Split Sequels and the possibilities of multi-ID saving

Game Development
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Choicescripts saving system works by linking a game ID to an email and save.

The topic of ‘dropped’ ending comes up quite often when a sequel hits, because a lot of games have quite branched endings.
So I wonder if the following:
Would it be possible to assign different IDs to a savefile, depending on an ending? It has already be possible to block certain saves from getting loaded into a game.

Let me use ‘The Hero Unmasked’ as example:

The following endings are possible there:

1. You and your twin survive 2. The twin dies, 3. Twin and you merge 4.twin, you and archvillain merge

and that is just the start of it. Then there’s the various combinations of what happened to the archvillain, what you do in the aftermath, who you romance etc.

Would HU ever get a sequel, it would, as with the current model, it would mean dropping Option 2, and option 3 and 4 would call for a significantly different story than 1.

But what if one could have a sequel be split into two different games (Not demanding a HU sequel here, as cool as it’d be).
Like, one game where you can continue with a savefile with option 1 and the other variables, and one where 2-4 get resolved before moving back into one new sequel (meaning being able to load from two different games then)

That might be less complicated in the long run than telling the game to start at label X, as an ending might call for a whole separate game before it can come to the same point as another ending.

So, would that theoretically be possible to program?

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2

I’ll tag Dan @dfabulich since this seems to have twiddling on the server-side.

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I am by no means an expert, in fact I am a novice to ChoiceScript, but wouldn’t it also be possible to create a variable named ending and set its value at each end scene with a unique string or number to that branch?

Then, when loading the new game, there is a check in the startup that reads the value of this ending variable to determine whether or not to proceed. I am not sure if this is what you were asking, but I figured that I would leave a reply since this is what I plan to do while coding my game to keep track of bugs.

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4

Yeah I was going to say the same thing as @Speedcubing_Gaming. Many games use previous save files to transfer the stats of your character, so you could do the same thing with the ending variable speedcubing was talking about. Just have the game check the value and if it’s an ending that you can’t start the next game with, jump to a label that tells the player this and then shove them to the end screen.

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Hope I got you and @Speedcubing_Gaming correct:

Technically, yes. I’m wondering if one could eliminate that ‘middle man’ and have saves with an ‘incompatible’ ending not even show up in a game.

Like, Sequel A would only show saves with endings 1, 3, 4 and 6. Sequel B would only show the rest.
As sometimes endings are that different from each other that one sequel could not do things justice (well) because one would already be writing two different games.
And I would say writing a good sequel is easier if it is its separate story that in the end comes back together.

Does that makes sense?

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Yeah I get what you’re saying, but eliminating that “middle man” isn’t really necessary. In my opinion, you’re overthinking this. Using a variable is an easy way to filter the endings in a specific way if you wanted to. Say there’s a small detail that’s more or less important, such as a choice of RO or “did you obtain item x?” You could potentially use specific variable values to “file” different endings with small but important detail changes and use it to personalize the beginning of the next sequel games.

But I do get that you’d want to eliminate a “ending incompatible with this game” screen.

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Talking about the endings that go REALLY far apart.

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Well yeah, it works no matter how far apart the endings stray. That’s the whole reason we’re talking about this and why the variable check would be necessary. Then you could have multiple games that have the check that requires you to see a certain variation of the ending that the specific sequel requires.

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I’ll write it here, in case it wasn’t obvious. What if someone wanted to play sequel END-X, but never unlocked said ending to have context about the sequel? That would be a spoiler to the… non-sequel game, wouldn’t it?

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Not if you mark it clearly. And it would only be for games that have a bigger variety (and might encourage bigger ending varieties, maybe)

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11

I still imagine it’d be as spoiler as having the sequel itself to the main title. Problem is some sequel can take place in a remote timeline, which won’t necessarily “meddle” with the main title, while a sequel that took a particular ending as its plot-point will have much more restriction.

This is usually the case with the… uh, uhm… the “alternate” hentai AV that uses particular ending of its eroge source as its plot point. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can massively bloat the timeline of the story. I imagine it would alienate some players who aren’t deterministic to get all the cheevos.

Just my two pieces of a cent.

However, if that doesn’t interest you, let’s get back to the what kind of issue need to be talked about before a split-sequel could be done.

A player finishes ending X. They’re satisfied with it. They see a split-sequel to their game, but that split-sequel requires ending Y. What will happen if this player access that split-sequel?

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Then they can’t access sequel Y. The variable value set when getting ending X tells the game to send the player either to the sequel X part of the game, or tells them to use the other sequel (depending on if you’d combine the sequels into one game folder or write them separately)

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This.

Like, I wondered if it wouldn’t be possible to make the sequel not even load saves with ending x upon synching.
Right now, when you synch the saves, you get all for the ID. So, e.g. the third instalment of CCH would show saves from CCH1 as well as CCH2, right?

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Yeah it would. I still think that you’re thinking about this way too hard though. Whether or not the option to load ending X into sequel Y is available, the reader will still probably know that both sequel games exist. I don’t see a point in hiding a small detail that the reader will already know anyway.

Plus, while writing sequel Y’s wip, you’ll get a thousand questions from people who got ending X and it will be impossible to fully hide the other coming game without lying to them.

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Who said anything about lying about there being a split?
Where did that notion come from?

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Sorry if I was unclear with what I said. I didn’t mean anything bad, I was just saying that the readers would definitely know in some way that there are two different sequel games, so there’s no need to hide ending X from sequel Y.

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A, ah. Nobody can stop you from downloading the split-sequel to your phone. The question becomes “what you, as the author, should do if the player doesn’t have the appropriate save data. Do you kick them out of the game? Or else?”

You can do like in The Lost Heir or The Great Tournament where you have the option to play as preset character or have those individual variables be set up manually before the game begins. Of course, this might bring up the connotation of defeating the purpose of having said split-sequel in the first place.

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Yeah this is what I’m saying. Just have a variable that stops the player from continuing with the wrong save file and problem solved.

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19

Yeah, I completely agree that the games should be able to be played independently.

So basically, what you want is something that can tell what branch the save is for and then decide on whether or not to show the data for loading.

I understand what you want, but I think that it would be simpler to implement a check to load the save data in the sequel.

So, assuming that you pass through the variables when you load the game, you will need one to look at what branch the story is and what ending they achieved, in addition to the other variables for stats and so forth.

Here is a quick bit of pseudo-code as a proof-of-concept. I think it addresses everyone’s concerns.

Code
Code636×702 27.5 KB

Code

*create branch “Unknown”

Welcome to Title of Game, what would you like to do?
*fake_choice
#Load a previous villain
*goto load
#Use a pre-made character
*comment Go to a subroutine to choose a pre-made character.
#Create a new character
*comment Go to a subroutine to make a new character.

*label load
Choose a saved villain!
*fake_choice
#Villain A
*set branch “Villain”
#Vigilante B
*set branch “Vigilante”
#Hero C
*set branch “Hero”

*if (branch = “Villain”) or (branch = “Vigilante”)
Now that you are loaded, let’s pick up where we left off!
*comment Continue with other stuff
*else
*goto hero

*label hero
Sorry, this game is for villains only! What would you like to do?
*fake_choice
#Try a different save
*goto load
#Use a pre-made character
*comment Go to a subroutine to choose a pre-made character.
#Create a new character
*comment Go to a subroutine to make a new character.
#Quit
*finish

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Yes! This is exactly what I’m saying! Then you don’t have to worry about the extra work of researching a method that not actually be something you can do. Admittedly it’d be cool to be able to do the original idea of hiding certain paths from the wrong sequel, but it may just not be feasible.

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