I''m designing what will theoretically be a freeware module that can be incorporated into games. The module gathers info from the player before game start so the game can use this info to customize itself to the player. What does everyone think would be cool or useful ways in which a game could customize itself to the player? Examples I have thought of: selection of avatar''s appearance, choice of player''s character''s gender, more complicated things like what aspects of the game the player would rather spend their time on, eg puzzles/fighting/movies, and how difficult the player would like the game to be. What are everyone''s thoughts? Speak now or it gets left out of the module!

How about making it purely data driven? This way whoever uses the module can tailor it to their game - it can be cut and dry:
What do you want to focus your time on: Fighting - Puzzles
What is your gender:
What is your favorite color:

Or it can take more of an Ultima IV or Daggerfall Approach:
You see a beggar steal a purse from a wealthy merchant... Do you let the merchant know, or say nothing?
What sort of activities did you do as a child?
etc.

OR when they think of something else, they can just update a script, and the module will ask the question.

Might defeat the purpose somewhat, but a script is easier to update than code, and would provide a lot more flexibility than hardcoded questions.

pwd

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What makes you think I''m not going to like a goatse pic on my window? - nes8bit

Actually I was thinking of using a coded interface (visual c++ or html) to display scripted choices: up to 100 races, what are the name selection guidelines for this particular game, etc. Then we were going to be really user-friendly and have an interface that guided you through customizing the scripts for your game. So it will be mainly data-driven. I''m just trying to decide what sorts of questions I should ask.

I was only half joking on some of those questions...

"What is your favorite color?" - possibly have swappable colors on certain objects - or affect the color of the players clothing. (although actually affecting the environment would be cooler).

The Ultima IV pregame quiz has got to be one of the coolest I''ve ever seen. Something along those lines, but a little more subtle would be excellent.

Asking for a little history of the character, whether it has any effect or not, would also be interesting... Again, encouraging the player to make up their own stories

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Ok, one more...

"Is the glass half empty, or half full?" - this could have several implications - if the engine has the capacity, it could be interesting to allow for a high or low fantasy game. Or perhaps just a global "luck" modifier - a small modifier, either positive or negative on all random numbers generated. Could also affect the overall brightness...






pwd

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What makes you think I''m not going to like a goatse pic on my window? - nes8bit

I''m not quite sure this will be much use. Don''t people make their games all slightly different from the next? Even in 2 totally-derivative D+D-meets-Tolkien RPG, one of those games might allow Kender/Hobbits/whatever as a race and the other might not. What happens if the player chose that race from your module? Players don''t like having their time wasted, and choosing an option early in the game, only to find out they can''t only use that option, is gonna annoy people.

I really can''t see how you can make a tool that''s useful to more than 1 game...

That''s the point of the script - the person using the module in the game they''re programming edits the script to enable all and only the races their game allows.

This sort of links back to the old shared data games, but you could have a thing where people put in all their information ie. favourite colour and all that. But you could also incorporate one of those character configuration things like in tony hawk, you make the dude taller or shorter change skin, hair and eye colour to suit. Basically make a little avatar with your dimensions and stuff that any game could call to configure your in game character.

For example you fire up your latest RPG and see yourself, right there already configured to look like you. If you set other variables you could set race preferences for fantasy games (ie 1 elf, 2 Ork, 3 dwarf) so if the game played elfs you would already be one. (this would obviously change some attributes skin tone, pointy ears etc.) Depending on how you stored it, it could work with 2D games, racing sims everything.

You Like?


As Mr Cup always says,
''''I pretend to work. They pretend to pay me.''''

Yes, that''s what I had in mind. Interesting that you think players might want to change their avatar''s height - I hadn''t thought of that one.

The way I see it, modifying your Avatar to your liking is quite the minimum thing you want to allow, Daggerfall comes to mind here, or look at the fabulous intro in the different Ultima.

The one thing the Ultima method has, is that if you answer what *you* would really do, you end up playing as yourself (kinda)... which is something that is not necessarily fun, sometimes. After all, some people like to play someone totally different. Personally I dont, but hey ! I would not be designing just for me, would I

My idea for you sunandshadow, would be to go and grab some books on personality tests, quizs, this kind of stuff where you categorize people. The point not being whether those tests are valid, relevant useful in Real Life, but rather because they will give you the kind of parameters you are looking for.
My personal choice goes towards astrology, because my experience of it has been extremely positive to analyze people, to understand behaviour of others, to explain my own behaviour, even stuff like my favourite colours or the styles of music, the profession I have reached after going one way, then another, etc etc.

If you are able to draw parallels, even far stretched, I think this kind of stuff would be extremely helpful in what you are trying to achieve, for at least, I think it''s exactly what would help you.

If you are interested, I have a few links on this kind of things (not just astrology).

youpla :-P


Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

You could also have quirks and perks.
Then there''s psychological profiles (intraverted and extraverted personality traits).
Although this would require a lot of study and work to get it right but it would be neat.