Besides name, gender and sexuality, the characters’ responses to the MC’s personality matters to me a lot. Sometimes, I am kind of bothered when the NPCs’ responses are personality-invariant.
I want to choose things that matter to the specific story being told. But, including name and gender helps me determine who the MC is. I have played games that didn’t initially mention gender, but in the middle or the end of the game I was suddenly revealed to be a male and that broke my immersion.
Sexuality is only important in games that have romance options. I feel like it is important to establish this in order to better avoid rape-ish or sexual assault- ish themes. The arthur can better predict how the MC would react to a romance option that is more forward and makes the first move. I think being forcefully kissed or touched by someone I don’t like is not a nice thing and may upset some people. I remember being nice to a character in a non choice of script game because I wanted to be friends, but was unpleasantly shocked when the character tried to romance me.
In modern day settings, apperance shouldn’t matter. I don’t like racism or sexism in games, but you can include apperance if it matters, but just don’t make it too long and quiz like. For example, if MC is an elf, is MC a small santa elf or a tall Lord of the Rings elf? That would help MC understand the character because not everyone knows what your elf looks like. If your game had a setting like the Wolf Among us where the characters were fairy tales, an animal fairy tale had to buy expensive glamors in order to live in the human world and not on the farm. A human fairy tale like Cinderella would have a different life than the three little pigs
I would also note that it could be hard to be inclusive when dealing with apperance. How many hair colors are there? Did you include people with blue hair, rainbow hair, ombre hair, two tone hair etc…
I don’t drink alcohol, but I would only want that included if it’s relevant to the game. Don’t just plainly ask me.Maybe MC is at a bar (because MC’s friends dragged MC there, MC wants to meet new people, MC was lost and just needed to use the phone or some reason that makes since to the Mc) and someone buys MC an alcoholic drink and MC and the alcohol buyer can have a talk about drinkd or the MC could snub the buyer , etc.
I like having the option to choose why I did an action. The Guenavive WIP did this nicely. I generally don’t lie or manipulate characters in gmes, but I like the option because sometimes the arthur misinterprets the reason for my actions.
@Shawn_Patrick_Reed
I think it makes a game worse when you make the MC do something they would never do because it breaks immersion. You can give the MC the setting and plot, but you can’t force opinions on them. Look at my bar example. The MC doesn’t have to be at the.bar because they love getting drunk and picking up chicks; the MC could choose to only be there because they were lost or a reason that they agreed with. I don’t think that you should automatically decide that the NPC is extremely attractive for no reason unless the NPC is a succubis or something like that. Also, dont give the NPC a description that the MC would find unattractive like Brendon in the rebel wip . Most of the time I don’t have a picture in my head of what the choice of games NPCs look like, but I like being able to fill in the missing details.with aspects that I personally find pleasant, but I don’t like to define a romance option/npc’s apperance in game because of the limitations of choosing an apperance which I mentioned above. I can be kind of shallow sometimes and I almost didn’t play a wounderful visual novel because the art wasn’t the best, so I don’t think you should unintentionally give people reasons to not like the npc.
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general appearance like hair colour and ethnicity would be lovely to add. for example I really love the MCs appearance choices in “fallen hero” demo I can choose to be asian/arabic/mexican. also I can choose to look either tall/short, and thin/average/bit plump like in that game
Mcs personality that affect the choice also great but I know this one will be really hard and only a handful of writer can manage this. so I am not too pushy on this one.
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This might seem a little weird, but for me, I find that while writing, it is easier for me to write a variation of personalities than a variation of appearances. For the MC, that is. I’m still doing it, but personality flows better than appearance, I think. We’ll see. I’m getting close to my second compilation point for beta testing for CScomp for my game.
As for… the description of a character as attractive. That particular case, in my particular game… I feel that it is necessary, but explaining why would be like giving away a big spoiler. So I’ll just say ‘It makes sense, please trust me.’ and try not to make that sound too smug. 
Let me guess…
Succubus? (Sorry but when I hear someone is pretty because plot reasons this is my first guess)
I want to mention, I’ve gotten several pieces of fan mail at this point thanking me for having trans and gender non-binary options in Creatures Such as We. I think that’s important to consider and keep in mind.
I also appreciate games that have options for different orientations, but I hate setting that as a variable a question instead of just allowing natural choices.
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My plan for my WIP is to handle this essentially as opt-out rather than opt-in. Rather than explicitly saying “you are interested in men”, “you are interested in women”, “you are interested in both”, you get something like this (very VERY not the actual prose involved) -
As NPC toys with his fork across the table, it suddenly registers on you that he’s being flirtatious.
(choices)
- Flirt back - he’s attractive!
- Don’t flirt back - you’re not interested in him.
- Don’t flirt back - you are never interested in men.
If you pick the last option, it sets a boolean so that you’ll never be offered the option to flirt with a man again.
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All that matters to me is gender and sexuality, I think. I wouldn’t even mind not being able to choose my name. It’s just a name, after all.
Other than that…hmm, I don’t particularly care. I mean, I wouldn’t say no to being able to choose my character’s looks (and I always try to give people the option to choose how their character looks - I don’t want to force them into playing a white character, for example, or someone with a completely average figure as opposed to someone with curves), but more often than not it ends up not mattering at all.
Background is something I’d personally rather NOT choose. It’s hard for an author to implement a whole bunch of different backstories and still make them relevant to the present. So I’d rather have a set background that matters. (But I also don’t mind slipping into the shoes of a character who isn’t a blank slate. I was completely fine with how Heroes Rise did things, for example. Except for the whole ‘you have a crush on Black Magic, suck it up’ thing - that was annoying.)
I guess the way I’m going about my game is to keep it open. In my game, there’s no option for the player to choose their orientation. They can romance any of their preference without having to go through an orientation option. My NPC’s have set genders and personalities with their own set orientation. The options that I’ll be introducing (and that I like myself) are your basics: name, gender and appearance. To me, those are what I’d like to see in games.
But introducing orientation within a choice is fine with me as long as it’s an interesting way and not just “What orientation are you?” So, I like @cvaneseltine 's example.
It’s a bit different. Personality defines how your character reacts to things; appearance more often affects how other characters react to you. I’ve been playing with an Attractiveness stat in Monsters of New Haven High, and am trying to figure out how to phase it out in favor of a Confidence stat (I’ll probably end up having some combination of the two.)
Coding appearance is easy. When the MC first defines their appearance (which as I mentioned elsewhere, could be optional) you code in a few variables for hair color, length, etc. Then if it comes up organically in the writing that these things would make a difference, you can reference them.
Two that I’ve used in MoNHH:
- When a wendigo is washing their hair in a sink, the length variable defines how much hair they have to wash.
- If a werewolf has dyed hair (fill in the color via input_text, set dyed true) the other werewolves their age will think they’re cool and rebellious.
I’ll probably end up adding more references back in later. It doesn’t matter nearly as much as the core stats, but it could be fun to give more than a nod to.
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I would love to talk about how I’m incorporating personalities into my game because I think it’s an important part of it and very complex (well, it’s a lot of work for me haha). Especially with the variety that I’ll be introducing. But I don’t want to give anything away for the CScomp. When it’s over, I’d like to get opinions on the matter.
As @Sashira said, personality defines how your character reacts to things - A choice in games that I’d like to see more of. Giving a variety of responses the MC can make gives a deeper feeling of immersion.
I’m still quite new to coding (the CScomp being my first attempt) but I have to say that appearance is definitely easy for me. Also, I think I’m a sucker for going overboard with using variables. I include a lot of little things depending on the choices made by the MC and their appearance. It’s just something I find really fun to do.
Lately, my problem is that WIPs offer too many customization options.
I realize it’s very iimportant for a lot of people on the forum to be able to choose hair color, skin color, and other such things, but I simply don’t care, because I know those choices won’t make a difference, anyway. I just pick what feels right, and hope that the next choice will be more meaningful.
I just like the illusion that all my choices matter - whether they actually do is optional.
Hollywood Visionary handled that quite well: There was one scene where you could pick an affectation (a cowboy hat, a fedora, etc.). Before I played that game I didn’t know I would be able to care about that, but the characters talked about it and I could even name my film-studio after it. Somehow that made me think about my choice more carefully.
I’m not sure how to do something like that with a hair color choice - maybe NPC A finds you more attractive because you’re exactly their type, but NPC B isn’t interested in you initially?
So I guess you could say I prefer customization options that matter, instead of those that are simply there.
Other than that I would like to choose my gender and sexuality. Also I prefer being able to change my mind about NPCs or concepts once I learn more about them. I don’t being locked into specific choices simply because I didn’t know better at the time.
Take Sabres of Infinity, for example: At the beginning you get to choose whether to befriend Cazarosta or Elson. I picked Cazarosta. Once I get to know them, however, I realized I liked Elson more, and consequently spent the rest of the game trying to reverse my relationship stats. I’m still not sure whether I actually managed to succeed…
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@cvaneseltine nods The way I’m approaching sexuality in my game is… well, based on two stats rather than one. One of them defines how interested you are in sex and romance in general, and the other is, literally, an orientation stat. For the orientation stat, I’m using % and three booleans. One boolean for pan/bisexual, one boolean for not really being sure- being timid and shy basically, and one boolean for not being interested in either men or women (which lowers the other stat, but doesn’t cut you out from people flirting with you and you, possibly, growing to like someone back). So being a regular hetero male or lesbian sets your orientation to 25, while being a hetero female or gay male sets your orientation to 75. You might still get flirted with by a member of the sex that is not your preference. If you voice a strong bias, it shifts your orientation- so you might no longer get flirted with by your non-preference. Or, you could get coaxed into a relationship you weren’t expecting, even though you still have your sexual preference, but it would be tougher- and you probably wouldn’t think you’re interested back… but if you have a high enough amount in the other stat that determines how interested you are in sex and relationships in general, it might end up happening despite your thoughts that ‘No, this shouldn’t be happening! Make it stop!’
@Sashira Well… My game is a realistic fiction horror game… I was thinking that ‘We don’t really get to choose who we are, and our names are given to us- and we tend to take this for granted.’ So I decided to let people choose their name- there are 4 options + type your own for females, 4 options + type your own for males. And your name sets your appearance- and then based on which you’ve chosen, there might be easter eggs you can find in the game that are specific to which you are, including if you’ve typed your own. I figure, as a horror game, very subtly taking a certain amount of ‘total control’ away from the player helps create a more immersive, powerless feeling. Without being totally blatant about it right away. It turns out the approach I chose is actually more involved as a coder than setting variables for hair color, length, and such (I do have variables for hair color and eye color) - but I’m also able to write out some things that are more involved and specific to certain ones. In the long run, I think I could probably go wild with it the way I’ve got it set up, but for CScomp I’m trying to focus on getting done to the point I want to reach (the end of the first chapter). @KP_Paul and @CrownCrypt - the above statement also applies to what you both said. The customization in my game is all about how you -play- your character, I’m trying to both give you the freedom to be the kind of person you want to be, and take some of that away now and then when ‘the personality you have’ decides what you do for you. It’s going to be interesting to see what people think of my approach. 
About my stats: All of the stats in my game influence your personality. And just personality. How you see the world and how other people see you. But it works for my game because it’s a horror, I think- not every game can make do without some kind of strength or skill stats.
Ah, I see. I think I understand your approach there and how you’re going about it. I can certainly say that I look forward to seeing your game after the CScomp! It seems very promising and I’m interested to see your approach in action. I’m also interested in the stats you speak of. So I’m looking forward to it.
I’m still unable to throw my own approach out there but I can say that in my approach it’s not exactly how you play …but then it is. Confusing, I’m sure. I’m trying to give the MC as much freedom as they’d like while at the same time created a ground base to start on.
Like as you said for appearance, and @KP_Paul , in my game as well there are special interactions that are only achieved through what is chosen. One of the importances to me is that every option gets a strength and weakness - and that when a person plays they don’t loose out simply because they chose a certain appearance or action. There will be special scenes here and there for each variable, and each will vary.
Haha, I’m struggling myself to get at least a good enough portion of the game done for the CScomp. My goal is to get to the end of the first chapter as well. And we’re both working it hard in the code, so I wish us both luck!
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I don’t think I would like an opt out forever button. In real life, I exclusively like guys, so I’d hit that “Never into women” button in a heartbeat, but then I’d be pretty peeved with myself if actually the only good prospect turned out to be the female character, which happens on occasion. I like the flirt tracking system somewhat more, and would enjoy that more as tracked more on a case-by-case basis: in video games, I’m more concerned about forming relationships with individual characters instead of adhering to an orientation.
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The flip side to this is that it can be uncomfortable for some players to be constantly asked “hey, are you going to flirt with this person?”, either because they’re not into romance with a certain gender, or just not into romance in video games.
That’s why I’m inclined to provide a full opt-out as well as a character-by-character opt-out. It might trip up a couple people who use it and regret it, as you noted, but… I think offering that comfort level is important.
@cvaneseltine I’m attempting to take a middle route in my game. Which… well, it is tough to do. NPCs don’t know your sexual orientation just by looking at you… but they know after you’ve made it clear. I’m attempting to do this sort of thing that’s more realistic- so characters won’t flirt with you if they think they shouldn’t. So… maybe sometimes MC is put into an uncomfortable position. But relevant to the story… but isn’t necessarily put into an uncomfortable position. Actually, my head is kindof spinning with the amount of code I’m using getting this to work through the game. XD But it is fun.
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can you give me an example of what you mean by this?? I have been dealing with A LOT of dialogue in my games and am still trying to figure out how to make it open to options but yet not over doing it but still making it meaningful to readers.
What I think, and have been trying to do, is to write options for dialogue that really show the player’s personality. So not every line the protagonist has needs to be selectable. But if it’s maybe an emotional line, or they’re interacting with a character, you can make up some lines to choose based on how a character might feel about that person or situation.
I’m not sure about examples, but say a character says something important. The player can choose to respond kindly, maybe act irritated, or sarcastically.
I think there should be enough that the character can be defined, and really there’s no overdoing it unless EVERY unimportant line was selectable.
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The problem I run into, is the tendency to keep branching the dialogue because depending on what you say, it can effect the conversation. It’s a lot of work, but makes it more fun. just trying to figure out all this stuff