As a total dino-nerd/chicken-lover: give them feathers. Lots of feathers. Anyone who says feathers make dinosaurs less… dinosaur-y… have never interacted with everyone’s favorite backyard raptor, the chicken, not to speak of the larger predatory birds out there…
Also, what level of intelligence/realism are you going for here? That will influence what options are available to the player (if the raptors can’t pronate their hands, like in real life, they probably would have difficulty with doorknobs just because they can’t hold it well, while a more animalistic raptor would have to find other ways around keypads or other things that require human-level reasoning), so you should keep that in mind when writing so they don’t jump all over the place.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing what you make!
I have a strong personal preference for feathery raptors, but if you’re not sure… given that this is interactive anyway, you could make that a choice. I doubt it would require substantial rewrites, since it’d be mostly fluff text
It’ll definitely make a big difference what direction you’re going with language. Do the raptors have any sort of language to use among themselves? Are they able to learn to understand human language at all? Or will you be sticking to nonverbal communication? I think any approach here could be quite interesting.
Another question would be whether you have a specific kind of raptor in mind, or perhaps a fictional “newly discovered” species or the like.
The Player should be a ble to choose if they want feathers or not, but yea. all others i think SHOULD have feathers.
I don’t think ill have them understand humans. That doesn’t make sense. BUT I did have an idea based on this image that they can mimic voices. So the raptors don’t understand humans; but ,like most animals, they start to recognize some words (Like their name or…a security door pass code? ).
I think it might be good to have the raptors be able to talk to each others, but I’m not sure about the level of dialogue. Should they have simple sentences? Actually strong personalities? I’d like to have a romance too so I’d like to keep that in mind.
Now I’m not sure What kinda Raptors i’d use. It honestly would give me more le-way for a fake raptor. And as for the level of intelligence…I’m not sure. Cause the Player has human intelligence. So i need to think about that.
I think…a good sci fi kinda feel. So they’re not 100% animal, but i don’t want them to be stomping roaring movie monsters. A good blend of both.
ALSO the player will be marked by a thick scar across their eye. (Not sure if thats’ useful, but thought i’d mention it.)
Depending on how smart they are, you could have them start out not knowing any but gradually be able to pick up some of the words. If they can replicate the sounds, you might get them learning to copy specific phrases like parrots. Humans might also experiment with teaching them some communication, like chimpanzees and gorillas with sign languages. That might be a good thing to check out for analogy.
I suppose this could depend a lot on what style you end up going for. One possibility could be for them to have a number of distinct calls, with specific meanings, along the lines of “danger!” “this is mine!” “hey cutie ;)” “there’s prey this way” “where are you?” “feed me” “this is a good spot for a nest,” but not as much versatility to go beyond that. (And a danger call might specify what kind of danger they’re dealing with… “flying danger” for example.)
Or they might have a few more specific words, but not really have the syntax for stringing sentences together.
Or you might just want to go human-level intelligence. Or somewhere in between.
If you make it a fictional kind, that does give you more ground for customization.
While we are at it, some jungle cats are known for being excellent imitators. They copy cries of chimpanzee babies to lure adults into ambush.
There are reports of them copying birds and humans, as well.
Let me live up to my name: if you can’t decide it, you won’t have a story. Unless someone else writes the whole thing for you.
I’m still amazed that they think that bike could get through that thick of forested area without hitting an errant root or large stone.
My raptor would be more concerned with the fact that it has human thoughts yet isn’t human. Could it be that we were once humans who’ve been turned into a raptor?
It’s difficult for dirt bikes to stay on course on a dirt track. What he’s on in the movie would be annihilated by the foliage. But him riding an atv probably wouldn’t look as cool I suppose.
I’m glad you like the idea. While raptors were historically intelligent, they weren’t on the same level as humans. So having the ability to think with the same cognitive ability as a human in such a game could lead to some neat story developments. Like what if you were forced to undergo some kind of procedure that allowed this to happen? Or perhaps you’ve been in a coma with no chance at recovery only to awaken as a different being entirely.
If this is a fictional type of raptor, it’s entirely up to Alorix how intelligent they should be. (Even if it’s a documented type, there’s plenty of leeway.) There could well have been human-level intelligence among some kind of dinosaur that simply never left any fossil evidence. (I’m not suggesting it’s likely, just that there’s no reason to consider it impossible.)
Plus, some level of genetic messing around would’ve been involved in getting the raptors hatched in the first place, so who’s to say they didn’t do any meddling in the process?
That said, something with a “quite smart but not quite human level” approach could be quite fun to read. You don’t need hefty vocabularies and complex syntax nor abstract reasoning to have difficult decisions, social complexities, challenges to overcome in the environment, things to discover, etc…
That was my thought exactly. Not sure the name of the species but i doubt it matters honestly. XD I was thinking something similar to Dawn or the Planet of the Apes. I’ll start off with very vague words, mostly feelings during the hatching stage then as you get older things are described better.
So instead of “The large pale being reaches down to you. The intoxicating scent of meat fills your nose. It’s brought food again.” I would make it. “The shape. The Great Shape returns. It’s stretching, getting closer. You pause. Familiarity sets in. The shape leads to food!”
I also decided to make the Raptors have their own culture. Ccause I don’t think raptors would use the exact same terms as humans do. Sometimes it can’t be helped. Humans might be called Watchers or Guardians, still undecided. The Alpha will be called a Prime. (Yea like transformers. So?)
I hope that make sense.
Character update:
There are 6 characters so far,(not including player). No personalities so far.
Gladiator-Male Raptor. The (depending on Choices) Ex Alpha. Romanceable.
Whisper-Gender Neutral Raptor Romanceable
Octavia- Female Raptor Romanceable
Scratch Up-Female Sister, killed.
Titan-Player chooses gender, Young T-rex Romanceable
The Devil Male Human. Mercenary
I think there might be other packs that way there’s no incest (cause i killed the sister lol).
Unsure about the ending though btw.
It’s an interesting idea and I’m interested in seeing where you take your idea. But honestly hard to judge a characters yet. Also I like the concept of raptors having there own culture
