Interesting Idea..Maybe?

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Xaos
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Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Xaos »

So I had an idea. Probably not something I'd implement in a game, more for a larger-scale game. But here's the idea.

It'd be a medieval type game, most likely a fantasy. Along the lines of elder scrolls. Nothing innovative about that. But here's the catch. Up to a certain point, your character won't die. Can't. Could sneakily code this in, in something like as your health drops, the more damage you deal and the less you take, so it's hard to tell you can't die (obviously the community will figure it out with time, but whatever). Then, in an epic cutscene or battle or something, your character is slain. After that, you take the roles of characters playing some kind of important part to the main storyline (with side quest on the side, of course ! :D ) but eventually they die as well (Who doesn't play a game and think to yourself "they'd die by this time in real life!" ? ). This trend continues, then eventually you stop it by being the character that completes the main story then finishes up the remaining side quest applicable (IE if you were say a butcher and had a side-quest that someone was stealing meat from you, that wouldn't apply to the end character, unless somehow it did). Then roam around, or whatever the game allows. Could even make super interesting quest, such as being the wife of your main character, going to the handmaiden's or something, and dying in child birth, where you then turn into the child's mentor, and eventually die as the mentor, then turn into the child to finish the main quest !

For the tl;dr (i'd recommend the read though ;) ) :
You make a main character, die about halfway through the main story
Take over important/semi-important characters, complete quest (main and side quest) and eventually they die
Eventually take over the 2nd most important character (2nd to your main character) and finish the story. This character doesn't die.


Also talking to a friend about this idea, he gave some cool thoughts.

Have actions being able to be taken by the characters, and that directly affects the story and future generations. IE save a kid, his dad is a general in the imperial army, the general defects and joins you for saving his son
Or have something like at the end of the main character story, eh's possesed and becomes a tyrannical king and you have to destroy him as your son. He keeps your attributes you had at the end of his story, and he plays like you did (done by logging your attacks and how you attack to the DB, then go to a straight ratio) and depending on his level is how many support soldiers he has (to keep the same difficulty, some could tank his low level to be able to beat him easier on multiple playthroughs)

Endless possibilities !
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Jackolantern
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Jackolantern »

It definitely sounds interesting. I believe some computer RPGs have done something at least a bit like this (maybe one of the Ultimas?) where the main character loses in the big battle with the villain, but then you take control of his son to both slay the villain and avenge his father. Maybe some fans of classic PC RPGs could give an example or two of this, but I know it has happened before.

You may also want to limit it to 1 death and new character. It is pretty damn shocking when the main character of a game fails and dies, and repeating it several times over could lose the effect.
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Xaos
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

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Yeah I see what you're saying. Maybe just a few -- you'd have significant less time with the in between characters and they wouldnt be nearly as intregal as the main/end
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Jackolantern
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Jackolantern »

Perhaps you could have "transition characters" that would serve to bridge the gap between a death and a new character. The transition characters wouldn't die themselves. They just play a less important role in the story, and perhaps serve to just see one major alternate perspective on the story arc. For example, your main character dies in a remote area. You next find yourself playing a local adventurer in the party to retrieve the hero's body so it can get a proper burial. You fight a little bit, play with some new abilities for a little while, and maybe see the beginnings of a major event brewing on the horizon that foreshadows the next chapter of the game. You get the body back, and at the funeral service you change to another character that will carry the story forward.
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Xaos
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Xaos »

Jackolantern wrote:Perhaps you could have "transition characters" that would serve to bridge the gap between a death and a new character. The transition characters wouldn't die themselves. They just play a less important role in the story, and perhaps serve to just see one major alternate perspective on the story arc. For example, your main character dies in a remote area. You next find yourself playing a local adventurer in the party to retrieve the hero's body so it can get a proper burial. You fight a little bit, play with some new abilities for a little while, and maybe see the beginnings of a major event brewing on the horizon that foreshadows the next chapter of the game. You get the body back, and at the funeral service you change to another character that will carry the story forward.
That'd be genius. Then at the end of the story, upon completion, you could go back and play as those characters (depending on who you liked the most) if you wanted and take part in some daily type tasks.
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Jackolantern
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Jackolantern »

Very cool! And maybe little hints that don't seem like anything at the time of where these characters are going and what they are going to do later are dropped. You won't notice it at the time, but at the end, all the little bit characters unknowingly play a role in helping the final character make his way to the villain. For example, the mercenary group who recovered the first hero's body I mentioned above are commissioned to kill a wild beast on a frozen mountain top about the time you are going to switch away from them. Then way later as the final hero is making their way to the villain at the top of the same mountain, a fireball takes out the bridge they were on, but the mercenary group is in the right place to catch them before they go over the cliff. It could perhaps give a feeling of "destiny", or perhaps it could be the answer behind why you saw some time through these characters' eyes. A variety of backgrounds, stations in life and their part in the end goal would also help to flesh out the game world.
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Xaos
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Xaos »

That'd be awesome, and certainly go along with the "any action you take affects it later". Say you're part of the mercenary group, and you kill someone you shouldn't, you eventually take control of someone and face a lack in growth because the person you killed was this character's mentor :P
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Jackolantern
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Jackolantern »

It would definitely have a lot of replay if that could be well implemented through the whole game :)
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Xaos
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

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For sure. Too bad it'd have to be a large group, large money, large project :oops:
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Jackolantern
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Re: Interesting Idea..Maybe?

Post by Jackolantern »

Very true. Speaking of huge budgets and huge teams, did you ever play Mass Effect? I didn't, but my wife did and she said it was kind of like this. Characters could die in one play-through and live in another, and the story had huge branches and could go fairly different directions.
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