One of the major problems I've had with all my past story treatments for the game was that the protagonist was very difficult to connect to. I mean, usually the writer can at least connect with the protagonist because they project themselves in the character to some degree or another. But here even I couldn't really connect to the protagonist.
Self-discipline is an extraordinarily empowering trait, moreso than any other trait. It more than anything is an indicator of how successful a person is likely to be, regardless of how smart, strong or lucky they are. Make a character that is the epitome of self-discipline, and you pretty much have this crazy-perfect role-model bordering on a robot. The interesting thing is that, when I did try and give this extraordinarily conscientious character flaws, they would usually pull the focus away from her extraordinary degree of self-discipline. It would draw focus on her issues with pride, or issues with hypercontrol or an inability to empathize and be more merciful to others. They all also happened to be issues born from a gap in self-restraint between the protagonist and her surrounding characters. She, due to her lack of issues with self-discipline, could not relate to those who've struggled with it all their life. And, aside from the extremely rare individual, your average person does struggle with self control and living responsibly.
I also felt that, because this character was so perfect, that she was in a class of her own. And not in a good way. She was just some superwoman that I could just gaze at in detached admiration and then go about my way, just living life the way I always have. She didn't inspire me to be more responsible myself, because the degree of responsibility she exercised just seemed impossible for me to reach. I mean, superman is strong, but his level of strength is so hyperbolic the average viewer doesn't become filled with the desire to train their own strength towards his inhuman level.
I've also noted recently that in the legend of Zelda Link, in a way, gains the right to the Triforce of Courage. True, lore will dictate that he always held the potential within himself, but he never explicitly starts off with some special arrow pointing to him going 'this guy equals courage!' It's by playing as him and conquering the trials and tribulations in the game that the player proves Link worthy to wield the title. I believe that like with Link, the character should demonstrate and prove herself worthy of being called a model of self-discipline, rather than holding that title from the very beginning. In fact, I think that making the character initially be known for her negligent and irresponsible nature would be better. I've found that self-discipline really is like a muscle that needs to be exercised and maintained regularly, and by making her start at level 0 and having the player train up her sense of self-discipline this aspect of this virtue can shine through. I also really want the player to feel like, regardless of how hopelessly out of control they feel right now, they hold the potential to also train up and become disciplined, to be the best them they can be.
This brings me to my current story issue. The main conflict that I believe lies at the heart of self discipline rests in the constant clash between the more primitive areas of the brain and higher thought. Higher thought implores us to treat our own bodies better, to control ourselves, to do that thing that we keep putting off or finally get in contact with that one person you've been putting on hold for a while. It's the angel on our shoulder. But there also lies the more primitive areas of our brain, and it holds great control over us because it holds direct access to our pleasure center. And our pleasure center is pretty much the brain's way of saying, oh, this thing is good, it makes you not thirsty, oh, this thing is bad, it could burn your finger off. The problem is that it is highly limited, completely dependent on the now and oblivious to future consequence. It is also extraordinarily primal and at its worst can lead to immoral actions for the pure sake of pleasure. And unless we learn to ignore it we are kind of slaves to it. We are kind of stupid robots.
My thought is that, by using a robot as the protagonist, I could more clearly express this aspect of self-discipline: the conflict that ultimately decides how human or primal we can be. The protagonist could, like other robots, be a slave to her most base programming, or with her rudimentary AI learn to ignore the binary signals that compel her to do things she would rather not. To be honest, though, I am kind of bad at designing robots. Another idea I've had is using a sloth. That or a koala (which is arguably the laziest animal, due to its love of sleep). They are very obviously biologically hardwired to be lazy, sedentary animals. What if one went against their innate nature to try and do more with themselves and their lives?
Then there is my original idea of using your standard human being. This has to do more with my programming goals than story. I've been wanting to try and create a character generator and use it in the game; the NPCs' appearances would not just be random, but dependent on the backstory and traits the engine randomly generates for each NPC. As a former animation enthusiast I've always been fascinated by the facial expressions, body language and resultant physical features (like sloped shoulders for the meek) of different people and I've been wanting to try and break that down, analyze it and spin a program commemorating this aspect. It would also fit in the context of this game, since it will also heavily feature diplomacy. Er... I could use it for my prior two ideas (using robots or animals), but it would require quite a bit more planning and designing from me on the art side.
In the end, I think I'll try seeing how far I can go with my second idea (that of a koala), and if that doesn't work out, explore where the robot idea can go. I get the feeling using my robot idea might be too... obvious in a hit-you-over-the-head with my life-philosophy kind of way. I think I'll also play around with sketches for a bit: I might chance across some robot-sketch that just really clicks with me or something, who knows!? I have a lot of story notes and I have a clearer idea of what I want the main themes of the story to be. Now it's a matter of stringing together a cohesive narrative that can allow a good representative protagonist to learn and grow.
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