A game with a faceless, genderless protagonist?

[cheese roll]

Hello! I hope I put this in the right forum!
Anyway! I like otome and bishoujo games and I want my game to feature both female and male obtainable characters. So I was wondering how do you feel about having a protagonist whose sex isn't disclosed, and whose face is never shown? The protagonist could be male or female, based solely upon your imagination! I could make the protagonist appear androgynous in CGs by having their face hidden, or having their back to the screen. ALso, the player will be able to choose the protagonist's name. Basically, the protagonist can be whoever you want. That way, -hopefully!- the game can appeal to both guys, girls, and everyone else. Is this a terrible idea or do you think I could make it work?

[papillon]

It tends not to really work out.

Many people already feel like the protagonists of a lot of dating games are too bland and personalityless, even with the fixed gender. Trying to make your character all characters at once kinda also makes them no character at all...

Also, it's easy to slip up and refer to things that wouldn't fit one of the generic options.

If you want to make a complicated game you can have tons of choices so that the player takes the androgynous personalityless character and shapes it into something more specific, but that's probably too much for your first game!

[redcat]

It's possible with genderless non-human character (like a robot for example). A robot (or more accurately, an AI system) interacts with humans, and eventually fell in love with one of the hero/heroines.

[LVUER]

I don't mind with faceless protagonist, as it's already commonly used in many VN. But I don't really like the idea of genderless protagonist (or whose gender is not clear). I would prefer I could choose the gender before the game starts.

[lordcloudx]

I think there's a bit of a contradiction if you're going to use "obtainable characters" but have a genderless protagonist. I'm assuming you mean obtainable in its commonly understood usage in these forums. If the game's main focus is on "obtaining" a single character, I personally believe that the character must fall within a specific gender class.

While I do think that a genderless protagonist could work, I believe it would be better if the game/story wasn't relationship-based. This way, you could hint at close to almost intimate relationships with members of both sexes without really giving away the gender of your protagonist... or the fact that he/she is genderless.

[YonYonYon]

redcat have a nice idea.

Faceless MC is Ok. But genderless... Gender is an imortant thing.

[Taleweaver]

Been there, done that.

If you have a faceless, genderless protagonist, why not make it aware that it is faceless and genderless? That creates an entirely new level of storytelling.

[matheus]

The way people interact with each other depends on gender, it's possible to do without, but harder.

When I played PQRS THE GAME I though that I was a girl because of the name of the MC, and then I discovered that the MC was genderless when I read the topic, he/she was faceless too.

[HikkiPanda]

I dunno if faceless/genderless protagonist will work or not ...

but I personally prefer a character with face ^^; .. so ideally, for me it will be a simple create "character menu". Just Input the character's gender (and maybe his/her name too).. but yeah it doubles the amount of sprites that you have to draw for the protagonist >.>

[cheese roll]

Thanks for all the input!

I didn't mean the protagonist is literally genderless! They have a gender - it's just whatever you want it to be. Even if you were able to choose a boy or girl at the start, that wouldn't really effect anything in the game. The whole point is that you're allowed to pursue the male characters and the female characters with your sex not being an issue. Ideally I would make it so that characters respond to you differently based on if you're boy/girl, but I think that's going beyond my skill level at this point. That would be cool though.
Although, a nonhuman protagonist isnt a bad idea! Maybe the protagonist could be an alien from a planet where there's only one sex thats neither male or female?

-papillon
The protagonist will still have a personality! The only thing really left to your imagination is gender. The reason I'm doing this is because if I make the protag a girl, then this will be labeled a GxG, GxB game. And if its a boy, it will be considered a BxB, BxG game. I want to avoid the labels!

-Taleweaver
Because then the game would be more about the protagonist than the characters, wouldn't it? Not saying it's a bad idea, but something like that would give my game an entirely different feeling.

-matheus
That seems pretty similar to what I'm trying to achieve. I should probably check that game out ^^

-HikkiPanda
But see,the only difference that would make is that the protagonist would look like a boy or a girl. The gameplay, and love interests, would still be the same (except maybe the characters will call you 'he' or 'she' based on what you picked), so wouldn't that seem a bit pointless?

[ebi brain]

I find that faceless protagonists come off as creeps ( boy or girl) for some reason ( in CGs and stuff).
It just doesn't feel right to me.

I don't really care about looks/gender, but a face to identify the protagonist with is very important to me.

But that's just personal preference.

If you think it'll work out, then give it a try. You can always adjust things later if you want.

[HotLimit]

I've made games where you can be male or female. Basically any time I have a line of dialogue where the outcome would be different based on your gender, I would add two lines:

Code: Select all

if gender == 0:
    c "That's typical of a girl..."

else:
    c "Typical guy..."

Something to that effect... and in case you're lazy, you can always write for one gender and then fill the other in later.

The problem I suspect that you're going to have is that there are so many stereotypes (or, in the case of the romance genre, expectations) that show up in the game's relationships. Even with the premise of the main character being from a planet where there are neither males nor females, you have to assume that Earth is a planet without sexualities. All of your 'obtainable' characters are going to be bisexual, or alien-sexual, or whatever. Not to mention all of their comments about you would have to be gender-neutral. Think about these awkward situations:

Code: Select all

    c "Oh, main character, you look so pretty today!"

Pretty could describe a pretty girl, or a pretty guy, but...

Code: Select all

    c "Oh, main character, you look so handsome today!"

This could describe a handsome girl or a handsome guy. But those words are so loaded that the player is going to react one way or another, "OH, I didn't know I was a girl!" or "OH, I didn't know I was a pretty-boy!"

Now let's assume you're using the multiple text method I had at the top. I want to go for Guy X, and I'm playing as a girl. He comments on how pretty I am. The next time I play, I want to go for Guy X, but I'm playing as a guy. He comments on how handsome I am. Right there you've constructed this identity for Guy X that says he's into pretty girls and handsome guys. This is all fine, but is that how ALL the characters will be?

Or, I suppose they'll all react to you based on your actions...

Code: Select all

    c "Let's go to the mall."

menu:
    "No, I don't like the mall.":
              c "OK... that's fine, I like people that will voice their opinions."

    "Fine, I'll go...":
         c "You spineless person! I can tell you really don't want to go! I can't stand people like that!"

This presumes the character likes guys and girls with the same exact personality. That in itself is often called "pansexuality" (as in, "I like whoever I like regardless of sex/gender"), and it would be strange to have all 6 or however-many characters follow that philosophy.

[Pyonkotchi]

Lol, so basically you mean AFGNCAAP
Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person.
That's been done plenty of times ;>


I prefer MCs with character though :>
I was thinking a way to work with that would be to have the MC shown, but more gender neutral, way, for example, avoid drawing shim with bewbs or gender specific clothes. neutral mannerisms, or somethine :T

of coarse that's only half of it, you'd have to work with the other characters who will be interacting with AFGNCAAP to make it work well :U

[cheese roll]

-Pyonkotchi
Lol AFGNCAAP sums it up pretty well. I wasn't sure if it had been done before in a visual novel or not.

I was thinking a way to work with that would be to have the MC shown, but more gender neutral, way, for example, avoid drawing shim with bewbs or gender specific clothes. neutral mannerisms, or somethine :T

That's what I was planning to do, and I think it would be pretty easy. It's the interaction with the other characters that makes it so complicated, especially since it's a renai game.

-HotLimit
Ah okay, your comment has helped me to see what's wrong with this idea. You're right, it would be really strange if all the characters are bisexual. An earth with no sexuality is a little too unbelievable. Looks like it'll be a no-go then. But somehow I like the idea of the protagonist being a genderless alien. Maybe I'll use that idea! Again, thanks.

[Abeiramar]

But how are going the other characters deal with a faceless genderless protagonist? If the story takes place in a society similar to ours every single person is going to ask "blah blah blah SO ARE YOU A BOY OR A GIRL?" .

I don't like faceless characters because I can't feel any sympathy for them. They are so empty . However, if you really want your main character to be like this, go for it. There are many games with silent protagonists that manage to be awesome and super popular.