Secondary character.

[Darth Android]

im sry. whats your email jesusfreak?

[Adm.Wiggin]

oh, ya! Darth Android he is an android! for those who r going " " an android is just a robot capable of thinking (and acting)! srry Darth, i forgot!

[62 52 53 53]

I think he meant dumb robots, but anyway, is this secondary charachter going to play a large part(ex; most of the story) or just a small one(there for one of the games(say, just prog 5))

[Justin W.]

The secondary character will be a part of the game from part 2 to the end.

[Pascal]

Part 2 seems a little early Justin , I dont know about you guys, but having an npc girl clumsly following me around most of the game will get annoying. How about at the end of part 2. (beginning of part 3) thats more than half of the game with her.

Side note
Perhaps we could have another character come in in act 4... Maby this time a male. That way you almost build up you sort of "team", and you can choose attacks and stuff for them to do. Just a thoght, probably unrealistic.

[Arcane Wizard]

Maybe you could get into an argument with the 2nd character causing him/her to leave. You could have the player choose between several options on what to reply with to 2nd char's words. This way the player can controll wether or not the 2nd character stays.

Later, he/she will be around again when the storie needs both characters to be together. And you could add a little dialog where the player decides that he/she is welcome to follow him again (no choices for the player, just like "ok, I forgive you, please start following me around all day again").

[Pascal]

Yes, That coudl work out. "I am going to go now to the trainig hall for a month, ill meet you in (untitled). Good by and good luck."

then when you get her back , she is a litle bit stonger ( al her skills are say, one level higher, and her weapons are one form higher) to match our character's increase in power during that "one month". This way you are not soo uch more powerful than her, or else she will be useless (liek those dumb rogues in Diablo II)

[Darth Android]

[62 52 53 53]

How about a thing where she can be injured occasionally and have to stay somewhere to heal? That would add some randomness, so that not everything was preset.

At random times, it would say:
"(secondary character) was injured and will stay here to heal. She will catch up to you when she is better."
This would not, however, happen only after fighting, because she could trip and break her arm randomly. However, as battle is more dangerous, it would increas the probability of this temporarily.

you could also have it so that this happens a certain number of times, but at random times, so as to make it more fair.

[JesusFreak]

is she blonde (strrio typical one not to be taken mean towards blonds, i love them)

I mean is she falls outside of battle and breaks something that is just plain clumsy for a fighter, to be a fighter you need to be al least able to see if there is a root on the ground much less to fall over it.

Also in battle to get hurt would she finish the battle, wold it happen after the battle, or would she leave the battle when she gets hurt.

Would she be able to break an arm at a critical moment like against a boss or on the final battle?

That is a good idea but there are so many different things you have to watch out for with this.

[62 52 53 53]

I don't know, a hunter could hit her with a stray arrow or something. The point is just that people get injured outside battle occasionally.

A1:yeah, she'd finish the battle, but maby temporarily have her level lowered or something so that it reflected an injury.

A2:Sure she could be injured, but with my ans to Q1, she would still be there to help until AFTER killing the boss or whatever.

And she WOULD get injured, but when would be the question.

[JesusFreak]

so i can't be very random, also you could limit in battl injuries by setting a limit like 5 times every time she gets hurt it adds to time hurt, whne they are equal she can't get hurt any more

[Justin W.]

Well it certainly appears that people want a female secondary character so it shall be done. Pascal work her into the story. Anyone got an idea for a name? If the name you pick is chosen you'll get a spot in the credits.

[JesusFreak]

Choose Amber, you can do some story plots with that name

[Adm.Wiggin]

she could be the hot little brunette or blonde partner that follows him, and seduces the enemys, and then breaks their faces!

[Pascal]

OK Justin, ill do so.

Im not sure about this going away/coming back thing. Its almost simpler if she joins you and stays (would save much code). However I think we can still do some. If her heath goes down too much (say maby all the way) then she goes back to her camp for a while (almost as a penaly on your side, becasue you do not have her fighting support, and you can no rais her skills. when she comes back, she will have the same skills she left with (perhaps we can adjsut them to be better or worse, this is a varyable to play around with. Never the ess, she is part of our crew and wil "journey with you until the end", aha! "for I too Geoden, have an unkown past and seek the truth too..." ah thats good.

so tell me what you guys think about this.

update- Im working on the prologue. Instead of writing full on paragraphs, im making little excerps one at a time, then I will combign them all to form the prologue. I sit around and think about stuff, try to make interesting parrt of the story such as " her mother was killed before she was existant" that is a random thing pulled out from nowhere, but adding that to another will form part of the story. Evidentally, there will be many excerps that do not fit, the one I just posted does nto have anything to do with the story, so it will be thown out. I think this will lead to a better story than if I jsut plain wrote it down at once. THe Matrix, was first a whole bunch of cartoons, illustrations, ideas, and little tidbits of this and that, which were all combigned together to form tyhr movie. This is one of the reasons for it's success.

[Arcane Wizard]

Having her go back to camp sound good, though I wouldn't mind to have the sec. char around all the time.

[Adm.Wiggin]

ya, if she is always there, then u could like have the main chars mother die, and she comforts you, until u get into rage mode and avenge her (your mother...)...

[Pascal]

She wouldn't go to camp for very long. Only for a certain ammount of time, say about half and act. Every act will have 2 pickup spots (one in the beginning, and on i the middle) . So if she "dies" after the first pickup spot, you mst continue the act until you reach the second pickup spot (somewhere in the middel of the act). Then if she dies after that, you need to finish the act (beat the boss by yourself) and then once you move to the next act, you will rejoin with er in the first pickup spot. I can turn the pickup spots into somethig meaningfull in the stary, like portals some ancient mage setup years ago for some other purpose.
The pickup spots may also heal our health and replinish your mana. They would bemore like shines...

Well this is jsut some idea, what doyou guys think? Perhaps if there are pickup spots, there shoudl be more, say 3 every act. That way your sec character does not get too far behind physically. Or maby That idea of when she comes back, she will be a little stonger will apply.

[Adm.Wiggin]

ya, sounds great!