The term character development is, in some contexts, used interchangeably with character advancement (in a sense similar to professional development or Human Development), whereas elsewhere character development refers instead to the player’s indirect characterization of the character through role-playing (in a sense similar to film developing).
Character creation, the process of creating a character for a role-playing game
SpongeBob SquarePants (character) | Creation Records | Jerry Seinfeld (character) | Creation | Xuanzang (fictional character) | Sonic the Hedgehog (character) | Player character | Forrest Gump (character) | player character | Noddy (character) | creation | Macbeth (character) | Huckleberry Finn (character) | Dolly Varden (character) | Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation | Tintin (character) | Thousand Character Classic | The Creation of the World and Other Business | Terminator (character) | Rocky Balboa (character) | Prince Caspian (character) | Ophelia (character) | Non-player character | Nikita (Nikita character) | moral character | Mooncat (Childrens TV character) | L'Autre (character) | John Shuttleworth (character) | Donkey Kong (character) | Crown of Creation |
Apocalypse World is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game by D. Vincent Baker, published in 2010 with only an implied setting that is fleshed out by the players in the course of character creation.
The powersets are further detailed with Sfx and Limits so they more closely represent the vision of the character, and character creation is largely freeform.
The most notable examples of its use are for player character creation in Tiger Woods PGA Tour (photo game face), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the Football Manager series.
Scott Stahl of the The Daily Orange praised the game's graphics and design, though he also mentioned that the game "quickly degrades into an incredibly tedious and monotonous process of killing the same monster a thousand different times", and that the character creation options are "incredibly shallow, with maybe two or three different faces and hair styles for each type of character."
Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (24 February 2002) brought "a dark new world based on new characters from Todd McFarlane" to Ultima Online with improved game artificial intelligence, in-game help, and improved character creation.