Upon Your Death

[Livin]

Had some fun thinking about the cinematics for starting the character creation and thought it'd be fun to see what you'd think or want to change. The missing pieces will get filled in once I know more about those other classes.

1st person view, falling backwards through a dark tunnel until you are overcome by the darkness upon selecting start new campaign.

The darkness gives way to reveal a room of black stone that is illuminated by seven dim lights that are coming down from openings in the ceiling and covering seven pedestals, each pedestal holding a different item.

A blood filled chalice. (Vampire)
A sword covered in violet flames with a blood stained blade. (Revenant)
An old book, covered in symbols. (Liche)
A slab of questionable raw meat. (Ghoul)
A blood stained veil. (Banshee)
??? (Wight)
??? (Wraith)

On the other side of the pedestals sits a figure cloaked in shadow that asks you, "Which of these brought you here?"

After you make your choice it moves on to the actual character creation.

 

[GaiaGreen]

I like what you're going for, but we can do better with that dialogue.

"Another unfortunate soul? How quaint. Well, this need not be the end, if you would be so inclined. I have here an assortment of gifts, and, should one suit your fancy, I could be persuaded to offer it to you...for a price, of course. Observe..."

Upon approaching the pedestals, each has its own descriptive dialogue:
Chalice: "Ah, such sweet nectar. Drink, and find new power."
Sword: "Do you feel it? The craving for vengeance? Take up the sword, and see your enemies quake in your path!"
Book: "Seek you the Truth? This tome carries many secrets, long forbidden to the living..."
Flesh: "Hungry, eh? I can hear your stomach growling from here..."

Upon choosing an item: "Good, you've taken the first steps. As for the payment, I trust your subservience will suffice. Welcome to Deadhaus! Now go...and fight the living."

I'll probably come back to this as we get more info on the other classes, as to have more solid ideas on the nature of Wights and Wraiths in Deadhaus so I can write that dialogue.

 

[Livin]

Love it @GaiaGreen,

Just to clarify a bit, I was going for more of a past tense, tell me your story bit, when asking which of these things brought you here. You're choosing your undead class by identifying which of these led to your original death.

Also, upon reflection, instead of there being one figure cloaked in shadow it could be eight. When you approach a pedestal one of them also approaches it and is revealed in the light to be the undead associated with that item, giving you an idea of what you will look like if you choose that item and being the default for you to customize in the character creation.

 

[GaiaGreen]

Yeah I got your past-tense impression but personally I like the idea of a Newly Dead creation method. New character, new dead, who dis?

I do like the idea of giving a visual of the default character along with the audio and class descriptions, though.

 

[Livin]

After watching the stream today and hearing Ian's suggestion that the wight's item be an artifact of some kind I'd like to suggest a puzzle box for them. Their very essence is what's locked inside it and that is the only thing that can unlock it.

As for the wraith they said it was a little harder to think of a physical object since they are themselves are not physical. The best I could think of during the stream was a mirror, more specifically a reflection of something but I think there is a better option out there.

Edit- Now that I'm thinking on it, the puzzle box could be the wraiths and they could be the cenobits of deadhaus.

 

[Livin]

I've been pondering some of the things from the last stream and got to to thinking about the telling of your life's story and thought I'd share it here because what better time talk about the life you lived then soon after you die. It was confirmed that would exist somewhere in game and Jack suggested it be done through moments of reflection where you pick options like a write your own story book and what you choose influencing what you might encounter later. The only time I've seen something like this was in Knights of the Old Republic 2, when you describe the lightsaber you use to have and later see it in the possession of a former comrade that now despises you.

I thought that before the original question asked in the OP that these could be asked first. Each answer to each question having a different impact on your character's stats. They might be a little cookie cutter but its a start.

1. Zodiac
2. Upbringing
3. Occupation
4. Faith
5. Sins
6. Death
7. Legacy

Zodiac-Which astral alignment were you born under? (Hasn't been revealed or confirmed yet)

Ubringing-What circumstances did you live under during your childhood?
Commoners
Slaves
Nobles
Outlaws
Nomads
Laborers
Orphaned

Occupation-What did you do to make a living?
Clergy
Lord/Lady
Scholar
Soldier
Criminal
Tradesman
Merchant

Faith-What God did you depend on during the dark times? (Haven't been revealed yet)

Sin-What temptation are you guilty of giving in to?
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Vanity
Pride
Wrath
Envy

Death-What killed you?
A Friend
A Family Member
A Nobody
Me
A Noble
A Rival
An Undead

Legacy-What will carry your memory forward?
Momentos
Disciples
Family
Victories
Philanthropy
Monuments
Discoveries

 

[Golden Xan]

Once we learn more about the game's mechanics, especially what pertains to characters, it will be easier for us to think of background attributions that could manipulate our character's development.

I definitely like the ability to customize a character extensively and making it unique, I just think I would feel a little bit overwhelmed with those things when first playing a game if I don't know anything about it. Makes me think that we should either learn of those things in a simple manner prior to playing, or we should pick/discover them as we progress through the game instead.

We also don't know how complex the unique class/character stories will be before becoming undead. It might turn out that each class has a specific and only start to it, but allowing you to make choices that affect your character, or even to which extent they will be playable.

Perhaps those concepts can be mixed together: you choose those characteristics during the background stories, with the decisions you make and the answers you give as you play through (or watch) them. Some of those attributions could pertain to choices you make, some to actions you take, some to things that happen to you (such as being killed by X or Y), some to things you explore.

 

[Livin]

Perhaps those concepts can be mixed together: you choose those characteristics during the background stories, with the decisions you make and the answers you give as you play through (or watch) them. Some of those attributions could pertain to choices you make, some to actions you take, some to things that happen to you (such as being killed by X or Y), some to things you explore.

I like that. It might be too much customization at one time and a little overwhelming. Having it spread out with reveal upon reveal as the story unfolds. I just hope we don't rely too heavily on amnesia to explain why those details weren't revealed earlier. I know I have no room to talk since I used that on my Revenant's backstory but its hard to use that excuse for all of the undead classes.

 

[Golden Xan]

Oh, I think there are many ways to do it rather than rely on amnesia, playing as humans or not. It can be something as simple as a reply on a conversation, or yourself writing something on a book, or picking from a set of items on an armory, or praying to a statue or icon of an entity, etc. Actions that you must take throughout the background story.

A Liche could have a tutor (or be himself a tutor, rather) and have his dialogue choices represent decisions he made about his background. Better yet, have the Liche go through the sacrificial steps of becoming a Liche by slowly corrupting himself, and have his choice of ingredients, sequence of transformations, individuals sacrificed and rituals performed be the background attributes. A Revenant could have his preparation before a battle and the recounting of the event that killed him, and then a playable section of him going through a torrent of souls to crawl back to life (with his actions along the way affecting his background attributes). A human having to make diplomatic machinations in a court amidst Vampires to try and get someone to sire him, by serving them, and having his decisions apply him the background attributions.

There are many ways this can be done!
@Denis Dyack, would you be willing to share with us any potential character atributes that we can rely on to suggest class background story missions?

 

[Denis Dyack]

There are many ways this can be done!
@Denis Dyack, would you be willing to share with us any potential character atributes that we can rely on to suggest class background story missions?

Not yet sorry - information on character creation is something role out carefully. However, we plan on doing a great deal of iteration with everyone here once we start doing that.

 

[klokwerkaos]

I feel like starting with vampire as the default as they are the central point of the triad and thus likely are versatile and can be bent into most play styles by the player is the starter page, then turn pages to see other options. Since it's the most balanced and likely most diverse it likely is the easiest to play most difficult to master, which is a perfect choice for a new player since it sets them up properly regardless of their skill level.


When turning pages
Show trinary and how it affects their stats, pic and the first paragraph of each description from the discovery classes section and what traditional archetype roles they play in a squad (tank, healer, support, dps, etc.).

That tells everyone with a picture, a paragraph of flavor, a 3 bar graph and a one word role outline what everything does up front. Maybe have a hover hand tool tip on the 3 bar graph to explain what those mean. If you want a bit more depth, showing a brief clip of the class using it's token mainline spells could work also, doesn't explain much, just shows you the gist.

If they want to get crazy about choice they can watch a youtube video, and ideally there is no "best choice" only different playstyles that some people will like more or less, and within those a myriad of potential build possibilities to help gear that class to your personal tastes.

This gets them to the character customization stage where they can choose base features, and I'd even avoid shoving in and pushing premium skins just yet except to have a link that opens up the store if they want to immediately look at stuff to buy that is clearly labelled "premium skin options" as the last choice on each section.

In this fashion, if they definitely want more options and have the funds they can go down that rabbit hole, but if they are just trying to try out the game they can simply sort through the default options for character customization (which won't be too many or too crazy for 2 reasons: 1 skins pay for the game, 2, choice paralysis of a new player).

This allows people to cater the experience to them. Maybe they already want to open their wallet and spend three hours customizing their character looks, because that's their fun. Other people just want to jump in and chop heads. Both are valid. This gets people both experiences easily.

I feel like for base models, three for each masculine and feminine, per class, 5 base faces each masc/femme, and then a bunch of various cosmetic applications that can go on most any model (earings, glasses, hair, etc.) and some sliders (especially for skin tone/texture/decay) is likely plenty to choose if you're just looking to dive in. More of course, available with premium options.