Quote:Original post by Stompy9999
What sunandshadow is working on sounds interesting.
If you think it's that interesting, we're recruiting. ;)
Quote:Original post by Stompy9999
What sunandshadow is working on sounds interesting.
Quote:Has this concept already been done before?
Quote:
Cardinal Prime
This is a multiplot, multi-ending, non-combat, mystery, romantic, interactive game. In this game you plays a jaded professional thief who recently lost the lover. You have been hired to steal an artifact, the Cardinal Prime, from a museum within a week. If the player follows the usual routines of getting prepared, go into the museum, steal it, and turn it in, the default ending is the player being assassinated or that life continues as another day like the day a week ago.
In other words, the time frame is set to be seven days. Within the time frame, the player is invited to make sense out of the situation, by exploring the past, the present, and to make decisions for the future. The player is expected to play the game through multiple game-runs to get a complete interpretation of the story out of many interpretations.
In terms of the 4 elements described above:
1) Forces and objectives
You, your client, your lover. Your given objective is to steal the artifact for your client. However, the story (as well as the ending) will gives hints to you that that is not the actual objective of the game. Your other objectives include finding your lost lover, discovering the identity of your client, the identity of the Cardinal Prime, and your past (there is no amnesia. this is about the one player discovering the past about the PC). Depending on what you have explored and how you interpret the situation, the identity and the objective of your client changes. Your client can range from being the rightful owner of the artifact, to someone taking revenge against you. The objective of your lost lover also changes from helping you to going against you depending on what you do.
2) Action Freedom
This pertains to what you can do within the seven days. The standard actions include: getting equipments, visiting your client, sorting through the stuffs of your dead lover, visit the museum, and to steal the thing. Other options are available as the player declares thoughts, perspectives, and suspicions. Addition actions include: Searching for info about the artifact and the client, sneaking into the client's mansion, visiting your lover's birthplace, visiting an artifact expert, and visiting a weapon dealer.
3) Reaction Rules
This section is large. In general, after you have interacted long enough, the identity and objectives of your client and lover will be set (around day 4). After that they will follow timelines to perform the rest of their deeds. Before that, the events follow a fixed sequence that can be interpreted differently.
4) Perceivable Actions
These are based on the reaction rules. Since I didn't actually show the rules this section is not very meaningful. However, this section includes how when you visit your lover's birthplace she is able to know that you went there. In this game, since the time frame is short, a discrete approach is used to assess the player's perspectives and throughts.
Quote:My idea for an interactive story would be a story that happens regardless of whether the player has done anything or not. The story would take place over a certain amount of time leading up to a single event. At any point during the story, the player can act in ways that will affect this timeline. But, if the player does nothing, the timeline will continue. The player has complete freedom and can do whatever they want. If they are asked to save the world they can simply say no or if someone important is talking to them they can simply leave the room. There would be no cutscenes, and the player can do anything available to them in their environment.
Quote:Very interactive storyline is Half Life 2. There are no cutscenes and you basically can choose to follow or not follow the storyline.
Quote:Original post by EstokQuote:Has this concept already been done before?
In contrast to what ishpeck said, my short answer is yes.
There are several properties regarding this topic, including:
- degree of player freedom
- responsiveness of the game world
- diversity of outcomes
- diversity of intermediate plot elements
These are spectrums. It is rather meaningless to discuss trying to achieve infinity in any of these properties (i.e. it is meaningless to say, "I want the player to have COMPLETE freedom") . . .