The Followers (Revived!) - Help testing chapter 3 (Updated 20/10/16)

I don’t know if anyone still watches this thread but I have been working on chapter 3 for a while and have reached a point that I need some eyes to check it through.

I’m aware that there will be many mistakes in this short section as it branches into more than 10k lines over only around 10 pages due to the number of options and because of this I need help reading it through, checking continuity and looking for badly written parts and ways for improvement.

PLEASE DON’T PLAY THIS VERSION IF YOU’VE NOT PLAYED THE GAME IN THE TOPIC TITLE

Beta test of part 1 of 4 (chapter 3)

Edit: Please note this section assumes your followers made the choice not to fight and then you have made the choice to send out an envoy rather than run.

There will be 4 different directions you could have taken at this point and the part written for you to test is only 1 of these 4 parts.

[spoiler] The 4 options for this part of the story being:

  1. To Run
  2. To send an envoy (This part thats been written)
  3. To fight (planned but I won’t spoil it here
  4. To fight a different way (also planned but won’t spoil) [/spoiler]
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Ok so I just played the new Beta test link. I noticed a continuity error that happens whenever I send out an envoy. When they first got to the camp I have the opportunity to either harm the Kevers, frighten them, or do nothing. I chose to do nothing and Lucanidae kills the envoy. Then I’m given the option to kill them all, frighten them away, or do nothing. I chose to frighten them away, and then my envoy is alive again. Also whenever I pick Roc as my favorite, while everyone is arguing in the great hall at the beginning, it always says: “{prophet_name}” instead of the actual name of the prophet:


I’ve played through this several times and these are the only major issues I have found so far.

this wip is so good i cant wait for the next update

Thanks so much @pinklauryn

I should have made the changes so those don’t happen any more and the link has been updated.

[Here it is again]
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6f0lytmhv02lra2/The%20Followers%20Chapter%203%20test.html?dl=0)

Im working on finishing those choices following the loss of your chosen follower to bring that choice tree to its end. Once that’s done I will start on the other 3 branches from further back.

Please please point out any other errors, continuation issues, punctuation problems or even just poorly written lines (I know plenty exist because every time I play through I re-write parts of each page)

Please don’t be afraid to rewrite the stuff I’ve written if you think it makes it sound better or make more sense. It makes my life so much easier and it generally sounds better than whatever I’ve written.

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It gets ever more entertaining and I once more look forward to the end product. Fantastic work Maxmansung

So… why do you need your prophet to endanger themselves by going to the enemy camp before you can interact with them?

The theory has always been that your tied to your followers so you can only go where there’s belief in you.

The other issue is that the main character doesn’t really have the power to destroy an army. You can’t solve your followers problems completely, only assist them.

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We cannot destroy an army if we have millioms of followers?

I guess it’s just that it seems a little too much like the range of your powers is determined mainly by plot necessity. Like, you can mind control people near your prophet who don’t believe in them, but you can also control the ocean all the way down by the shore where the enemy have parked their boats, and then rescue all the sailors, or cause lightning strikes. Maybe I’ve just experienced too much fiction and this isn’t a problem for other people.

Also, it may be a bit confusing to people that there’s an option to let your prophet do what they already plan to do and an option to do nothing, but the option to let them do what they already plan to do will result in you actively commanding them to do it.

@shoelip
Seems reasonable, I could take out the entire interaction from the MC and limit your powers a lot more. Your right your power is based on plot necessity a lot more than would be appropriate. I wanted a period where the MC would be able to use some god like powers but at the same time allowing that kind of power all the time is pretty much game breaking. Whats the point in worrying or planning for anything when you can destroy the world in an instant.

The game isn’t meant to be a power fantasy but at the same time will quickly become boring without some interaction…

I will make it clearer that the follower was unsure of their plan to leave or stay. If you do nothing it’s dependant on some statistics as to what they choose, only through your influence can you guarantee they make the choice you want.

@Urban
You can do more with more more followers but the idea of this section was also being able to draw on power and focus it into stronger abilities. Up until now you’ve only been able to affect a few people at a time.

Well, like I’ve said, I’ve got a lot of experience with fiction to it might just be that’s only predictable to me. I tend to dislike choices that all have roughly the same result a lot more than most people I’ve found. It ruined Knights of the Old Republic for me, and it ruined The Walking Dead for me. And you’ve got a much smaller budget and team than those games did.

Incidentally, is the enemy leader’s identity determined by an RNG or something?

@Shoelip
Hmm… I really enjoyed the walking dead and the old republic, although playing them through a 2nd time was less fun. With this game the choices make small differences to your personal story but the over arching story will remain similar (Trust me there are sections in this small bit your playing now that only 1 in 800 will see due to the number of choices before.)

The enemy leader is determined by if you kill him when he came to the camp the first time. However it seemed unnecessary to make that a choice for this beta and just set it as RNG. When I turn off beta mode it returns to being based what happened to him in your town.

Well what really killed TWD for me was when I realized that the main “appeal” for the game was being shocked by who they killed off next. At that point I just stopped letting myself get attached to the characters and couldn’t even bring myself to finish chapter five of season one. Like, your choices all end up being made completely meaningless even before the ending. At least in Deus Ex the choices actually mattered right up until the ending. Heck even KotOR had more meaningful choices. I just was pissed off by how many fake choices there were in that game for no apparent reason. There were so freaking many choices that had no effect for no reason. Random side characters who you’d never run into again got tons of dialogue options that all led to the exact same result. It wouldn’t have harmed the overall story to actually make those choices matter within the context they were set, but Bioware was just too damn lazy to bother.

And now I’m sort of ranting… Sorry.

The Walking Dead did have a lot of choices that were completely without meaning and had absolutely no impact, even on the next scene. KotOR did this less and at least the missions that were independent from the story line felt complete most of the time.

I’ve tried my best to make sure no choices in this game are without a point and even those that end in the same result are designed to alter your personality stats which impact the biggest changes of the game (Which spirits are believed in, which sacrifice you get). Please feel free to let me know of any that seem pointless or unnecessary to you though.

On the bright side, if you don’t like the idea of your spirit having a moment of power, just choose to not do anything on all the choices. It’s always an option and you always end up not doing anything. I don’t know if you’ve done that on this beta section but it should lead to a slightly different end point.

I really liked going through the new addition, i was to excited to actually look for any errors though. Sorry! I will play through it a few more times to see if I can find anything. :smile:

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Wow. This is honestly one of the greatest things I have ever played. The plot, just…great job! I love being a sort of guardian spirit that prefers peace but will kill when needed. I just love it! One question, though: if we choose a female human, could you still be a “male” spirit? That’s been bothering me. We’re not really bonded with them, at least not on a physical level. But does the female human option mean you’re a “female” spirit? I’m really curious.

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The main character (the spirit) has no gender as I’ve never really found a need to give it one. Because its from a first person perspective I’ve not needed to write a gender at all and it’s not very noticable. Feel free to assign any gender you want you the main character whilst your playing though, it makes no difference :slight_smile:

Glad you’ve enjoyed it so far, please let me know if there’s anything you feel is out of place, missing or just doesn’t make sense though. Thanks so much for taking the time to read what I have so far.

I’ve been wondering in the new beta link is there any way to prevent the envoy from dying? Or is their death an inevitable event?

There are ways but the beta test I have created only shows the path where the envoy dies. There are 4 other paths you can take though that are being written currently. As soon as they’re done I’ll release them for beta testing

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