Ok cool reason i asked about stat changes and specific paths was because in some games I’ve found i had to choose a specific path to win
But if i can play as i want and still win then i say go for making a game👍
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This has the potential to be troublesome, too. If you have a choice to play a MC with depression or anxiety, realistically this should be a radically different experience from playing a character that’s not suffering from those conditions. (Personally, I don’t think it would be a very fun experience, and I would prefer it if these topics were explored via NPCs instead, but of course you can have it be a lot more in-depth when it’s the main character, so ymmv).
My point is that things like the MC’s thought process and their interactions with other people ought to be different if they have untreated anxiety or depression, so that’s the reason I wouldn’t be keen on the idea of having it only come into the picture as a stat change. It feels like that would be minimising the seriousness of mental health conditions.
Now, for small details like the glasses thing I would say go ahead, but I personally wouldn’t enjoy it if it’s just a management style “what do you want to do next?” “I’ll go look for my glasses” “Ok, you found them. You suffer no penalty to your stats but you lost one time unit”. If, as has been mentioned upthread, this were actually a fleshed out scene where you run into a RO and have a little chat or whatever, that would be a lot better IMO.
(Also, glasses aren’t really that high maintenance. Just wipe them on your shirt and be done with it 
).
Finally, and this is just my personal impression, so please forgive me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me like you’re already pretty sold on the idea of doing this for your game. So I’m thinking at this point perhaps it might be more useful to post a demo and get feedback directly from testers? It’s more work on your end but having something more tangible to go on does make it a lot easier to tell whether a feature is working or not, or whether there’s anything potentially offensive in the way it’s presented.
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Oh and question does the mc have to have a health problem for example fibromyalgia or a smoking addiction? Or is it optional
I’m starting to feel a little offended by the idea that you have about this story, it’s obvious that the interactions would be different too! I wouldn’t even bother doing it, otherwise! 
Jokes aside, I only chose very specific things because they are all “malus” that I have in the first person (except for the hearing aid, which a dear friend of mine has instead). It makes me feel more comfortable writing about things I experience in real life, because I know for sure what they entail.
True, I should put together a demo, but I like doing things right, and I’m not ready for a release yet. As you have surely understood by now, the things I do are always a bit complicated, and I don’t want to give a too reductive idea of the project with a demo released too hastily.
@Scooby_Doo It is mandatory for the character to need something on a daily basis in addition to food supplies. I had thought about adding an animal to take care of, like a hamster or a pet rabbit, but I’m not sure it would fit well into the plot, so I’m still thinking about it. Right now, the most “casual” thing you can choose is nicotine addiction.
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Ok thx for the info and if i offended you in any way @Daleko i am sorry
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I mean there are but those insults are more general and can be applied to other races.
Like, “you’re a Southerner so you must be inbred and retarded” or they could be called a “wife beater” because of how they look.
Again, super general, and, in my opinion, your point still stands. But people will find something to make fun of you about, regardless.
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No offence at all! You’re welcome, and thank you for the interest in the project 
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Well when you get the wip out i would like to try it out and if you publish it maybe i could beta test it (i have no experience in beta testing so idk how good ill be)
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I suspect that identifying examples of offensive slurs will take us far away from the topic of this thread.
I was going to look up other threads to link this to, because this conversation has been had many, many, many times here, but people can probably just search the term “offensive” and find several at the top of the list.
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Will these items be one time use or will they have a certain amount before they’re out and the character has to scavage for more?
Will the player have options to stop smoking or is this a forever state?
I’m sorry I take your point about calling people the r word (i should have included mental disabilities + developmental conditions in my point!) but i don’t think that calling a cishet white man a wife-beater is at all the same as using slurs on someone and “making fun of someone” isn’t the same as using slurs I think? Like I think if it’s a word you feel comfortable saying while not being part of the group it refers to it’s… really not the same thing at all
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Also @Myrtle thank you! For being way more articulate than I was
I basically completely agree with this - IMO this kind of customisation is more fun when it affects kind of. game content more than stats? (a good example off the top of my head is 180 Files - the main character just is traumatised, though you get to choose one of three options, and each affects what you actually get to read significantly, but it doesn’t make the MC less competent. The other thing I really liked about that game is that “failing” at stuff was actually really fun because failing checks often opened up new routes rather than making you feel like you’d “failed the game,” so it wasn’t so frustrating to not have the stats to succeed at the options available, or the options you wanted to click)
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I agree. That was a bad example on my part, I feel. Also, I hope you don’t think I’m arguing; I know I come across like that when I’m debating or simply discussing something.
If you’d like to continue our discussion, we could move to PMs. Gower was right in that this is moving away from the topic. Sorry about that! That wasn’t my intention at all.
I feel it depends on what those choices are. If it’s not going to make a difference (flavor text at least) then I’d rather it not be there to begin with.
On the other end, though, I can get overwhelmed with too many choices. There was one game, if I’m remembering correctly, where you had to scroll down to see all the options. If there are really going to be that many then I’d prefer them to be under a ‘category’ choice to better organize it, and not give such a headache.
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Of course! Thank you for clarifying - if you want to keep talking, I’m more than happy to (I’m literally always On This and ready to talk about this stuff, like, all of the time, and I also don’t want to derail this discussion!) but also I do feel like we’re… on the same page now?
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To answer the original question, one factor is how long it takes to customize the character. If it’s one or two choices and I’m off to the game, sure customization is good, and can really help me personalize my character. If it takes me 10 minutes to customize my character unless the game is super long to compensate, I’ll be turned off.
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So long as I can choose hair color, eye color and skin tone I’m happy I get why people don’t add more as it’s a lot to code I imagine but I do like when you can add that they wear glasses, freckles and stuff like moles I remember this greek god inspired game on here where you could choose face shape and body type I loved that and another one where you choose if your hair is long and curly or short and straight even what kind of clothes your character wears so that’s what I appreciate but I get why it’s not done more often.
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There will be a counter for the pills on the stats page, and each day one unit is consumed. The same goes for cigarettes. Both cigarettes and pills are findable and both are tradeable, but obviously MC will only use what they need.
I think there was also a question about “wasting time” scavenging for pills/cigarettes: MC will not specifically search for items, but will find them by normally scavenging throughout the book, and will trade what isn’t useful for them.
There is no possibility of quitting smoking or taking pills; if you have no more cigarettes or no more pills, however, you have to “stop” momentarily. This doesn’t prevent you from continuing the game, you simply have a penalty in the interactions and in the stats.
@darling_stars actually, I confirm you that it affects the game other than the stats! Again, in the main post I simply wrote down some examples.
@Zakle I get it, it needs to be balanced. Obviously, one game can’t please everyone, but I’d like to try to do my best to please at least who is interested in the horror/post-apocalyptic genre
@AgentV the questions are scattered throughout the first chapter, so I haven’t checked how long it takes to answer all of them, but put together it’s certainly under ten minutes. However, the book should be pretty long (moreover, it should be the first of three books, but one can never know for sure).
@Xarena thank you I’ll think about adding this kind of customization along the book!
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You’d need to write a ton of content that most people won’t see, on top of the ‘standard’ pathway which needs to be interesting in itself and have lots of branching (probably). Don’t know why you’d torture yourself that way, but to each their own.
Personally I’d be pissed if I randomly picked up an object and got a permanent debuff/handycap that I didn’t know about and didn’t want.
Other people have mentioned Zombie Exodus, which has a similar system, except that the handycap is explicitly optional, and confers benefits in other areas (specifically, more skillpoints). If there absolutely must be a handycap, I’d prefer to know what I’m getting into.
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They’re specified, you can’t just “randomly pick”. You would need to avoid reading a huge and detailed “attention please” message for it happening
Also, I can’t remember how it worked in Zombie Exodus, but as I already explained, it’s a balanced system.
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Also I think that so you don’t have an information dump at the begining that anything not related to how your character looks be integrated in a more natural progression as the story goes.
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