thread: 2011-02-21 : Into the Unknown?
On 2011-02-24, David Berg wrote:
Excellent!
So, I've worked up brand new answers re: problems and secrets.
Solving problems:
"How many innocents will die, how much badness will be unleashed, how badly will you get hurt, and how many precious resources will you expend as you work to solve the problem?"
Those are the concerns based on what outcomes the game has actually produced to date.
The players coming to understand the problem is key. Coming to believe in a way to stop it is also key. I think these are crucial parts of the game, so maybe I should commit and call them design goals.
If the players know something would have worked, but somehow fail to implement it, that's fine with me, though that hasn't happened for various reasons.
Learning secrets:
"How often will you learn a new secret, and which will it be?"
The players' choices of what they care to pursue determine which of my many secrets they'll encounter. Sometimes this is totally random. At its best, though, they have some idea of what they might get when they go hunting for a new capability.
First design priority: produce a path of continuous learning, never going a full mission without discovering at least one new magical item or interaction.
Second design priority: help the players make informed choices about what to pursue. (I have a Prophetic Dream system for this purpose, but it needs improving.)
Thanks, Vincent, this is helping me formulate some new ways to look at things! Man, though, it's hard to separate "what the game must do" from "what I personally tend to like when I play it."
