Wider/Broader Character Presets with more Impact on Gameplay

[Flachzang]

I think the character presets should be enhanced in general. Especially when multiplayer kicks in. This would make you more individual and would make things more dynamic. I like the idea of playing PZ online in a group of survivers with different habits, characteristics and attributes the players are challenged with. For example that one dude is always panicked and the other guy eats all the supplies because he's fat and needs that much. You have to find solutions for problems the whole group is challenged with.

 

These things would alter the experience of the game every time you play it. How about the preset of being chronically ill which means that you need your medicine continously? Diabetes? Or being alergic to certain foods like cheese or lol I don't know. Such things could be randomly generated on a player before you start the game or things could eventually happen and develop during the game. But they should be explained transparent so that the player knows what to do against it, or be optionally as a whole.

 

You know, I'm fine with the current characteristics system and attributes and there are other things to do, but I think that should be worth a thought to make it wider with more impact on the gameplay.

[Rathlord]

This is something that will likely be looked into in the future and I totally agree. Here's my take on it, from my big "Future of PZ" suggestion thread: http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/1144-the-future-of-pz/

 

 

Character Differentiation

 

 

This is one of the big changes I see being needed before the game goes into the multiplayer phase.

 

Why is this important?

 

Player characters need to be different in important, meaningful ways for multiplayer’s true potential to show. This means that we need to vastly increase the gap in how effective being bad at something and being good at something is. When, someday, you’re looking to form a group of friends for an online multiplayer session you should always want a group of individuals that compliment each other.

 

With our current systems everyone could easily play characters with the same profession and traits and be just fine. This should not be the case as we near the addition of multiplayer.

 

I’m not going to go in exact detail with every trait, but I will pose some general suggestions and add a few examples:

 

Positive traits and professions need to have much greater power than they do currently (including negatives). The difference between a strong and weak character should be so substantial that you’d want your weak character to stay out of the fighting (or use a ranged weapon) while your strong characters fought in melee and carried the heavy loads.

 

Each player should bring something unique to the group. An example group:

*A fast, sneaky player that takes a profession that boosts sneaking or running and takes traits that increase his speed, perception and sneaking. He takes negatives to strength and group interaction. He scouts ahead for the team and goes on solo runs, counting on his speed and agility to get him out of tricky situations.

*A very strong character. He’s a fireman and takes resilient and strong. He does most of the hands-on fighting, carries most of the party’s most important supplies, and leads the group when entering houses.

*A slow, weak character. He takes skills in doctoring and crafting, as well as social skills. He is the spearhead of the team when encountering other survivors and for all things technical. He gets protected above the rest, because he’s the one who gets the group out of the trickiest situations.

 

Obviously these kind of differentiations would currently not really mean much, but I’m hoping in the future your character choices are important.

 

[Flachzang]

Oh dear, thats pretty much what I meant. +1! This has so much potential!

 

I really hope it'll be like that