itch.io

Thanks for the kind message! While I hear your asks, I don't think adding in a player self insert is something I want to do. IMO I personally feel like player self inserts distract from the story being told and the world that is being portrayed, ESPECIALLY if they're the main character. See "the avatar problem" in recent Fire Emblem games or even most Atlus protagonists to an extent. (At least until Will in Metaphor) In a story-focused game I like having an "avatar" as the protagonist hurts the overall story, the themes the story is trying to convey, and the connections characters have. When an avatar is the main character, the entire world is basically required to revolve around that self insert, since they do not speak or have any personality, but yet are the core of the entire story as the main character.

While I like the idea of self-inserting as an NPC on paper, it kind of falls when you don't follow that NPC specifically. The game has to begin with that NPC since it's well, you, and you are entering the game, and it's kind of weird to introduce a major character and then only have them as a NPCs who appears in like one town or something. That NPC would have to be a party member for the concept to work, similar to how Fire Emblem New Mystery or Fire Emblem Awakening did it's avatars but with less avatar worship and plot focus. (even if Kris isn't relevant in New Mystery after the prologue chapters besides replacing Jagen in earlygame scenes and Robin only becomes relevant to Awakening's plot in the last third of the game) Currently I already have 6 party members already planned for the game (5 required, one optional), and adding in a new player-created avatar character to tag along would interfere heavily with the story I want to tell and the character interactions.

In the game Koros is the POV and a major character in his own right, but the actual plot largely revolves around Tayo and his relationships and struggles. The main conflict of the game is directly Tayo-related, even if Tayo isn't ACTUALLY the main character and doesn't get introduced until Chapter 3. (the final chapter of the demo) Tayo is probally the most important character to the plot, followed by Koros, Zenith, and then Jeht and Stacy. The hidden optional character is completely irrelevant to the overall story and is just a bonus. I COULD replace her with a player-created self insert, but that would lead to metanarritive problems that would spoil future plotpoints in my series too soon and too obviously.

So no, sadly, I will not be able to incorporate your idea of an avatar character into my game or any of my games really, as I personally prefer player characters and party members with set personalities rather than a character who's appearance and choices are based on the player and are meant to a self-insert for them. Also of note is that character customization in a visual sense is VERY hard to do in RPG Maker. There is one plugin for MV that allows you to create and name custom character using the character generator while in-game, but it is very buggy, doesn't work at all in MZ, and is abandoned by it's developer who quit RM and it's community entirely years ago to instead focus on building a hardware accurate, physical GBA game about time traveling cats in Gadot. So I probally won't be able to impliemnt an avatar system as in-depth as Fire Emblem Awakening, and there's really no point in having an avatar if you can't customize them and they're just an NPC, right?

I know some games let you customize the names of the characters (mainly older SquareSoft games), but honestly I never found a use for that feature unless their in-game names are mistranslated or they're using a dumb pseudonym, mainly FF7 and Chrono Trigger in this regard,. (And in FF5 renaming Bartz to Butts, Butt, Buttz, or Buttface because it's funny.) Aka Cait Sithe to Reeve, Aris to Aerith, Frog to Glenn, Robo to SG-089, Marle to Nadia, Magus to Janus, etc. I don't feel like that's appropritate for my series to rename characters like that, because it can drastically alter the serious tone of a lot of my games by naming the characters something silly, like renaming the characters in Chronicles Meteorfall Twink, McMuscles, Tits, Stupidfart, Gayboi, and Brainlit. I like to have characters with consistent personalities, storylines, and yes, names, so renaming characters isn't an option either.

Regardless, thank you for your suggestion, even if I have decided not to commit to it. And yes, I agree, Steam is a much better place to make your game known to a wider audience than itch.io. As soon as I finish Chronicles Meteorfall to at least a point where it's playable and the demo to a state where I'm fully satisfied, I'll strongly consider putting my game on Steam to a wider reach and potential audience as per your suggestion. Once again, thanks for the kind words. It's especially nice to know that I have at least one fan looking forward to my game, especially in times as dark as these. I'll keep you mind as I continue to develop this game.

Oh, and one more thing. How to do you feel about you or one or your OCs cameoing in my game? Like as you said a shopkeeper or something? I might not be able to make a brand new self-insert character, but I can add you yourself or one of your OCs (if you have any) into the game as a sort of consultation prize! What do you say?