Hey everyone, Apologies if you're not terribly interested in seeing how the story sausage gets made. You have my permission to skip this one. Tonight I've been trying to nail the flow of dialogue presented by the game's key NPCs. As we like to keep things snappy, most of this is accessed via optional branching conversations which take place outside of cutscenes and story events. The choices and responses change over time, with each of the key NPCs requiring a new dialogue file per story beat. This can be tricky to keep straight over the course of a campaign. Making diagrams like this one can inoculate one's head against a case of spontaneous, story-related combustion. Each box represents a .GML (game maker language) file which is triggered at a certain point during the chapter. It helps if you're extremely forgetful (I am), and prone to lose track of which dialogue file goes where in the order of things (also yes). Out of all of these nodes, only a small number are part of the main story, and they're usually pretty short. Side note: during longer cutscenes, we often have 'Hurry up' or 'Get to the point' choices. All this might seem tedious, but if you ask me it captures the appeal of writing for games; the interplay between content (story) and implementation (narrative design). Oh, and, I also learned some neat facts about 1920s/30s elevators. Today's progress: 1 new dialogue event. Worked on several scenes in chapters 1 & 2. Drafted some new plot outlines to make the dialogue feel tailored to the player's experience. Will write them up tomorrow. Some housekeeping of the items, traps and abilities database. Added more polish, flavour text, and of course, puns. Today's research: (Article) What was the point of elevator music? - Atlas Obscura (Video) Elevator ride at the Washington Monument. Good night!
That is awesome! We might underestimate the complexity of text based content in games (because there is minimal gameplay involved), so it is really nice to see the process behind it. It makes you appreciate the effort at least. I imagine that trait/perk/skill/class based choices along with other variables can turn these diagrams into a mess very quicly hahahahaha Keep up the good work
There's a saloon? Neat. I was thinking about this game earlier today and I was wondering how you manage one-on-one combat. If there is only one enemy, or a single boss, what prevents you from having all your investigators just spam melee (or possibly ranged) attacks on it? Also interesting article on elevator music. Now I've got elevator music stuck in my head...
The game's balanced around having a team for 4 investigators. Currently in cases where there are only one enemy unit standing alone, they tend to be much tougher than the smaller enemies. They can also sometimes inflict status effects like stuns on-hit. There's also the risk of pulling nearby enemy groups onto you while you're fighting them. We're doing balancing as we go - a proper census on the balance of the builds/characters can come much later - closer to launch. Right now the most savage combination seems to be 4x Trappers with traps and shotguns!
@Flapdoddle I read in the last update that some plotlines and story developments that were less important were "locked down". Quite understandable given the overall undertaking and how ambitious it is vs the size of the development team. I'd like to ask though - how possible it is that the game could increase in scope and be expanded beyond bugfixes post-launch should it sell well, as it is common to do nowadays with relatively succesful indies? And another thing. Will there be "flavor" choices in dialogues etc? Things that don't change the overall results of the interaction but provide wiggle space for player's personality, like how it was in some more ambitious games of yore where, for example, one could order from among several drinks or even greet the barkeep differently, but all of it would lead into the same direction, just change subsequent dialogues a tiny bit, or if making a gameplay difference - it being a really miniscule and meant for immersion (ie ordering a glass of whiskey, praising the barkeep for quality of his stock and later when finishing largely unrelated quest getting another glass on the house during a dialogue). It may be somewhat more writing overall, but a thing that some players, me included - quite enjoy, especially during sleuthing-themed adventures where it all gives a bit of a much appreciated illusion that the progress of interaction really is fully dependant on player's approach, rather than just sequence of skills checks and clicks at appropriate places.
There's a massive list of potential themes we'd like to explore in DLC/expansions post-release. One example being the un-met stretch goal for the oceanic caves / 'Lovecraftian' depths, which we pictured as being optional end-game content. The game's universe definitely lends itself to this, however, it's all too early to say for sure. Chances are, there will be lots of story/world-building ideas we won't have time to create the art/code for by 1.0. Also, for what it's worth, the overall story is being written as a series (at least two games). But one thing at time. And yes, that is a trick we're taking advantage of. Not every dialogue choice has a lasting effect on the characters/world; some of it's just for flavour/fun/character building! Edit: remembered to add the bit about the stretch goal content.
