OKAY so I’m trying to make WWU3 a touch more manageable for myself on the writing end and I’m left with a question on how best to approach it. So bare with me as I try to explain without giving away too much plot
So you have two major paths you can play through in WWU3: each with a three step plan. Plan A has clearly defined pass/fails for each step/collection of scenes, but u don’t know the concequces of them until the climax. Plan B, which is my trouble atm has three locations that need to be searched to find something. I’d originally set it up that you can find said thing at the beginning of the search, but I’ve decided that’s no good because then the MC would just end up skipping a lot of later good side plot content if they succeed in finding the thing and triggering the climax scenes. So, I decided that the last scene will be the only place the MC will ever succeed in finding the thing…but that leaves the first two places to be searched demoted to simply “filler” scenes with no real stakes other than to move the story along and keep it in pace with the parallel Plan A narrative.
So my question is thus: what can I do to make these other two search scenes interesting for the reader during second and third playthroughs? One idea was actually making a “fail” here equal death, which is reasonable considering that this is the final game and this particular path is supposedly the “harder” of the two plans. But is that “too” hard?
You could take another penalty to your stats? God I love playing as a cripple, because I, myself, am that crip. I used to fail the finale even though I could quite easily beat it because I just wanted to set up a disabled main character.
I don’t think a death state is too bad, either. I used to die in other WW tons of ways. It’s fun. Maybe an achievement for dying as much as possible?
You could always add in some more character/lore/bonding/backstory time. Everyone likes leaving the main path for those.
The worst kind of check-fail for me is the kind that makes things worse for another character, even in a minor way. I feel so guilty!
I am extremely against mid-game deaths, because replaying to the same point is really tedious. A lot of times it would just make me drop the game (at least temporarily), especially if I don’t know why I failed (which is most cases, since even if I know my stat was too low I can’t know how high it needs to be without code diving).
Stat-hits can cause a death spiral making further checks impossible, so I think it’s risky as well. You know how balanced your game is, so maybe it’s possible to take that hit without risking the player getting in a no-win situation.
The simplest answer on the replayability for me would be little tidbits of info, not essential but somehow relevant. So each search has 2-3 options, and each option, while not giving you the info you were looking for, gives a different information. Obviously since the idea is to minimize writing those should be short, so it can just be a couple of lines serving as a hint/foreshadowing. If it’s something that only makes sense once you hit that final scene, on second runs it would feel satisfying because the player will know what it connects to.
I can’t say exactly what other kinds of info it can be without knowing the context, but it could also be something that isn’t actually related but still interesting, like extra information about a character. As a totally random example, do we need to know Character A has an ex they’re pining for? No, but it’s fun to learn.
Yes, real stakes are defs required to make the scenes not seem completely ‘filler’.
So I’m definitely on-board with a ‘fail’ resulting in death. It’s fitting since WWU3 is meant to be more high stakes than the previous two (we’re going head-to-head with a mysterious Red organisation and Tar’citadel’s awfully biased justice system ffs).
Also, if death is going to be a necessary risk, there needs to be a reward to justify that. We’ve had deaths before but it was more a ‘novelty’ of sorts, only triggering when we went off the game’s intended path. A stat boost, a lowered stat check for the finale or having more knowledge going into it (a la us knowing that it’s Jun’s past self indirectly screwing with shit when Crispin tells us to drop it in WWU2) would all work.
Wait, we can kill people and progress with the game? damnn
Oh, and moral quandry sounds great.
ah, i usually end up taking a break from games if i have to start over. I was hoping for a checkpoint before the choice that leads to a game over or something, but i’ll still play this
While I understand the excitement, per the forum rules, we are normally not meant to ask about when a game is releasing. Disclaimer, not trying to call you out or you are in trouble, just reminding is all. Otherwise, I’m sure WaywalkerLeigh will keep us posted with her progress on the game.
I haven’t been keeping watch of this thread. Just curious would there be as much of development with as the others? Aycura was actually my first choice but she is not available, now Kess is the best Girl(nobody else lol)
Just finished the first two games and they are really good! Makes me feel like I’m in some form of Jedi Academy! Just curious, is there going to be a focus on combat in the sequel? The thrilling fights are my favourite parts
OKAY so fun topic: let’s say yr the hidden bad guy in WWU3 <no spoilers, but for those of you who don’t know, assume fairly powerful Red follower who wants to stay hidden> and the team of Semryu the MC, Shelly (and sometimes Jun) are trying to thwart you.
Hmm well since Jun is a little weak to empathy maybe go for the old empathy blast then knock out? Lol Or if you are still shearing a room with Jun try to find a way to curse him or hinder his magic while asleep. Sem hmm try to lie and say he played a prank on you but it went to far seems believable enough. Shelly maybe go after her aunt. Another posbialty is making her fall while shelving books and she falls unconscious.
Well, if I was a powerful adult mage, I would assume a buncha teenagers are only a threat against me if they team up, so ideally I’d try to either break them apart, or distract them somehow so they’d have to handle their own issues and have no time for group activities.
I have no clue how to make that work in this context, though, since all the characters are away from home and essentially their whole lives are centered around the same things (EDIT: minus maybe Semryu and his dramatic family background, but it’s still a stretch). And the obvious “incriminate the detective chasing you” is already the main plot lol.
I guess maybe trying to hinder them with other systems? Because they are teenagers and so they are limited in what they can do by school rules, general laws, adults trying to protect them/disbelieving them etc.
