sandbox pwns everything

A suggestion for the early part of the game, playing off of the "guide that follows you around" idea. Make a mandatory tutorial/learning period for all new players; remember to give them plenty to do and different routes to accomplish their tasks (this is in a controlled environment). Note that the player should be aware of how he/she would go about completing the task in a certain way, i.e., not just being told "Hey, you've got a lot of ways you can do this. Go at it!". If the player doesn't realize that he can bribe the guard to get past the first security checkpoint, he won't try.

Now here's the payoff. Implement a system that monitors the actions of the player throughout this tutorial phase. This creates a few restrictions: the tutorial must be of a sufficient length to provide numerous tasks and even more decisions for the player to make, and the tutorial must be designed in such a way that a good idea of the character's motives, values, and beliefs can be determined through said tasks and decisions. Once this data is compiled, present the player with a scenario like the following:

"Congratulations, you've completed your training, and you should now be able to be a productive member of our society! We've talked about it, and we think you might do very well as a (fighter/technician/scoundrel/prostitute). Here's the local manager/chief/elder of the (fighters/technicians/scoundrels/whores), and if you'd like, he can take you into an apprenticeship program, with great rewards in the future! However, since we are a free society under the Galactic Charter of Rights, you can choose any career or profession you'd like. Here's a map to some of the other local managers/chiefs/elders in case you're interested. So what'll it be - would you like to go with this person in the career we think you'll do very well in, or would you like to go out into the world and find your own way?"

And like other posters have said in much more eloquent and thought-out words, keep it interesting. Make sure that there is always something for the player to do, if he's interested. Boredom is the embodiment of pure evil in a non-linear game.

Quote:Original post by Baloogan
sandbox pwns everything

[smile]

Quote:Original post by andromeda
A suggestion for the early part of the game, playing off of the "guide that follows you around" idea. Make a mandatory tutorial/learning period for all new players

I like this possibility. It dovetails with the idea of designing your character as you play, so that you can jump right in. For return players there could be some sort of "skip the tutorial" option as well.

I would also say that there should be points in the tutorial where you can "go over the wall." Just leave it behind and escape into the game's open world (while making it clear that you're doing so).

You can't please everyone, but this might go a long way to helping both camps.

Quote:
Make sure that there is always something for the player to do, if he's interested. Boredom is the embodiment of pure evil in a non-linear game.

Very much agreed.

I think a big problem in 'open ended games' is not neccessarily 'too many choices' but 'too many choices back to back'. Every 5 seconds you can go off and do something completely different, so it can be very difficult to stick to one path for a while.

If you changed the idea from 'continually offer a million choices' to 'offer a choice every once in a while and make the player run with it', I think you could still have a very dynamic world without overwhelming players.

Imagine a 'choose your own adventure book' with a choice after every sentence. That would be an 'open ended game'.
Now imagine the same kind of book with a choice every 10 pages. It can still be very dynamic, but you have to stick with your choices for a little while and flesh out the results.

Quote:Original post by Extrarius
I think a big problem in 'open ended games' is not neccessarily 'too many choices' but 'too many choices back to back'. Every 5 seconds you can go off and do something completely different, so it can be very difficult to stick to one path for a while.

If you changed the idea from 'continually offer a million choices' to 'offer a choice every once in a while and make the player run with it', I think you could still have a very dynamic world without overwhelming players.

Imagine a 'choose your own adventure book' with a choice after every sentence. That would be an 'open ended game'.
Now imagine the same kind of book with a choice every 10 pages. It can still be very dynamic, but you have to stick with your choices for a little while and flesh out the results.

Thanks Extrarius. Some of this can be achieved by spacing, say by how closely packed the nodes are that give you different choices. But above all, as others have mentioned, you need to have a hint of what you're getting into when you make those choices.

I dunno if agoraphobia is quite the word, rather, I personally hate not being told what I am supposed to be doing, why I am supposed to be doing it, and whether I am doing well. I really like games that are more or less linear and lead me along with tutorials and story until I have experienced all the content in the game. There's another angle - for a completist, it's a nightmare to never be able to say you are finished with an area of a game.

Holy Thread Necromancy Batman! This thread died seven years ago!

Closing, although if Wavinator feels it might be useful to continue this discussion he is welcome to re-open it.