Additional Character Creation/Customization Options

[Tolwrath]

So I've decided to toss together a list of some additional items to be added to Character Creation. I'll keep the list updated in this first post anytime someone has something to add to it (mods feel free to update it too if I'm too slow).

Face Options

• • Eye Color (including options for heterochromia or damaged eyes. Perhaps just choose each eye independently?)
  • Eye Shape
  • Expression
  • More Hairstyles and Beards
  • Facial Markings (Scars and/or Tattoos hopefully as separate, stackable entities)
  • Piercings
  • Dirt (like Skyrim?)

Upper Body

• • Arm Length
  • Scars
  • Tattoos

Lower Body

• • Scars
  • Tattoos

Misc.

• • Personality / Voice
  - With included or choosable battlecry like in Fighting Expressions and Battle Cry (credit: vuechangz and Fauce)
  • Backstory (choose from list or self-written)
  • Method to load saved character / body files like in Character Creation Improvement (credit: Seldion).
  • Numerical or Name display for currently selected hairstyle and beard.

Edited on: 5/2/2014

[Tolwrath]

And here's the explanation for that first round of items.

Eye Color should be one of those things where you pick the color by clicking on a square which has a full color pallette in it, and then a brightness slider. Eye color would give greater variance to characters, making them seem that much more like actual characters, instead of just another sword.

Eye Shape would be just a slider used to determine the shape of the eye. This would be useful in creating several different looks, and, together with eye color, in helping players create characters that don't look like one specific group of races (like that one offensively named thread).

Expression would be used to morph the face's default expression. Use it to make the character have a "shit-eating-grin", or full mouth agape confusion, or anything between.

Arm Length would again be a slider. For the most part I just figured since we have leg length, general height, and even neck length, this would be a decent option to have.

Personality/Voice: expanding a bit on Mafearaak's idea, personality would dictate some of the grunts and small replies/audio clips used when giving the character certain orders, or when they get hit, etc. For example, one personality might say "understood" while another says "I'm doing this because I wanted to, not because you ordered me" (lol I dunno why I went tsundere). I also think it might be reasonable for the personalities to give slight bonuses to starting stats, like "determined" gets +2 to attack skill.

We saw in the audio demo that there was also small vocal work for the characters, if only in grunts and screams. We'll see if we later get voiced dialog options, but voice would determine the voice used for that character (maybe with an added pitch slider too). However, the voice option might be rolled in with the personality option, as it usually is. I would personally like to see voice and personality be separate, but I understand if that's not doable.

Backstory. This would be just a text field for the player to add an optional back story, which could then be displayed on the character/stats page.

[hbrown]

Don t really see why eye colour as i dn think you can see that close but i guess doesn t kill to ahve .
And i actually never notice there was not arm lenght.

And if the personalities would be complemented with those dialogues i would then agree with them, becaues i see a "point" for them, and i despite a single talk, is a good thing to me, it s like he answer back to us and not just me mute and take our orders like a robot.

You just gota be carefull tho, not to place a dude ever laughing but with negative personality, " Holy shit we doomed", sounds awkward.

Good idea tho, for all +1.

[iSuck345]

Yeah, that sounds good. Yes, when (IF) I purchase Kenshi, my character backstory for a male will be... ex-rapist-justicar. And female... ex-gymnast-stripper-policewoman.

[Rob]

I'd like the backstory thing, but the rest is just a bonus and not as necessary.
I think many love to roleplay, atleast a bit, in Kenshi (and other games), and a backstory that NPCs/Factions might have a reaction to would be so swell. Not something that you write by yourself (because you pretty much do that anyway) but lots of options where you could pick where you come from... Like foreigner, outcast, orphan, criminal, ex-convicted criminal, rapist, thief.. and so forth, making some people that know these things about you react.

[Shintaro]

Armlength seems like a good addition, but the rest really shouldn't be a priority right now... especially voices, I think that would ruin more than it can improve.
What I'd really like to see though would be some more masks and hairstyles

[Rob]

Armlength seems like a good addition, but the rest really shouldn't be a priority right now... especially voices, I think that would ruin more than it can improve.
What I'd really like to see though would be some more masks and hairstyles

Hairstyles and more configurations is one thing you pretty much never get enough of, the more the merrier!

[Tolwrath]

...but the rest really shouldn't be a priority right now... especially voices, I think that would ruin more than it can improve.

I understand them not being priority right now, I wouldn't want them to have priority right now either. But you don't even want voices for command acknowledgement? Virtually every RTS game has this, and some RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate.

[EvilTea]

Scars and tribal tattoos would be nice, the tattoos would look cool pn bandits.

[Tolwrath]

Added to the list. Good idea. Speaking of scars, did any of you ever play fable 2? It had a system where every time your character was knocked down/out, he would get a new permenant scar. Wonder if that could be implemented in Kenshi's graphics engine.

[Photonraid]

Added to the list. Good idea. Speaking of scars, did any of you ever play fable 2? It had a system where every time your character was knocked down/out, he would get a new permenant scar. Wonder if that could be implemented in Kenshi's graphics engine.

That would be cool, and if you got cut across your face part of your beard/moustache would come off permanently, unless you get some hair gel. I could go on with how cool that system would be.

[EvilTea]

Another Idea could be those sort of spike piercings it the ears that those amazon tribes wear, This could be exclusive to the other races such as the Cannibal or Tribal race that was suggested a while ago.
How about a sort of hygiene filter which lets you choose how dirty it is with lots or little dirt on it so your characters look more professional or desperate? As your character gets older the dirtier he gets?

Speaking of expressions Wouldn't it be cool if that changed in battle from a happy smile to a vicious yet toothy snarl in battle, So expressions change under circumstance?
Also an age thing like in mount and blade, I don't think I would personally use it but I'm sure others would.
Additionally to eye colour how about damaged eyes that have been slightly frosted over sort of as a facial scar?

Speaking of hair styles can we have Mohawks and dreadlocks? as well as a more simplistic set of hair styles such as fairly short haircuts?
Beards need to be added...

[Tolwrath]

Yeah, that sounds good. Yes, when (IF) I purchase Kenshi, my character backstory for a male will be... ex-rapist-justicar. And female... ex-gymnast-stripper-policewoman.

I saw this today, and thought of you, Mr. Suck. Excerpt from MST3K 0812 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies

[Tolwrath]

Added a note on battle cries, which is the idea of vuechangz and Fauce.
Fighting Expressions and Battle Cry

[Tolwrath]

Added a bit to misc about loading saved info from previous uses of the character creator, based on this thread.

[Tolwrath]

Newly added under misc: "Numerical or Name display for currently selected hairstyle and beard."

This is to simply get the hairstyle and beard number to appear either on the selector button, or next to it. I believe this would aid in finding specific hairstles after a player has cycled through all of them, or in more easily transcribing a character to a text document. Names for them would be great too, but then you start to become limited by what styles you can give names to.

Would be awesome to later have a more in depth selector for beards and hairstyles. Something like having a dropdown appear when you click on the hair or beard button. This drop down would have a grid display of maybe.... 5x5, and arrows for changing pages in the drop down. This would allow a mini preview of the hair and bears too.