How To Draw An Androgynous Character
Aug 18th 2012 at nine:24:45 PM
Some kind of sleek jacket with a high collar, like some sort of track jacket
◊, would brand it easy to conceal their trunk, while still looking slim and fairly like a 'normal everday' outfit. In that location have been some studies washed into how men and women speak (or actually, write; if I think the studies properly, they were almost writing) and yous could await at those to try to degender your writing.
You lot'd take to work against somewhat of a default assumption of maleness, and then it might be a good idea to toss in some hints toward masculinity and some hints toward femininity to make the androgyny more clear.
nrjxll Human relationship Status: Not war
Aug 18th 2012 at nine:33:07 PM
Before I say anything else here, I demand to tell you that if you're trying to outright preclude readers from always Wild Mass Guessing well-nigh the grapheme's gender, or forming personal opinions... give up at present. I'm more or less a frothing-at-the-oral fissure anti-gender-essentialist, and I still tend to think of androgynous characters as belonging to one gender or another mostly, although not e'er considering of anything most the character.
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Human relationship Status: I but want yous gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 19th 2012 at 9:22:45 AM
@Kotep: Thanks. I'll see if I can find anything about those studies.
@nrjxll: Oh, I'one thousand definatly non trying to practise that (equally I said, I intend to give them a gender which volition be revealed, without fanfare, I just don't want it to matter much). As anyone on TVT should know, trying to preclude any sort of WMG is an excercise in futility. I really only want the player to exist able to identify with the character more regardless of their own gender/sexual practice, so people forming their own opinions is exactly what I want.
edited 19th Aug '12 9:23:35 AM by Bisected8
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nrjxll Relationship Status: Not war
Aug 19th 2012 at 12:46:27 PM
Ah. Things like wanting to "degender" your writing sort of gave me the impression that you were trying to prevent speculation - there's no obvious difference between male person and female character voice, and then wanting to attempt and avoid writing in either really seems like the kind of matter designed to prevent guesses.
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 20th 2012 at 3:32:23 PM
Nope, just avert giving too many clues. I desire the player to estimate (or better yet, assume).
Also, has anyone got any suggestions for a outset name (I've already got ideas for a surname)? There's loads of gender neutral ones, they all seem to be "biased" either mode.
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YamiiDenryuu doot from Yous know, that identify Relationship Status: Chocolate!
doot
Aug 20th 2012 at vii:24:27 PM
Would referring to them by only their last name exist a possibility here?
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CleverPun Not bad in the Alley from Monterey, California Relationship Status: To a higher place such fiddling unnecessities
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Aug 21st 2012 at 3:23:57 AM
Questions: What art fashion and what tech level does this game use? There'south a big difference between NES sprites, PS one polygons, and electric current gen anything in terms of how much information you receive about the graphic symbol.
Did the apocalypse affect the conditions in whatever mode?
I personally like the hoodie + jacket combo- looks "normal/everyday" and conceals the character believably. Making the jacket heavier *
similar a leather biker jacket or hunting jacket
or making information technology ane size too big * encounter Lindsay from Freaks And Geeks or that one chick from that i movie I can't retrieve the name of- she spent the whole film in an oversized biker jacket
Alternately, you could have one of the first relics they find be armor- if theres any sort of health system already it doesn't need a gameplay function (information technology can be the handwave for the wellness mechanic), and it'll obscure body details.
Beneath the torso; cargo pants, loose fit jeans, and khakis are all unisex and reasonably stylish. Belts, gun holsters or wallet chains can all obscure the hips without existence out of place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJPfTr_4mEk
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Joshua_Graham%27s_armor
The outfit should play into their backstory, those are just what sprung to my heed.
Likewise I second what Kotep said, to a caste; masculinity is definitely the default assumption, then clues that are associated with one or the other gender would need to pop upward periodically. Animations leap to mind, particularly walking/running ones. I'1000 not an skilful on the affair then I wouldn't know where to get-go in that regard though...
edited 21st Aug '12 3:33:45 AM past CleverPun
"The only way to truly waste an idea is to shove it where information technology doesn't vest."
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Relationship Status: I only desire you gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 21st 2012 at 4:22:06 AM
@Yamii Denryuu: That might work, simply there'll probably be some points where that isn't an selection (flashbacks, memories, etc).
@Clever Pun: I'yard planing to employ hand-drawn/hi-res sprites (I thought about using 32-fleck sprites or something, but IMO that's getting to be a bit of a cliche) with occasional text over static scenes. The apocalypse didn't impact the weather (...yet, since I'm still about i/4 of the fashion through writing the story), but I'm not setting it in whatsoever specific function of the world.
I've also been working on the protagonist's back story since I made this thread too, most of it'll probably be All There in the Transmission stuff though;
- [Start Name needed] Coombs
- Built-in 2343 Advertisement on the 19th of December.
- Born to a salvage expert (male parent) and a soldier (mother) at a research infirmary that the former one time worked at in a colony/land neither parent had citizenship in.
- They met when the later served every bit the former's escort in one of the excursions mentioned in the OP.
- Names; Harry Flowers (Father) and [Lt.] Alaine Coombs (Mother). Harry never liked his surname, and thus took his married woman's, becoming Allen Coombs.
- Born prematurely afterward an encounter with a street thug who tried to steal a salvaged pistol note This'll be the one the actor uses in the game. from Coombs' father caused their mother to become into labour. Their father was able to pull some strings despite non having citizenship and get some help from the hospital he used to practice research at.
- Discharged from hospital on Feb the fifth the post-obit year, after surgery with a semi-experimental implant to forbid brain damage. This left them with unusually constructive language skills (...peradventure).
- They were separated from their parents afterwards running away at the age of 16. The game is prepare 2 years after (2361), and the Histrion Character is stranded while looking for members of their mother's military unit of measurement, hoping they tin can help them get dorsum in contact.
edited 21st Aug '12 two:01:09 PM by Bisected8
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Aug 21st 2012 at 7:29:05 AM
Imagine she/he/information technology has all sex organs removed.
Egghatch When the meme then supreme you let out a scream from Massachusetts Human relationship Status: I don't mind being locked in this eternal maze!
When the meme so supreme y'all let out a scream
Aug 21st 2012 at 1:57:21 PM
If you haven't decided on a name, Adrian might work. It doesn't really come off as peculiarly masculine or feminine.
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a chore from Her Hackette Cavern Relationship Status: I just desire you gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 21st 2012 at two:02:12 PM
I similar information technology, but information technology feels slightly biased towards masculine to me....
EDIT: Yeah, wikipedia and a couple of names sites accept information technology listed every bit masculine and a google paradigm search mostly turns up pictures of men.
edited 21st Aug '12 2:04:30 PM by Bisected8
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Aug 21st 2012 at iii:xl:11 PM
Really? When I run across 'Adrian' I think of a female person.
Gave them our reactions, our explosions, all that was ours For graphs of passion and charts of stars...
Ryuhza Looking in from San Diego Canton, California Human relationship Status: Tongue-tied
Looking in
Aug 21st 2012 at 3:fifty:56 PM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I retrieve of this guy. ◊ Plus, I've known one or two men with the proper name Adrian in existent life.
edited 21st Aug '12 3:52:15 PM by Ryuhza
10 times the fall
Aug 21st 2012 at four:13:xi PM
Based on 'Coombs' I'd suggest a adequately simple, probably English-ish proper noun to fit the grapheme. You don't went to accept a character named Christopher Djeser-djeseru.
Alex, Chris and Sam leap to mind as unisex names. I also recall Adrian is a picayune besides male to work equally a proper name.
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a task from Her Hackette Cave Relationship Status: I only want y'all gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 21st 2012 at 4:xl:58 PM
Well, Alex is already taken by another character (basically I've got a theme going on by naming characters shut to Coombs after people involved with Colossus, which is where their family name comes from).
Chris and Sam still experience besides masculine to be neutral. They tend to be masculine when they're used as names in their own correct and only feminine when they're acting every bit abbreviations of the names' feminine forms.
EDIT: They also both seemed to have failed the Google Image search test.
Does anyone have any thoughts on making up a name (every bit I mentioned, it's ready in a society a few hundred years into the futurity where everything was rebuilt to some caste at to the lowest degree once, so it could piece of work...)?
edited 21st Aug '12 4:45:04 PM by Bisected8
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darthnazgul
Aug 21st 2012 at 5:36:47 PM
The surname of Coombs comes off as masculine, and so a gender-neutral proper name that comes off as leaning more towards feminine would help balance information technology out.
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Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Human relationship Status: I merely want you gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 21st 2012 at 5:43:26 PM
I can see where you lot're coming from, only would it actually work that way (any association with "Coombs" existence masculine would presumably exist psychological since surnames are genderless, so earlier following that line of thinking I'd rather see some bear witness anecdotal or otherwise)?
Tv set Tropes'southward No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her
nrjxll Human relationship Status: Not state of war
Aug 21st 2012 at vi:21:13 PM
I tin say that, at least personally speaking, I can't actually see any surnames having gender associations. Certainly "Coombs" doesn't.
darthnazgul
Aug 21st 2012 at 6:41:32 PM
Eh, maybe it's just me.
My name is darthnazgul and Tv set Tropes has ruined my life.
Aug 21st 2012 at 6:41:53 PM
I don't know if you're going to find anything better than names like Chris or Sam. You could e'er point out that they're nicknames, but not say whether they're for Christopher or Christina or Samuel or Samantha.
I think no matter what you're going to bump up against a sort of implicit assumption of masculinity due to the nature of the medium and of our culture in general, as games, and more often than not western order, tend to care for male every bit default, and female as something to exist distinguished from the default.
edited 21st Aug '12 six:43:xviii PM by Kotep
CleverPun Neat in the Alley from Monterey, California Relationship Status: In a higher place such piddling unnecessities
Bully in the Aisle
Aug 21st 2012 at 11:42:16 PM
Making upward a name is certainly an selection, provided it doesn't end in an A, I/Y, O, or other letter that more often than not denotes gender in a given language.
A semi-cursory google search turned up the names Taylor, Jordan, Jaiden (or Jayden), Jessie, Harper, Hunter, Riley, Rowan, Dominique, and Dakota. The last 1 seems iffy to me, peculiarly if states don't have pregnant in the reformed world's map (and if you want to avoid creator provincialism then any land proper noun would exist right out anyway). Hunter seems actually masculine to me, just then I don't know anyone named Hunter, male or female. My vote would go for Jessie, Jordan, or Taylor.
"The only way to truly waste an thought is to shove it where it doesn't belong."
nrjxll Relationship Status: Not war
Aug 22nd 2012 at 12:29:48 AM
I'll 2nd Jordan and Taylor (especially the outset, since for some reason I don't similar the audio of "Taylor Coombs"), but in my experience Jessie is commonly spelled Jesse when beingness used as a male name.
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Human relationship Status: I only want you gone
Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job
Aug 22nd 2012 at 5:43:00 AM
Well Taylor and Jordon both seem to generate an fifty-fifty number of male and female faces on a GIS. The problem is, I'thousand not sure I like the names (they both merely feel too glory-ish)....
@Kotep: Well, if the thespian assumes that they're male/female, that'south fine (the whole point of this exercise is to let them assume before it clicks that they don't know, thus emphasising how picayune they know about the graphic symbol initially). As long as there's zilch near the character that leads them.
edited 22nd Aug '12 5:53:39 AM past Bisected8
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Aug 22nd 2012 at 12:xiv:31 PM
This website contains a listing of names that seem to exist gender neutral: http://world wide web.babynames1000.com/gender-neutral/
Something it states at the bottom of the page, that the gender neutraility of a proper noun fluctuates with time, means that you could always have a name that is definitely masculine or feminine today and actually shock anybody past showing that it has become a more neutral name in the setting of your story.
Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13453354810A37310100&page=1
Posted by: smithmisho1978.blogspot.com
Bisected8 Inheriting vast wealth isn't technically a job from Her Hackette Cave Human relationship Status: I only desire you gone
Aug 18th 2012 at 6:thirteen:fifty PM
Basically I'grand working on a game and I desire to give the Player Character an Ambiguous Gender (my plan is to flip a coin at some point in the development process so I tin can reveal their gender at the stop of the game in a sort of Shout-Out to Metroid, but otherwise I desire it to be a sort of inversion of Purely Aesthetic Gender). The master reason for this is to make them easier for the player to emphasise with, then just covering them in gender concealing habiliment isn't an option (I'yard definatly not a good enough author or artist to make someone place with a arrange of armour and a helmet).
Narrative won't exist a problem (since virtually of the story will come from their (first person) comments and Apocalyptic Logs), but I haven't really got much feel with androgynous characters (I've never written or tried to draw one and the only two that I'chiliad familiar with from existing fiction are Kino from Kinos Journeying and Chrona from Soul Eater).
Quick Plot Summery (feel free to comment on this too): The game is gear up roughly 100 years after The End of the World as We Know Information technology took identify 20 Minutes into the Futurity. Humanity has rebuilt and technology has already been (roughly) restored to a similar state to the late 90's/early 2000's, however artifacts recovered from the old world'southward ruins are still much more powerful than annihilation that's being mass produced. These ruins are extremely dangerous, needing years of planning and co-performance between nations to transport save teams (and military escorts) in. The Player Character has go stranded in them[[note]]I'g still working out their backstory, and so I don't know the exact reason withal.]] and must detect a manner back to civilization using whatever technology they can salvage while possibly learning more about what caused the end of the last one (several causes of which are apparent at get-go) and overcoming their own flaws (as protagonists are wont to practise).
What I "know" about the character so far (equally with the plot summery, feel free to point out annihilation that might work ameliorate);
So to summerise; Does anyone have any advice for designing their appearence/outfit and on how to write their dialogue (while I can use The All-Concealing "I", I've been told it'due south possible to get a vague idea of someone's gender from their writing, so I wouldn't desire to stamp my ain on it).
Television set Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her