PersonaLife RPG

Starting Phase:

• Basics: Choose name, gender, age, race (automatically be human if unchosen) for persona.
• Appearance Customization: Customize anything about the persona's appearance.
• Personality traits: Chooses personality traits that affect how the persona interacts with the world. Chosen traits influence how persona does an action and the outcome of it.
• Backstory: Summary about the persona, influencing the world.
• Starting Location: Based on persona, a world will be generated (showing world name and how the world's description). Starting currency will be received (type and amount depend on chosen Theme). After that, choose from several residences to start the life.”

World Structure:

• Open-world map of multiple interconnected districts: suburbs, cities, rural areas, cultural zones, and more.
• Procedurally generated neighborhoods, buildings, shops, workplaces, and residents with full AI behaviors.
• Dynamic world clock and seasons that affect schedules, weather, events, and mood.

World Map:

• Open world map shows interactable locations of various types. Each location has a different type and may have ongoing event attached to them.
• Locations change over time, new locations may show up and old locations may go.

Needs System: Each persona has a set of core needs, which affect daily functioning, decision-making, and mood. These needs must be balanced through routine actions or lifestyle changes.

• Hunger:
  • Triggers: time since last meal, high energy output, emotional eating traits.
  • Fulfilled through meals, snacks, cooking, or restaurant visits.
  • Affects energy, mood, and physical health.
  • Ignoring low hunger leads to fatigue, anger, or eventual malnutrition.
• Hygiene:
  • Triggers: time, sweat, environment (e.g., smoke, pollution, workout).
  • Hygiene actions include bathing, brushing teeth, laundry, and grooming.
  • Affects physical health, social impression, and mood.
  • Low hygiene affects social interactions, romantic appeal, scent aura, and may trigger illnesses.
  • Hygiene rituals (e.g baths, showers, spa visits) offer mood bonuses or mental clarity.
• Energy:
  • Triggers: physical exertion, stress, sleep quality, caffeine.
  • Dictates stamina, mental focus, work efficiency, and emotional stability.
  • Replenished via sleep, naps, relaxation activities, or even caffeine (temporary).
  • Sleep deprivation leads to errors, hallucinations, emotional volatility, and sickness.
  • Sleep debt accumulates over days, leading to micro-sleeps or burnout.
• Bladder:
  • Triggers: time, food/drink intake.
  • Ignoring low bladder leads to embarrassment, hygiene issues, accidents, and social damage.
  • Includes options for public restrooms, home bathrooms, and safe places to relieve oneself vary by location.
• Fun:
  • Triggers: boredom, repetition, overstimulation.
  • A psychological need that depends on personality, mood, and activities.
  • Low fun leads to boredom, mood drops, and a tendency toward risky behaviors.
  • Fun can be derived from games, sports, hobbies, socializing, sex, etc.
  • Repeated fun builds toward flow states or temporary inspiration boosts.
• Social:
  • Triggers: solitude, conflict, need for affection, personality type.
  • Determines emotional resilience and connection.
  • Fulfilled through conversations, group events, cuddling, support.
  • Social introverts need less; extroverts need more.
  • A low Social meter affects mood, can trigger loneliness or social anxiety.

Desires System:

• Auto-generated based on current emotional/psychological states.
• Some are fleeting (i.e "Eat sweets"), others deep-rooted (i.e "Make father proud").
• Persona can pursue, suppress, or redirect desires.
• Completing or neglecting gives moodlet and may influence emotion.

Emotion System:

• Emotions dynamically shift based on events, memories, unmet needs, and other characters’ treatment.
• Emotions influence dialogue choices, actions, and performance.

Moodlet System:

• Moodlets are reflections of mood altering events or situations that persona has done or experienced.
• Moodlets may be positive, negative, or neutral. Positive moodlets will increase persona's mood, while negative moodlets will decrease it.
• Moodlets affects persona's emotions. Persona can have multiple moodlets active and each moodlet can have a different emotion associated to it.
• Which moodlets appear and when may depend on a variety of factors, including persona's age, traits, and life state.
• Moodlets may also have secondary effects (i.e improving skill gain).
• Some moodlets lead directly from one to the next (i.e "Sleepy" leading to "Tired" then "Exhausted").

Skills:

• There are various types of skills, ranges from: magic (if fantasy theme, i.e pyromancy) to help in daily life/work (i.e cooking or mechanical), physically (i.e athletic/fitness or swimming), psychology/socially (i.e charisma or logic), and more.
• Each skill has 10 levels. Skills evolve over time and impact career, social standing, and personal growth.
• Developed through use, practice, mentorship, books, workshops, classes.

Social Interactions:

• Small talk and deep conversations: Persona can engage in casual chit-chat or explore deep, emotional topics based on trust.
• Group dynamics: Persona can socialize in groups, the dynamics can vary depending on friendships, rivalries, and the group’s collective mood. Events like parties or public gatherings allow for spontaneous interactions.

Relationships System:

• Relationship Types:
  • Romantic: Build love relationships over time, either through dating, marriage, or casual flings.
  • Friendships: Includes the range from close-knit, best friends to acquaintances. Persona's approach to these friendships can evolve: becoming rivals, lifelong partners, or drifting apart.
  • Rivalries: Emotional tensions can escalate into rivalries, either personal or professional, and can even evolve into nemeses.
• Relationship Dynamics: Physical attraction, shared interests, and emotional bonds build affection.
  • Persona can experience different kinds of attraction: platonic, sexual, intellectual, or spiritual.
  • Affection mechanics: Includes hugging, kissing, hand-holding, cuddling, etc. Physical affection improves relationship metrics if desired.
  • Social Compatibility: Similar personality traits or beliefs increase connection; opposing traits may cause disagreements or arguments.
• Long-term relationship arcs develop procedurally.
• Each relationship has:
  • Milestone events (first fight, confession, betrayal, anniversaries).
  • Labels: poly, platonic life partners, exes with benefits, intense rivals, found family, etc.

Career System:

• Career Development: Start in entry-level jobs and advance by acquiring new skills and making decisions. Every career has its own progression system with performance evaluations, promotions, and even work relationships.
• Work Ethics & Choices:
  • Workplace Relationships: Build relationship with coworkers. These relationships can either help or hinder persona's progress in career.
  • Networking: Meeting people at work events or collaborating with others can open doors to new opportunities.
• Freelance/Gig Economy:
  • If decide to work independently, persona need to manage client relationships, work deadlines, and money.
  • The market can fluctuate, affecting persona's income. Persona can have multiple clients and projects at once, but balancing them leads to stress.
• Entrepreneurship:
  • Persona can build and manage own businesses. Persona must deal with the financial, social, and operational aspects that come with it. Persona must hire employees, manage finances, and handle customer interactions.
  • The success of persona's business depends on quality of service, marketing, customer reviews, and economy.
• Payment:
  • Except freelancer/gig, persona receives payment for the work when the shift ends. Persona works freelancer/gig receives their payment each time completing a work.
  • Persona will receive more currency for payment as the career progresses.

Housing:

• Buy, build, apartment unit, cohabitate, sharehouse (sharing a house with other housemates), or squat.
• Interiors and exteriors are fully customizable.
• Lifestyle affects house conditions (e.g., depression = messy home).
• Housing impacts mood, relationships, and daily routine.

Events, Storylines & Random Encounters:

• Dynamic Life Stories:
  • Procedurally generated life events based on background and choices.
  • Branching narratives tied to aspirations, relationships, world events, and more.
• Random World Events:
  • Public events, crime waves, social movements, epidemics, weather disasters, and more.
  • Persona can ignore or engage, influencing global or local outcomes.

Internal Dialogue System

• Person can have an inner voice/thought system that evolves based on personality traits, life experiences, emotional state, and history.
• Tracks mental patterns like rumination, motivation, anxiety, or ego boosts.
• Insight checks: Reveal hidden truths about desires, relationships.
• Flashbacks: Trigger memories or regrets depending on choices.