Deleted by author moser

Announcing a need to release waste sounds like a very Khajiit trait to me

“Khajiit needs litter. You should see to this, yes?”

More relevantly, my alien:

Name: Makalaket
Gender: Male
Uniform: lightweight armor
Body Type: human
Skin Color: grey
Special Feature 1: pointy ears
Special Feature 2: web hands

Origin: You hail from the planet of Mishariov where it is perfectly acceptable to sample others’ food without asking permission and share your opinion about the taste.

Attributes:

Vitality: 8
Resolve: 8
Allure: 3
Spontaneity: 3
Brilliance: 3

Health: 15
Maximum Health: 16
Special Ability: Perfect Memory
Archetype: Tank

Just wondering, are the attribute distributions set in stone or will there be options to customize them a bit? Like if I wanted to trade a couple vitality points for a bit of brilliance?

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Well, I did not want the non-humanoid characters being “tougher” than the humanoid ones. Like, I didn’t want to automatically give lizard aliens Combat Tails, and I didn’t want to automatically give insect aliens Flight. That would either: 1) give them an extra Ability, which is unfair, or 2) lock them into using that as their Ability, which some folks wouldn’t want.

@Malvastor, I had considered doing a “set your own attributes” approach in character creation, but coding is not my strong suit, and I couldn’t get it to work, so I went with Archetypes which are a LOT easier for me to handle. I thought the 5 Archetypes would provide decent spreads for most people. I might add a 6th one, Generalist, with a 5 in each Attribute, for folks who want a decent shot at passing almost any check.

My wife actually said that if she had a 50% chance at passing a high risk/high reward check, she would roll the dice almost every time, and she’s very risk adverse normally, so she is my inspiration for this one.

General Thought: I’m not sure I like the NPCs having powers that can duplicate the MC’s. For example, at first I thought it was cool that you could “create” your own version of Telka by making a humanoid Empathy/Communicator, but now I’m thinking the duplication waters down the MC’s usefulness and/or makes things too complicated.

Of the 10 offered Abilities, 4 are already possessed by the NPCs.
Trazer, Flight
Telka, Empathy
Jaxer, Taunt
Preston, Telekinesis


Only Perfect Memory, Luck, Hard Skin, Combat Tail, Limited Healing, and Illusions are unique. I wonder if I should limit MC powers to those six, instead? Or perhaps add 4 new ones that don’t duplicate the NPCs? Any thoughts on that?

10 Likes

I’m conflicted. On one hand, I pretty much agree with everything you said. Being able to fully duplicate aNPC character feels weird, and the overlap is kinda redundant if you can just get your crew to do it instead of you.

On the other hand… empathy was the one I chose because I love the idea and the extra depth it gives to character interactions :[

But yeah, I think removing them and adding new ones is probably the best bet here if you can always just get your ally to do it.
That said, if you’re going to get separated from your crew and won’t always have access to the crew’s abilities, then disregard everything I just said. I’m fine with a bit of redundancy in group situations if it lets me use that ability when the crew isn’t around.

3 Likes

I’m really enjoying the demo so far–pretty hype about designing a non-human MC with this much customization over appearance! That’s awesome!

Quick typo–in the very first choice, all the options end in periods except the first one ends in a comma.

And wrt to those options, it feels a little odd that the choices for conventionally attractive and not conventionally attractive are exactly the same. Especially given that most of the cast we meet are gonna be non-humans who probably don’t share the same standards of attractiveness, it makes the option feel very arbitrary, or like a fake choice. I know in the old thread, the discussion of categories leaned a little more towards “basically human,” “humanoid thing,” “a creature with limbs that sure can function in the same space as a person probably,” and defining it more like that rather than by “attractiveness” I think would work a little better. And looking at the options there–stuff like the elongated neck or third eye, that feels like stuff that would make the MC look a little more alien and could be categorized separately from the stuff like pointy ears or stripes

Otherwise, I’m really enjoying this! I like putting my alien together and I’m looking forward to getting to know the cast better!

4 Likes

There’s a poll at the bottom re: new powers I might add!

List of Crew’s Powers
Telekinesis - small items only (Preston)
Empathy - feel emotions only (Telka)
Taunt - tends to lose more health by drawing attacks from others (Jaxer)
Flight - only works in environments with gravity (Trazer)

So assuming I leave these as is, I’ve decided to chop these four powers from MC’s list to avoid duplication. I figure the crew will be together most of the time, and although sometimes you might just be paired off, I still conclude that it seems dumb for a crew of five to feature two members with the exact same ability.

So that leaves these six Abilities, each with a pretty big limitation (this is a good thing)

Good Luck - not very reliable, tends to come and go, cannot be counted on
Perfect Memory - useless in combat, others may not trust your information even if you are certain
Hard Skin - only helps when you are attacked, does not help against mystical or mental attacks
Illusions - cannot harm anyone or make sound, useless against robots or those with strong senses
Limited Healing - damages you in the process, can only heal a limited amount of damage
Combat Tail - only good against opponents at close range, cannot be performed in tight spaces

10 powers was probably too many anyway, but I’d like to add 2 to the list to bump it back to 8. Here are the ones I’m considering: Vote for the two you would like to see added!

  • Toxins - can inadvertently result in death of victim, no way to reduce damage, useless against robots (great for taking down very evil characters)

  • Plant Control - requires you be in close proximity to plant life (kicks ass on many planets)

  • Phasing - you can only phase for a short time, cannot affect others, you are still visible (great for quick escape)

  • Energy Absorption - you can absorb different forms of energy and redirect it toward others. Must release energy to avoid overloading. (great against robots, weapons, etc)

So which ones do you vote for?

  • Toxins
  • Plant Control
  • Phasing
  • Energy Absorption

0 voters

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It probably says a lot about me that my first thought upon reading I’m not what you would call conventionally attractive was: The more unconventional, the better! :joy:

Too bad that we cannot be a wobbly, five-headed tentacle monster, but I certainly get it. At any rate, I chose to resemble a lizard and I was happy that you could even be stylish with gold, pink or violet skin color. Choosing my ability was really hard because I actually wanted to play a Krogan, so hard skin or limited healing seemed like the most fitting choices. Empathy, however, seemed the most appealing for this genius space lizard playthrough.

Build:

Summary

Name: Shiagur
Gender: Female
Uniform: lightweight armor
Body Type: lizard
Skin Color: violet
Special Feature 1:
Special Feature 2:

Origin: You hail from the planet of Tuchanka where it is perfectly acceptable to announce whenever you feel the need to eliminate waste material.

Attributes:

Vitality: 3
Resolve: 3
Allure: 3
Spontaneity: 8
Brilliance: 8

Health: 6
Maximum Health: 6
Special Ability: Empathy
Archetype: Genius

Out of curiosity: Does the “not romantically/sexually attracted” choice lock me out of any kind of romance?

Edit: To clarify: I’m merely asking because either the lack of romantic or sexual attraction – which, personally, I understand as stating that my character identifies as ace and/or aro – are not really indicative of a general disinterest in romantic or sexual relationships. So if that’s the choice that locks the romance content off altogether, it would be clearer if it just said exactly that: The character isn’t interested in romance.

Also: I might want to romance that dolphin science officer just for the ridiculousness. :sweat_smile:

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If we can’t have flight could we have a limited hovering?

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You’re breaking my heart right now.

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Maybe one of the better coders on this thread could help out, sorry that I’m not able to do it either.
I’d still like to try a 7 brilliance, 7 allure, 3 spontaneity, 4 resolve and 4 vitality build. But it’s no biggie since my coding modding skill is certainly sufficient to modify one of the archetypes for my personal use once this has a Steam release version and I have actual, local files to mod. :grin:

Well I’d want to retain at least some sort of psionic/telepathic/telekinetic ability for my space (dark)elf.
Hmmm…I suppose you could give the option for the mc to be a true telepath, able to read actual minds and occasionally influence them too.
Also will we get any true, baseline (modern in our sense of the word) human companions, I thought you had two of them planned originally as well as a robot? Though I suppose if we do visit “our” Earth or something very much like it we might pick up our own Crichton there.

4 Likes

Okay, so, this is all very preliminary and I’m sure I’m going to make changes but my beloved MC Samir needs to be a beautiful alien man.

Stats

Rough Design

image

10 Likes

Finished the demo! It’s unfortunate that Empathy is being removed, but I’m jazzed about getting one of the new powers. On the topic of customization options: I feel like simply picking a body type is a bit of a letdown for the “vaguely humanoid” types. A few suggestions for special features (generally more towards the “vaguely humanoid” end):

  • bulbous, protruding eyes
  • pharyngeal jaws
  • smooth, flat nasal ridge
  • second, vestigal set of limbs.

MC below, weird-looking giraffe neck triclops with a few Aasimov references thrown in:

Summary

Return to the Game Restart Settings

Basic Alien Information:

Name: R-Daneel
Gender: Male
Uniform: practical uniform
Body Type: human
Skin Color: blue
Special Feature 1: third eye
Special Feature 2: long neck

Origin: You hail from the planet of Terminus where it is perfectly acceptable to remove all clothing when making an important decision with allies.

Attributes:

Vitality: 3
Resolve: 4
Allure: 8
Spontaneity: 5
Brilliance: 5

Health: 6
Maximum Health: 7
Special Ability: Empathy
Archetype: Communicator

@Mewsly He’s lovely, and so is your art.

3 Likes

Woah this is so cool!!! I’m hooked already, especially because the more I can customise my character the more I love a game, and I can be an ALIEN?? Sign me up!!

My alien!

Basic Alien Information:

Name: Yrane
Gender: Nonbinary
Uniform: jumpsuit
Body Type: human
Skin Color: silver
Special Feature 1: third eye
Special Feature 2: spots

Origin: You hail from the planet of Tarrqi Xe where it is perfectly acceptable to sample others’ food without asking permission and share your opinion about the taste.

Attributes:

Vitality: 3
Resolve: 4
Allure: 8
Spontaneity: 5
Brilliance: 5

Health: 7
Maximum Health: 7
Special Ability: Perfect Memory
Archetype: Communicator

I’m gonna make art of them too probably, honestly. (Will post here if I do!)

@Mewsly Wow!! Not only your art is pretty, your character is both gorgeous and interesting!!

3 Likes

Basic Alien Information:

Name: Samuel-9
Gender: Male
Uniform: flowing robes(I don’t really understand what flowing robes mean, after all ancient Chinese men wear robes along with the women).
Body Type: human
Skin Color: green
Special Feature 1: third eye
Special Feature 2: stripes

Origin: You hail from the planet of Alpha 1 where it is perfectly acceptable to sample others’ food without asking permission and share your opinion about the taste.

Attributes:

Vitality: 8
Resolve: 8
Allure: 3
Spontaneity: 3
Brilliance: 3

Health: 16
Maximum Health: 16
Special Ability: Combat Tail
Archetype: Tank
Can you make some art about him?( Along with him wearing his robes, it would be pretty cool).

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Here is my character. I couldn’t resist. :grin:

Kif Kroker

Name: Kif Kroker
Uniform: jumpsuit
Body Type: Human (not attractive)
Skin Color: Green
Special Feature 1: Pointy ears
Special Feature 2: web hands

Origin: Amphibious-9, where it is perfectly acceptable to sample other people’s food without asking.

Archetype: Genius
Power: Perfect memory

5 Likes

I admit that I’m pretty excited to see the level of interest in this! I am having fun writing early in the morning before work, and knowing that folks would like to see more of this really motivates me! Really looking forward to posting an update on Sunday!

Looking at the poll, with 46 voters chiming in, Energy Absorption is at 63%, Phasing is 52%, and Plant Control is 52%. Since those are so incredibly close, I decided to add all three to the list. And since I’d prefer to have an even number of Abilities (it’s a thing!), I’ll also include Toxins to bump the Ability list up to an even 10.

New Complete List: (alphabetical order)

Combat Tail
Energy Absorption
Good Luck
Illusions
Limited Healing
Perfect Memory
Phasing
Plant Control/Communication
Thick Skin
Toxins

That seems like a nice, balanced list with some combat, support, utility, etc., with no Ability objectively underpowered or overpowered. I am locking that in now so I can move forward with certainty.

There’s always the chance of the MC obtaining some weapons/gear along the way as well!

9 Likes

Really interesting game so far! I am looking forward to this comedic take on space opera. Anyways, here is my alien!

Basic Alien Information:

Name: Alterith-21
Gender: Male
Uniform: practical uniform
Body Type: human
Skin Color: gold
Special Feature 1: pointy ears
Special Feature 2: spots

Origin: You hail from the planet of Delta-Sigma-378 where it is perfectly acceptable to sample others’ food without asking permission and share your opinion about the taste.

Attributes:

Vitality: 3
Resolve: 4
Allure: 8
Spontaneity: 5
Brilliance: 5

Health: 7
Maximum Health: 7
Special Ability: Perfect Memory
Archetype: Communicator

1 Like
Basic Alien Information:

Name: Rosie
Gender: Female
Uniform: skimpy outfit
Body Type: human
Skin Color: pink
Special Feature 1: antennae
Special Feature 2: spots

Origin: You hail from the planet of Qoter-15 where it is perfectly acceptable to remove all clothing when making an important decision with allies.

Attributes:

Vitality: 3
Resolve: 4
Allure: 8
Spontaneity: 5
Brilliance: 5

Health: 7
Maximum Health: 7
Special Ability: Empathy
Archetype: Communicator

I was going to pick skimpy outfit and the remove all clothing option anyway, but I did think that it fits the title. :wink: I’ll be majorly disappointed if the option doesn’t come up later.

I’m disappointed too that Empathy is going away, so I’m going with Plant Control, but I like healing and illusions too.

If you’re going to have a character creator instead of working it in the story, I think the customization options are too limiting right now.


Regarding the story, I think there’s too much going on right at the start. Too many character introductions close together, and there are lots of things to keep track of that it’s hard to remember what I read a few paragraphs ago. I think it would be better if you give a simple description at first, then the details later when everything else has been established.

I like the tone of the story though! I hope to see more!

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Awww…no telepathy/telekinesis/psionics for the mc anymore. Guess it’ll have to be good luck for the mc now, though that seems more like an individual and less like a species “ability”.

Also:
and with your crew 32 light years from home.
32 light years doesn’t seem very much in FTL sci-fi terms, particularly when the science officer casually references a system 2400 light years away just before.
Star Trek Voyager had to cover 70000 light years to home somehow, is you want a medium distance between that maybe 32000 light years would be more appropriate?