in order to hook its audience and convince you of the game's aesthetic and mechanics.

There appear to be multiple versions of this book's cover; however, this one seems to be the most recognised and used. Given that the characters are the most important aspect of this game, being a visual novel, this cover's main objective is to subtley introduce you to all of the characters while still leaving a lot in the air for the player to discover. All of the characters are shown on this cover, with some of their defining characteristics on display: Brian is grilling, Mat has his guitar, etc. However, if anything, it makes you want to learn more about these characters and discover more about their personalities and motives. I think that the composition of this image is quite well executed; it does a good job of showing all of the characters without looking crowded. Everyone's pose looks very natural, while still leaving enough room for everyone else. An example is Craig, the man in the foreground of this image, who appears to be the focus of the illustration; however, his dynamic pose means that we are also drawn to look at the other characters. The angle of his leg leads our eye to the centre of the image, where we can look at the characters who might be a little bit further back. This is very smart and means that the image doesn't look cluttered despite all the characters.