He’s always encouraged me to do this and has been really supportive so I want to base the MC off of him as a thank you for his nonstop support but I will let you choose your personality if I don’t allow customization.
But he wouldn’t look so childish.
No offense to your friend, but I’d rather you keep it in if that’s the case. He wouldn’t actually be that much different from me when I was younger, except that I tried to train really hard to fill out my top half from college onwards (with only modest success, alas) and had a full head of hair. But being short and looking like barely sixteen until I was ten years older than that in reality has caused me no small amount of grief and embarrassment in real life, so I’d like to escape that in my escapist fiction, if at all possible and not something I’d willingly inflict on my mc’s.
Ugh, being constantly carded in bars and even actually refused entry into a nightclub when out with all my friends because some idiot bouncer was absolutely convinced my real, government issued, ID must somehow have been a really good fake, ugh one of the low points of my social life.
I can guarantee you most people won’t like having the appearance of the MC be defined. Genderlocking a protagonist is enough to make people not be willing to play a game simply because they can’t play as the gender they identify as, but those games still allow you to customize the MC as you see fit. You could technically go ahead and do it, but… it’s not going to be a popular decision. Most people would prefer the MC’s appearance be left a blank slate if no customization options are present so that they can simply embed their own visualization of the MC into the game.
The thing is, most interactive fiction allows the player to create and define their character. Even if no customization options are present, they’re allowed to do so through imagination and headcanons. If you choose to restrict the MC’s appearance, you then have to ask yourself this: is the MC the player’s character, or yours being imposed onto players?
My friend and you would get along well. He complains how people mistake him for a girl and thinks he looks like one. But I tell him if he dosent want to look like one then he should cuz his long hair but he likes it so he hasn’t. He’s pretty so no one but him is complaining about his appearance lol.
This picture would work for the MC if there isn’t customization it looks like my friend so it could work
Then he actually has it worse than I did, I was just mistaken for a much younger child, though always a boy, fortunately, most of the time, well into my years as a legal adult, when I should have been, or at least looked like a sexy twenty-something.
Nope, that’s really not how I would want my male mc to look in-game, much too feminine for me to really consider him sexy in any way.
I can agree with @Lithophene here, less is more in that case, just leave it up to our own imagination what the mc’s beauty or handsomeness means in that case.
Ugh I haven’t even released my writing and I’m already failing hard . I was going to base the MC off a close friend of mine that has been a emotional support but now… ugh! Maybe I just suck at this . Got a lot of think to do.
Because the main character has always been based on him and another one of my friends for the female MC. But that’s only if I don’t include character customization.
Were I in your shoes, I’d make an NPC based off my friend instead of the MC. If you want to highlight how rad your friend is, you’ll be able to do that much better by making them an NPC.
Anyways, don’t take my comments as trying to discourage you! You’ve got a promising idea and you’ve got plenty of people interested if the number of posts on this thread is anything to judge off of. Half as many WiPs don’t get this much traffic even with a demo publicly available. I’d be flattered in your place. You just also have to remember that part of writing interactive fiction is viewing it as a game designer. Take a gander at other popular WiPs. See what seems to be working and what isn’t. A major aspect of writing is researching into what you’re writing for/about.
Edit: Woops. @Lizzy beat me to the NPC suggestion.
You say that but all I’m reading is that I’m horrible writer that will fail utterly . I have 0 self confidence to begin with my friend is like the main reason I decide to do this. But now I feel like I was right and i was dumb to think I could write a good story. Ugh I think I’m just over reacting cuz I had a horrible day today and I’m just feeling crapy over nothing
??? This might be a little blunt, but how in anyway is this a comment on your writing skill? You haven’t shown us any written narratives. This is constructive criticism and overall, I don’t think anyone’s been overly abrasive with you.
Though, having said that, I’m gonna wait to see the demo to give my opinion but if you’re married to this whole pre-set MC thing, I don’t know how well or not that goes here. It’s not my thing, but there’s a WIP on here that looks pretty popular called Monsters. It’s really not my thing and he gives options among the presets rather than there just being a set one, but there it is. (I could be wrong. Like I said, it’s not my thing and a lot bothered me about what I played. Doesn’t mean it’s not good.)
Oh no it actually worked out really well for him. Because he’s extremely pretty and has girlish curves all the guys were attracted to him in school which worked out well for him because he’s gay so he could basically have any guy he wants. He’s in a committed relationship right now but when he’s single guys line up to date him. He’s a very nice person too lol.
The answer is extremely simple… I have 0 self confidence and am over sensitive plus I had a really bad today.
Im not married to that idea!? I really wanted character customization cuz I love that in a choice of game story but it seems like a bad idea to most people.
I love customization. I didn’t like the very, very limited and pigeonholed way it got presented here. Which, I think, is the general attitude. The two ways you seem open toward are pre-set MC and…to be honest, a type of physical customization that’s pretty close to preset, as far as I can tell. Customization’s about player freedom/choice (and flavor text that I find awesome when I notice it) and I didn’t get that sense with this.
Okay, stop. This is not about your writing skill. You have great ideas and great concepts.
But you also are not perfect, nobody is. That is what editors and test players are for: To bring up where you can improve. To warn you from potential pitfalls in writing interactive fiction, which is in some aspects just different from novels or even games of a different genre/medium. I know hearing so much critique can be hard, but try to look at it from this side: All those people want to see you finish your work, all of them want you to make the best out of your potential. If we thought you would be dammed to fail we probably wouldn’t even care half as much as we do. Don’t make yourself so small, you have a promising world and story.
But also listen to what people tell you:
Most of us didn’t tell you that customuzation is a bad idea, but that only giving two very restrictive choices for the body type is not really customization and that it also would be okay to just not mention MC’s appereance to let the player fill the blanks should a wider number of customizations be too much work.
I was planning on having the player choose there body type based on who they looked like by there parents looks, eye color, hairstyle, and skin color. But I’m rethinking the whole thing.
I know. The two options for parents you showed us, and then later described, didn’t look/sound very different. Plus, all that talk about wanting to base the MC on your friends (there’ve been a ton of posts, so I dunno, but I got the sense that was something you always wanted to do?)
I know but I did warned you guys that I scare easily soooo yah you know see that I was not joking lol. I’m calming down now that I’m alone in my room relaxing with my door clothes forgetting this horrible day
Uhm…you know when you want you could write about your day over at The why are you (feeling emotion) thread? If you want advice or just need to get it off your chest, you know? I don’t know…maybe it helps you to feel better?
lol. If I take character creation out then I’m going to based the male MC appearance off my friend that resembles this:
but I will let you choose your personality if I don’t allow customization.
. I was going to base the MC off a close friend of mine that has been a emotional support but now… ugh! Maybe I just suck at this 
. Got a lot of think to do.
and another one of my friends for the female MC. But that’s only if I don’t include character customization. 
soooo yah you know see that I was not joking lol. I’m calming down now that I’m alone in my room relaxing with my door clothes forgetting this horrible day