I have another idea for in-game immersion. How about the idea of creating personalized NPC contacts that serve as your character confidants. In essence, these characters are the Jim Gordons and Lois Lanes to our Batman and Supermans. These NPCs can either be fully customization, or maybe we have the option to build a connection with an existing NPC in game.
In game, they can serve as contacts that provide leads for either storyline (they can inserted in certain path arcs) or random missions. Alternatively they can be a resource for some temp powers, or an NPC that might need to be rescued from time to time.
Does anyone else that this idea has merit?
One of the Kickstarter perks was that you got to design an NPC, as I recall.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
I Know A Guy..., at $750. I count about eleventy-two other people pledged at that level or higher...
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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The design an NPC perk is not quite what I had in mind. I see that as a way for the player to create an NPC for the game world that everybody can use. I want something more personal.
What I envisioned is more like the nemesis system in CO. There you can design your own villain and select his minions, and he becomes a presence for your character. Or, think of it as your bridge crew in Star Trek Online. I think it can be taken a step further, where your character can have a personalized contact for your missions. However, like the personal nemesis, this is your personal NPC to help build your story.
Also, I don't think it should cost $750.
No, individual contacts that are only for a single character would be a lot different to the contacts for IKAG. On the other hand, the nemeses of CO all had the same storyline, and three different sets of dialogue. How individualized would these contacts be? How much replay value would there be from alt to alt?
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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I cant recall where, but there was talk of UGC (User Generated Content) or User Created Content (i.e. part of the Story Builder, Mission Builder, ...) allowing this.
Might be some time before that's introduced, so players can create their own Story Arcs.. using Existing NPCs contacts that are present in the world, or perhaps allowing us to Swap out the Old NPC contact with ones we create in the Costume Creator.
Even perhaps allowing players to relocate Custom made NPC's anywhere in the world, and have certain Emotes, Stances, Walking from A to B, etc.. depending on what your interactions/responses were in the NPC dialogs. So, only the members on your Team are able to see the Custom NPC's. Much like how Architect Entertainment did it.
I'm still not sure if we can use a Custom NPC to Pick Up the UGC Story Arc though. Might need to go to (the Closes?) established / existing NPC to get the Extended list of UGC stories for that zone neighborhood? I dont know.
None of this was confirmed, but this is what we are Assuming will happen. ;)
Let's break this down a bit, shall we?
In City of Heroes, Contacts were NPCs found at specific locations. Most of them were simple avatars standing around (with their feet nailed to the ground) who just emoted standing around. In City of Villains, the first NPCs to break that mold appeared ... [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Radio]Radio[/url], [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Golden_Roller]Golden Roller[/url] and [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Television]Television[/url] ... since they weren't humanoid Contacts. Praetoria then introduced the "ultimate" version of this ... [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Mother_Mayhem]Mother Mayhem[/url] ... who doesn't have an NPC avatar presence ANYWHERE AT ALL, and who simply contacts you psychically (via cellphone).
There's a couple of basic ways this particular idea of the OP could be built out, but perhaps the most useful (that I can think of, anyway) would be in terms of being the Contact to go to for "repeatable" Missions (ie. Newspaper or Police Scanner stuff). It would involve use of the Avatar Builder to "make" the NPC, and have room for a bio, as if the NPC was a PC. There would be specific locations where this Custom Contact NPC could be found. The appearance of the NPC would be "localized" to the Team, so whoever the Team Leader is determines which Custom NPC is standing in the spawn location (meaning, change the Team Leader and you'll change the appearance/bio of the NPC).
Granted, the idea doesn't go all that far, but it does allow for a limited means of "adding" to the game world in a way that can be observed by Teammates. The function that gets served is incidental (Newspaper Mission Contact, essentially), but it's also something that needs to be filled by SOMEone ... so why not make that "someone" a diverse option with room for customization of appearance/bio?
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
I like the general idea. Champions let you design a NPC (which I think had a major design flaw, as a collective storyteller I'd much rather have PLAYERS as nemesis than NPCs). The spirit of collective storytelling is much better enriched when players can create an NPC for their character to interact with.
Sure that character may be relegated to a personal instance (bases or SG bases) but having a template where that character gives you daily missions or acts as a guide to where a player can find new mission content is a great idea.
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I think this does quite a bit to create that touch of immersion. There are only a few things I could be expanded on to give some diversity.
First would be to select a personality and/or professional trait from a menu of options. This can options like "investigative reporter", "police detective", "holographic floating head", "criminal informant", "park animals", "guy on the street", etc. This selection will do nothing more than to give them a set of dialogue and possibly mission options, which should improve some of the flaws with the CO nemesis system. Mainly that CO was representative in terms of mission and dialogue because they didn't really give a selection defining your nemesis' motivation.
A second touch of life would be put this NPC in some of the missions, if possible. For example, if you running a mission to stop a bank robbery, then your reporter friend could be outside with a camera or your confidant in the TCPD could be one who cordoned the area until help arrives.
There is something to be said for having a personalized "X Factor" Contact who can just be dropped into Mission stories as an accessory to the storyline. Helps give you that sense of continuity, much the same as having random Civilians out on the street commenting about your latest exploits when within earshot (ie. Local chat). Important, no ... but immersive, yes.
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
I think it's a great idea. I especially like the STO Bridge Crew comparison for implementation. Throughout your career, build new DNPCs that will have an increased likelihood of replacing a functionally generic NPC in various mission content, preferably with some assigned tags (#Romantic, #$Career, #$Family, and so on) to limit where they can show up in a mission to appropriate scenarios... don't want to accidentally end up flirting with your brother.