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Original post by frostburn I don't see any problems with such dark possiblities as having been a mine slave or child soldier or anything else really. If it could happen in real life I don't think it should be impossible in a game world. Of course you shouldn't be too graphic about it and when you're designing it you shouldnd go out of your way to choose bad fates rather than good ones. It does open up some interesting posibilities in the main game, such as revenge against oppressors or an abusive father, having become a criminal or many other things.

Yes, I thought this might also be perfect ground for symbolizing the mind. Bad things would strengthen, give bonuses as well as drawbacks. Kind of a "that which does not kill you makes you stronger, but a little crazier" mentality.

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Original post by frostburn @Nathan Baum: I don't think the plan is to play for a long time as a child. It's just a sort of prelude and character creation before the main game. I'd think about 5-20 minutes will be enough. My "version" will be even shorter, as I was just planning on using text screens and a total of five or so choices.

It would be nice if this could be user defined, which is some of what I've been going after with the idea that you're playing through vignettes in life until you choose to leap forward.

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Original post by Gyrthok I haven't seen many games that build on the lifespan of a person from beginning to end. For a specific example of such a system you could check out Alter Ego: Male/Female at The Underdogs. The games rather interesting since it allows you to be a bully, play "doctor" with a friend, get into fights, or just not bond with your parent. Its mostly in text and it doesn't go that deeply into questionable grounds.

Thanks for the link. It's been partly from playing that game that I've been so galvanized. I've wanted to capture some of this for awhile now, but that game showed a very interesting way of doing so (and it's mostly text!)

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Getting into such dark territory involving underaged characters can be rather delicate for various reasons. It has been done but most of the time its through implication (a childs skull on a shelf on some sicko's torture room in one of the resident evil games) or suggestion (Silent Hill). There would have to be some rather extensive debate on what elements would be considered acceptable.

The first thing I can think of is reaction to child 3D models shooting and killing each other, as would be the case with a child soldier or street gang fate. I can see this causing a lot of controversy if actualized in graphics.