This month, I’d like to talk a bit about how character creation and customisation is going to work in Shadow of the Eagles. This means not just the process that I have planned, but also the philosophy I’m following in designing these systems the way I am. That way, you won’t just know how character customisation is going to shake out, but also my reasoning for doing things the way I am. Whether you agree with those reasons or not is, of course, up to you – but this way, you’ll have a bit of an understanding of how I’m approaching this project.
So first of all, character creation: this is going to be an extremely simple, bare-bones process consisting of a grand total of four questions. The first of these is going to be a name – mostly because your character is going to occasionally need to be addressed by something other than rank. The second and third will pertain to your character’s social background and previous occupation. In short, the second question will ask you what your broad background is (labourer, shop clerk, or petty criminal) which will determine your basic stats (Guts, Heart, and Head). The third question will build on that by asking some specifics about that background (a shop clerk could choose to be either a bookseller, a salesperson, or a fence, for example). This determines what skill (out of nine) that they already have some training in.
There is also a fourth background option – that of the aristocrat. While this option will give your character higher starting stats (as a result of better nutrition and superior living conditions) and give that character initial training in three stats rather than one, it will also render them the subject of intense suspicion by Revolutionary authorities, especially as the Terror starts to ramp up in the second half of Act 1.
The final decision is of what branch the character wants to join, infantry or cavalry. This decision can be hugely consequential, because until the character becomes a General officer (and thus, is given command of a combined arms formation), the character’s branch will determine almost all battlefield events and quite a few other ones off the field as well. A cavalry officer will be skirmishing with enemy cavalry, leading charges, and pursuing defeated enemy forces – while an infantry officer will be slugging it out with musket volleys in the line, storming fortified enemy positions, and holding friendly ones.
Now, you might have noticed a few things missing in this character creation process: things like physical appearance, precise details about the character’s past, family and childhood – even gender and first name. I have four reasons for this.
The first is that I want character creation to go as quickly as possible. This is, ultimately, a game which is supposed to be played over and over again. Things like randomised battle events and vastly divergent branching is intended to ensure that once the player reaches an ending, they have a chance to play through again with an entirely different character who gets an entirely different story – and I want as few hurdles as possible when it comes to circling back around and trying again – maybe to get that Marshal’s baton, or side with Louis XVIII, or even restore the Republic (these are all possible planned outcomes).
The second is that I have a general philosophy of leaving as much up to the player’s imagination as possible. You may have noticed this in my previous games too. Personally, I think that the more you force players to nail down precisely what their character looks like, the less freedom you give the player to shape that character themselves. Paradoxically, giving the player options will straitjacket them into those options: if you give the player the choice to give their character black, red, brown, or blond hair, then you’re implicitly leaving out those who want to make their characters have grey hair. Naturally, you could just give them more options, but I prefer just to let the player choose – especially if they want to do something ahistorical (Shadow of the Eagles does not necessarily encourage a female, green-haired Marshal of the Empire, but it’s also not going to stop you).
That leads into the third reason: the only decisions in character creation are the ones which I know will be extremely consequential. The first one determines how the player character will be addressed for the whole game. The second and third will play a major part in what that character is good at, and thus, what qualifies as a good or bad option for them. The last determines which random and hard-coded events and challenges they’ll be facing. All of these decisions go a great distance in determining what kind of game the player wants, and how they want to approach it.
Lastly, I think that having character creation be this bare-bones also fits with the theme of the historical period this game will centre on. One of the things about the French Revolution was that a lot of those who rose to prominence during the time of the First Republic and the Empire came from humble or obscure beginnings. While some (like Davout, Grouchy, or Napoleon himself) were children of relative privilege, many more rose to high rank and power from social classes which never would have touched that kind of responsibility otherwise (Murat was the son of a postmaster, Ney was the son of a barrelmaker, Dumas was the son of a slave). That, I think, plays into the theme that a person isn’t what they were born or raised as, but that they achieve and prove themselves to be capable of – which means the main ways of “customising” a character in Shadow of the Eagles isn’t through what they choose as a background, but the decisions they make, the risks they take, the successes they achieve, and the failures they endure.
Thus, the main forms of character customisation don’t come at the start of the game, but over time, as the player character gains promotion to higher ranks, reputation with different political factions, decorations for bravery (I want to let the player character achieve all five grades of the Legion of Honour) and noble titles, including one or two in particular that were never historically awarded (mostly because they’d be victory titles for battles which historically weren’t victories).
Your player character’s attributes and skills aren’t set in stone either. There will be opportunities to gradually raise base attributes over the course of the game, and it will be possible to gain additional ranks in each skill through hiring experts to acquire further training – though these trainers will be extremely expensive, and only a relatively narrow selection of trainers will be available at any given time, based on where exactly the player character is at the time. This means that as the game goes on, the player character will become successively more skilled and versatile – assuming that the player is able to gather the right resources, make the right decisions, and get lucky enough to take advantage of opportunities to raise those stats.
And this will be necessary – at least, if the player intends to have their character reach high rank and position. While most skill challenges begin relatively easy (at least for a player character specialising in the skill in question), they will grow more and more difficult as the player character advances in rank. The battle events for a Sous-Lieutenant are easier to succeed in than the ones for a Colonel, which are again easier than the ones faced by a General de Division. A player character which gets promoted too quickly (something which the player can generally control, since they decide when their character gets promoted most of the time) might find themselves out of their depth, in the way a lot of actual talented junior and field grade officers found themselves when promoted to higher command (Junot and Murat both come to mind). If a player wants their character to keep advancing in rank, to keep racking up victories, and to stay on the path to becoming one of the greatest figures of the age, they will have to keep developing that character’s attributes and skills.
Hopefully, all of this goes to answer some of your questions regarding how the character system will work in Shadow of the Eagles. While maybe not necessarily the most complex or in-depth system, I think it’ll provide more than enough ways for players to fine-tune their characters, so they can tackle my representation of a very tumultuous, dangerous, and fascinating part of history the way they want.
Paul Wang 