International Explorers Renowned Society and its wonderfully diverse character design

[Erttheking]

One of things about modern video gaming that really bugs me is a last of interesting character design. Women don't really get that many unique designs and while men sometimes are allowed to have more varied looks, often they often have very similar and boring designs in gaming.

Recently a game on Steam and GOG.com called International Explorers: Renowned Explorers has a wonderfully diverse cast of characters that don't look like they were all cut from the same cloth.

http://media.dunkedcdn.com/assets/prod/7889/640x0_p19ukh0777bufk4evha3l31vlv3.jpg

(And this is only half of the cast! The PLAYABLE cast)

We've got sexy ladies, sensibly dressed ladies, big muscular ladies, tiny short men, rugged men, average men, prim and proper men, dear god this game is a nice breath of fresh air. Also it has women that solve their problems with their fists and men that solve their problems with words, which I thank god for because roles can get just as boringly copy pasted as design at times.

Really, having diverse character designs and roles just makes a game more interesting in my opinion, it's something new. Everything about it, the colors, the unique look, the way the characters hold themselves, it just oozes personality. Plus the game is really fun too, but this is a big reason as to why I enjoy it so much.

I'm not the only one thinking this right? That designs in gaming, particularly AAA gaming, is rather stale at times? Or am I wrong? If I'm wrong feel free to correct me by pointing out a game that you think has colorful and diverse character design.

 

[Skatologist]

Huh, so this game is combining elements of adventure games, rogue likes, strategy and RPG into one big glorious mess along with having a diverse cast of characters? Sounds like I game I'd enjoy.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention erttheking.

(And this is only half of the cast! The PLAYABLE cast)

Heck, I saw an elderly woman near the end of their Steam trailer. The devs really went out of their way to make visually distinct and interesting character designs.

Really, having diverse character designs and roles just makes a game more interesting in my opinion, it's something new. Everything about it, the colors, the unique look, the way the characters hold themselves, it just oozes personality.

I'm not the only one thinking this right?

No, I'm right there with you man.

 

[Redryhno]

It's a Rogue-lite dude...sorta comes with the territory.

That said, it's a pretty good game too, lots of stuff you can do with the combat system.

 

[astrav1]

I'd rather have an actual good game than "Oh look how diverse!" as a selling point. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have my games be fun.

Seriously. But that being said I do like a lot of the designs in this game, too bad I'm not interested. I hope there comes a revival of bourgeoisie games in between the crappy boring generic AAA games and crappy boring generic indie games. Or at least more indie games in the vein of Outlast.

 

[runic knight]

Not a big fan of someone selling the game on "look how diverse this is", but got to admit I like the variety and character designs rather well. Not one I hate, and they all seem cool and interesting in their own way. Honestly, would be nice to see more games do this type of character variety.

Will have to give the game a look, being a fan of rogue-lite games. Hopefully the gameplay is solid so I can really enjoy it as a game, can't really enjoy a game for good character design after all.

anyone else see top row, second from last as the TF2 scout, if bald and black though? Not sure if I would enjoy him yelling "bonk" or not in game.

 

[Redryhno]

I'd rather have an actual good game than "Oh look how diverse!" as a selling point. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have my games be fun.

If you like Xcom and rogue-ish design, you'll probably like IERS. There's three ways you can go through any encounter that's sorta dictated by who you start the game with, so I'd personally say it's pretty good, pretty deep. Only thing I dislike is the VN-ish extras with percentage chances that don't really accurately display your chances.

Also anyone praising this game for diversity really needs a reality check, the entire theme of the game is Victorian-era explorers from around the world going around the world explorinating, I'd be surprised if it WASN'T diverse honestly.

Hell, even BoI has diversity, and every character has the same sprite with different hair and starting cry-lines...

 

[Erttheking]

I'd rather have an actual good game than "Oh look how diverse!" as a selling point. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have my games be fun.

It is fun. I just didn't put that down because I was talking about design and I thought it would've gone without saying that I wouldn't be praising it if I didn't consider a good game.

 

[RedRockRun]

Just as long as the game isn't being sold on diversity, I'm fine with it. What kind of game is this, by the way?

 

[Redryhno]

Just as long as the game isn't being sold on diversity, I'm fine with it. What kind of game is this, by the way?

Think of an adventure boardgame with cards and dice crossed with turn-based tactical strategy. That's basically it.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

One of things about modern video gaming that really bugs me is a last of interesting character design. Women don't really get that many unique designs and while men sometimes are allowed to have more varied looks, often they often have very similar and boring designs in gaming...
I'm not the only one thinking this right? That designs in gaming, particularly AAA gaming, is rather stale at times? Or am I wrong? If I'm wrong feel free to correct me by pointing out a game that you think has colorful and diverse character design.

Yes and no. I just care more about the characters being interesting than I do the diversity of their designs.

A really boring character who is a transgender albino Jew from Nigeria is still a really boring character, and a really interesting character who is named John Smith and is a 30-something white guy from Chicago with brown hair and a 5' o clock shadow is still a really interesting character. Their skin color or sex or build or height or whatever doesn't instantly make them better written.

To give a recent example, Witcher 3 (which caught flak from some for its basically all white cast) has (in my opinion) phenomenally well-written and interesting characters. The fact that they are all the same race (and mostly very attractive) doesn't make any of them somehow less interesting or less well written. If they'd re-done the entire game so that the cast looked like something that would give PC Principal a hard-on, they wouldn't suddenly become better or more interesting characters.

Having the characters have a wide variety of diverse looks and body types is fine, as long as it makes sense within the context of the game itself.

 

[MerlinCross]

Too bad all that diversity leads you to shooting yourself in the foot. Mechanically I mean.

It's every easy(with new players, TRY ALL THE THINGS) to roll up a bad team thanks to skills and attributes of those skills, or just get plain unlucky with rewards and encounters(BUT this is a Rogue like). The two pre final explorations along with the final one are really guilty of this. Don't let the colorful nature of it fool you, this game gets mouse chuckingly hard at times.

Also while the cast is diverse...., one could take points off for how....'sterotypy' some of them and NPCs are.

 

[Erttheking]

Also while the cast is diverse...., one could take points off for how....'sterotypy' some of them and NPCs are.

Sterotypes can be used in entertaining ways, especially when not used to insult or single out one single race or ethnicity. Punch Out is a good example of a game that does it very well. I feel like it works in this game because its used to create a colorful and wacky world.

 

[Super Cyborg]

I saw Jesse Cox play the game for his recent fan Friday, and the main thing I remember was him using one character and shouting "Azula, I watched Avatar once".

What I saw of the game looks fun, with some fun mechanics that work well enough but doesn't seem deep. It could be something where harder difficulties mean you have to play a lot smarter, but overall the impression I got was it wasn't difficult.

 

[Zhukov]

Wishlisted.

Will get onto it once I make a dent in my sale-induced backlog.

And yes, surprising absolutely fucking nobody, I agree with you on the diverse character design front.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Yeah, it looks sweet, I've got it wishlisted ever since I saw TotalBiscuit play it. The excellent art direction only helps. Really liking the look of the battle system too. A good helping of FTL set in that kind of world with intricate turn-based battles? Yes please.

I'd rather have an actual good game than "Oh look how diverse!" as a selling point. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have my games be fun.

Because lord knows we pay attention to visual design in a visual medium to help decide whether a game is good or not.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Well, that's a wishlist entry for me. Wide variety of characters, interesting looking gameplay, something set in the Victorian era that isn't totally "white old guy" "scrappy young urchin" and "poofy dress gal".

Hell, I might've been sold on the game by the huge Luchadore gal by herself. Everything else look good too.

 

[Mangod]

I'd rather have an actual good game than "Oh look how diverse!" as a selling point. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have my games be fun.

Well, personally, I think the game is fun, but here's Jesse Cox playing it if you don't want to take my word for it:

 

[1981]

Looks cool! I thought there was something familiar about the graphics. Turns out it's made by the same people as Reus.

The lack of variety is becoming even more of an issue now that other aspects are evolving.

One of the reasons I fell for 80 Days was because it had a variety of extraordinary characters. Though they're not designs, as most of the story is conveyed through text.