I tried to do something of the sort in Papers and Paychecks (arc 298290). It's mostly office comedy, but the player is given a choice near the end, a choice that I hope helps define what sort of character the protagonist is. I originally wrote it because I wanted to try to make an effective story with two alternate endings; the end of the story is pretty different depending on which path you take.
@PW - Police Woman (50 AR/dev blaster on Liberty)
TALOS - PW war journal - alternate contact tree using MA story arcs
=VICE= "Give me Liberty, or give me debt!"
I'm dictating character decisions now and then to make the character seem competent and smart. Compared to how we are portrayed in most of the "real" villain arcs in CoV at least.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
Well, as someone who has dictated entire conversations between the player's character and Nemesis in Union of the Mask, it would be pretty silly of me to say I object to this. Some players will hate it. Others will be interested in the story. Some will torch the arc's rating as soon as it starts to happen because they feel that you are hijacking their character and they won't care about how well the story is written from that point forward.
So I guess it's a gamble. The Union of the Mask has gotten decent ratings thus far, averaging a 4, so I guess it's not the kiss of death, but like I said, on occasion, dictating player dialogue will result in a very low rating.
It's actually pretty simple, but you have to treat the Architect system for exactly what it's meant to be: A holodeck.
When the player is roleplaying a part in a "fictional" universe, they take on the new part in that universe. No dictation of actions required. All you have to do is show them a service record, or work their history into dialogue in some elegant fashion, and then play off of that during the story.
I went in another direction with Aru Prime, that which you reviewed recently, but I could have easily gone in this direction. In fact, part of me wanted to. While you want the player to help define part of their character by giving them choices on how to approach a mission, injecting their own style, there's no issue with telling them who they are. The "Commander" from Aru Prime for instance, has a service history, a reason he or she is being called upon by the Admiral, why they carry the rank of Commander, etcetera. Like I said, I went in a different direction with this arc, but in an upcoming one, I will be going down this route I think.
You can apply this to almost any story, and it's a perfectly good thing to do as long as you do it elegantly.
How to do that without the holodeck setting is beyond me, but I really enjoy the holodeck style settings anyways. The ones I have played have ended up being the most immersive to me.
I'm only ladylike when compared to my sister.
I'd imagine there are as many ways to do this as there are stories you can think of, I doubt there's a any good single method.
I went for something like this in my arc DayJob Hell where I provided the player's villain-toon a sort of motivation/reasoning patterns about becoming a 'real villain' vs. just another wannabe hanging out at Fort Darwin; trying to make a player accept actual traits for his toon (ice cream vs. cake) would be a bit invasive I think. I'm not sure I was 100% successful - some good stuff ended up on the cutting room floor that I might have to work into another arc or a sequel ("DayJob Hell II: Hellier"?).
Maybe if/when the devs can cobble up some form of branching missions based off of choice we could work more towards that.
Quote:
True of anything. |
Originally Posted by Aisynia
... and it's a perfectly good thing to do as long as you do it elegantly.
|
The devil is in the details and execution.
I think a big way to incorporate player choice is giving them information about what they will be doing before they even play the arc. For example my arc, Death to Disco! hooks you in with this:
It's 2010 Dr. Disco Fever has somehow altered the timeline so that Disco never died. The Star Spangled Banner is played to a Disco beat! Sporting events start with people standing up and "getting down" for our national anthem. Restore the timeline or be stuck Boogie Oggie-ing forever!
I can assume any character playing that arc is already invested in the "cause" (or willing to go along with it) and the contact can treat them as a kindred spirit who he can collaborate with through the arc.
I realize this method won't work for many arcs where there are mysteries or where things are meant to be more gray, but it is another tool.
WN
P.S. - If you have not please give Death to Disco! a spin.
Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story
A certain amout of assuming is inevitable, it's the nature of the genre. You have to go a bit further if the arc has you in a role outside or beyond the one you assume when you load into the game, or if its a villainous arc. The best arcs for this have your character's deeds, motivations, and plans hinted at through NPC reactions, and the events of the arc itself, rather than putting words directly into your character's mouth.
The big problem I have with my character's actions being too scripted is that it usually goes too far, into unnecessary detail. I can accept "my character doesn't operate that way but this time I will because the plot requires it," far easier than I can accept something that isn't necessary to the story, and actually detracts from it.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
So an idea has just popped into my head. When trying to add some personality into their arcs, I would think most authors (including me) would try and inject a interesting, likable, or at least relatable character in their arc, usually in the form of the contact, or perhaps a recurring ally or even antagonist that pops up in the arcs.
But what if you wanted to make the player's character interesting? How would you do it? I've seen a few arcs where they dictate the PC's voice for this, though admittedly I'm not a fan of this method. I wonder if there are other ways to say "Hey, your hero/villain has their own aspirations and quirks too!" Perhaps an arc throws out a decision that your character has to make, one that defines their personality and value systems such as "is killing criminals right or wrong?" Or maybe even something less dramatic such as "is cake superior to ice-cream?" Or perhaps you could write something that happens to the PC down the line, something that will change the player's perspective of their character forever.
Anyways I'll leave that out there as something to think about, as for me I'm off to bed. By which I mean, prolonging my sleeplessness by thinking about this while I'm in bed.
A Penny For Your Thoughts #348691 <- Dev's Choice'd by Dr. Aeon!
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