next »

[Kentz]

When you think about player character diversity, both in single and multiplayer, where each player would control one character, what do you find the most appealing?

- Fewer characters that can 'evolve' into different ones (like the earlier Final Fantasy games)
- Large number of characters that are static, but radically different from one another (somewhat like League of Legends)

[valrus]

I think it depends on the length of time the player will be spending with that character. 

If I'm starting out with your 20+ hour game, and you give me a choice of 30 classes, that's a choice disproportionate to my knowledge of the game.  I'd rather have three or four options that I understand, and then have opportunities later to make further choices, as I know more.

If this is a 30 minute game, then it doesn't matter so much.  I'll be playing it many times and thus come to know what the choices mean.

[Danny Hayes]

I'd rather have three or four options that I understand, and then have opportunities later to make further choices, as I know more.

If this is a 30 minute game, then it doesn't matter so much.  I'll be playing it many times and thus come to know what the choices mean.

I agree, having a few options that spawn more options further down the line is good. That said, for fast paced games, the character selection in Necrodancer for example has a number of options that come with different playstyles, but since each game is generally only several minutes long it feels nicer to have that level of choice.

If you did want a large number of playable characters in a game thats more than several hours long, having them unlock as you play and accomplish things could be a better way of going about it.

Again it depends on the exact type of game being made and what feels best.

[TacoBell_Lord]

Chrono Cross had over 40 party members, 40 CHARACTERS TO MIX AROUND. All with their own interesting sub-plots & funny time paradox meetings with their different selves. Also they all had their own set of Limit Breaks, it was dope. Depends on what you mean by Static, when your characters tie into your idea.

[GameRoom]

Heh, when I saw this thread, I thought that it would be about how we need to represent more minorities as characters in videogames. But anyway it depends on the game.

[baconman]

^ That's what I thought too!!

[Democritus]

I had the same first though as GameRoom. In general I think though that valrus has answered the question pretty good, considering we know very little about the game. If you have some more info maybe we can give better answers?

[Oxeren]

I think it pretty much depends on the game. I don't think you can add much diversity to character-driven games like Tomb Rider or Max Payne. I mean, such games tell us particualr story of a particular character, and this is fine. But if we're talking about games, where players create their own story (including most multiplayer games), then in my opinion the more diversity the better. People are unique, and they want to create their unique stories, so why limit tools for them?