There are several ways that I think this can be done. As a game I LOVE to see my work appear in games. I don’t think it should be as detailed as, say, the Sims or something, but I think it should exist.
Main Avatar: The floating head that talks to people:
Ok, I know its not a floating head (though maybe it could be. That would be a cool choice) but the guy that talks to others. The face other players see making faces at you when you are in the diplomacy screen. In Master of Magic you could pick which face your character had. It had basic animations featuring several facial expressions. Many other games have used the same idea such as galactic civilization. Currently the best implementation of it has been Civ 4 featuring many faces based on previous great leaders, each with a wide range of emotions and animations. Now, this game I would imagine to have something similar, however an animated drawing like in the original Master of Magic will not work. The character is likely to be seen casting spells, being banished, or whatever. The range of animations would be made much easier if it was a full animated 3D model.
This is where I call for the first set of avatar customization. Nothing game effecting, but something that says “yeah, that’s my guy”. AI would then be randomly generated mixes. I think that if nothing else, you should be able to choose
race: Human (maybe several ethnicities), dwarf, elf, orc, dragon-man, fairy, lizardman, beastman (inclusion of a furry of some sort I can guarantee will earn it at least a thousand more sales even if the rest of the game sucked somehow) and mysterious cloaked/armored figure (sure that can be a race)
Face: about 5 basic face features would be nice
Human, elves, and dwarves: different beards and wrinkles. Maybe face make-up to be a barbarian if people want (maybe even more to cover ethnic base since Master of magic I think had just about every ‘race’ I can think of. A Politically correct game should have everything after all.)
Dragon thing: Several snout lengths, nose arrangements, and eye locations
Beast man: cute kitty face, angry beast face, wild savage face… different noses to match cat head, wolf head, bull head, or whatever beast people want to be.
Orc: Plenty of orc or troll looking faces. Big/small nose, big tusks, Neanderthal brow. Face paint?
Clothes: Well, pretty self explanatory. I shouldn’t need to come up with ideas really, because it isn’t hard. Maybe break it into “body” “head” and “arms” for additional accessorizing. You could even have different things be unlockables as rewards for doing certain achievements or something. (i.e. beating the game on a huge map. Researching everything in the spell book. That kind of thing would get you new sets of bracelets or give angel wings and other cheesy accessories)
Hero: Now, I play games like MoM and HoMM to the point where I get tired of seeing the same heroes show up. Like everytime I start a MoM that dumb orc hero (that I never hire) shows up asking for money. I love the orc hero, but I’m tired of him having the same face. I want new heroes, or at least different enough heroes so that I wasn’t using the same ones my buddies were using last game. So if there was a hero builder that let you build your hero or customize him in any way that would be great. You could build a roster of hero avatars that would appear for your side that could be different from those that appear for the other players.
This can be as simple as making him have your kingdom emblem on him. I hired Uk’tar the barbarian. My buddy over there had the same small chance to get the barbiarian hero. But mine looks different because mine has my kingdom symbol tattooed on his chest. My Rodger the palidan has it on his shield, my Chong the samurai has it on his flag, and my Wrath the litch at least has my colors for robes. They look different. Maybe different themes would be available… all my heroes have halos, but all of my friend bob’s heroes have capes, where Joe’s just all have huge glowing blue weapons. That way they seem at least a little unique to the player.
What more, no matter what you do, make the pictures of the heroes match what is seen in battle. I am saddened by my Heroes of Might and Magic heroes of sexiness looking nothing like his picture when he finally gets to throw spells at the enemy. I’m like “alright, I got someone who looks awesome!” but he then doesn’t look special at all when the actual battle comes. (master of magic was too low resolution to really have this problem)
Cities and other units: Same idea with the symbol and colors on each hero. I want my towns and castles to have MY banner/symbol/crest seen in game flying high above it /hanging from the walls/painted with blood on the lawn. My armies should march into battle with it on their standards or engraved on their shields. I think this would really make one army look like the intended army beyond the strange player-color outline or glow that happens to surround a few things.
Familiars: Now, I cannot think of any other game besides Master of Magic where a familiar really exists the way it does in Master of Magic, but I love it in Master of Magic and wouldn’t mind see it return. The little touch of having a familiar appear to tell me about important events and then being able to see the familiar in the same room as my wizard when they researched a new spell was a very nice touch. I loved my Little fat red imp so very much…. But then when I wanted to play something other than chaos they took him away from me. What’s worse, when I picked half chaos and half sorcery or something, they would always give me the beetle it seemed. I don’t mind my 10-books of life wizard not having my little demon, but like when I have a mixture let me pick which one I want at least.
That being said, this game shouldn’t have it picked for you. Players should be able to pick. I don’t even think that having the familiar reflect the books is 100% the right answer. I like the notion that it is influenced by the tome selection (again, my death mage isn’t going to have a white dove familiar) but there should be a way to set it when it is appropriate, or customize it. I’m not asking to dress up my familiar in my custom hat or anything like that and expect him to dance for me when I finish researching a spell (that would be great though) but let me make him mine. Let me name him or something. Maybe have secret familiars that are unlocked by doing certain things or just by chance of playing enough games. I’m not sure. I just want to keep my fat little red imp. (I think working on avatar and city customization is more important than a familiar provided you can make a familiar YOUR familiar)
