Customization
As having everyone on the station be the same-looking blob of organic matter would be quite boring and bland, the crew has the ability to change details of their character before starting a shift. Specifically their appearance, species, job preferences, what antagonists they may get assigned, what unique character traits they poses, and what unique cosmetic decals the character has.
Customization can be accessed by clicking the Customize button under the image of the player character on the right side of the screen when in a server's pre-game lobby.
Basics
Inside the customization menu there are in essence four main panels.
At the top is where the name can be changed and where the character management menu is, which allows saving/resetting changes, import/export of characters as a .yml file, exporting images of characters viewed from each side, and opening of the folder to which it will be exported to. It's also possible to randomize the name of the character by clicking the Randomize button next to the name, or every variable of the character by pressing Randomize everything. Careful, this can't be undone in any way that's not just choosing to not save changes.
In the middle is where all the customization options are. Notice that there are tabs which you can click through to change what you are currently customizing, ie. jobs, appearance etc.
On the left is a list of all player characters, they will be displayed in the clothing of the job they have set to the highest preference and have that job listed under their name. A character can be created by clicking the Create new slot... and deleted by clicking the delete button on their slot. There can never be less than at least one character.
On the right there is a preview of the character and rotation buttons ( <> ), which allow getting a good luck from every angle.
A player's playtime stats for the server and the server rules can also be viewed from here, at the top right of the menu next to the close button.
Appearance
The appearance tab is where, besides the broad appearance settings, the core defining features of your character are chosen, as well as some RP-only fun stuff.
The most important choice is undoubtedly species as all have unique characteristics, organs, preferred environments, while also influencing the character's looks via which markings you can choose. To check info on a specific species you can click the little (?) symbol next to the drop-down menu, which will open the guidebook page for the species you currently have selected.
The show clothing option toggles the visibility of clothing only while customizing to allow you to see markings better.
Spawn priority determines where you will start a shift when joining an already ongoing round. This can either be the cryopods area, which is located on station, or it can be the arrivals, which is an off station location that periodically receives a shuttle that then departs to the station.
Here you can also change your skin color and eye color.
The remainder of options, namely age, sex (if the species has any) and pronouns are all only really important in the context of roleplay, and in fringe cases possibly identification by security.
Jobs
Template:Main The job tab allows you to select how much you want to play a job, somewhere between never and high.
The way the priority process works is that upon starting the game, the position is filled up as much as it can be with all players from high, if there are too many inside the bracket, the player's are randomly selected from within that bracket, then this process is repeated with medium and low players sequentially.
If unlucky and the selected jobs all fill up without you rolling them, you can choose via the preference at the top of the menu whether to stay in the lobby and late join as a job of your choosing or whether to join anyways, but as a Template:Role.
This is also where default starting clothing and equipment of a job can be changed by clicking the Loadout button next to the job. Some clothing options can be locked behind playtime requirements as a sort of tangible achievement and mark of progress.
Many roles require play time on other roles to unlock, while this transfers between Wizden servers. Time played does NOT transfer to other codebases and servers. You will have to review the server in question, to see if you are able to transfer your time over using a time transfer.
Antags
Template:Main Opt in to play antagonists. Press yes for a chance to be selected as one of these, press the (?) symbol for the relevant guidebook page describing them, simple.
Most of these get chosen at the start of the round, so be sure to ready up!
Traits
Tab for choosing inherent traits for modifying gameplay.
Accents
Automatically modifies your speech in line with accent chosen. Multiple accents can stack together with each other and with items in game that act like accents, ie. Fancy crown, Outlaw hat.
Disabilities
Template:Stub Outright debuffs which serve as ways to better represent yourself via roleplay and/or as ways to introduce further challenge for fun.
Quirks
Unique features which are not disabilities. Currently only features:
- Lightweight drunk: makes alcohol have stronger effects
- Pacifist: disallows all hostile actions, like attacking or throwing hurtful objects (shards of glass, darts etc.). For more info see Template:Role
- Snoring: snore if asleep.
Markings
Allows for choosing specific sprites or "markings" that are shown on a character. Which markings are available is dependent on species.
Different sections of the body have different options with different limits for how many markings can be shown on one part of the body at once. If multiple are present their order of being rendered can be chosen with Reorder markings in the bottom right.
To change colours of markings, select a marking as active and then click the artist symbol on the right that shows up.