While working on my current project, I did have an unusual idea which I wanted to get some opinions on.
When working on Dragon of Steelthorne and Scarlet Sorceress, a very common request was to have cheat modes with unlimited resources and money. With Scarlet Sorceress, I had also some requests to make some of the character customization options and other decisions cosmetic rather than linking them to stat changes.
Now, I’m thinking of creating an optional ‘story’ mode, where players can play the game without having to deal with stat checks and management. This removes the stat system, turning all skill checks into flavor choices, and allows players to pick the choices which appeal most to them, role-play and story-wise, without having to worry about beating skill checks or losing the game. I don’t know if any game has tried this before, but I’m just wondering if there could be interest in something like this. (This is optional and players can still opt for the traditional stat management in the game).
To give an example (I typed this up in a hurry):
*if mode = "standard"
What is your favorite animal?
*fake_choice
#Cheetah
*set agility +10
Good choice. The cheetah is a fast animal. (Agility increases)
#Owl
*set intelligence +10
Owls are wise birds. (Intelligence increases)
*page_break
You receive a gift from an old friend. What is it?
*fake_choice
#Rocket shoes.
*set agility +10
These make you as fast as a rocket. (Agility increases)
#Book of Science.
*set intelligence +10
Reading this book makes you feel like a genius. (Intelligence increases)
*page_break
A bad guy comes at you. How do you defeat him?
*choice
#Backstab!
*if agility > 10
You run behind him and backstab him.
*goto win
*else
You trip and fall.
*goto lose
#Brain power!
*if intelligence > 10
You destroy him with your brain.
*goto win
*else
Your head explodes.
*goto lose
*if mode = "story"
What is your favorite animal?
*fake_choice
#Cheetah
Good choice. The cheetah is a fast animal.
#Owl
Owls are wise birds.
*page_break
You receive a gift from an old friend. What is it?
*fake_choice
#Rocket shoes.
These make you as fast as a rocket.
#Book of Science.
Reading this book makes you feel like a genius.
*page_break
A bad guy comes at you. How do you defeat him?
*choice
#Backstab!
You run behind him and backstab him.
*goto win
#Brain power!
You destroy him with your brain.
*goto win
The good thing about a game is that we can create multiple settings, so it might just be possible to please everyone.
There are cheat modes and easy modes out there. I can’t recall any one that straight-up removes all stats, but ‘story modes’ have been done and are generally appreciated by the readers.
That said, I really don’t like the implementation in your example. Having one whole *choice block for each mode feels so… wrong. Unless your goal is to rack up the word count as much possible, I’d suggest something like
A bad guy comes at you. How do you defeat him?
*choice
#Backstab!
*if (agility > 10) or (story_mode)
You run behind him and backstab him.
*goto win
*else
You trip and fall.
*goto lose
#Brain power!
*if (intelligence > 10) or (story_mode)
You destroy him with your brain.
*goto win
*else
Your head explodes.
*goto lose
Where “story_mode” is a true/false variable. You don’t need to remove the stat increases, just hide the bars on the stat screen. That’s how I would do it, in any case.
I don’t want to go overboard with detail, I think my main thing is just having this desire to allow the player to steer things a bit. The MC is unused to affection and I’d like to let them lean into that if they want.
Chance, I like your idea of having two modes. Of course, there’s a certain amount of work involved in it, so it’s a question of whether it’s worth the extra work to please more people.
I had thought about something similar in First Bull Run, possibly offering a “historical mode” and a less historical mode since I’ve got some complaints about limitations on character customization. I am still going back and forth, but currently leaning away from it, and only having one mode.
… in the Gray Painter, and secretly made it so that you could select them even if you didn’t meet the stats. A lot of people were so used to the language of video games that they didn’t even attempt it if they didn’t have the stats lol.
And there’s also an FTL: Faster Than Light style of skill checks …
… in Dance with the Devil. I think I like this system the most because I don’t need to guesstimate what the expected level of a stat should be at every point in the game. The player either has it or they don’t.
Harris, once again, coming in clutch with great advice and expertise. Jeeze, stahp before you become even more of an idol for me!!!
This is fuckin’ brilliant.
This is how I intended to make my skill checks work in Phoenix Rising, but my ADHD makes it hard to remember to put the [agility 10] part of it there. I dunno. I kind of need to go back through with a fine-tooth-comb for my own style-rules, yknow. That, and the fact that half of my fuckin’ *ifs don’t lead anywhere because I can’t wrap my head around it.
I hope the end of June’s third week is going well.
I am posting this a few hours early because I intend to be away from the computer for this weekend.
As I intended to do this week, I have been collating the feedback I have received. While I have gathered most of it together, ready to go, I still have more to process.
Getting lost in the weeds is my greatest danger at the moment, and because I tend to get overwhelmed by all my “editing” errors, I have to circle back to some words of encouragement to regain my center.
I know how important this is to me when someone gives me such encouragement, that sometimes I pop into a WiP or DM authors with my own words of encouragement. Some might consider that “shallow” or “fake” but I consider it feedback 101 and something that is essential to support those you feel worthy of your support.
My goals for the last week of June is to finish gathering all my feedback and start working on the many changes and improvements I’ll be making to the “Beta” copy, so that once it is completed and ready, I can open a WiP thread with that copy as the demo.
I did not see this earlier (or my eyes glazed over it) … The next step, once I have responded to the feedback from the pre-beta test will be to open a WiP thread up. Yes.
The release date is still TBD, but there will not be any further large scale private testing. Sure, a select few will be consulted as I make changes, but that is normal for every project, big or small that I have been involved in.
Production wise it was a poor week, only been able to focus today and wrote a bit. I’m thinking about token usage. How often you use tokens?
*create token_action false and then tapping them to *set token_action true, so next options will based on the tokens with *if loops.
Also trying to limit a bit myself to not create massive paths to be on target. I know my mind liked the token idea and thinking about dozens of paths where I should have a handful branches at most.
Also thinking about path scenes - where putting all the path directions of the same root under relevent followup scenes.
How you do that in your projects? All independent scenes? Or as I thought partial scenes get together for a specific path choices?
After seeing the update for The Mage’s Adventure’s yesterday, I wrote to Hosted Games to ask about making updates to Dragon of Steelthorne.
Most negative reviews were about length, with companion interactions in a somewhat distant second place. After putting up the next update for Scarlet Sorceress, I’m planning to get back to my released game and address both issues. I’m planning to add a chapter which I originally cut from the first game (since I wanted to put that in the sequel), and I’m planning to expand the character interactions. This update will be free. I’m not sure if this will move the needle as far as ratings and reviews go, but if more people walk away satisfied as a result, then it would have been worth it for me. (I hope to please the griefers too, but I’ve gotta accept the fact that I can’t please everyone )
I’m planning to start public beta testing for the additional content sometime next month, and I do have one free steam key for the game to… incentivize feedback.
Dragon of Steelthorne 2 goes to the Spring Thing next year, so I’ll put it in deep freeze for now (but if anyone wants the link, feel free to ask).
*choice
#Adam grabs an apple from the tree.
*set apple_grabbed true
*goto Iam_naked
#Adam didn't grab an apple.
*set apple_staysontree true
*goto love_thebreeze
so at startup scene under a place of tokens I say
`*create apple_grabbed false
*create apple_staysontree false
`
so when tapped you have tokens based on your choices - for next scenes
*choice
if (apple_grabbed)
#eve is naked too omg
if(apple_staysontree) bla bla
#I love our long convos with lovely eve
edit: so the apple_grabbed & apple_staysontree are tokens that will be remembered in the game for future use - to make some pathmaking and choices based on tokens as I described above. Hope I am not confusing, my mind is a massive labyrinth and I am like Hank Moody lately, need to focus on writing more, drinking and ehem socializing less
and I can not help myself to think about a game of the first humans and exodus from the heaven