Weekly Report, Assemble!
So I must admit I became a little excited over the blog, although, no comments so far and no hate over my english, so it is either so bad that no one can make sense of it or it's so passable that it just enough to dodge the internet attention.
Marketing wise this is bad.
Anyway. Focus. Report.
Last week I threw around some info like "Day and Night Sistem", Combat Sistem" ("Sistem" means "System" BTW) and "porn" so this week we will dive a little further on a few of these game mechanics.
Day and Night 101:
If you have played any choicescript games you know that there are no graphics, and a day and night cycle have a somewhat lessened effect than a more graphic engine, so how the game is made better by having it?
Well the quick answer is: It depends.
Depends on what the designer is trying to achieve. If me, the designer, wants a linear experience just to tell a story I don't need that as a gameplay mechanic, I just put it as a aesthetic feature, I just write a scene:
"It is night as you ride the X train, once again, back to your home, the lights flicker from time to time, and the rhythmic sound of the rails have put you in a relaxed state of mind, suddenly you feel as a jolt of electricity, waking you up as someone touch you..."
And later move one to the next scene, no need for a mechanic that incite diversity in a linear experience.
What I'm looking for is different, I want to add replay-ability by simply going to the same places at different times of the day. some events will be day/time dependant but some, as a encounter in train, can happen any day at any time...
Well I hope this help you see what I'm building and see you next week.
Looks like you know where you want this game to go and that is good. I like the idea of having a day and night system, but it sounds relatively difficult. I hope you don't get too overwhelmed by all the content you have to put in because of this. A huge reason why the initial game failed is because the original developer became a little too ambitious with what he wanted to do and created too many story lines. You seem to have noticed this, so I think your version will be a much better improvement. I'll look forward to your first release.
ReplyDeleteMy first comment! what a joy!
DeleteIt does sound difficult, but if you look at the original game every path had no "index" to go back to, it has "check points" as domina fight, sonia fight... so on.
A day and night system will allow me to add small, self contained scenes without the need to be a "path" of it own.
But your concerns are valid and I will keep a eye out for the "ever growing scope" trap.
Daemonharry,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're opting for a game using units of time. Meaning, you have a certain number of turns during the day and you choose how to occupy each. Do you sleep at night or are you sleeping during the day? Do you train in the morning or do you go to the mall? In the evening do you watch fights on tv or go to a bar?
That should be interesting and further distinguish your Fight game from the original and other branching stories.
As mentioned above branching stories tend to multiply exponentially with each choice, so this could help contain that. Though I suppose you're trading that for juggling special events and variables, but it'll be interesting to see.
bsnick