second character - skills and abilities

Hello there,

in this topic i want to ask you guys about what skills and abilities a second character in an adventure game could have.
Im talking about some kind of sidekick like Spot in "the whispered world" or Sam from "Sam & Max - Hit the road".
So this character is not controllable, but should be available as a kind of item to let him interact with the environment and should have some cool functions and skills.

Independetly for which kind of adventure game such a character should be, i would like to know from you what kind of skills would be cool for this character?
E.g. He has the ability to light up for a few seconds to make things in dark rooms visible or
he can transform to different forms like Spot and by that enter locations which were not accessible before...

I have an idea in my mind to let this "second character" eat special food or gems to give him a different form or act different. But i don't know what exactly. So maybe if you have ideas i would be glad to hear some from you

kind regards
Sebastian

So this guy is not controllable but he/she always fallow the main character in the game?

Yes i think so. Optional would be to talk to this character and say he/she should wait there. But i am mainly interested in what this char makes it special

In some scenes I also have different characters not controllable also controllable. One of them is helping the main character to show the way out of the basement. You give her some items and she make another item and give it to you, and ask her some questions and she gives you some clues that u realy need to solve other things. And also in one part, u can give her some drugs to control her to do some other things ...

I think: there must be a little bit of interaction. Only following isn't enough. I remember Elisabeth of "Bioshock Infinite" or Elly from "The Last of Us". Sometimes they are good for giving ammo, in a P&C it may be a hint or an item. They are a person who warns or shows the right way. Akcay said it before.
Elly is reading from a joke book sometimes and, of course, all of them have an own story to build a real character. They needed a lot of idle animations (looking around, sitting somewhere, knocking at a door, give you a dollar). They need a little bit of a KI, and that's a challenge.

Machtnix

i know. all these stuff is cool and make sense. What i want are special abilities which are really unique and cant be executed by the main char so that you really need the second char to solve some puzzles.



What i got so far is (not everything would fit to only one char, but this is only a list of things which could be possible for such a sidekick):

- pick up dirty or disgusting things because main char has higher standards
- light up dark areas when you shake second char a lot (second char should be smaller and not so heavy)
- growing and/or extensible limbs to reach specific areas
- changing his overall shape to fit into specific areas/spots/objects
- eating stuff, "digest" it and "poop" something new out (eat coal, get diamond - i know its crazy)
- mind control things
- talk to animals
- smell-o-vision ("see" smells)
- analyze things like Joey from Beneath a Steel Sky.
- ...


Regarding some points i am unsure how they could be achieved. Like how do i solve the shapeshifting? Via an extra intreface? Via talking to him? And what would be good shapes and forms ? ... I dont know.

Any ideas about that?

You can use the same interface for a lot of things. Use conditions to determine when they should be active or inactive. As for the commands, click a shape button on interface & have main character say something which will trigger the shape change.

By the way... I think you should limit the amount of skills you want the second character to have. Pick a few good ones & stick with them. There's that old saying: "too many cooks spoil the broth".

I don't know what you have in mind for the story, but if you did want loads of skills then if it was a robot kind of thing like Joey in Beneath a Steel Sky then maybe you could switch his modes via circuit boards (or something) you find along the way or maybe you could find new robots / companions & switch between them as needed (see upcoming farcry: primal).

For my sidekik character i had in mind to open up a interface when "using him". And then putting different gems or stones into a slot to activate a skill (or form, or whatever).
But im a bit lacking of ideas on what would be cool and suitable.

Of course all the listed things above are not put into one person This is only a list of possible skills. My intention for this topic was to list awesome stuff which COULD BE a possible thing for such a second character to make him useful in a way.
Also it would be great to know how these things can be implemented and executed..

The circuit board idea you mention is great (for robots)