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I only played Myst at a friend's house when I was a kid. Never understood it. Then he showed me that trick to beat it in a few minutes and I got even more confused.
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For now I leave the experience system alone for a while. I realise it needs a bit more design work. Besides, the early implementation was mostly just an excuse to also build a context menu, that can display information regarding rooms or the player's progress. The context menu is working fine, but I think the experience system deserves a bit more thought before I add it to each and every room. Because it will be hell to undo it later, if I suddenly change my mind.
Right now I've started working on the dialogue system, which also means designing a seperate interface element that can display dialogue options in the Lucas Arts style. I really want to implement a sort of Mass Effect like system here, where some dialogue options are only available if you've levelled certain conversation skills. Things like intimidate options, or persuation skills, that sort of thing. Successfully obtaining information from an npc in this way should also earn the player more xp. But first things first, I've added the antagonist of the game, and I'm about to script the first encounter that the player has with this villain.
I've been thinking long and hard on this, but I feel it is probably a good idea to introduce the villain early on in the game. Much like with Monkey Island 2 (where you encounter Largo LeGrande right at the start) I think it helps to give the player an early goal where he knows who the villain is, and why the player is on this mission to stop the villain. I think you need to see the protagonist fail against the villain early on, so the whole first act becomes a journey of recovery, and ultimately, leads up to a second confrontation.
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Grim Fandango is by far the best adventure / puzzle game I ever played.
One thing I loved about it is that once you are in the right mindset, you always know what you need to do and to what. You just have to figure out how.
The game always revolves around breaking things, upsetting other people, and general mischief. Fun times.
== Alaris & clone ==
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You can tell the quality of life of people by what they complain about
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in the X360 game kameo you first have to rescue ppl from the start, this already shows you what you're up against.Originally Posted by Rob Van Der Sloot
this also gives the player the chance to experience what they can do before playing the actual game so they have a practice run, makes it more fun and you can see what you are able to do in the long run and gives you a feel of the game.
it's alive but cannot be living, it's dead but lives a mortal life.
sorudo.9054
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As you've decided to leave the XP system, here's some comment storywise: in a three act structure, the first act ends with the introduction of the main problem (in a video game, this is usually the first confrontation with the main antagonist). The second act is the formation, and failed execution, of a plan. The third act is (a very short journey to the climax) the climax and the aftermath. The climax resolves the problem introduced in act one.
In your case, I'd divide the game in a five act structure.
Act 1: Introduction protagonist, introduction antogonist (also: end goal). Player confronts antagonist and fails.
Act 2: Protagonist meets allies. Forms plan. Executes plan. Fails.
Act 3: Protagonist investigates allies. Finds out who her real allies are. Defeats her former allies/new enemies.
Act 4: Protagonist journeys to find the truth. Finds the truth. World is rocked to its core.
Act 5: Confronts antagonist. Wins. Description of aftermath.
Which of these segments you'd want to leave as 'twists' and which you want to foreshadow is of course your discretion.
As for thematic linking and metaphor, watch out with this. You tend to only convey these with consistency and clarity and even then, it's a matter of whether people can 'feel' the link which can't really be forced (in my experience).
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I am not a big puzzle player. When I play these adventure games and gets stuck, I just read the guides. I won't spend hours trying to figure out what to do next. This play style has allowed me to finish a few advanture games. Dragonsphere, Heavy Rain, Salammbo: Battle of Carthage, Blade Runner, etc
One game that I gave up on was Syberia. That game I couldn't solve ANY puzzles. It got really frustrating to need to read up the guide in every single puzzle. I didn't even get past that doll factory. I might as well watch Youtube on the game.
Another adventure game that I stopped in the middle was "The Experiment". Once again the puzzles are too hard, and not enough hints. Got frustrated with the need to read up every single puzzle. And the walking speed was SO SLOW in the game it felt like a time waster.
Games like Uncharted fits my bill more. They give you enough hints in game to solve each puzzle.
Right now I am playing though The Longest Journey. I am solving about 70% of the puzzles by myself. Hope I can do better later on. And in this game you CAN RUN!!! That's a must for me I will say. I am already going to spend so much time figuring out the puzzles. I don't need slow walking speed to further waste my time.
Last edited by CHIPS; 30-01-2012 at 00:17.
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Leave but not abandon
This sounds about right. Although right now, it seems my first act itself also contains a 3 act structure:
Act 1: Protagonist meets antagonist and is defeated by the antagonist. Protagonist meets alllies and forms plan. Protagonist executes plan and confronts antagonist. But the protagonist neither wins nor loses, as it seems the problem established at the start of act 1, isn't really the main problem. Start of act 2, where a new plan is formed.
This really is a tricky thing. I think some explanation regarding the themes/metaphores has to be given to the player at some point, probably in the form of a mentor (exposition!). But act 2 would be perfect for this, because in act 1, I want to create the illusion that everything is pretty straight forward. It isn't till act 2 that the player discovers a deeper meaning behind everything. But some of that deeper meaning will definately have to be explained, because it is quite a complex subject. Act 2 is basically the big twist halfway through the story, where a new goal is established based on a new understanding of the metaphores. But at the end of act 2, rather than solving the issue, things actually get worse. Which leads right into act 3, where the final pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.
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Another idea is on-board ship battles. Rarely seen in games.
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Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth is a unique game BTW. Not great, it has a lot of flaws, but it is a pity a remake or sequel never got made. Because with more time and budget, this could have been great. I really like the sanity system in CoC. I've rarely seen it implemented so well in a computer game. But yes, I'd love to see more games where a battle takes place onboard the ship as well. I remember there was a historical naval game a while back where pirates could actually board ships, and duke it out onboard the ship. But I forgot which one it was.
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I like your game but what
My game, you'll be able to build asteroid ships (it borrows heavily from the Traveller pen & paper RPG).
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