Should the average play-through be included in descriptions? (Poll)

[MeltingPenguins]

I must say I can’t follow that logic.
Wouldn’t people who pay for 100k words and ‘only’ get 30k be as put off?
Or people who know the wordcount in the description means ‘with code’, but who buy a 100k game and get 50k words with little to no branching and replayvalue because the coding is shoddy?

[EclecticEccentric]

@MeltingPenguins

Wouldn’t people who pay for 100k words and ‘only’ get 30k be as put off?

I…I don’t know what the difference of this is from the example I gave.

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I think most casual players would think “Why can I only see 30,000 words? I paid for 100,000.” I know that I personally didn’t get it the first time I saw that most CS games have 20-30% of their word-count per play-through. Seeing a figure that’s basically 3 out of 10 doesn’t exactly provoke the same reaction as a 100,000 or 500,000 word count.

I’m also one of those people who simply try to perfect a canon playthrough so I know that the average playthrough length is not going to mean as much to me as someone who tries all of the possible routes.

[Samuel_H_Young]

I mean…I don’t think it’s even possible to see 100k out of 100k, even if every single choice is fake without any text after the options. Surely people understand that their choices do stuff.

[EclecticEccentric]

I think anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with CS games knows that, but if you’re a first-time reader, reading the description of a game, you might make the assumption.

_{As for seeing 100% of the wordcount, that’s what reading the code is for.}

[RETowers]

@MeltingPenguins

Mhn… did we have a thread about what defines a branch? And what sets it apart from flavor-text? And what qualities flavor text should have to affect replay value compared to being ‘just’ a bit of fill-in-the-blanks?

Not as far as I’m aware. It’s kinda an under discussed topic.

@EclecticEccentric

I’d also like to add that 30,000 words in a CS game feels a lot different from 30,000 words in a novel. Since decisions break up the narrative, it’s not like turning a page in a book where you don’t have to think about the consequences your page-turning has on the narrative.

One of our (that is CoG’s) design philosophies is exactly this. Hard choices where everything is viably desirable and conflicting goals. We believe it helps replay value, and makes the game more impactful.

[MeltingPenguins]

@RETowers

@MeltingPenguins

Mhn… did we have a thread about what defines a branch? And what sets it apart from flavor-text? And what qualities flavor text should have to affect replay value compared to being ‘just’ a bit of fill-in-the-blanks?

Not as far as I’m aware. It’s kinda an under discussed topic.

I remember people (me included… i think) did talk about storypoints and branching there.
Is it okay to make a thread?

[RETowers]

Sure.

[Konstantin]

Yes please. Short after Wizzardry Lvl C I felt kind of ripped off because it just ended when it got good aka when you finished your exam. Well after looking back it whas still some good book but each of the branches ended just so short, that it felt like the tank time in Halo 1. Just when you thought nice want to learn more it whas already done. Well still one ending made it up and this is the one where you got a super hero and you go for crowdfunding to pay your bills and the crowd whas so generous and helpfull because they can help the hero who help them.

Still for other games it would be nice to know on how long a branch is.