"Cozy Game" Design Notes: Player Customization
If there's one thing I really, passionately, way-too-strongly care about in Online Multiplayer Games, it is the ability to customize my character - or "character", as the game may be. If there's any kind of representation of The Player[^1] (and in an online multiplayer game, there pretty much HAS to be, right?) then I want customization options. But not just that: I want to be able to get more customization options. By playing the game[^2]. This is incredibly important to me, and if a relevant game fails to give me that option, it drops a giant anvil on the negative side of the scale.
And if nothing else as a game designer, I always practice what I preach.
To that end, I already have a thoroughly outlined customization system for my Cozy Browser Game! There are not just one, but three venues for player customization. Four, if you consider your base character as separate from your wardrobe, which I (mostly) don't.
Character Customization
While you aren't going to go running around in an open game world like you might in a "proper" video game, you still get to have a character! And they're still going to be on your screen a lot. And on your profile. So of course you get to customize it!
Luckily for me, I already have a very thorough character customization system I built for ye olde writing game that I've lifted wholesale and rewritten into this game's framework. The idea is as follows:
- Your character itself - hair, skin, body type - is freely customizable whenever you like, and all character options are always accessible for free with no unlocks. And there are a lot of customizable features, from facial features to top/bottom body types to wings and tails. And multiple color "channels", all of which take the full range of hex colors. That's right. Any colors.
- Your character's outfit is from collectables, which can be gotten in a bunch of different ways: purchaseable with in-game currency, unlockable with achievements, and (eventually, someday) through the cash shop. Clothing can be swapped around at any time, but you have to obtain the pieces.
Home Customization
That's right, it's a browser game with a player house. And you get to decorate it! After all, what's the point of a house if you can't decorate it??
Aside from the obvious angle of furniture/decor, you'll also be able to change the style of the house itself, the interior walls and flooring, and the "scenery". Decor, walls, and flooring will be obtainable through crafting, in-game currency, maybe achievements, and eventually cash shop. The house style, on the other hand, will be exclusively crafting.
And the scenery is a unique system, which I'm pretty excited about! For this, you need a bit of extra context. The setting of the game has five different towns, each with its own environment, vibe, and style. For example, the as-yet nameless Mountain Town is, surprise, in a rocky mountain environment, cold, specializing in mining, bad for growing veggies. When you build a house, you pick one of those towns for your house to be in.
Each town then will have several different scenery options you can select from for your home, which are all based on the terrain and environment of the town you're living in. At first, you only get one choice - but over time, as you improve your relationship with the townspeople (i.e. build up your local reputation as a resident), you'll unlock new options.
Profile/Theme Customization
The third, final, and probably least compelling (but still fun I hope) venue for customization is the completely out-of-character profile theme, or style. These are like skins for your profile page, which you can also apply as a site-wide theme for yourself. Key note: you don't need to have the same theme active for the site as you do for your profile, but you unlock both together.
This one is pretty limited in terms of how you get it: achievements or cash shop. However, due to my Cash Shop Policy (which I'll probably blog about later on), the ones you can get from achievements will be just as good and/or flashy as the ones you can pay real money for, and there likely won't be a whole lot of cash shop ones at all. If it was just going to be a cash grab, I wouldn't add it; I don't like that.
And that covers it! Having lots of ways to customize "yourself" as in the player is really important to me, and I think honestly that shows in just how much of the planned content I have is built towards rewarding you with content for these customization features.
Which is exactly the way I like it.
[^1] If you're stuck in the RPG mindset and can't envision how one can have player customization without an actual character, consider: Super Auto Pets. What's customizable there? Your team's background! And you can put hats on your pets! All right, technically they added a little cheerleader avatar in the past year or so, but even before that, it counted, A+ full marks.
[^2] This is legitimately the thing I am the most unhappy about with Palia. I've got a very short list of Serious Nopes for the game, and all unlockable character clothing being cash shop only is literally at the top of that list.