How do you feel about character creation?

I fully agree and it’s the next edit I’ll carry out for my game; actually making the character creation shorter because it’s not really necessary.
I also don’t believe you need to give the player a choice of orientation in character creation but rather simply present it later on in the game and allow them to make the decision on their own.

That’s the conclusion I’ve come to with this topic. The character creation shouldn’t be detailed to avoid limiting the imagination of the player. You can’t achieve the same thing the same thing in a game where you have actual graphics and can see your character.

I would argue that sooner is better, but depends on how you write it :slight_smile: However none of the options need present at all depending on how you’re writing the story. I’d argue however that fixed main characters are a poor choice (but sometimes better for certain stories) these days.

It’s up to you, but if it’s long and involved and then has zero impact on the game, I’m not much of a fan personally. You could always do something like that prison escape game (can’t remember the name) on COG where it tells you that you can describe more things but it wont affect the game and you can skip it if you want to.

It feels like every few months, one of these threads appears. It’s ultimately up to the author, but my personal view is that it canbe a nice touch if your appearance is mentioned throughout the game and/or affects your stats.

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I think that’s even worse. If the game gave me a chance to skip character creation or parts of it makes me feel like it’s not even trying.

That’s just an author trying to please everyone and both failing at that, and failing to realise that you can’t please everyone :smiley:

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There have been studies done on this. One is available elsewhere on this forum. Generally speaking, they show that the more detailed and involved character creation is, the more immersed, in the game, the player tends to become. My advice would be, go for complex and detailed character creation but don’t confine it to appearance. Include things like abilities, skills, background choices, beliefs, psychology… but make it a bit more interesting than a single choice click for each. Maybe make it the first chapter, or more, of the novel? As for gender, race and sexuality, decide if they will have a significant impact on the story. If not, treat them as you would most other appearance/clothing/cosmetic choices, requiring merely in-game references. More references for the more important ones, such as gender, Fewer, if any, references for the less important ones, such as piercings. One of my favourite character creations was in CoG’s ‘Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven’. An incredibly complex and detailed system, providing options for several methods of character creation. The parts re’ race, appearance etc were detailed but optional and the choices made stayed on your character sheet throughout the game. Thus, if you chose to skip the appearance options, they would remain blank on the character sheet. Clothing choices were all in-game. Clothes could be changed frequently and clothing choice would have a minor impact on one or more stats. It’s worth a look. Especially as the character creation part of the game is part of the free section of the game. :slight_smile:

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Agree with this. I think people like when the protagonist is not just for PoV / Camera on wheels.

Also height, weight, body type, race etc. these are no less important

That’s what I’m looking for (and always missed in these games), especially if it affect stats or relations with NPCs

For me, especially in single player rpg games, character creation is essential. It helps me get more invested into the world of the game, far better than a set protagonist.

I generally like to play as a male in video games, despite me being female, and its often harder for me to be able to find a design that looks good on my character. Mostly because a majority of people play as females and most of the customization goes towards them in my own opinion.

I think the games that do character creation justice is the fable franchise, especially fable 2. While it may seem limited at first, with only being able to choose between two genders, your character’s body physically changes depending on what moral and stat choices you make.

That is what i feel is the peek of what character creation can go for. Having the character change physically and mentally throughout the game. Gathering scars from countless amount of battle, growing taller and gaining more muscle mass from maxing out your strength and durability stats.

Like what many people here have already said, I feel that ultimatly character creation should not just be some added on gimic but have an important place in telling the story of a game. It should be able to show the ups and downs of a story and how far the player character has come in their own journey.

NPCs should react differently on how the player character looks, dresses, and acts. It all just adds to the immersion.

Good greif that was long!

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As long it gets mentioned later in the story then I like to have as much character customization as possible. But even if it doesn’t gets mentioned ever again I like to customize basic stuff like hair, eye color and maybe height (tho if we choose height then it definitely will have to be mentioned when we meet NPCs imo) rather than playing a blank slate MC.

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