In Game Choices

[servantb7]

For the game I'm working on, I'm developing a lot of opportunities for the user to make choices that will affect how the action unfolds. For example, in the opening scene a castle is being attacked, and the character has to choose if he will defend from inside the castle walls, or go out and fight the enemy in the open. Depending on what choices the player makes, the characters will develop differently (by giving different rewards which can be exchanged for stat upgrades or skills). For example, if a player chooses routes which involve sneaking around and avoiding battles, the characters can get increased agility. If they choose to just kick a door down and fight everything inside, they can get strength upgrades or physically powerful skills.

It is a obviously a TON of work to program in all these extra choices, but I feel like it gives the game more depth, replay value, and control of character development.

Has anyone else tried anything like this? Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks!

[Ωbright]

Re: In Game Choices

Hello, and welcome to the pavilion!

And yes, those are all good ideas, if you ask me. And as far as doing something similar, I kind of did, sort of, in my game Tree of Life. If you know what you're doing, you can get the exact character you want, in stats and class, depending on the choices you make. It can be done, you just have to use events for everything and track a LOT of variables.

That can be tricky sometimes, as you only get 20 per map. I know that sounds like a lot, but on a world map you sometimes have to economize your events by using modes, and having certain events pull double or triple duty.

[Dark Sentry]

Re: In Game Choices

I did this in Dragonslayer, when you first start the game, you start off in a small village, and for 15 "days" you have choices as to whether you want to study or party with the bar girls, read one of 4 books in the library, or take a class at the school, and can choose one action per "day." Once the 15 day period is over, you talk to an assessor that assigns you skills based on the knowledge you accumulated in health (healing skills), geology (Earthquake skills), Pyrotech (fire skills), electricity (lightning skills), death (a super powerful skill, [you won't get this one though for a long time]), and relationship (attack boost/enemy power down skills.) Also by partying with the girls, while you don't get knowledge boosts, you get hidden points with that particular character, and if you get enough of these, you get either boosts to certain stats and/or you unlock an ending with that particular character. Later in the game, there are a couple of somewhat hidden areas full of books for your character and his companion to read to gain even more knowledge to earn higher tiers of each skill. After gaining this additional knowledge, you'll have to return to the assessor to evaluate your character, but random encounters are off throughout most of the main areas, so getting to and fro takes a bit of time, but is relatively effortless.

In the first town alone, which took 33% of the memory, there are ten 16 mode events and a 6 mode event. Most of the modes of the events with 16 modes are at least half full with code and I used at least 10 variables. The final game used over 93% of the memory.

[servantb7]

Re: In Game Choices

Dark Sentry, that sounds really cool. I love the idea of having creative character and skill development. Sounds like your game probably had a lot of replay value, which is something I'm shooting for. I like the idea of the choices you make outside of battle affecting your skills and stats in battle, and allowing the characters to grow in a way that reflects the choices a player makes.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: In Game Choices

rpg maker 3 is limited in its spacing so be very careful how diverse you make your game in relation to the finished project. a game with many choices will end up extremely short due to these limits so plan accordingly. my advise would be to make one avenue with the basics then add other elements until you hit a wall.

if you do choices make sure some have not so much change but also ensure that you include some with significant impact. also it could be easier to put the harder choices at the end as it leaves you with more room due to not as many branching pathways.

[servantb7]

Re: In Game Choices

Yeah, the limited memory space is one of the biggest downsides of RPGM3. To make the game I want, I think I am going to have to make it in multiple parts, and use a password system to transfer some of the data to the next part. Kind of tricky and a pain, but it's the only way I can think of to make the game as big as I want

[Nova]

Re: In Game Choices

I've never done a developmental pathway system before, but in Terra Incognita, I've implemented a multiple-choice, karmic-based branching system that gives the player multiple choice options to branch events in their own way. For example:

Event: In TI, there's an event involving a camp of survivors from a nautical disaster, you are given choices on what to do, each one takes you through different events that have different results.

Let's say if you choose to investigate the missing supplies instead of finding more food. Investigating may lead you to finding the source and saving the survivors and your supplies. BUT, you may also find nothing and have people starve to death because of your actions.

Surrounding these choices is a variable, that I have named the KARMA variable. It goes up and down depending on your actions through out the game, certain events will also change character modes depending on your current number.

If you're at 0, characters dialogue will be generally very negative towards you, this is the VERY EVIL karma level. But, if your Karma is 50, say, VERY GOOD, people will be very positive and offer you clues and hints, as well as some items from time to time.

I don't know if this is the kind of stuff your talking about, but I figured you can take from it what you will.

[servantb7]

Re: In Game Choices

I like the "Karma" idea. It seems easy enough to keep track of, and it can give the user lots of options/replay value. I may use something similar for parts of my game.