Hello everyone! I’m currently working on a zombie story where you get to play as a seventeen-year-old character. However, I’m facing a problem with incorporating the intelligence stat. Due to the age and initial reliance on others in the story, the use of stats is limited.
I would appreciate any tips on how to make the intelligence stat more relevant in the first few chapters. In my game, there are three stats (strength, charisma, and intelligence), but it’s not stat-heavy. The stats are primarily used for flavor texts and altering some choices’ outcomes.
In the initial chapters, the other statistics are employed more frequently than intelligence.
Maybe have the intelligence stat linked to your ability to use technology. Like repairing objects, improving structures. Recognising high-value loot etc.
You could maybe use intelligence to represent MC thinking and fighting tactically. For an example of flavor text, maybe when you’re entering a new building, you could have something like:
“You instinctively spend the first few seconds locating any possible exits, feeling relieved when you see a suitably large window across the room.”
For straight-up fights, intelligent MCs might be better at using the environment and improvised weapons:
“Grabbing a tall barstool, you pin a zombie against the wall, allowing Alice to lop its head off with her machete.”
Just spitballing. It might be tough to always think of the “smartest” way to deal with any given encounter.
