Player’s character
Main elements that bring the player’s character to life are: being a member of the Perrwinkle family, being a parent, and being a leader for the survival group.
From the narrative point of view the player’s character will fulfil the role/trope of the Leader, a person who knows what to do, is an authority figure, to whom other characters look for guidance and to who they delegate the decision-making process.
Player’s character is as empty from any ideological prerequisites as possible. They are “tabula rasa” and can be filled by the player with whatever stance they want to play with. Throughout the game it should be crucial for the player to choose their stance on the possible engame scenarios – leaving Earth, adapting to new ecosystem, or pruging and revitalising old one.
Player’s character creation should be very straightforward, a player-chosen name and a decision to be called “dad”, “mum” or any player-chosen title by their child. That will not influence their gender or the playthrough in any way but will just regulate how the child character will address them.
In the game character coordinates the job that make up, set up and then upgrade the survivor camp. They make decisions that pop up with time and delegate tasks to their fellow family members and campers.
Player’s character is a scientist that was working for the corporations, launching one of the rockets for Project OffWorld – a project where all the most influential and wealthy poeple on Earth were lifted to the orbit to live in luxuary until the colonisation fleet is ready, leaving the desolate Earth behind. Player’s character was promised, in exchange for the work they did, passes to the rocket for their whole family. Unfortunately for them, once the project was complete, they were denied boardng due to a “miraculous” reappearance of presumed-dead relatives to some rich people, high up in the Project OffWorld. Scientist and their family were left behind on a desolate Earth in an abandoned OffWorld launch pad. As an educated and briliant academic, player’s character leads the family towards a new goal – survival by all means.
Player’s character is never showed in-game. Their appearance or looks should not be mentioned in the storyline of the game. This ephemerality of the character would serve as a vessel to be filled by the player’s imagination. Player is the character, and they should feel like they are immersed in their experience without the need to categorise the Player’s character in any way. They should be adress per “you”.
Lily Perrwinkle
The young adult, Lilly Perrwinkle is a rebelious sprit. She is lost in the world that has died before her time, before she had a chance to see it. She is extremly critical towards the corporations but her other opinions are both extreme and nebulous at the same time. She is a Sacvenger, always keen on exploring and snooping around.
From the narrative standpoint, she will serve as the Lancer and the Rebel. A troublesome character who lives by a very idealistic code and at the same time is very picky about what fights to really support.
She was brought up in the last years of human civilization. She does not remember cities and schools. She is in a constant state of restlessness, she dreams of travelling the outback and finding the remnants of civilization, of life she was told about. She loves the world and thinks that even in its desolate state it still holds some beauty. She finds amazement and curiosity to be her main tool in experiencing the world. She is a skilled fighter and a good shot – trained to be able to take care of herself froma very young age. She adores her family but needs to develop her own self too. She is unapologetic and can throw a tantrum. She is especially moody and stubborn when it comes to player’s (parent’s) interactions with her. Trying to establish her own opinions and ideals often starts as a direct opposition to what the player’s character, her parent, stands for.
Throughout the game she should come to terms with player’s decisions and if the player tried to be understanding and supportive she will eventually back their final decision. If the player was hostile or agressive towards her, she should abandon the camp before the end of the game, leaving the player with less people and less consultants.
Lilly Perrwinkle is a young woman, dressed in sturdy but mostly ragged clothes. She tries to make them look more ragged than they need to be and decorates them with pins and self-made patches. She prefers useful clothes with lots of pockets, straps and always carries a bag or a backpack and a gun – a gift from her uncle. She prefers baggy style with a lot of winter gear. She has long hair that either keeps flowing or tied in aponytail, when a serious situation arises. She does not like jewellery and body modifications.
Patricia “Patty” Perrwinkle
She is a mother to the player’s character, the oldest of the Perrwinkle clan. She has a doctorate in biology and organic chemistry. SHe serves as a Herbalist in the camp.
In the story she fills the role of the Heart, and uses the trope of the Wise and the Supporter. She is an emotional centre of the family, keeping them together and reminding them of their shared goal, purpose and kinship.
She is the last Perrwinkle to see the “old, good world, when all people would still ride the same wagon more or less”. She is a sassy, know-it-all with a lot of love towards people she cares about. She is old but not frail. She has a doctorate, several years of experience in cataloging and reviewing at-risk flora. She is highly motivated to know more about how the environment changes. A former advocate of fighting climate change, she thinks that the catastrophe that was not averted can be and will be a new beginning for the planet and the people living on it.
She is old and set in her ways. She will not leave the planet Earth but will back up anything the player proposes. She will be an avid advocate for testing and exploring the new flora and fauna of the seemingly dead Earth. She wants to spend her days with the family, doing good for them and fulfilling her own desires is just a bonus. She does not look kindly towards decisions to purge the new-found flora or fauna in order to revitialise Earth to its former state by all means neccesary, but she will bend after expressing her doubts – she will never leave and will always give her advice to the player, wheter she agrees with what they do or not.
Against leaving, Pro science, Pro security, Against new nature purge, Pro adaptation
She is an older woman with tired but happy face. She is strudy and resiliant. She is extremly inteligent and knowladgable. She prefers the natural linens and clothes over sythetic and plastic-induced fabrics. She wears a lot of faux fur-lined elements and loves hoods and gloves. She does not need glasses and prides herself in that. She wears her hair neatly braided. She has a distinctively noble face and a piercing but kind eyes.
Ingrid Perrwinkle
She is player character’s sister-in-law and a brilliant technician. She is a decisive, down-to-bussiness engineer with a wide range of intrests.
In the story, she will serve as the Smart Guy and will fill the role of the Magician – master in her craft. She is elusive and her opinions are hard to come by, but she is thorough and respectful. She knows her value and will not settle for a crooked deal if she sees one. She can speak her mind without fear of repercussions. She is also very timid and shy, even though she never seems that way.
Ingrid has been living with the machines ever since her partner died. The environmental changes left her alone in the world and she has moved out to live with the rest of the Perrwinkle family. She is a calm and collected person, totally in love with her craft. Her interests are wide. She can assemble a modern rocket engine and repair a 100-year-old radio emitter. She does not often speak, but when she does everyone listens. She believes that people are more important than machines but that machines can solve most of the problems. She sees them as tools, nothing more. She hates the notion of AI. She is not tied to Earth; she would rather leave it behind for something new. This planet only reminds her of what she has lost.
She can change her mind and stay, but only if the player was respectul and listend to her advice from time to time. She will be pushing towards building a new rocket and leaving the forsaken planet.
Pro leaving, Pro science, Against high security, Pro new nature purge, Against adaptation
Ingrid is a women in her 30s. She has lots of tatoos and piercings and stylizes her hair to show her punk affiliation. She wears a lot of makeup and keeps her hands manicured and tended, even though her job requires her to sometimes compromise her hand care. She has a work gear that she wears only for work. She likes to have clean clothes and maintains them in a very good state. She keeps her hair shorter or ties it haphazardly in a bun.
Arnold Perrwinkle
He is the uncle of the player character. A survivalist, scout and a Scavenger ready to protect his home and his family from any harm.
In the story he will serve the role of a Guardian, the Strong Guy and the Protector. He is all about security and force but used for the good of the family and the survivors. He despises tyrants and poeple exploiting others.
He was always a gun enthusiast and a doomsday prepper. He is the person to talk to about weapons, modern and ancient warfare. He can shoot, fight and scout. He was always saying that climate change is an inevitability and prepared for it. He always has a protein bar in his pocket, nibbling on it instead of eating food from the mushroom farms. He loves Earth. He is prepared to fight anyone who threatens his family and friends. He believes that the rich ones should have used the money to save Earth and they can still. They just need to come back and put their means to keep out the scavengers and purge the infested lands, build new cities, restore order. His favorite pastime is walking the perimeter. He is a little old but agile and nimble for his age. He is a history nerd as well, mostly military history though.
He will want to stay, only if something terrible happens, or everyone else would want to leave he would change his mind. He wants to rebuild society as it was and disagrees a lot with Patricia. They bicker a bit but love each other and do not wish each other harm. They just have a different idea what would be the best for them.
Against leaving, Against science, Pro security, Pro new nature purge, Against adaptation
He is an older guy, just a bit younger than his sister Patricia. He is muscular, with a bruised face, both with age and scars. He wears a lot of combat gear. He always has one of his favourite long weapons with him. He likes capes and ponchos, especially in camo colours. He has his own modified, long ranged walkie-talkie. He wears combat boots a sturdy belt with a lot of pouches and organised tools, both bigger and small. He has anti-dust goggles and pices of armour taped or sewed to his clothes.
Perrwinkle family – possible changes
It may be in the interest of the creators of the game to change some elements of the Perrwinkle family. It is all possible. I have intentionally not mentioned elements such as race or detailed relationships between the family, as I believe that it would be better for the creators to put their own understanding and their own image of the family onto it. The creators – the writer/s especially – should draw from their own background or specilisation, to create a captivating image of the family they feel comfortable and informed enough to portray. Let the Perrwinkles, or what the creators choose to name them, be written from real life, from anywhere in the world.
Survivors
The Perrwinkles are the focus characters, but throughot the game, player will need to take on another survivors, creating a survivors camp. Those survivors are people, just like the Perrwinkles, and just like Perrwinkles they also have their own stories and desires. But as their are not the main characters in the story, they are not as elaborate.
Survivors are linked to the events. Some events will introduce survivors – only a handful at once, so the player can get aquiented with them and decide, wheter they want them in their camp. Survivors are created for the events and as a resource for the camp. They all have their distinct name, surname, designation and a characteristic – a line or two. They are either Scavengers, Herbalists, Technicians or Security. They are good at one thing and may be bad at another.
Survivors are poeple with their lives at stake. They are looking for their own way of surviving and may want to join with the player’s camp or not. They can become hostiles – in the events – if the event writer chooses to. They are the subject and objects of the events in the game.
They are distinc from one another but there are some commonalities. Their clothes are dusty and rugged. They have a survival outlook on life. They do not waste anything, they try to carry as much with them as possible. Backpacks, straps, pouches and belts with stuff added on them are very common. Capes and hoodes, sturdy boots and gogles are also a distinct mark of the survivors. The clothes are bleak and sandy or greyish, not a single one of them has any green.
references for the art can be found on my designated Pintrest board:
In here I have layed out the basis of the characters and what trope/frame can be used to shape their role in the game: