Designing Metaphor-Based Character Archetypes for a Story Authoring Tool

Archetype concepts are widely used in various domains and applications. Building on Schmidt’s 32 master character types (16 heroes and 16 villains) derived from Greek and Egyptian myths, this paper introduces 32 master character designs to our authoring tool prototype, aiming to assist users in understanding character archetypes better. We reconstruct the 32 myth-based characters to modernize their unique features in a friendly manner, conveying the hidden meanings of each character through intuitive symbols. Our prototype allows users to select from three archetype categories: protagonists (heroes), antagonists (villains), and helpers. A pilot study with 31 participants shows that some character symbols are relatively easy to recognize due to their well-known metaphors; others are not due to ambiguity or misused metaphors. Based on these findings, we plan to refine our initial designs to facilitate a better understanding and inspire diverse story ideas. Following the revision, we will assess the usability of our prototype tool, mainly focusing on how the character archetype images facilitate story creation.