Will the game have character creation/ female protagonist option?

[Jordie Jordan Pimp]

Not a dealbreaker but I do prefer games with female leads, just wondering if that will be an option.

[aris.indulens]

Bumping for this important question. It's not a total dealbreaker to play as a genric boring dude in a soulslike, worked for Surge 1 etc, but even if small indie company doesn't have budget for full character creator, I'd prefer at least some rudimentary options, like select from a few preset hairs, faces, etc.

[Legileg]

Unfortunately, there is no character creator, but it's not about the budget here - In Chernobylite 2, we play as a man with a specific past that is crucial to the story. This is a character deeply rooted in the world of Chernobylite, though at first glance, he might seem like someone entirely new.

[aris.indulens]

Sorry but I am not buying that argument. I am not asking to change specific past, or other parts of story. Surely your story still works with different face or haircut. As an example, in Mass Effect main protagonist is a predefined personality Commander Shepard and you can play as default Mark Vanderloo, or customize some sliders, and the story, the dialogue, the cutscenes, it is still the same.

Originally posted by Legileg:

As of today, we are planning much broader options for customizing the difficulty level than in CG1. The ability to fully tailor the game to individual preferences is something that worked great in the prequel, so we want to build on that. The threats and possibilities in CG2 are SIGNIFICANTLY greater, and not everyone will want an old-school hardcore experience in all aspects of the game.

I know that post was regarding difficulty, but surely you can see how giving player a choice regarding cosmetics (while still keeping your preferred defaults as default option) can be a positive feature?
I am not a game developer but some devs persistence on how the character must look instead of giving options really baffles me, often creating quite a bit of backlash, such as Star Wars Outlaws, Intergalactic from Naughty Dog, etc.

[Laicus]

Originally posted by aris.indulens:

Surely your story still works with different face or haircut.

As I understand it, the plot will not work with a female protagonist, so the choice of gender is simply inappropriate here. Probably, all this has something to do with the first part, and in any case, a high-quality deep plot is much more important than the possibility of choosing the gender of the protagonist.

[It's a Mind Game]

Originally posted by Legileg:

Unfortunately, there is no character creator, but it's not about the budget here - In Chernobylite 2, we play as a man with a specific past that is crucial to the story. This is a character deeply rooted in the world of Chernobylite, though at first glance, he might seem like someone entirely new.

How will that work in co-op? Everyone will be just the same looking? In some games it works, like for example Helldivers2 doesn't show the face, so you don't need character creator (they still give a few voice and body types to pick from), but here I think it might look a bit too much like clones walking around.

Will there be at least some skins for the gear?

[aris.indulens]

Originally posted by Laicus:

As I understand it, the plot will not work with a female protagonist

Obviously not. This is discussion about some presets for male protagonist with fixed name/background story from previous game would be nice.

[Legileg]

Originally posted by aris.indulens:

Sorry but I am not buying that argument. I am not asking to change specific past, or other parts of story. Surely your story still works with different face or haircut. As an example, in Mass Effect main protagonist is a predefined personality Commander Shepard and you can play as default Mark Vanderloo, or customize some sliders, and the story, the dialogue, the cutscenes, it is still the same.

Sure, but in Mass Effect we always play as the same character and have always had the ability to customize their appearance, so it never felt like their look was strongly, canonically defined. In Chernobylite 2, we play as a character who previously appeared in our games as an NPC, so it feels quite natural that they should look the way they did in the past.

Originally posted by aris.indulens:

I know that post was regarding difficulty, but surely you can see how giving player a choice regarding cosmetics (while still keeping your preferred defaults as default option) can be a positive feature?

Sure, we’ve made a whole bunch of hats, masks, and armor pieces so players can dress up and develop their character however they like. We just hadn’t thought about hairstyles until now. You know, I’ve never seen a barber in Chernobyl.

Originally posted by aris.indulens:

I am not a game developer but some devs persistence on how the character must look instead of giving options really baffles me, often creating quite a bit of backlash, such as Star Wars Outlaws, Intergalactic from Naughty Dog, etc.

I think that in these cases, it’s not about the ability to create your own character. After all, plenty of people (myself included) love Lara Croft, Nathan Drake, Adam Jaden, or Geralt of Rivia. The thing is, Geralt looked like a witcher, dressed like a witcher, spoke like a witcher, and oozed Slavic vibes. On the other hand, when I see that the main character in a Assassin’s Creed set in feudal Japan is a Black African... even as a game developer with a very open mind, I don’t know what to think.

[Legileg]

Originally posted by It's a Mind Game:

How will that work in co-op? Everyone will be just the same looking? In some games it works, like for example Helldivers2 doesn't show the face, so you don't need character creator (they still give a few voice and body types to pick from), but here I think it might look a bit too much like clones walking around.

Will there be at least some skins for the gear?

For now, I’d prefer not to go into too much detail about the co-op mode, but Chernobylite isn’t a traditional co-op game where you can play through the entire story with friends. At certain points in the game, worlds begin to merge, making it possible to encounter variants of yourself. This leads to both passive and active co-op, as well as unlocking new features like planewalking. The fact that these characters resemble each other is more of a world-building element than something we’d want to avoid.

That said, skins are definitely on the table - we’ll think about them.

[dexian]

I am really disappointed there will be no Female Protagonist.
It's 2025. How hard for it to make two gender to let players choose which gender they want to play?

[Legileg]

Originally posted by dexian:

I am really disappointed there will be no Female Protagonist.
It's 2025. How hard for it to make two gender to let players choose which gender they want to play?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Have you played the first Chernobylite? How do you imagine this story with a female protagonist? After all, it's not an MMO - in Chernobylite, the character's gender has a significant impact on their goals and the relationships they build with other characters. Do you really imagine that Geralt could be a woman and it wouldn’t affect his relationships with Triss or Yennefer in any way? And what does this have to do with the current year?

[yuriXboy]

But the real question is: does the main protagonist of chernobylite 2 is gonna be charismatic enough that players will remember it after a while?

You mention assassin creed and i'm agree with you, when you look about ezio and the last one bassim, god i prefer playing ezio that is 10times more charismatic than bassim.... even if we can't customize them (physically)


Female protagonist is totally useless considering the event of the first one....

About the customization of the main character, maybe some minor changes ( some variation of the base haircut etc) or physical changes during some event of the scenario like the batman arkham series or like MGS V with the Horn will be Nice to have, but the idea is to not have a generic character like: THE SURGE.

About co-op, skin exist.
If you don't plan to make a full co-op experience ( That's to bad.....) why not make as a reward considering the difficulty of the mission, skins, weapon skins that you unlock when you finish co-op missions.

Like mgsV and the MB multiplayer missions.
(And it's not because you don't plan to make a full co-op that you can't make a good multiplayer co-op ! Look mgs4 the multiplayer MGO was insane ! And it was the best multiplayer experience i ever try.)

Also don't forget the steam remote play together feature to play local! i played tons of games like that with my gf.

[MaximB]

Originally posted by Legileg:

Originally posted by dexian:

I am really disappointed there will be no Female Protagonist.
It's 2025. How hard for it to make two gender to let players choose which gender they want to play?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Have you played the first Chernobylite? How do you imagine this story with a female protagonist? After all, it's not an MMO - in Chernobylite, the character's gender has a significant impact on their goals and the relationships they build with other characters. Do you really imagine that Geralt could be a woman and it wouldn’t affect his relationships with Triss or Yennefer in any way? And what does this have to do with the current year?

Well, not that I'm actually suggesting this, but since you asked...
Geralt could have been a hot lesbian (with Triss and Yennefer be at least Bi ;) )
But since it's based on a series of books...than it's not a good idea (see Netflix).

So in the 1st Chernobylite, the protagonist could have also be a lesbian ;)

But since you mentioned that in Chernobylite 2 the protagonist is based on existing male NPC, then leave him as a male.
I don't like changes to existing characters.

[dexian]

Originally posted by Legileg:

Originally posted by dexian:

I am really disappointed there will be no Female Protagonist.
It's 2025. How hard for it to make two gender to let players choose which gender they want to play?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Have you played the first Chernobylite? How do you imagine this story with a female protagonist? After all, it's not an MMO - in Chernobylite, the character's gender has a significant impact on their goals and the relationships they build with other characters. Do you really imagine that Geralt could be a woman and it wouldn’t affect his relationships with Triss or Yennefer in any way? And what does this have to do with the current year?

Of course I played the first game. I had over 40 hours on steam and got all achievement unlocked. Don't get me wrong. I love the first game.
You can just make a female character with the existing male character, so players can choose which gender.
For example, in "Dishonored 2" players can choose Emily or Corvo to play. Corvo is the existing character from the first Dishonored.

[Legileg]

Originally posted by MaximB:

So in the 1st Chernobylite, the protagonist could have also be a lesbian ;)

I don’t think so. If Geralt were a woman, he would have completely different adventures and experiences, which would ultimately make him a different person. Besides, a romance between homosexual women (if it were to be believable) would have to follow a completely different course to prevent the game from becoming a qualitative equivalent of Dragon Age: Valeguard. Every person is different, and their sexuality plays a significant role - it’s pointless to pretend otherwise.

[aris.indulens]

Originally posted by Legileg:

Sure, but in Mass Effect we always play as the same character and have always had the ability to customize their appearance, so it never felt like their look was strongly, canonically defined. In Chernobylite 2, we play as a character who previously appeared in our games as an NPC, so it feels quite natural that they should look the way they did in the past.

That's actually not accurate. When you import Mass Effect 1 save game into Mass Effect 2, you can adjust your appearance again before starting the game, play with a totally different look. I've done exactly that on multiple playthroughs.
But more importantly, counterpoint: default options exist. Those who feel strongly opinionated that protagonist in Chernobylite 2 should look exactly the same as in Chernobylite 1 can click "Next" button 3 times, never interact with character creator and play with default Chernobylite 1 appearance. I am a strong believer that giving more player options is always a good thing and keeps everyone happy.

I can however understand you not wanting to make a female character option. It's a lot of work. A second set of voices lines, adjusting dialogue for the new gender, swapping wife to husband, it's a lot of work.
That is not to say, it cannot be done of course, "The Lay D Dentont Project" mod for Deus Ex 1 did exactly that, rerecorded all 1700 voice lines, adjusted dialogues, adjusted reactions into which toilet Denton goes into, etc. But it can reasonably be marked as out of scope feature for small budget indie dev team.

Originally posted by Legileg:

I don’t think so. If Geralt were a woman, he would have completely different adventures and experiences, which would ultimately make him a different person.

What a weird argument, romances does not completely define a character. Female Geralt would still slay the same monsters even if her romance options were different and interactions with Yennifer and Triss were different.
That said, Witcher is based on books (great books, I've read them, would recommend), which loosely sets some appearance expectations. Male, pale complexion, silver hair, cats eyes, scars. If we're talking fantasy settings, Dragon Age 1 went even further, not only can you customize gender and appearance, which of course sets who you can romance, but picking different race options not just slightly changes dialogue but completely changes the prologue even different locations. Even dwarf commoner and dwarf noble had big variations in prologue.
But a better comparison however would be the next game from same developers, story not based on books (some loose adaption on Hardwired novel), Cyberpunk 2077. Customizable character, different romances, same story.

Also, did you seriously compare Chernobylite character to Lara Ctoft, character iconic enough to get featured across media, appear in Playboy and get her own movies, lol. Lmao even. That is one example where sticking to default appearances would have helped. Alicia Vikander as Lara, eww.