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MC of Future Project
🕑 Added 2019-12-13 15:58:13 +0000 UTCHello Patrons,
Just wanted to get your thoughts for the MC for the next PixelFade project! This is a question that comes up very early in the planning stages and we wanted to get your feedback on it.
The primary question is, how much of a personality/history should MC have? The two ends of the spectrum is:
The Blank Slate - The MC that basically has a non-revealed past and the personality is really made by the choices the player makes.
The Character - The MC has a full past along with a general principle of personality that provides a range of choices but not as open/broad as a blank slate.
The benefit of going more towards blank slate is that the MC is a character that you, the player, can feel more as "I am that character". It also lets the choices be more wide ranged since the personality and history is not predefined. The downside is that the blank slate is really a vessel and doesn't feel as "integrated" to the story. Opposite to this, a character with a rich history which gives them motives, morality, strengths/weaknesses will feel more organic as a character (like the rest of the game's cast), but then there are limitations on choice range.
If we look at previous PixelFade games, on a range of 1 being the Blank Slate and 10 being The Character, this is what we had so far:
ACE Academy - (7): The character has a past, a history, relationships with family members...etc. An example of choice range is that MC cannot be mean to Nikki (he can be teasing!) since their relationship is established as close. Within that range he has options to be playful, teasing, brotherly, though they all come from a place of affection as an example.
Crystalline - (2): The character's past is barely revealed and inconsequential to the game; he doesn't really have any baggage. There are more opportunities to really have diverging personality choices in this instance though as some players noted, leaving Earth didn't have a "pull" since we don't even know why he would want to go back since as a player all you saw was Terra.
Ethereal Enigma - (5): The character has a basic past, some relationships with family and a general personality. He has a wider option of choices for personality since he's not as pre-defined, but at the same time has connections that are already established.
The question here is, what is your preference for an MC? Are you a bigger fan of the blank slate or the character? Please feel free to vote your preference as well as any feedback on the comments below.
NOTE: You can vote your two most preferred option so as to have a better average when all votes are in!
This post is integral for the consideration of the next MC so please make your voice heard!! :^)
Thank You,
Comments
hardcorebutter
Kinda late on that one, but imo i loved the MC design of Ace. What i really liked about that were the options of choosing rather being athletic or intelligent... would love to see some of those "presets" in other games. Keep up your great work!
Holy Miss Information
I think there should be a general outline of a character with a good back story and then its up to you to decide where the journey goes with respect to the character that has been outlined. A 10 would feel more like a VN without any options (which I dislike, I think it is the strength of the medium to allow for choices that make VNs great). ~8 would be interesting if the character is really really intreresting. ~5 is balanced which is always good. ~ 3-1 can feel too generic, unless you really make the player the PC instead of roleplaying someone else.
Carlos Gonzalez
I prefer something along the lines of Dragon Age Origins for a silent protag. In that game the origins made for just the right amount of backstory and still allowed the player to do their own thing once they concluded. I'd rank that as a 4/5 on this scale.
bonk
I think going for an 8-10 would be very interesting. Being a 10 doesn't mean it needs to become a kinetic novel by any means, and I imagine having a very developed character would make for more focused writing which is always good.
Christopher Hollier
I'm not knocking Crystalline, it's a wonderful visual novel, but I do prefer some preverbal meat on the MC's backstory bones.
The Gentleman
If we are given choices of predefined MCs, I think I would be happy with that. However, I also prefer when the MC has more openness to his personality. I like the idea of choices being given in the prologue as well, but that's essentially the same thing; just more details. If we were to do a fully developed character, the MC wouldn't be as versatile, and he may end up being forced into a situation that I would like to avoid. For example; I would rather the MC not be a jerk unless I am given that option. In short, I think PF's first game ACEd it!
Eclipse Productions
Dammit Daryl, you stole what I was gonna say haha. My sentiments line up with his.
Daryl Sawyer
I'm fond of the MC in Ace Academy, so I'm going to have to go with that. It took me a while to come around to Crystalline, partially due to the "single route" nature of it, partially because I never really got attached to the PC (that said, for an isekai, it works, since there's no point to establishing a backstory that never comes into the foreground). I won't really know how much I like the EE method until I've played the whole thing, but on the whole, I'm satisfied. I voted 7, but when leaving room for error, lean toward 6, not 8.
I think a small backstory with just enough detail to give the player motivation, or some kind of tether to the MC and their position in the world is a better approach. I also think that giving the MC a few small quirks in dialogue would keep all them from getting too similar, maybe have one who's more inclined to be a show off or one who's got a darker sense of humour then others. I think giving the MC enough of a character without affecting dialogue choice versatility would be the best way to keep a majority of people happy without making the MC turn into the same character everytime.
Joey Mecone
I prefer the crystalline-like MC. So much better than a developed one imo.
