What is required to make a game character?

I want to make a game using third-person-view with game characters. I’ve never created game characters, so I don’t know what software is required to make them. I own and use modo but it has no character animation tools. What type of software will I need? Would Blender work for me? What else would I need? Aside from scripting in Unity, what else is required to make a game character for one’s game? At this point all I need is a general overview of what is required to get me started.

Thanks

 

Blender should be fine, but I'm told fragmotion is best for character animation (it was actually made for that)

 

Is Fragmotion free?

 

Nope, it's 50 bucks. Remember, google is your friend!

 

It's cheap, it's awesome, and it's going to have export to FBX any week now

 

I stopped using it when the demo made me type out the lord's prayer to use it.

 

A game character within Unity to me seems to be broken into being...

Visually represented through a Skinned Mesh, imported mostly as .FBX files from most 3D software (Blender is free), its just like a plain Mesh but contains a skeleton rig that is animated which then deforms the mesh to move (through the use of Vertex weights painted in your 3D software) which is displayed within Unity through the use of a Material which should contain the shader and textures required to achieve the look your going for.

So Blender can handle everything required but your best to look into complementing it with a dedicated 2D painting software to handle more advanced texture work. Once you have the required assets you can then script within Unity to control those assets e.g. like specific animations, showing hiding mesh accessories. With that done you can have as detailed a character as you can design really.