Old woman as playable character: How to make gameplay interesting

[gRaViJa]

My game is situated in a "normal presentday world". There are 2 main characters: a young man and an on old woman. They don't have any magical or special towers. In the game, you can switch between both characters and solve puzzles that need both of the characters to work together. However, The man has some special skills like dashing and force to move objects. But I want the elderly woman to have some special skills as well, something that makes her more interesting. However, i'm not sure what.

Some random thoughts: better puzzle solving skills, but how? She feeds pigeons in the park, but no idea how that can translate into a skill, back when she was younger, she was popular in the high society and was friends with actors and artists, again no idea how that could translate into a skill.

any ideas are welcome!

 

[Omnimental]

One option would be to have her be able to call people to have things done.  Stuff looked into, stuff fixed, removed, what have you.  She's not as physically adept, but she's had a lot of years to think and build relationships.

Another way to go about it would be to give the young man limitations that she doesn't have.  Maybe he's scared of dogs, and won't approach them.  Or, depending on how young he is, scared of the dark, or something else along those lines.

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

She could be able to  use her past connections to help with the puzzle solving.

she can use her mad old woman skills to sneak past guards (no one ever expects the little old ladies) to press that one switch no one else can get to. etc.

 

[Warpmind]

I would recommend you look up Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie detective.
She's a cunning little old lady who pays attention; not a bad role model.

 

[gRaViJa]

Thanks for the ideas so far! I do have a light/darkness "dungeon" in my game, so that might be an idea. Sneaking might be a good idea too. Keep em coming!

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

As an old lady, she could be able to squeeeeeeeeze information out of other NPCs that other playable characters can't. I mean... who wouldn't wanna chat with a sweet old lady?

Plus... hitting someone upside the head with a purse. Please let that be a thing.

 

[omen613]

Well what if she thinks she is still super sexy and can flirt with foes making them feel sick or awkward.

She could cause distractions by faking a heart attack or something.

Bake Cookies that give the younger character different boosts.

Put enemies to sleep with old lady stories.

She is old and doesn't understand modern day technology and when she interacts with computers they malfunction.

Has a lot of pills in her purse that she can refill at the pharmacy.

Senior discounts at stores? lol

 

[Nirwanda]

This thread is like the best thing ever. Some of the posts made me laugh quite a bit.

Put enemies to sleep with old lady stories.

I was going to suggest this, Anachronox's aptly named Grumpos had the Yammer skill that could defeat enemies just as well as stubborn NPCs.

Hmm, what about making her old lady cane into a multi-use tool? Reaching high/far away places, use it to temporarily jam machinery, or as jumping pole!

She could also have skills not related to her being old, and there's no limit to what you can do with that.

 

[bandkanon]

Just have a boost to her ratios of figuring out any puzzle or utilizing items, especially oldschool ones like gramophones. I believe that the woman should come across as much wiser, an endearing personality regardless of her age, as she's been around so much longer and understands more things than the boy does yet. She could be more practical, better dressed, and even better respected.

I think Warpmind has the right idea where she can be like Miss Maple. Miss Marple was an amazing character, and her archetype is worth repeating.

Or you could base her off of a good witch, without her being obviously Witch-y. With the snappy comebacks, and being very much her own person.

Most importantly, she should be still very willingly active in the learning department. As many say, "an idle mind is the devil's playground", and no matter how old & learn'ed you are, you still have a lot more to discover. A good mind is one that keeps on learning.

I hope this helps.

 

[Scott_C]

What if she studied in another country as a young woman and learned a foreign language that lets her interact with NPCs, books and signs that the other character can't?

I think that would fit in really well with her “high society” trait. High society puts a lot of value on foreign travel and education.

 

[Bastrophian]

It looks like just about everyone here is basically saying that maybe the old lady should have a silk tongue, be sneaky, attentive and cunning! And also also packs a mean hand bag....make this oldlady happen or I will....OnO !!!

 

[captainproton]

I would recommend you look up Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie detective.

She's a cunning little old lady who pays attention; not a bad role model.

I was going to suggest this. She could be the brains of the operation. When she's talking to people, you learn more through dialogue, she can examine objects or scenes and find clues and information the fella can't. In addition to her society-bohemian past, maybe she has some sort of special training from the War. She sounds like she'd be about the right age to have been involved in the War efforts off WW2 or the Korean War.

 

[Heretic86]

Interactive Stories like games are not so much about "what your characters are" as much as they are "what they can achieve".  If characters achieve nothing, then players do not feel as if they have achieved anything either.  Blow the players away with taking a stereotype of a character and give them something amazing to be achieved.

 

[whitesphere]

If you've read Discworld, there's the little old janitor who even the History Monks hold in awe.  About 98% of his abilities are "little old janitor is NOT noticed when he goes sweeping into sensitive places."  The other 2%, well, let's just say he's extremely perceptive and has time bending abilities that only 2 other characters can match (one of whom died attempting it, the other of whom is the literal Incarnation of Time)

In these lines, the "nothing special" little old lady can have some good ones:

- She is far more perceptive than the young man, so she sees clues, switches, etc that he misses because he's always in such a rush. 

- Maybe when she sees certain clues/talks to certain NPCs, she has past experiences which give her a LOT more information:

Young man:  "There's a white switch in the bedroom."

Old woman: "Hmmm.  A switch, made of ivory.  Ivory has been illegal for a long time, so Mr. X is clearly a smuggler, because there are modern French inscriptions on the ivory."

- In combat (if applicable), the old woman CANNOT be surprised, because she's seen so much already.

- The old woman, due to her superior social skills, can get NPCs to divulge things they wouldn't for the young man.

 

[captainproton]

Oh, and she should pack a pistol in her handbag. Trust me, this is an actual old lady thing (kids--be careful when you look for candy in nanna's purse!). She'd probably consider herself too classy for something like a Glock, but a fancy revolver could work.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

she can use pigeons to help her in minor stuff or bring messages to people to ask for help

 

[Goodfella]

She could use make-up to disguise herself, thus being able to sneak past guards, etc.

 

[Heretic86]

Interactive Stories like games are not so much about "what your characters are" as much as they are "what they can achieve".  If characters achieve nothing, then players do not feel as if they have achieved anything either.  Blow the players away with taking a stereotype of a character and give them something amazing to be achieved.

*sigh*

People are capable of much much more than we think they are.  A little old lady that stares out her window all day will be the one to spot the Fire if the building she stares at day after day ever does catch Fire.  That is something that even a little old lady can achieve, and by doing so, save hundreds of lives.  it is that sense accomplishing the unachievable that can be very rewarding for players, despite it being a simple action or gesture of kindness.

 

[gRaViJa]

Great ideas guys! Her personality is pretty close to what bandkanon and Scott_C said. Keeping the story into account, I have the following ideas so far:

The mean purse: The player can only collect items if she is in the party. The young men isn't wearing any kind bag so it makes sense.

The Pigeon: There's already a scene in my game where she is feeding her favorite pigeon in the park (the pigeon is the reason why the two protagonists meet in the first place). Having him as a "playable character" during puzzles could be great. He can reach items and places nobody else can reach and it could be fun/interesting to tell the story of her and the pigeon and how she carries him with her sometimes (when she boards a train for example), in the mean purse! The only problem i have with this is that it reminds me of A Bird Story too much (Kan Gao's latest game). I don't want people to think i copied him in any way. Maybe i can replace the pigeon with a squirrel? It could work. What do you all think of this idea?

Because of the story, it's difficult to integrate her social skills to get more info from npc's. Something that is possible is that she might spot more clues/items. Have to give that some more thought.

(also, best thread ever)

 

[Heretic86]

Among a band of heavily armed warriors, the Old Lady will have a very powerful ability, an ability that no other member of the party would have, the ability to go into the Girls Locker Room!