Reward Question - Creating In Game Character

I was wondering if there is an update on when each Kickstarter backer will be contacted regarding the reward for setting up a character in the game for Developer level backer and higher.

"You also get to help create a character in the game as well as name them"

Thx!

 

Lum mentioned this is on track based on their schedules, we should hear something soon (tm)....

 

Excellent.... Thanks for the information!

Regards.

 

I can't wait to make my npc: Richard Simmons, purveyor of inspiration.

 

Request denied.

 

Are you trying to make him feel bad with your hurtful denial? I think he has a founder account. He's probably crying right now!

 

I wonder if we can make NPCs based on real people... If not, I'm going to make Sichard Rimmons.

 

Bring on the PvP!

 

This is from the KS page: "You also get to help create a character in the game as well as name them. When everything’s said and done, we’ll put together a PDF document of various concepts and design documents."

The "various concepts" has intrigued me. I think most people are thinking of a normal NPC just walking about in a V/T/C or perhaps even a shop keeper. What if there is an option to create an evil NPC? One that you can battle. RP-wise, it would be kind of cool. You would enter the game with a natural enemy. A true nemesis. You could craft your RP stories around it.

Also, if playing an evil character, perhaps you can choose a bounty hunter type of NPC. He/she won't necessarily hunt you or anything (that might be tricky to code) but you could definitely write about it and talk about it in-game.

 

I wonder how much custom dialog these NPCs will have? I wonder how much of that will people be able contribute to their NPCs.

 

I don't think I'm going to have the option to design a character, but for anyone (dev) that might read this, here's an idea that I've thought about since my first days of gaming. If someone would like to submit this idea as their own, feel free. I'd just like to see it in the game.

Create an NPC that buys TONS of rat pelts. I mean just every rat pelt that you give him, he'll give you gold in return. This will be the ONLY NPC that will act like this. Note: Maybe it will be too easy to abuse if you give straight gold, but it has to be something of relatively minor value.

Over time, the NPC stocks up on rat pelts. Then one day, the NPC is gone and the player begins to wonder, just what was that guy buying all those rat pelts for? More time passes and one of the following events occurs.

1) The NPC has magically created a Rat Pelt Juggernaut! He now inhabits a cave in the woods where he is building an army of followers who worship him as a type of demi-god because of this awesome and terrifying creation (that the players unknowingly helped him create). The NPC is now planning an all out attack (siege) on the town he used to live in. Adventure ensues!

2) The NPC has gone quite mad and has torn down his home. He is now building a new home out of rat pelts. When it rains it leaks, when it snows he freezes. It's a horrible idea, but stay and talk to him for awhile and he'll tell you how smart he is. Of course, now he can't pay you for more rat pelts, he spent all his money buying rat pelts from you. Maybe you could give him some for old times sake? Oh yeah, and he's DEFINATELY someone's neighbor. Bonus Event: For a limited time you can't trade or move from your house while this is going on. The Rat Pelt Guy makes everyone's property value you down. It's like an internal siege.

3) The NPC has cornered the market on rat pelts, which is great for him because he's conviced all the NPC shops in town to stop using gold and only use Rat Pelts. This makes him the richest man in town! But it also makes you wish you kept some of those rat pelts. Who knew? He did, and now he's bossing everyone around. Days later the market crashes and everything is back to normal...until the next event!

 

I would like to see a catalog of all the NPCs that are created directly as result of this reward. Inside the catalog it would contain the character's profile, the donator's name, and their backstory. The creator will be given posting priviledges to their character's profile so they could come up with an npc background. This would be monitored by the community, as not to waste dev time, before becoming permanent in the catalog.

 

I'm not so sure this is a good idea. It seems like it would be more fun to learn about these people as you run across them in-game since this learning experience is exploration in itself. I'll admit that I'd be curious to know who came up with what character, but getting full profiles and backstories, is probably too much.

Did the Ultima series and UO provide character profiles and backstories?

Regarding backstories and profiles has it been stated that they want this from us for NPC creation? I know it says "help create", but this could be limited to just comming up with a name and designing their appearance.

 

When you "help create" as they have put it I believe that you are right. It will come down to naming it and designing their appearence. That is good enough.... however, I would like to give a backstory to mine and read about others. It wouldn't have to be an official in game story....just something in a catalog on the forums or on a site somewhere that people can reference. I highly doubt and would be somewhat upset if the devs spent the time fleshing out NPC stories that are as deep and rich as what some of these RP players can do on their own just so you can learn about them when you run into them in game. When you "help create" and you just give them haircut and a name.....it just feels superficial when it absolutely doesn't need to be in this case.