I'm glad the idea has been so well recieved so I'll go ahead with it. I haven't decided how complex I will make it as I haven't finalized what character stats I will have. But I think I will go with the idea that each photo represents an important event in that year of the characters life, which will mean 12 or 13 choices. Does that sound like it might be to many choices to have to make?

At each choice the player will be able to choose between 2 to 6 photos but generally it will be 4. The available choices will be based on previous choices and all choices will alter one or more character traits.

There will be no good or bad choices since all choices will increase some traits and decreases others. So if at age 6 you are presented with 4 photos:

1 - A child playing alone in a room full of expensive toys
2 - A child holding a flower and standing in front of two graves
3 - A child blowing out candles on a birthday cake surrounded by family members
4 - A child meeting another child.

All those choices would affect the character in different ways but there would be no wrong choice.

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Original post by TechnoGoth I'm glad the idea has been so well recieved so I'll go ahead with it. I haven't decided how complex I will make it as I haven't finalized what character stats I will have. But I think I will go with the idea that each photo represents an important event in that year of the characters life, which will mean 12 or 13 choices. Does that sound like it might be too many choices to have to make?

If you are going with one choice every year (which makes sense) then a dozen or so choices would be expected. It might seem a bit long for some people; you could offer a "random" selector that picks for you or some premade characters to counter that. But I wouldn't have a problem going through a dozen choices, particularly if there were interesting and presented well; the use of photos in an album will make it enjoyable.

The main problem with having a dozen choices is that you'll need to have a complex web of photos; choosing some types of photos early on will invalidate others later on. For example, if you pick the "orphan" photo at age 6, you can't a photo of the child's dad teaching him/her to play football at age 8 (well, maybe it's a foster father [smile]). However, you also can't just have a different set of photos for every decision made (unless you generate the photos procedurally), as with 4 choices mean on year 12 you'll need to design over 16 million photos! You'll need to design the options carefully.

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All those choices would affect the character in different ways but there would be no wrong choice.

Are you planning on showing the player what effect the choice will have? I can see benefits in either leaving it hidden, or just alluding to what effect that would have (i.e. "you become tougher, but less likely to confide in other people"). I'd also think it would be cute if you could somehow the desciptions appropriate for what you'd write in a photo album.

It really is a good idea for character generation, so I'd love to see how it turns out.

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Original post by Trapper Zoid If you are going with one choice every year (which makes sense) then a dozen or so choices would be expected. It might seem a bit long for some people; you could offer a "random" selector that picks for you or some premade characters to counter that. But I wouldn't have a problem going through a dozen choices, particularly if there were interesting and presented well; the use of photos in an album will make it enjoyable.

I'll have a couple of premade characters to choose from and a random generator wouldn't be hard to do, so why not.

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The main problem with having a dozen choices is that you'll need to have a complex web of photos; choosing some types of photos early on will invalidate others later on. For example, if you pick the "orphan" photo at age 6, you can't a photo of the child's dad teaching him/her to play football at age 8 (well, maybe it's a foster father [smile]). However, you also can't just have a different set of photos for every decision made (unless you generate the photos procedurally), as with 4 choices mean on year 12 you'll need to design over 16 million photos! You'll need to design the options carefully.

The plan is to have premade photos which consist of 3 layers and have simply render the character at the correct age into the middle layer. This means that I can use photos for the character for any age or gender. The choices will be adaptive so each photo will have a criteria range and the photos to choose from will be selected randomly from the unused photos that are valid to your current stats. So if you don't select any sports related photos you won't see a photo related winning a trophy. But even with that I’m still going to need 50+ photos

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Are you planning on showing the player what effect the choice will have? I can see benefits in either leaving it hidden, or just alluding to what effect that would have (i.e. "you become tougher, but less likely to confide in other people"). I'd also think it would be cute if you could somehow the desciptions appropriate for what you'd write in a photo album.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to show the player there true stats or not yet, so I can't answer this one.

Or you could only show them the pictures. It might be confusing to see pictures instead of stats, but it could work. Or maybe not that well, but it's just a possibility.

tj963

I think its a very good concept for a game mechanic, but many people are too caught up on character sheets and stats to exchange that fimiliar enclosure for a photo album without alot of resistance.

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Original post by Eber Kain I think its a very good concept for a game mechanic, but many people are too caught up on character sheets and stats to exchange that fimiliar enclosure for a photo album without alot of resistance.

But doesn't this depend on how hardcore the gamer set is? If they're so set in their ways that they've become munchkins who only associate RPGs with dragons then an Anime RPG probably has no appeal anyway.

I say make it unique, fast, fun and intuitive. If the game is meant to be lighthearted (as high school probably is) then it will fit the theme.