Maestro³

To complete our Maestro cycle, here's his biography from the Official Guide to Wing Commander Prophecy. Let me know who you'd like to hear about next.

2nd Lt. Max "Maestro" Garrett

Max Garrett is the original golden boy. Son of the attorney general of Delta sector, he was the BMOC and star athlete at his exclusive prep school, but was stung in his senior year, when his father revealed that he didn't feel Max had the discipline to make it into politics or business. To prove his father wrong, Garrett applied and was accepted to the Academy. He not only survived his military education, but did so with the same feckless confidence with which he'd coasted through prep school. He racked up an all-time record number of disciplinary demerits, but managed to graduate on the strength of equally impressive flight scores. His father's influence had much less to do with Maestro's eventual graduation than most of his classmates believe (in fact, at least some demerits can be attributed to the senior Garrett's spreading the word that the Academy should take no guff from young Max). In his freshman year, an influential friend of Maestro's father, Senator Taggart, suggested Max look up a fellow plebe named Casey and keep an eye on him (a suggestion he has had some occasion to regret).

For his first assignment, Maestro pulled strings his father didn't know he could reach to land a soft assignment for both Casey and himself ferrying diplomats around Confed space. It did not take the two long to shake down their tour of duty for everything it was worth. When he was prematurely rotated to a new assignment onboard the Midway, Maestro was resigned to his fate, and secretly a bit eager. At least he and Casey were sticking together.

They're Not Talking About Hunter

Developers interested in fashioning more compelling characters should look first to the games that do it well: Warcraft 3 and NOLF, Starcraft, Flashback, Thief, Sacrifice, Wing Commander, Summoner, and so forth. Look not only at the protagonist – who is presumably the individual the player controls – but at secondary and even peripheral characters.