Silent Character design.. grr.

[Sauk]

I'm designing a game at the moment ( slow, but steady ) where the main character is silent ( kind of like Link.. I know it's hated by most; but god dammit I'm lazy! ).

The problem is, I don't want him to just be silent for no apparent reason, I want there to be a cause of his semi-silentness ( in other words, why the only time he actually speaks is when you're choosing an option ). I thought " maybe he had his throat hit hard enough that it ruptured his voice box, so he can't speak " or " he was born a mute ". The problem with that lies within the sentences; He can't speak. That would mean you can't choose between 2-3 options, because he can't talk. Then I thought " Maybe he can't speak English, but can understand it ". The problem with that would be apparently nobody has a vocabulary outside of what he can understand and respond to, which makes no sense what so ever. It could also mean that I'd have to make every characters dialog a Yes or No question at the end, which would get very bland and seem unprofessional / non realistic ( I know realism shouldn't be your main focus, but when it comes to language; I think it should be as real as it gets ).

I need ideas people! Please help.

 

[OrbitDuke]

Well, ,look at how link talks.
He bats those pretty boy eyes and nods yes or no.
Or screams.

 

[Sauk]

Well, ,look at how link talks.
He bats those pretty boy eyes and nods yes or no.
Or screams.

This is true, but some of the response options that I use are like " NO WAIT! " and stuff like that. Yes/No gets extremely boring IMO, and I want my project to be at least semi-liked by some of the community. I guess my variety of responses clash with the style of dialog I want from my main, which sucks because I really want to capture his personality with how people react around him instead of what he says.

Oh well, guess I'll have to use Yes/No options..

 

[BlueScope]

I like how you don't give up easily... :blank:

As with everything in game design, let's take a look at what people did before we move on to what they didn't do yet :p I'm talking about Golden Sun, a game which "suggested" the main character Isaac would actually be silent, as all input you really gave was yes or no. This is harder to tell for Zelda titles, as they're generally less about communication. Both of which work well, because the player just assumes some way of communication between characters, where in Golden Sun, you can sometimes choose between yes or no (that sadly don't ever do anything).

Now with your concept, you run into the two problems mentioned: Not only do you have to explain why the character is silent (now that you want to), but also you need to establish a way that makes it possible to still go Monkey Island choices on NPCs, kind of. So, what can I say... real-life-non-speaking-people aren't deemed to be undecisive for the rest of their lives either - they just don't TALK. I think that if you explain to the player that your character is incapable of speaking, however do offer choices and underline the respective decisions with character animations sometimes, they will do the math perfectly. If your character nods and shakes his head on yes/no-decisions, lifts his shoulders when the player chooses he doesn't know, and points in directions when you choose a way to go, this should be perfectly understandable, plus really help that concept you thought of.

In general, while I like your idea, you want to make sure it's resonable. That means you want to have an explanation for the character being silent: Not "He happened to loose his voice because he fell on a stone and cut his throat", but "His troat got slit as a symbol of him never raising his voice against the emperor again", if you get me there. It's fine when you want to include game design elements without explaining them (such as Link's voice), but as soon as you start explaining them, it better be good and have an actual reason. Nothing is worse than confusing bullshit in a sotry, making the player find out what's important and what isn't, and again - it will only emphasize the impression of the element on the player (while on the other hand, you want to make sure it's not THE major feature if it is not THE major feature )

 

[Jason]

How about he's a mute but uses sign language? And if you have a supporting character in the party, they're a "translator", it'd be different to the types of RPGs out there, so maybe it's worth a shot? Unless ofcourse he's just a one man army and does everything alone, then yeah, you'll need to think of something else...

 

[Sauk]

I like how you don't give up easily...

As with everything in game design, let's take a look at what people did before we move on to what they didn't do yet :p I'm talking about Golden Sun, a game which "suggested" the main character Isaac would actually be silent, as all input you really gave was yes or no. This is harder to tell for Zelda titles, as they're generally less about communication. Both of which work well, because the player just assumes some way of communication between characters, where in Golden Sun, you can sometimes choose between yes or no (that sadly don't ever do anything).

Now with your concept, you run into the two problems mentioned: Not only do you have to explain why the character is silent (now that you want to), but also you need to establish a way that makes it possible to still go Monkey Island choices on NPCs, kind of. So, what can I say... real-life-non-speaking-people aren't deemed to be undecisive for the rest of their lives either - they just don't TALK. I think that if you explain to the player that your character is incapable of speaking, however do offer choices and underline the respective decisions with character animations sometimes, they will do the math perfectly. If your character nods and shakes his head on yes/no-decisions, lifts his shoulders when the player chooses he doesn't know, and points in directions when you choose a way to go, this should be perfectly understandable, plus really help that concept you thought of.

In general, while I like your idea, you want to make sure it's resonable. That means you want to have an explanation for the character being silent: Not "He happened to loose his voice because he fell on a stone and cut his throat", but "His troat got slit as a symbol of him never raising his voice against the emperor again", if you get me there. It's fine when you want to include game design elements without explaining them (such as Link's voice), but as soon as you start explaining them, it better be good and have an actual reason. Nothing is worse than confusing bullshit in a sotry, making the player find out what's important and what isn't, and again - it will only emphasize the impression of the element on the player (while on the other hand, you want to make sure it's not THE major feature if it is not THE major feature )

Thank you for your detailed explanation and ideas. The reason I had come up with after I posted this was that because his village is being attacked, and while trying to flee he notices a child being beaten half to death and tries to fend the attackers off, but gets hit in the throat with a cudgel; which ruptures his vocal cords. Thank you again, I'll make sure to incorporate head nods and shakes.

How about he's a mute but uses sign language? And if you have a supporting character in the party, they're a "translator", it'd be different to the types of RPGs out there, so maybe it's worth a shot? Unless ofcourse he's just a one man army and does everything alone, then yeah, you'll need to think of something else...

That's a good idea! However, he is a one man army . Thank you for your input though, maybe when I start another project I'll incorporate that in to it.