Good day to all reading,
I wanted to share some feedback on how the game can offer realistic character behavior. While I agree with @Kjun about needing more dialog for conversations, I do not think that is the “core” issue holding Zoi’s back from feeling more real and alive.
I believe it starts at the core personalities of a Zoi, namely the “Characteristics and Traits” of a Zoi. A personality is not just a “feeling” a Zoi has, it should dictates what they do.
Currently Inzoi has 18 characteristic and 18 traits. I have mixed and matched and tried all of them at least one time. What I experienced is that regardless of what trait you have, Zoi characteristics dictate and produce:
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the same random wants
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the same moods (cheerful is happy)
Because of this, at the moment all the Zois feel and play exactly the same. Choosing a different trait or characteristic doesn’t impact how I as a player interact with the game.
Intertwining Traits and characteristics
What is the core gaming difference between an authoritarian trait who has the wandering heart characteristic and the adventurous trait who has a wandering heart characteristic?
The devs need to consider the gameplay difference.
- Its not the animations,
- its not the amount of dialog players can pick,
- it isn’t the type of moods my Zoi’s feel,
- and it isn’t some new feature like a dating app that is needed
IT HAS TO BE HOW ZOIS ACT based on both chosen TRAITS and CHARACTERISTICS that are already in the game, it MUST be very noticeable in autonomous Zoi’s and noticeable when a Zoi is player driven.
The core problem is the 18 in game TRAITS and CHARACTERISTICS do not drive the Zoi’s autonomous actions enough so that they
- act differently,
- react differently,
- choose to do things differently,
- feel moods differently,
- build relationships differently,
- and enjoy certain activities differently
TRAITS and CHARACTERISTICS should require players to play differently. I should not be able to woo an intellectual the exact same way I woo a recluse, and I should not be able to build a friendship with a malicious rule breaker in the exact same way I befriended a pacifist.
A malicious trouble maker Zoi should not be calling the cops on me when I cause mischief! If anything they should ask to join me, or maybe even blackmail me later.
So how do we fix TRAITS and CHARACTERISTICS?
Flush out the 18 TRAITS and CHARACTERISTICS you currently have so that they all feel distinct.
The 18 TRAITS should dictate how Zois express their 18 characteristics and the 18 characteristics when combind should generate different ways a Zoi acts
Below I will give an example of what I mean, I will be using:
Trait - Adventurous:
- Characteristic combination #1: Malicious + Extroverted
- Characteristic combination #2: Malicious + Emotionally Needy
Overall the point is:
Both the Zois are adventurous and Malicious, but their maliciousness is expressed differently depending on both the combination of characteristics, and the combination of traits. Each Zoi should autonomously act and react different to situations, just how played zois should require I as a to player adjust my playstyle to accommodate the type of zoi I am playing.
This is the END of my post
EXAMPLE BELOW
Trait #1 - Adventurer
Core autonomy in nonplayer households:
- These Zoi’s are more inclined to try new things even if they have a dislike for it, they are still willing to try it
- These Zoi’s have a small percentage to change from disliking something to liking something if:
- the hang out event was exceptionally fun
- (if there is no hang out event) The player kept the zoi in a fun/happy state for at least 4 or 5 hours during the entire hangout before breaking the group and sending them home.
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These zoi’s have a lower chance to reject you for inviting them out at 2 am. The are more inclined to accept.
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Relationship building for them is average difficulty, their characteristics drive the difficulty level up or down.
Characteristic #1: Extroverted
Core personality related to “Adventurous”:
These Zois want to share their adventurous activities.
Characteristic #2: Malicious
Core personality related to “Adventurous”:
These Zois enjoy high risk and adrenaline.
Note: Not to be confused with the traits “Rule breaker or trouble maker” These Zois are not looking to be criminals or trying to prank you, they seek out adventure with little concern to what others think. The tears and hatred of other Zoi’s amuse them more than it upsets them.
How does the Adventurous, malicious extrovert shape a zois persona?
Being malicious means the zoi isn’t going to take any of your likes or dislikes into consideration, merging this with the adventurous trait means they are more inclined to deliberately egg you on to do things you dislike or feel uncomfortable doing.
Being an extrovert means they are going to invite you places more often than other Zois, merge maliciousness and adventurous into it and they are going to invite you to places you most likely don’t like and will egg you on to try things you are to exhausted to do, like swimming when sleepy, or doing a dare to not eat for 12 hours even when your hunger meter is really low.
Not accepting the challenge may have them tease you for being too scared, and this can upset your zoi.
The core autonomy feature of this Zoi is they are always up for a challenge, and they will challenge you a lot and out right tease you for refusing or failing a challenge.
Players should see these Zoi’s as jerks, and unless their zoi is a jerk too, most Zoi’s don’t like this zoi.
IMPORTANT: They are jerks, not criminals, think the overconfident competitive type who brags about everything and always wants a rematch if they lose. They are not criminals, just so overbearing they come off as jerks.
How this play out in relations:
Neutral:
The minute you introduce yourself to this zoi, it opens the door to them calling/txt you to invite you somewhere.
They are rather chill at this stage, their extroverted nature shines more at this level as they come off as a friendly person just looking to hang out.
Lovers:
They invite you on a lot of active dates like traveling, sports, and the gym, regardless of what you like, as lok as it gets you two out and about. If your Zoi is a plant hater, many of your dates will be a picnic held at a park. If your zoi hates swimming, many invites to the beach and pool you will see.
This zoi wants to tease you so you will be challenged to do the things you hate and will often lose at, like swimming, or eating street food you hate. This zoi will smile and their heart will be aflutter the more they aggravate your zoi, but when you yell at them they will smile and make a romantic jester that runs a chance to set your zoi’s heart aflutter and confusing them simultaneously.
Arguing doesn’t destroy your relationship level as this zoi likes to argue, the levels drop much slower than other zoi’s.
This zoi is clearly a jerk and no good for you, but, but…
Best Friends:
They will not invite you on any dates, but you will get a lot more competitive hangout invites. Places like arcades where they can challenge you to a game, winner gets bragging rights for a day.
Jerks come off as better friends than they do lovers. They can issue challenges or you can do things like swimming or eating things you don’t like, and while they are a sore loser and prefer to do all the gloating, your friendship isn’t ruined when you win and get to gloat yourself.
Arguing doesn’t destroy your friendships due to their nature, it drops very slowly when you argue with this zoi.
If you find you win a lot, expect to get called for a revenge rematch. b.c this zoi is a sore loser. If it was hard to beat you and they finally do, they may never give you a rematch to redeem yourself.
Co-workers:
The gloat and show off at work. No dates or casual hangouts will come from them, but you will receive company hangout invites from them.
They are eager to form any type of relationship with you, so they will engage you at work often. If you form a positive relation with them they may butt heads with you on things, but due to their nature it is unlikely to ruin their relationship with you. They are more inclined to join you in your business and investment endeavors, but expect them to just be starting drama with you for kicks.
Exes
If your Zoi has the adventurous trait as well, then this zoi will invite you out, not on dates, but only b.c your the only other Zoi as adventurous as they are.
If you do not share the adventurous trait, they will not call you unless your zoi fails at something like a major sport were you were going pro, then they will call and mock you. But typically they don’t engage with you.
If you incite them out, as long as it is adventurous like a sport, they will accept. If you invite them to a book club they will likely reject you.
Once you get them to an event, these zois are less likely to turn you down if you ask to do something together at the event. This allows players a chance to repair relationships if the even ends well, as there is a chance the Zoi can feel the time with your zoi wasn’t so bad which makes it a little more easier for players to repair the relationship.
It is possible for one zoi to have had fun, while the other did not. It depends on if the event was a succuss and if the zoi was doing things they liked or disliked.
If the ex had fun but your Zoi did not, they will contact your zoi later in the week to consider reigniting the spark. It falls on the player to pursue the relationship or to leave it as is.
If it is the players Zoi who enjoyed the night, but the Ex did not, they will not contact you, it is up to the player to reach out, and start building things up slowly.
Want is more Spicy
If a player is looking for more drama, they can, or the other zoi can autonomously suggest an adventurous 1 night fling with no strings attached. It is not always guaranteed to be accepted if the player asked, or offered by the Ex, but these zoi have a higher chance than others to accept/offer the 1 night of passion from an ex.
The ex and your zoi have a chance to get a reaction after the fling. Either they found it exciting and would like to do it again, or they regret it and their percentage of accepting it again drops.
It is possible for your zoi to regret it, and your zoi’s ex to have found it exciting, this would prompt them to invite you out again later in the week. But if your zoi found it exciting and their ex regretted it, they will call the next day telling you it was all a mistake and this will devastate your Zoi.
For the next week or so they will pine over them and its up to the player to help their zoi move on or try to repair the zoi’s relationship.
NOTE: These zois are not the same as wondering heart, they are NOT ok with cheating
Enemies:
They usually only call to brag about a major achievement like traveling to Cahaya, or winning a surf event. They won’t invite you anywhere other than to their award ceremonies or other show off events.
If you invite them someplace, they will usually accept. If you are successful, winning something of interest, then you can brag too. Winning a sewing contest isn’t going to interest the adventurous type, so you can’t brag about things like that.
You can push them into a rival relationship where if the game ever adds competitions, they can always appear as your rival to challenge you in adventurous events like swimming, surfing, traveling, sports, fear challenges, dares and the like. Don’t bother them about a painting contest though, or becoming an idol either, that isn’t very adventurous, they won’t care in the slightest and will even mock you.
Rival co-workers:
The are not interested in inviting you anywhere. If you inquire, they will respond though. They will agree to put in a good word for you at work, but there is a chance they are going to take the promotion you are trying to get.
You may convince them to embark on a business endeavor with you, but they are highly likely to abandon you if things get too tough.
They can be pushed into a work rival, where they will open a competing business against you online, and at times will call you out in ads. When your business is struggling they will mock you and when it succeeds you can gloat.
They can even visit your business and judge it harshly, you can kick them out or dazzle them with how great your service is, causing them them to leave an unwanted positive rating where they both curse you and praise the experience. It leaves your Zoi feeling pleased.
NOTE: These Zois are jerks and are not necessarily criminals, they won’t do shady things to ruin your business like the rule breaker or trouble maker would.
As the players Zoi:
These zoi’s want to share their adventurous escapades with others, and doing things alone isn’t very fun, but they can’t help their inner jerk inside.
Players will find these Zoi’s need to have a buddy they can have fun with, but not just any friend will do. A trail of broken relationships with not a single friend can leave them feeling lonely.
They can’t just be nice or then they feel board and empty. It is important that players find a way to keep at least one close friend while offering a way for this Zoi to embrace their jerky nature.
Now how does ADVENTURER change when you pick:
Core personality related to “Adventurous”:
These Zois enjoy high risk and adrenaline.
Note: Not to be confused with the traits “Rule breaker or trouble maker” These Zois are not looking to be criminals or trying to prank you, they seek out adventure with little concern to what others think. The tears and hatred of other Zoi’s amuse them more than it upsets them.
Core personality related to “Adventurous”:
These Zois are highly insecure about their relationships.
Note: B.c they are an adventure, their insecurities don’t steam from a place of jealousy like maybe a charmers would, it comes more from there curiosity overriding their fear and messing things up when they cross boundaries.
How does the Adventurous, malicious and emotionally needy combination shape a zois persona?
As we already know, being malicious means the zoi isn’t going to take any of your likes or dislikes into consideration, merging this with the adventurous trait means they are more inclined to deliberately egg you on to do things you dislike or feel uncomfortable doing.
Being emotionally needy means they often worry about the consequences of their malicious tendencies and often require reassurance that everything is fine.
These zois may mock you for losing a challenge, feel a burst of joy for poking at your zoi, but are then later met with a lingering sense of worry.
The core autonomy feature of this Zoi is they are always up for a challenge, and they will challenge you a lot and out right tease you for refusing or failing a challenge, but depending on your relationship, their joy is short lived as they start to fret over their actions a require reassurance that things are fine.
Players should see these Zoi’s as well, emotionally needy and a little annoying for it, unless your is malicious and enjoys seeing them stressed out, then most Zoi’s find them a bit exhausting.
IMPORTANT: They are not exhausting for being emotionally needy, they are exhausting b.c they will be a jerk to you and then turn around so you can console them.
How this play out in relationships:
Neutral:
On first autonomous meeting this zoi may interact nicely or they may respond maliciously, it is random.
If they are rude to you on first meeting, you will eventually be apologized to in person/text or phone. This will lift your zois spirits a bit.
This is a common trait for this zoi, you will often find them offering an apology after being mean to others.
They come off as sincere and well meaning at this stage b.c of there emotionally neediness.
Lovers:
These zois will invite you out lees than an extrovert would, but more than an introvert would.
They like to invite you to fun adventurous things like amusement parks, special fairs and the occasional food challenge event. You are less likely to receive an invite the a library or art show.
They often egg you on to try something, even getting mad and arguing with you if you refuse. Eventually they will try to apologize either in person or via phone depending on your location and their ability to reach you.
Even if you accept the apology, you will be met with txt, and calls checking to make sure everything is fine.
If you attend an event alone without inviting them and they find out, they become insecure, wondering why you didn’t invite them and this cues even more phone calls, text and personal visits to your home to confirm everything is fine and you still love them.
If you push back on this, often not accepting their apologies when they are mean, or not taking their calls, or ignoring their text, this makes them mad at you. They may even argue with you but will try to apologize again.
If you try to break up, they can ignore it and ask for another chance, and if you insist they can keep trying to win you back with random serenades, text and phone calls.
Best Friends:
As a friend they are rather polite, they often say something mean or do something mean, but apologize right after. If the relationships starts to drift, they get worried and start reaching out to you more often, wanting to hang out more often.
If you keep turning them down they get upset and start being mean to you, and if you snap back at them they will quickly apologize all while blaming you for their actions and in the same breath asking for forgiveness.
Co-workers:
If you befriend this coworker, they will solicit you for a lot of business advice, ignore them and they get mad, help them then when the business struggles they blame you. Like their other counterparts, and apology is always waiting around the corner.
But if you start a business and don’t tell them or invite them, you best believe they will have some words for you.
If you manage to invite them as a business partner they are pretty good at assisting but they require a lot of praise and emotional support to keep happy. If they partnership falls apart, certainly they will chew you out but apologize later at some point.
Exes
They are going to be in your phone asking for forgiveness, they will be showing up at your home and job asking for forgiveness. Ignoring them will make them angry and they will autonomously look to start an argument with you.
If you firmly turn them down they will autonomously argue with you.
At this point they are just the zoi who every time they are in the same place as you will start a fight b.c you wouldn’t give them a chance.
They are surprisingly the easiest to reconcile with of all the adventurous characteristics as they only want your forgiveness for everything they’ve done.
You can invite them out and they are usually very eager to accept, they have a very high chance of liking their time out with you and wanting to reconcile.
It is possible to friend zone them by turning them down after they have a good time, this allows you to friend zone them, sometimes they get mad but will apologize later and accept it, and other times they will calmly accept it.
Whnt if you got more Spicy with them
If a player is looking for more drama from their crazy ex, they can, or the other zoi can autonomously suggest an adventurous 1 night fling with no strings attached. Except emotionally needy Zois don’t do no stings attached very well.
It is usually guaranteed to be accepted if the player asked, but if the Ex offers it, a player can reject such advances. This is a rare situation in which the emotionally needy zoi is not offended when you turn them down.
The emotionally needy zoi, player or not, has a high chance to get a reaction of enjoying the night and wanting to rekindle the relationship. The player must decide what to do here.
If the ex gets this reaction and is turned down by the player, they are accused of playing with their heart, the player gets an ear full and a Zoi who is always going to be trying to pick a fight with you.
If only the players zoi gets the reaction and the other zoi did not, the player will still receive a request to try dating again from the emotionally needy zoi, if they player rejects the offer, their zoi will be devastated, and the emotionally needy zoi will block your number and run away from you in public areas.
If you decide to chase them, and catch them, you can choose to date again or friend zone them so that they will stop running away like an idiot.
In the rare chance the emotionally needy zoi found your 1 night fling regretful, they will call you the next day solemnly and break up with you. The player can chose to be angry, celebrate, stay polite, or baffled by the audacity via the conversation cards.
NOTE: These zois are not the same as wondering heart, they are NOT ok with cheating
Enemies:
This zoi doesn’t like you, but still expects to get invited out. This Zoi will still accept invites from you, ignore you all night, and still expect but still expect another invite.
If you don’t invite them out and they find out, you will get an earful.
If ever at an even together they will always argue with you before joining you in dance or whatever.
When you argue with them they always take the defense, being shocked and pretending you hurt their feelings as they run away only for you to get a phone call the next day about some nasty rumor about you going around among the many adventure clubs.
Surprisingly, mending this friendship is very easy as they usually accept apologies from the player. They can easily become frenemies when you agree to do things together even though you hate each other, put each other done and spread bad rumors about each other.
Rival co-workers:
You are going to be hearing a lot more complaints at work. This zoi has it out for you, they don’t like how you work, to the color of your shoes and they will be sure to tell the boss. Promotions are now harder to get b.c this zoi is out there putting out a bad word against you to your boss.
If you run your own business, they don’t open a business to counter yours, but they will come to you facility to stir up trouble. Things like calling an inspector on your place or just leaving a negative review just to be annoying.
NOTE: These Zois are jerks and are not necessarily criminals, they won’t do shady things to ruin your business like the rule breaker or trouble maker would, and they are only targeting you so hard because you were their emotional crutch when it came to hanging out
As the players Zoi:
These zoi’s are jerks but feel a deep need to be liked. Players will need to find ways to let them be the jerks they are, but also find someway to emotionally support them so that they are not always stressing about their actions. Things like meditation, a hobby, a push over friend, and pep talks in the mirror can help them feel less insecure.