Continuing the discussion from IF stars?:
just moving the conversation about creating an IF “star” here (a popular iconic character used across many works)
convo starts here
I’d start by identifying character. Is he/she/them/it ironic, serious, clever, dumb, grumpy, smiling etc? We need a poll.
Then we go on with mayor physical aspects, and they should be unique. Like the scar and ivory leg of ahab, the patch of Harlock, etc. Leaving space for extended personalizations by various authors.
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My own suggestions, summarized from the other thread:
– Non-human, to avoid too much you = “you” blending.
– Appealing design for future artists to illustrate.
– Flexible personality, fitting for both comedy and drama.
– A few “core” traits/characteristics (like Mario being Italian, being a plumber, traveling through pipes, etc.)
This character could potentially be a dimension-hopper. Could potentially be an animated inanimate object, like a stuffed animal – although I lean more toward a fleshy/organic character myself. Could potentially have magic powers, or sci-fi tech, or weirder bizarro abilities.
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Since IF varies a lot in how much conversation it includes (conversation in parser IF is hard), maybe the character should talk in some circumstances and not others, or have an alternate way of communicating in certain environments? (E.g. if it’s a duck, and nobody around speaks duck. But probably not a duck, because a duck might not lend itself to drama.)
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I think, a habit to sometimes comment unasked would be cool. [Edit: Of course in a more or less sarcastic or humorous way.]
Riffing off of earlier ideas, I could see something like a mix between the classical religious concept of ‘avatar’ and something like Dr Who could work. There could be a cosmic force of justice that chooses to intervene at times with a personal manifestation, something that appears into a world, fixes things, and leaves.
Like Sora from Kingdom Hearts, they could take on different forms depending on where they’re sent: as an animal when sent to animals, as a warrior or mage in older times, detective in modern times, etc.
They could always have a significant mark on them, like a green spiral as a tattoo or an object of clothing.
Personality could be observant, polite and reserved but intelligent, kind of like Columbo.
The avatar process could be intentionally imperfect, with the avatar often not fully grasping who they are and not remembering the past, with a ‘realization’ moment of their truth near the end of their mission (like realizing their detective agency was just an abandoned office, or that there are only 4 beds in the doghouse instead of 3).
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I vote for Aki from Spirits Within, just for maximal irony.
For the younguns: Aki was a decently realistic-looking 2001 CGI model that was intended to be an animated “actress”, who could be used in different movies; but the first one flopped (and CGI moved on, anyways), so she’s only in the one movie. Bringing her back in a text-only medium would be extremely silly.
Should they be the focus of any puzzle mechanics, or would that constrain implementation too much?
EDIT: Also, what about custom responses? E.G. something like
>SLEEP
Not now! The duty to fix wormholes waits for no spider.
Or what have you.
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So make the character a goat, so that others can complain about them constantly “butting in”.
… I’ll show myself out.
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Marco, I’m surprised that you don’t point to the origin of stock and proteiform character, origins we Italians know well:
Said that, I don’t hide that Etuye & co. 's mold is done with this ancient Art, among other things from the history of Italian narration; I concur with CMG’s suggestions, since day 1, circa 2020:
Non-human: an Elf, an Angel, a Daemon. checked
Appealing design: The Portrait, 'nuff said, I think checked
Flexible personality: is the current phase, the issue is in the “fitting for more than one role”, because isn’t easy to fit into universal sensitivities…
A few core traits & characteristics: nearly done. Etuye, Azuj and Miyai have definite personalities, albeit with hindsight, the exposure of their personalities in First Contact was not ideal. checked, I guess ?
Two, perhaps three, out of four. And I don’t hide that I suspect that their blooming can improve in the fertile soil of a backgarden… 
I admit that there’s too few “matter of Railei” for a real dojinshi/fanfiction/Commedia dell’ Arte derivative work, but I think (and hope) that in two years, we can have around an interesting IF constellation…
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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I think something like a robot. This allows for humanesque characteristics, it allows taking things (if it’s a blob or a dog or something, inventory gets problematic), and it allows for a lot of flexibility. Also, it can make a lot of sense for a robot’s physical characteristics to change a little as it gets fixed/upgraded.
Also a nice shoutout to Floyd, who it seems we all agree is about as “star” as IF characters get.
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I don’t think making their character variable because of setting is a nice idea. Yes, like this anyone can use them effortlessly, but I hardly see them becoming an icon. An icon must be standalone recognizable.
Better, imo, to have a set of traits, maybe not too stringent, that authors can play with. As, for example, they do with iconic characters at Marvel. No one is going to make Captain America a doubtful, sly persone because the plot needs him to.
Let’s imagine Ahab. Authors can have Ahab in space, Ahab at the groceries, Ahab underground against morlocks. What doesn’t change is Ahab himself, that will stand proud, wounded and vengeful everywhere but with added traits here and there. His booming, shakespearing voice will thunder anywhere.
I’m pretty much sure you people would be able to come up with something significant no matter the shackles. I certainly would.
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Not to be a killjoy, but a lot of the examples in this and the other thread seem like lists of instructions. If you have to explicitly tell people the characteristics and rules of something, you haven’t created a very effective mascot, which makes a less effective star.
Instead, people should want to write — and sort of know how to write — a character based on their immediate impression of them.
I think this is the gold standard, and it’s just clip art that the author didn’t even create:
I get a similar feeling looking at that picture as I do from reading a single line of Grunk narration.
I do think @AmandaB’s robot idea would work if done right.
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