Hi, just had a quick question for the community. I am thinking about starting a Spanish Civil War story,
I envisage 4 main characters, a man and woman on both sides with the story hopping between the characters, at times their paths intersecting and obviously the player making various choices along the way.
This is quite different to the structure of most COGs and I do worry that perhaps people might object to not having one protagonist to make their own. I did think that perhaps you could pick your gender and side at the start and therefore play through just one of the story lines and have to start again if you want another perspective.
I really want to know what people think about this idea, would having multiple player controlled characters and jumping between them be exciting or prevent identification with any one protagonist?
NB I haven’t abandoned Purple Reign, just put it on the back burner. It’s been a while since I worked on it and I’m sure many authors on here will know what it’s like when a new and exciting idea captures their imagination.
I had actually planned on doing this for a work that I plan to resume in a few years, when I’ve finished all my current titles. I was gonna let you choose between three characters to play, and they would all intersect and interact with each other regardless of who you chose. It would be extremely complicated and very long, but I think it would be awesome.
@AlexClifford1994
IIRC, CoG prefers that pitches only have one main character with a single storyline, more to make sure the author finishes the project in the first place than for any other reason. That means if you’re doing multiple characters, you’ll have to do it as a Hosted Game.
I personally would love to see a story with multiple perspectives, especially one around events as ideologically motivated as the Spanish Civil War. If you were planning on making it possible to play through the same events all the way through with four separate characters, I don’t see how that would make it harder to identify with any individual character through the course of the entire playthrough, though it would mean substantially more work.
I think it would be good, as long as, like you said, there was still a choice which of the characters you would control and that control would never after be interrupted.
I know for me I like the idea of multiple characters and storylines that intersect and interact (and I actually almost did a game like that), but at the same time if I choose a woman for my MC I want to play a woman, not a man, and so any sections where I’m forced to be a man will be marred by my annoyance at the switch. If you did a chapter-per-character thing though, that would be fine, because there’s enough of a warning that you’re about to switch.
But, as is the best advice ever given, it’s up to you! I’m sure we’ll all enjoy it no matter what you decide to do! (Also Spanish civil war sounds like a super interesting concept! Good luck writing that!)
Like @Samuel_H_Young, I also have a storyline planned with multiple PC’s (in mine, a human, a dwarf and an elf). The concept is a good one and as long as it is done correctly (I’m thinking continuity about what each character knows) then it’s a great idea.
