Character customization

Character customization is an optional feature included within games to allow both the design and the actions of the main character to change based on the player's preferences and actions. This can allow the player to feel more absorbed as they can play as themselves or as their own character.

Types of Character Customization

• Playable character appearance customization including gender, pronouns, age, skin tone, hair and eye color, face shape, facial hair, body composition clothing and accessories and their colors and other visual props.
• Playable character statistics and attributes, such is to be used in choice systems or minigames. This includes statistics or attributes accumulated throughout playthrough rather than initially set, such in the case of visual novels with stat raising mechanics (e.g, Tokimeki Memorial)
• Playable character from a list of preset identities.
• Alternative outfits, hairstyles, accessories or other features for heroes, heroines, supporting characters, specifically when the reader is given the power to freely adjust them.

Effects on Gameplay

As there are many different ways to add character customization, the effects they can have on the gameplay of any game are just as varied.

Name

The most basic and widespread use of character customization starts and ends with a name input screen. This allows the player to play as themselves while allowing the development team to keep the rest of the game from being changed by other customization choices. The development team may use the name to put in easter eggs, where a certain name(s) will cause a character or an event to react differently than normal.

Appearance

The next step to include more customization will have a character customization screen, allowing the players to choose the appearance of their character. Some are just out of a list of premade images, such as when choosing the main character's chatroom icon in Mystic Messenger, and some are full of options to choose every part of the character's appearance, seen in Dream Daddy. Just like name input, these may have barely any effect on the gameplay other than the player's immersion.

Actions

The games that include stat raising can use the character customization choices to branch story into any singular route, such as raising theater skills in Jack Jeanne, or effect gameplay throughout, such as personality choices in Demonheart that effect how players interact with NPCs during narration.

Games can include multiple customization choices throughout the game, effecting the story in many different ways. This is seen in Our Life: Beginnings and Always.