I posted awhile back on this. Here''s another try, hopefully improved. The Gist: You''re the captain of a ship with a crew of humans / aliens. Your goal is to run the tightest ship, take care of your crew, and accomplish different missions. Details: Gameplay''s like an RTS. The map is a multi-deck starship. Mostly you assign crew to duties, manage the ship, and use crew to deal with emergencies (fighting fires, boarding, spacial anomalies). Personalities Crew personalities are defined by things like work ethic, teamwork, danger threshold, and authority. This in turn govern how the crewmember will respond to situations and other crew. You can have crew that are lazy, hyper-efficient, antisocial, cowardly, loyal, etc. They''d develop relationships (disputes, friendship bonds) which you could influence or ignore. Interactions Crew interactions determine how well the crew operates as a unit, and thus the ship. You could directly influence / control the crew: Affect morale by buying better facilities (kitchen, gym, R&R), changing crew duties, and using rewards / reprimands to motivate them. But you''d need to balance this with your needs / goals as a captain (saving on expenses, or buying weapons for tougher missions). As Captain, you''d have a character that could walk around, inspect the ship, fight alongside your crew, and talk to them. Conversation would cover their goals, problems, history, etc. Basically, I''m trying to capture the feel of being a leader / captain. You could play a Picard, or Captain Blye, or Dread Pirate Roberts based on how you ran your ship and crew. Thoughts / comments / ideas appreciated. Thx! -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

Something sounds too... clinical? Too much of an options management spreadsheet? I don''t know. There''s something missing here.

One thing for sure, every playing experience should have a new and unique crew dynamic that would be darn near impossible to reproduce a second time around even if you tried.

I think you want the player to be able have fond memories of that special crew or memories such as: "Geez, you wouldn''t believe what I had to put up with on this one ship..."

Introduction of a new crew member from a port should have the possibility of really messing up what was once a smoothly running machine. You know, that hot headed guy you should never have taken on, or that malicious rabble rouser that''s been turning the crew on you.

Personally I hate sim games but I can''t deny that it sounds like it would make a good game

Quote Bishop_Pass
"
One thing for sure, every playing experience should have a new and unique crew dynamic
that would be darn near impossible to reproduce a second time around even if you tried.

I think you want the player to be able have fond memories of that special crew or memories
such as: "Geez, you wouldn''t believe what I had to put up with on this one ship..."
"

Well, in this case you might want to have several "trainer" crews (like Starter carddecks in games.). So that nothing TOO difficult or weird happened before the player got to grips with the game.

Thanks guys! Bishop you''re dead on. And Ketchaval is right, you definitely need a trainer mechanism for this to work.

Take 3?

Keeping the 4 main stats as the basics: Work ethic, teamwork, danger threshold, and authority.

Then massively flesh out...

Character Quirks (help wanted here)...

Each of these would have an effect and a magnitude. Add 3 or 4 to make one personality

Agitator - Loves to see or start conflict (not necessarily join)

Nurturer - Protects and defends a weaker crewmember

Sociopath - A ticking time bomb...

Loyalist - Chooses a leader and sticks with them through thick and thin

Loose Cannon - Breaks rules, disobeys orders, does what they think should be done

Charmer - Influential and well liked by most

Groupie - Easily impressed by strong leadership

Deceptive - Crewmember is untrustworthy

Conformist - Goes along with majority

Judgemental - Crewmember only gets along with those like him; annoys most others

Greedy - Demands higher pay and more rewards; sacrifices little

Immoral - Commonly violates accepted norms; makes others uncomfortable and moralists outraged

Stubborn - Slow to give up on a task or duty

Insecure - Envies others; dislikes charmers; slow to start certaom tasks

Dullard - Not too bright... (or doesn''t use his brains)

Kamikaze - Totally freakin'' nuts! (Will not retreat from fights)

Egotist - Self centered (annoys others)

Loner - Doesn''t socialize or befriend others

Gregarious - Loves to talk with others

Gabby - Loves to talk at others (annoys them)

Moralist - Closely follow accepted norms


What do you think? With some exceptions, they''re supposed to be mix & match. Some could be secret as well.











--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

Maybe add to your mix these:

Prankster
Flirt
Walking encyclopedia of useless facts
Highly vain individual
Religious zealot
Procrastinator

And then add in habits, addictions, etc: (good, bad & indifferent)
Substance abuser
Hacker
Exerciser

And hobbies...