Character Customization Poll

I was quite pleased with the number of people who responded to the Character Customization Poll. 120 people voted, and the results were interesting. At first, a significant number of people voted for Skin Tone / Ethnicity, which I found interesting. Very few AIF games allow for that choice, and when they do it is rarely ever referenced. I can think of several games that allow for the choice of the PC's skin tone, and then don't really ever reference it. It is especially challenging to include Skin Tone or Ethnicity in a game that uses static images for visuals, as it requires an entirely new character, rather than just swapping out hair colors or outfits. Eventually, the Body category won out, receiving 52% of the votes, which isn't surprising since it is such a major area of customization that can impact visuals as well as gameplay. Clothing was the second highest category with 21% of the votes, again not surprising due to the obvious impacts on visuals and gameplay. I was surprised that hair color and hair style didn't receive more votes. For my current efforts, I've decided to initially allow for a limited selection of body types, hair styles, and hair colors. More can be added if the demand if high enough. I will focus on clothing as the major option, since that has the greatest impact on gameplay. If demand if high enough, I will look at adding a Skin Tone / Ethnicity option later on. For the winning category, body customization, there are two main ways I see customization being done for a female PC. First, allow the Player to select from a small range of predefined body types (petite, voluptuous, lanky, etc.) or have a single basic body type with varied breast sizes. For a male PC, the same option would hold with varied penis sizes. However, I don't know how popular smaller penises would be, so that may be a waste of effort! For a male PC, it might make more sense to only allow the overall body type selection (muscular, average, skinny, etc).   Any thoughts?

Scene Differences

So far I have shown a few basic portraits. In the current design, players will also be able to examine a full character of themselves and NPCs, which will show the current outfit. Below is an example of this view:

In addition to examining characters, there will also be images for specific scenes. These images, when they show the PC, will of course take into account the PC's outfit, hair, etc. Here is an example of the same scene, with two different PC hair styles:

Great new game!

I want to highlight a great new game that includes some of the same gameplay concepts I have been working to develop in my own work. This game includes a great blend of schedule management and detailed interactions during specific scenes. This dynamic allows for a wide range of game play, without tons of extra clicking or micromanagement. End result is an efficient system that allows for a high level of player control while remaining focused on the most interesting decisions and scenes, instead of spending most of the game clicking through the same mundane actions.

The author has extensive plans to deepen and lengthen the game play, and I am excited to see where this goes!

Splendid Ostrich: Newlife
http://splendidostrich.blogspot.co.uk/?zx=e27d28b51bc6ea3a

For my own work, I would kill to have a system like this to work with. RAGS is great, and saves tons of time with basic systems implemented, but it lacks some features I would like, such as built-in scheduling.

Updated Portrait Example

Here is another crack at a simple portrait. I've played with the head shape a bit, and I think I fixed the eyes - let me know what you think!

One key element of the current design is age. The current portrait is designed to show a female PC, at least 18 years old. The PC can then age over time (episodes of the game in practice). Does this example seem like a good crack at that initial age?

Thanks!

First Preview of New Art

Here is a preview of the updated art style.

I am currently using Daz Studio, but have now begun to work with Reality as my rendering engine within Daz. I like Reality so far because it allows me to rapidly create high quality images. This same image would likely take an hour or more in Studio, but using Reality it only took 15 minutes.

 This image is a basic character portrait. In RAGS, this would be a basic portrait for the PC and could be seen in the small portrait window, or in a larger form through an 'Examine Myself' action.

Let me know your thoughts on the general quality of the style. Enough detail? Too much? Too light? Too dark? How about the composition of the image as a portrait? Is this expression too neutral? I try to keep portrait images for players fairly neutral because I don't want the game to dictate the player's state of mind at all times, and if the portrait shows the player with a gigantic smile right after they have their lunch money stolen, it seems a bit disconnected.

Thanks!

Character Customization, Gameplay, and Visuals

Here we go with the first actual game designed related post!

One of the big struggles for AIF is the tension between visuals, text, and gameplay. In the early days of AIF, this was simple because very few games used visuals. Now it is far more common, and is certainly a key part of my vision of the games I want to create. I understand those that are against visuals being a key part of AIF, but I enjoy creating them and featuring them in the games I design.

The challenge comes in terms of the amount of images needed for a game, which increases with the game's complexity. A linear game without customization can get away with a limited number of images, because the possible variables are low. Once you start allowing for non-linear gameplay and / or customization, the number of required images grows exponentially. This not only increases the amount of images that need to be created, but also increases the size of the game file, which is a consideration for some players.

With my current efforts, this becomes an issue with player character customization. While no game using static images can ever compete with the Sims or Skyrim in terms of the variety of possible character visuals, I believe that complex AIF can allow for some customization of the player. Personally, determining the player's visuals are a huge part of RPGs, and AIF as well. I always feel more connected and immersed in a game that lets me define my own character, rather than being forced to play a pre-generated one.

The question comes with the balance between having many options, versus the number of required images.

For example, if we allow the player 2 clothing options, 2 hair color and 2 hair style choices, then the total number of basic images for the player is 8. But what if we decide that the player should also be able to have a custom body, with 2 options? Now the total number of required visuals is 16! And what if we decide that the total number of clothing options should be 10? Now we need at least 38 images of the PC! And that is just for a single portrait view of the character, not including the number of variations required if we want to show the PC in various scenes or other images. Yikes - that gets out of hand quickly, especially considering my crummy math abilities!

I'm curious what the playerbase wants most out of this part of the game design. No customization / pre-generated PC with tons of images? Limited choice between pre-generated PCs with lots of images? Some customization with some images? Or tons of customization with few images? Or the best of all worlds with full customization and many images? And if customization is desired, which elements are most important?

I think the game genre also plays a role. If I am working on a fantasy game like Adventures, I don't see customization as being quite as important as a game with a modern theme. The reason is that in a game like Adventures, players are off in the wilderness or dungeons or whatever for most of the game, and thus it makes sense for them to have a limited wardrobe, for example. In a more modern game, players should be able to head to the mall to buy outfits or get a hair cut or dye their hair or whatever. A rogue sneaking through a dungeon is probably going to stick with the same leather armor much longer than a college kid is going to stick with the same t-shirt and jeans - or maybe not!

I have created a poll, which should be available on the right side of the blog. I'm interested in which elements of customization are most important to players. I'm also interested in your feedback / comments on this subject, or requests for specific topics to be raised.

In the next few days, I plan to have some details about the project I am focusing on, with some of the current visuals as well.

Thanks!

Alive!

First off, my apologies for the long, awful silence. Life became rather complicated over the last year, and my ability to work on these projects was extremely limited.

Thankfully, that has now changed!

I am back at work again, and there has been some progress. However, it may be progress on something unexpected...

I will be more active now, on the blog and in development. I have been working on Adventures, but also on a game with a modern theme. Both projects have a couple years of halting progress behind them. I tend to get stalled on one and then shift to the other, which helps keep me fresh.

My goal is to have something ready for release by the end of 2014. It won't be a complete, finished game, but it will hopefully be playable. That release will help me get your feedback before I spend too much more time on something that you may or may not even like!

Coming soon, I will be asking for basic feedback on some game design concepts I am working with. I will also have some new, vastly improved game images to share, again with an eye towards feedback.

More to follow soon!