discussion Number of game Characters

[Gonzo01]

Do you prefer games that have just a few characters, or games with many characters?
Personally, I prefer just a few, because I find those games are generally more immersive. For those games where there are many characters (usually where the male protagonist screws every girl he can find) I find any actual story gets lost. I reckon the Dev has to spend a lot of time to cater for all possibilities (and often updates are more infrequent).

 

[MattShizzle]

Just a few. It's hard to keep track of who's who, especially if you play a lot of them (even more if you're like me and bad with names.)

 

[bingbear]

I prefer a few deep relationship characters with a large cast of occasionally interacting extras. Like the barista that you meet in the back alley, or the main LI friend that you can see on the side and lead to a three way.

 

[LewdSardin]

You need to give every char development time in the game, so more chars means more time spent with them. The limiting factor is time management, the pace of the story needs to be above a certain threshold or it will be considered too slow/boring (especially when waiting on updates).

 

[bv220040]

I enjoy a game with fewer characters if theres to many things can get confusing and you might have to while a while for your favorite character to get new content.

 

[leomgr69]

I usually agree with you that less is more however some games really do a good job with a larger cast, especially the headmaster. I have never seen a game before that balanced so many different characters so well. Even among AAA games its rare to see such a well done job.

 

[Sethus]

A few, like 5-6 at most. There are games which has more and has a really cool storytelling and is engaging, but also there are games where you caint track all the decisions you've made, specially when you play a lot of games and when there's a lot of time between each update.

IMO, the more characters, the more shallow the game is and in the consequence is that I might not play it at all.

 

[Smrdgy]

I would say a few as well, but it also depends on the game and its presentation. If it's something like the already mentioned above the headmaster, I don't really mind.
However then there are games like the reunion or Max's life with a boatload of characters that I'll forget in the next minute and it's kind of a waste at that point.

 

[AlBetGam]

You need to give every char development time in the game, so more chars means more time spent with them. The limiting factor is time management, the pace of the story needs to be above a certain threshold or it will be considered too slow/boring (especially when waiting on updates).

I slightly disagree with this- you need to give every important character development time. But not every character in a game needs to or should be an important one.

To OP's prompt, it depends on the game. Some like The Headmaster or Lessons in Love can take a cast of dozens, give them all as much screentime as they need, and make them all distinct. Less skilled devs can write about a mom and two sisters and they'll come out interchangeably dull. It's a skill issue.

 

[DadD]

Big amount of characters is good, but only when game have non linear story and choices really have consequences. Only big problems that I met is we need bigger amount of saves rows for more comfort navigation between saves with choices. I mean it should look like a tree or something. Not just two rows like in renpy games.

 

[LewdSardin]

I slightly disagree with this- you need to give every important character development time. But not every character in a game needs to or should be an important one.

Yes, the more important the char the more time needs to be spend with/on them. I was mainly talking about LI's, or otherwise (relatively) important characters.

 

[janitorman]

The raw number doesn't matter as long as you don't make a bunch of them dude. No idea why so many games feel like they need to insert male characters presumably for the sake of realism or seomthing

 

[mettersan]

It's fine to have more if you introduce them slowly instead of just dumping 17 of them immediately on you and you immediately forget who's who. I found that 5-7 to be the sweet spot, but you can have a great game with only 1 and with more than 10 as well.

 

[MattShizzle]

It's fine to have more if you introduce them slowly instead of just dumping 17 of them immediately on you and you immediately forget who's who. I found that 5-7 to be the sweet spot, but you can have a great game with only 1 and with more than 10 as well.

Only 1 CAN work, but usually not that well - unless it's like 1 main with a few side hos.

 

[User_40809]

Less is more. Better to have a few well-developed characters than many shallow ones.

 

[BuckFuttHoles]

Honestly, Eternum is one of few games who can handle that many love interests without me not giving a fuck about like half of them, so…only have as many characters as you can actually handle writing for, otherwise go for less

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[Shiva]

This is similar to the question of how many characters to include in a Harem. If there are too many then there can or will be problems.

When the game begins, I would say somewhere between 3-5 to include MC and the primary 'FRIENDS' (love interests). This will allow them to be established and start the story. If the game is going to have more than the starting characters they can be added (slowly) once the story has advanced a bit and starting characters have been introduced/established.

A similar issue is how many locations should a game have. At the start the areas available should be limited, and later new places can be opened. Yes, the Dev should plan for the new places and people at the start (and add them to the programming) but leave them hidden or not accessible until later when they are relevant and/or needed.

Just a thought

 

[azbest2k]

less is more - it depend of devs, but usually they cant keep quality of chara creation and progress after some point - so i prefer few for plot reasons

 

[User_120027]

I do not mind having a lot of characters if they all have good stories or some development, but only if there is only one main character and you can explore everything at your pace, so in a sandbox setting, for me, it is not bad.

If its on your regular VN setting, it sometimes become bothersome having too much characters, you end up feeling you are missing a lot of content if you are trying to focus on some of them only, per your interests.

 

[c0rkscr3w]

1-2 characters per story thread with no more than 3 threads.