What do you think of a game that allows for detailed customization of their character in-game? I see that many games give you pre-made characters to play with, with no ability to edit their apperance or stats. Sometimes they do allow some form of customization but usually something like accessory or clothing. There are some games that give you a lot of costumization, but lack a fighting engine. Is there any game that gives you incredibly detailed customization over the character you control {Major differences in appearence, size, and playstyle being possible.}

I present to you an example of what I think is a good user interface for editing a character in a game. In this game, stats are also customizable, being only limited by the amount you are allotted to divide among your stats.

When you start the game, you start out with a bland blob, you are given the choice to either change its appearence now or later. You get full access to every form and shape from the get go{because I think its weird you have to earn parts that you would want to use from the beggining, that kind of feature should be saved for other things. So its better to be able to build something you like early to get the most out of the early experience of the game}

The horizontal line scrolls through categories like head, body, and tail. You can add as many eyes/tails/heads/limbs as you want by the way. There will be no limitations to appearence in order to allow the player great freedom in what they choose to look like.

Now, I'll explain what some of the icons are. As you can see, it is focused on the head category, and within it, are sub-categories, like eyes, ears, mouth, and other{there should be more than that like horns, but that will be added in a future image.} The player has the freedom to place any of these features anywhere on the head, most players might choose to put eyes where eyes go traditionally, but some might get creative and put 10 eyes on the characters head or make a head with two mouths. This is done by using the mouse and the arrow keys to rotate the character around in edit mode.

Theres another list called Size, options, and color. Size deals with resizing whatever object/part that is selected on screen, you can make your character have a big head and small body or make the "bead eyes" be really gigantic and bug like. Many effects can be achieved using the resize feature. Options deals with other things such as if the eye has a pupil, you can choose to edit that or remove the eyebrow and various other miscellaneous things regarding a part. Color is in regards to painting your character. Not only can you make them any color you want, but you can draw on them, you can put a tiger pattern, you can put a symbol on them, various things regarding paint. It's like painting a model airplane or robot.

The vertical line on the list is parts within the category selected, sometimes there can be up to 100 different parts, and thanks the size, options, and color features, even more variety in appearence can be achieved from a single part.

Now, nearly all body categories are purely cosmetic and have no effect on the gameplay {that means something big and round can move fast despite its appearence, and something small and meek looking can be a defensive fortress stat wise.} There are three body part stats that do affect stats, heart, energy core, and mind. These three are not cosmetic due to being the internals of an animal, and thus are not viewable by all players. They effect the "soul supply" of a character and the ability for a bar stat to recharge itself per tick. {Now a feature that is up in the air is if heart, energy core, and mind are affected by the external body parts in that the strongest heart/energy core/and mind can only be carried if the animal is big bodied, while animals with smaller bodies can only carry less powerful internals. In this way, even if a big animal and small animal had equal stats, the bigger animal would have the advantage of having better internals{although the better internals also carry the negative side affect of having "high heat" which would be negated by a big body, while a smaller body would overheat should they try to use these types of internals for an extended amount of time.}

Now here are some examples of what can be created with the system.

Using the engine, a big bodied critter has been made, its about x10 bigger than the bland blob, but since the camera can zoom out, you can see a full view of the creature.


Now heres a smaller creature, being only x3 times bigger than the bland blob. Due to being frailer, it carries a heart/energy core/mind set that is medium in power.


The advantage of the lighter characters is that their target size is smaller, so they take less damage from certain attacks{since the fighting system is 360 degrees and damage is also location based, and thus things like splash damage exist in this game.

Here is an older pic, but still features the same concept. All the entities found on that page can be made using this system. At the top is a list of some of the weapons that can be used in the game.


Wouldn't a game where you customize the appearance and combat stats of a character be very appealing to a wide range of people? I know I want to play this game already. Playing by myself and against myself in my mind is repetitive. I want to compete with others and see what possible things can be made in this kind of game.

Once your character is ready, you can go and do a plethora of things within the full game. For example, you can go and fight another player with their own customized critter. Features a simple flow chart of what happens in a duel as well as several other notes.


There are other gameplay modes in the game that you can put your creation to the test at. For example, in race mode, you can participate in various types of races to see who has the fastest build{and the player that puts the most in speed isn't going to neccessarily win as somebody that has high defense and power can achieve high top speed using a different method of movement: rolling.} This game will put the creativity of people to the test, and many different entities will be made based on what people like.

Their are two games I can think of, off the top of my head that give this level of customization: Spore and Darkspore. Their are more, but I can't really remember the names. Anyway, I feel like you need to describe the combat system in more detail (mainly the movement), because the concept art makes it look like Pokemon. Also is this 2D or 3D?

I heard of spores, but I don't know what their fighting engine looks like and most of the monsters seem to be restricted to being alien-like. {Humanoids, robots, and various other types can be made in the engine I mention.} The only customization game I know of is the Armored Core series, where you can make a mecha with a design that suits you. This is what inspired me to think up this engine. I saw in my mind something like the mech game, except with living things instead of mecha.

The combat system uses a "universal meter" that determines when a move can be done, rather than using a turn based system. This system is designed to make people not only manage their energy wisely{as well as knowing their limits}, but it's also made so that even the most basic attacks are still useful late in the game due to the U.M. system. It is meant to be a 3D game{but if I do start making it, and my resources are limited, I'll have to make it a 2D game, which would cut out many of the visual features such as the freestyle rotating camera that would allow the player to view the match from different angles, zoom features, the fact that the game is played on a x,y,z map, and various other aspects that can only be done in 3D.

I'll try to describe the combat system as if it were played on a console{although at this point, I don't know whether this would fit best on PC or console.} When you enter the fight, you do combat on a large map, you're character can move in any direction, even up if you can fly, jump, or have some other means to ascend. When you attack, or the opponent attacks, the game freezes at your characters optimal reflex range, simulating your characters reaction time{if your stats support it}. At this point, your character can choose from any available techniques. They can use these techniques to counter attack, dodge, parry, or any other type they might possibly be able to do. This technique can also be countered by the opponent or disengaged, an exchange of techniques can occur if both players keep on the offensive. In replay mode, you won't see them pausing to pick techniques, so a fight will look impressive to watch as it looks like they are making their choices instantly. The game went through many versions until I finally arrived to the U.M. system a few months ago.

The game is meant to visually depict a dynamic battle and allow the user to be able to have a characters with lightning reflexes and bullet speeds{that's at the highest levels.}

For example, a group with fighting abilities of around 100{fighting ability is a number that is the medium/average of all your fighting stats.} enter a fight against somebody with 50,000{just an extreme example}, even if the powerful character was average speed for their tier, the characters at 100 would not be able to react to the stronger character and only see them as a blur or afterimage. If the stronger character pauses the game while they try to decide a technique, to the weaker players, the screen will turn gray when time freezes, indicating that their opponent is faster than their reaction time. If the character is attacking your team mates, you will only see an after image of whatever technique they used on your team mate when they get attacked{for example if it was a sword slash, you will only see the afterimage of them having swung the sword.} From the stronger players view point, the animations appear in regular speed{but you can turn the option on to see your character move from the point of view of the opponent}. But if your attacking multiple targets, you will see an afterimage of your character on the last player if the U.M. meter has barely moved since your last attack. If you attack multiple opponents with almost no time in between, you will leave that number of afterimages on your screen if you time freeze again{theres also the feature to take photos during battle}. There are no "levels" in this game by the way, you just gain raw stats and if a sensing type uses a detection technique, your fighting ability will be revealed{or you can just see it in your attributes screen.} There's more to the combat system than that, though, but I hope that I have given a good example of how the game behaves. Theres some other details on that system in the later posts of this thread{earlier posts refer to a different system}:

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/606478-designing-a-balanced-turn-based-rpg-system/