i know AU games are kind of hit or miss but im super into them and im wondering if anyone else would be too?

:0

I think AU games are such that you have to be really sold on the setting to be into it.

-nodnod- The setting definitely needs to be A+ to get enough traction :|a but when they do, oh man

yeah i totally agree

especially if it's not a setting people will already be familiar with

ideally id like to find a group of people interested enough in the basic concept who would want to help fill out the setting

or i dunno just people to brainstorm with

i have some basic idea that im blatantly stealing from a book i read

but more ideas from people is always more fun?

if its a setting people wont be familiar with then id say what you need to do is like. make it simple but make sure there are a few key hooks that make the prospect of AUing into it appealing

i guess the major roadblock with thi sis that

your desc gives no idea what the point is

like harry said, what the "hooks" that make an AU appealing are

with no idea what the structure of society is, there's no way to imagine your character in it and be like "oh man that'd be dope"

Because everyone getting a magic power and there being 9 undescribed plants doesn't give the imagination anything to work with

the point is basically interplanetary diplomacy/warfare

but based on that, you'd really have to have those planets fleshed out before you can hook in anybody else

yeah thats a very good point

since if the point is diplomacy and interplanetary conflict, the entire POINT is going to be based on the nature and culture of the planets.

they make or break the appeal of the setting

what kinds of things do you think "hook" people into wanting to au their character

itd be like trying to make a Harry Potter school game except there aren't any houses but there COULD be houses

unique species like trolls comes to my mind

or just super alien cultural concepts

unique species/cultures

class systems?

any sort of "sorting hat" type system where your character could be one ofmultiple factions or classes based on what they are

like how in Homestuck you have the whole class/aspect thing, as well as the unique planet

yeah im thinking of au's that people already make in fandoms and its normally like. trolls / hogwarts houses

having those concepts invites people to imagine what their character would be

yeah trolls are appealing because of the blood types

because that's basically like 12 harry potter houses

LOL

and it gives a clear structure of society based on castes

LMAO yeah pretty much

what about cultures that are intensely about their (not real world based) religions

that would be an interesting hook to me

if theres a a very easy simplified structure like that then its a much easier entrypoint for people to AU into it/make OCs/whatever

/steals a bunch of worldbuilding ideas from various books/comics

dune type planet where ai is illegal

troll planet thats super militaristic

super elitist magic talent focused planet

im tempted to pull from star trek or star wars but i don't know anything about the races in those canons lol

personally, this seems like a concept that would need a LOT of fleshing out to be appealling as an AU

i mean the worst thing that happens is no one's into it right?

i've been looking for a creative project to focus my energy on so this is as good as anything else lol

but out of curiosity is there anything you find unappealing about the idea?

one of the main problems i can see is characters being too spread out

being too spread out, not having enough direction, and the concept overall being too vague

if you are going to have a huge open world you really need a specific direction for the story to take that brings everyone together

i generally find with AUs either you need a very specific setting where the whole appeal is getting to interact with the nuance of that setting

OR a super diverse setting where the point is the genre rather than the specific setting, that allows for very diverse character concepts

like a "superhero AU" has appeal because that can include almost any sort of character but also everyone has a good idea of what that means

yeah i think making this work would be a struggle? a potential way to sort of corral it a bit and make it easier to work with would be to set it on, like, a space station in this system thats supposed to be neutral territory, so that the multiple individual cultures/species involved dont have to be as complexly worldbuilt to feel tangible

same with how a "cyberpunk AU" is appealing and could be done ith a vague setting because people know what is involved in archtypal cyberpunk

id cut it down from 9 to like 5 or 6 max though

alternatively, settings like Harry Potter and ATLA are fun to AU into because it's a very specific setting with nuances people like exploring

i guess sci fi is sort of too broad a genre

yeah sci-fi means a lot of things

you'd have to narrow it down to like... "space opera" or post apocalyptic or something people have a firmer grasp on

space opera is pretty on the mark

for what i was thinking

if you were going space opera then it would honestly be easier to just say fuck it focus on delevoping a few core planets for the action to take place on, while letting people have their characters be from any planet i the universe

but that's also basically ditching the whole talents and planets thing that was the whole basis of the idea

it? maybe i misunderstand the term space opera

I'd help if I have time!

space opera means anything set in space where the point is drama/adventures in space as opposed to really caring about sciency stuff

"a novel, movie, or television program set in outer space, typically of a simplistic and melodramatic nature."

i feel like space opera isnt as easy to genericise as a setting as like superhero stuff or d&d style fantasy just bc like

there arent as many base setting elements that youd consider a given

if you want to do a fantasy thing and you say there are elves and dwarves thats pretty intuitive

but there arent really equivalent aliens that you wouldnt have to bring a bunch of your own worldbuilding for their culture and their feelings towards other cultures

stuff like superheroes and urban fantasy is also pretty easy bc even if the details are variable the backdrop is the real world so you just have to slot in a few notes about how some of the specific supernatural stuff works

This is true

but i think you could make a nexus based space opera AU where you basically just AU your character into being from a planet in a galaxy

And bring along whatever species they actually are if you want

(kind of like all the aliens in CH)

ooh yeah thats a good call

i kind of want a bunch of chosen one style narratives to just clash together and get fucked up

im kind of wanting to incorporate a prophetic element that signifies the pc's as "special" in some way

and the way they are special is that their actions will end up affecting the fate of the planets etc and so you have people all from different cultural backgrounds and ethos each thinking their version of the ideal future is the best and using whatever skills they have to try and fulfill that vision

and i didn't specify that above basically because im not sure how it could be incorporated

but i guess as far as genre the mindset im coming from is very political drama in space

which is why space opera seemed like the right thing to say

but it doesnt have to all be political maybe there are magic items or artifacts on certain planets that give people powers that alter stuff or]

etc

this is a very early stage idea so yeah its vague. but i appreciate all the feedback, its definitely food for thought