4 replies to this topic

[DTtheLEGEND]

Ok so Im creating this game and its open world (Its a very small city broken into 4 quadrants)
but while Ive been coding the actual story into the game, Ive been fighting with myself as to go about
putting the story in.

My issue is, you have 4 members in your party. Each of them has a small story to complete for
their happy ending. I can put the stories IN the game, Im just having doubts about wether or not
it will be confusing for the player.

For example,
In the overworld (the entire town), there are fires to be put out, there are barricades to be set up,
there are people to save and even power to turn back on. None of those have to do with the main
story, but you can do that stuff to expand upon the world.

But in the stories, you have to find someones wife, another person has to track down this guy and
your main character has to find his parents.

how it is now is like in episodes where you have a simple goal for a storyline to continue, that way
you can do more than one storyline at the same time. (Find the wife while catching the guy [which are both
seperate events])

The reason I have an issue is because when you do random things in the open world, you are able to
basically save the city just from doing those random events. The stories are more or less personal journeys.

My concerns are:
A- once you save the city, you dont have a threat to really worry about (therefore there is no need to do the character storylines)
B- one may be confused while going around doing all of these things (therefore becoming frustrated in the story)
C- Ive seen how some games do it and I know i dont like the way they do it but i dont see another option.

For example:
Grand Theft Auto has side missions that just open up as you progress down the main story. - What about
people who just want to do something epic from the get go?

on the other side of the spectrum, Saints Row REQUIRES that you complete
random missions to move the story along.

Would it be acceptable if I made the main story INVOLVE some of the random events that happen around the city?

like "You saved us, but there are many more people out there just like us who need saving!"
or "You turned the power back on, but now some of the areas of town need to reset there circuit breakers!"

What would the general opinion of this structure be?

Are you confused? i tried to do explain this the best i could.

[greep]

Personally, I would divide events into two kinds: A small number of "impact" missions that have vast repercussions, and a large number of "stand alones" that have little to no lasting impact except for the reward.

For example, an impact missions would be, say, whether or not the player solves a plague infecting a town. If not, several people giving stand alone quests might die.

If you keep number of impact missions low, it'll be a lot easier to organize. Having too many impact missions conflicting with each other can lead to some really confusing, and possibly game ruining, results.

[DTtheLEGEND]

I suppose.

I really just wanted to engage a person in a story rather than
have them just play a random game with mini game type things
for no reason.

See, the main stories don't directly intersect with eachother
nor do any of them intersect with the side missions.

Perhaps i should clear it up

Jeremy - finding a scientist
Tom - finding his wife
Alegria - finding her daughter
(You) finding your parents

Side stuff:
Turning on city power
Restoring power to buildings that people are still in
Saving said people by bringing them to safety
Securing safe zone
Setting up routes from the safe zones to touchdown

Putting out fires.

...other stuff that effects the city and your accessability, but not quite
the main stories.

On the other hand, I want a person to pick this game up
and be able to say "Let's do some damage!" and be able
to run around doing nothing and it staying fun for a while.

[Yal]

ee, the main stories don't directly intersect with eachother
nor do any of them intersect with the side missions.

Perhaps i should clear it up

Jeremy - finding a scientist
Tom - finding his wife
Alegria - finding her daughter
(You) finding your parents

There's a very easy way to connect those personal objectives with the troubles of the town: let's say that (your) parents (or, at least one of them, your mother for instance) works at the power plant. Or something similiar. Restoring the power would then aid you in your search AND/OR you have a reason to check out the power plant; there might be clues there. While there, you might attempt to turn the power plant back on, or you might just ninja the place for clues about what you should do to save your parents.

Somehow connect some of the other people with stuff where problems occur, and suddenly all is much more connected. Say that, for instance, Alegria's daugther was riding the metro when distaster struck, and when the power went out the wagon stopped between two stations. You could either try to put the power back on, or try to get there and save her. Or something.

Does this sound helpful?

[DTtheLEGEND]

Thats actually a really good idea! thanks!