aspects

At its heart ATE is a simulation of survival in a post-zombie world. The player would assume the role of a fully customizable character, and may play alone, with simulated party members, with other players, or a mixture of both.

Each character, Player-based or simulated, is described by Attributes, Skills, and a Psychological Profile. These aspects are determined upon character creation/simulation start as a function of Age, Background, and a degree of Situational Profiling.

Here I discuss the core pillars, or aspects, of character creation.

Aspects

Age: No single aspect of a character is a clear and distinct advantage. Age is one such double-edged aspect. A young character (ages 5-11) may be small, quick, agile, and perceptive, but lacks strength, endurance, psychological resilience, and advanced skills. An adult (ages 22-39) provides a middle ground, full grown, more experienced, skilled, but may also be psychologically fragile having had their world turned upside-down. A mature adult (ages 40+) may be less physically adept, but may also be worldly, psychologically rigid, and proficient in fine-tune skills.

Background: A background provides backstory, but also provides the mechanism for skill proficiency. In addition to any natural talent or affinity for a skill (such as intelligence, charisma, or athleticism), backgrounds also speak to training, tracts, and vocations. For example a child gamer may be adept at twitch skills, a track and field student may have increased endurance and hand-eye coordination skill. A mechanic will be proficient at maintaining and salvaging road vehicles. A soldier may provide leadership, marksmanship, tactical perception. Backgrounds operate on the assumption that mastery comes with dedication and practise (ie the "outlier" principle of 10,000 hours required for mastery of a skill). A background may also dictate starting conditions, such as do you start in a party of friends in the woods, stuck on a tram, on honeymoon or holiday with your family, or perhaps alone atop a snowy peak in the Andes or waking up from a coma in a hospital.

Psychological Profile: The more nebulous aspect is the Psychological Profile. The psych profile informs both interactions and reactions to in-game events. Losing a child or loved one may destabilize a caring parent, or deepen the scars of an abusive one. They may also dictate sexual interactions among the party or advances to other wandering survivors. Greed, cowardice, self-preservation, these are all motivators to acts of heroism, barbarism, and betrayal. A Psych Profile may be built at simulation start by a series of situational queries, or pre-built templates, and modified (albeit slowly) by actions and social interactions during gameplay.

In summary, these three aspects are by and large determined a-priori, at simulation start. Very little may change during gameplay. The idea is give the Player an infinite pallette, reasonable restrictions, and then let the simulation roll.