Hi all,
First post here.
So, is there a 'usual' way to do this?
In a roleplaying game (as in, each character has a unique skill), would you have each character prescribed a color, (Ex. Ace Striker = Red character piece), or just choose your own color from the bag, not necessarily tied to which game character you are.
All I can think is that 'Pandemic' is prescribed, like, medic is orange.
Thanks for your thoughts,
- Robert
Are you sure that you mean a role playing game? Pandemic is more of a cooperative strategy game. Players may assume a role, but the emphasis is on their strategic role rather than how that role is played.
Whether a character is tied to a specific color mostly has to do with production. Are the pieces a uniform color, like gray or white, or will each piece be an individual color? If the pieces are different colors then are they the same sculpt or does each piece look different? It is good to figure it out from this angle to help determine what is most cost effective for your game. Different colored pawns are super cheap versus custom, individualized miniature figurines being quite expensive.
Does color define anything other than the character's role? For example, if you have a miniature of a soldier, him being on a red base could further designate him as a sniper.
Color choice is pretty important, particularly if there is no "I get the thimble/barbarian" factor and/or your game is played by a younger audience.
I find it strange that the question reminds me about "Monopoly". Who cares if you are the thimble, the car or the dog. It doesn't affect game play whatsoever... Is this the same with the color or does a different color have different abilities or penalties associated with it?!
IF the answer is NO, then who cares about the color. Maybe children will care... But not adults. If it's like Pandemic and your role changes according to which card/color you get, well then that is very different...
Only you can answer this question!
Deleted!
I have been working on a game where players each get to play a fantasy based character such as Warrior, Cleric etc. Each character does not have the specific color like pandemic has for it's roles but I do have character pawns of various colors that players may choose.
That way anyone who has a favorite color can choose it. Or someone has some amount of colorblind can choose what is best for them.
I have has a few play-testers ask if the characters could be matched to a color so they can more easily identify what pawn was theirs so eventually I may go that route if I ever get to the publishing phase.
I have also mocked up the character cards with male art on one side and female on the other to give players the option to choose gender.
Hope that helps.
=M=
You would be the first person I've met who doesn't care. Just about everyone has an affinity for certain pieces and dislikes others. Personally, I prefer playing with the greater demon of Nurgle figure from my Epic WH40K set.
Grown adults likewise have favorite colors. Some people have a hard time remembering what they are playing and keep reaching for their accustomed pieces if they aren't playing a favorite color. It doesn't gnaw at their soul or anything, but there is a feeling like having to watch Robocop 2 instead of the original.
I think it is important to pander to even the most nuanced, subconscious aspects of psychology when preparing a game. Same reason you have to put so much thought into color theory and color psychology when marketing. Are your playing pieces vibrantly colored? They appeal more to men. Are they pastel? They appeal more to women, at least in terms of statistical averages.
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Right. Thanks for the questions.. helps parse it out. All same sculpt, different color for each (of the 10). They each have a unique ability and name.. I think I'll go with designating the color to the character (to be indicated via character card) -- as it'll keep things consistent and save on players starting each game bickering over their favorite colors and whatnot.