How do you feel about ending that are inevitable because of choices ?

[AquaGay]

Hey,

So i'm currently making a game and I was wondering something about the end.

For an exemple, imagine a game where you have a lot of choices to make and depending on the choice you have Bad guy points or Good guy points.
How do you feel about ending that are inevitable, like imagine you have only made the choices that gave you Bad guy points in the game, so you can only have the "Bad guy" ending.

Would you like that or do you prefer open ending, so what ever if you only made Bad guy or Good guy choice, you can still choose the ending that you prefer ?

Thanks for your time

 

[WIRProductions]

If you're going to force the player to make a choice then make sure the choices matter otherwise you end up with Mass Effect 3 and its clusterfuck of a situation. I don't mind if choosing good guy points locks me into the good ending because that is what I'd expect, but if I get the same ending regardless of the choices I made, I'd rather you not give me the choice to begin with and save me the time.

 

[Jofur]

Personally I care more about the moment to moment interactions where you can showcase your characters personality than long lasting consequences and special endings. Especially if they are obfuscated and unpredictable. Being able to choose an ending might feel a bit like a cop-out, but to some players it might also allow them an avenue to roleplay. I suppose it depends on if you as a creator value consequences over personal roleplaying.

I just want to rant so don't mind me, but I see no reason to care about choices if I have no idea what the direct consequences will be. Sometimes games try and do a "Gotcha! Don't you feel bad for choosing that option 2 hours ago now!" thing and it doesn't really matter to me at all because I might as well have flipped a coin since the outcome was so unpredictable.

 

[Hadley]

I always like when the Ending depends on choices you made throughout the Game and it doesn't give you a cheap way of switching to a good ending right before it.

 

[noirjazz]

the games on this site end when you cum really. but in a story it's best for it to be thematically satisfying, a cheater or asshole can't just get a happy ending without someone geting annoyed. or you could just make the player happy by giving them an ending that is so unique to the route that they feel choices makes a difference.

 

[Agent HK47]

I don't have a problem with being locked into an ending in the way you describe. If I have the choice to be an asshole, and I pick that option, then there should be a consequence as the result of my choice. If you have choices in the game, they should matter in some way, be it big or small.

 

[Minh278]

I don't think an inevitable ending is a bad thing if properly built up. Predictability with little hints to throw people off can be engaging.

 

[woody554]

if a choice doesn't lock you out of something you're not really choosing anything. doesn't have to lock out endings, but it should lock out SOMETHING. the bigger the lock-out the more meaningful the choice.

one way to have your cake and eat it is to have a redemption route. give the bad boy a chance to make it all better by a great personal sacrifice. but it shouldn't be easy or we're back to choices being meaningless.

in a movie the baddie would give his life to save the girl he's been abusing the whole time, and die in the girls arms right when she understands that the bastard loved her all this time. a very powerful ending. much stronger than with a good guy.

but in porn games that's tricky because you'd need to have some post-sacrifice boomboom time with the girl, but you're in no shape to fuck because you're dying. and if you're not dying it's not clear you're doing it for the girl and not just to keep abusing her. it must be a selfless sacrifice. so the sacrifice should probably be something less final than your life.

 

[Jaike]

but in porn games that's tricky because you'd need to have some post-sacrifice boomboom time with the girl, but you're in no shape to fuck because you're dying. and if you're not dying it's not clear you're doing it for the girl and not just to keep abusing her. it must be a selfless sacrifice. so the sacrifice should probably be something less final than your life.

The bad guy selflessly sacrificed his dick for the girl, really one of the greatest sacrifices imaginable in porn games. Fortunately, she had a strap-on packed away and goes on to peg the bad guy. Hopefully she also has something to stem the bleeding.

I agree that locking something out is essential for choices to be meaningful.

 

[Doorknob22]

If the player throughout the game consistently chose the bastard path it makes sense that he will get the bastard ending and vice versa. I think this is a good usage of "karma points", helping the player play the path they want.

A bad usage of "karma points" IMHO is when the developer decides for the player that they are not evil/good enough for an action to appear in a menu. I believe players should always have the freedom to make any moral choices regardless of previous ones.

 

[desmosome]

It depends on the game and story. In general, getting locked into an ending by the choices during the playthrough is more elegant though.

 

[realakali]

Depends. Will I be locked to the ending because at some point I don't get to choose what the MC does/says anymore? Or will my choices lead to specific reactions from other characters in the story, which then result in ending a/b/c?

If it's the latter, I'm good with that. That means my choices actually had an impact. But I hate games that say 'you have too many X points, so your character CAN'T say Y'. Just because my character gave a 'bad' answer a few times, shouldn't mean she can't be 'nice' later at some point. But if that's too late to tip the scales in terms of good/bad, that's fine.

 

[Whale_Shark]

OP is literally describing the game I'm currently working on. If i could add my thoughts, I think that if you make a game where making choices as an MC is the main focus, you actually have to make those choices lock you into an ending. The question is, how early do you get locked into that ending. Its been hard finding a balance between making the player feel like their choices were meaningful throughout, and making sure they don't feel like they got railroaded into an ending because of some choice they made way back in the first chapter.

I definitely agree, though, that saying your game is about meaningful choices then cucking the player at the end ala Mass Effect 3 is the worst possible outcome. That kind of storytelling and game design should not be praised or rewarded imho. It's basically false advertising.

 

[Adabelitoo]

A bad usage of "karma points" IMHO is when the developer decides for the player that they are not evil/good enough for an action to appear in a menu. I believe players should always have the freedom to make any moral choices regardless of previous ones.

It would be weird if you could suddenly give flowers and treat like a princess to the girl that you have been insulting and humiliating every day so far, unless the dev can think of reason why that situation would make sense, but if all the good/bad boy options should be available during the entire game then that is a lot of different situations to cover and spend time on that is time that the dev could spend doing anything else, like sex scenes.

Personally, I like it when I can't choose the "bad boy" options while I have enough points to be considered "good" but still can't see those options in the menu, so that way I can see "what I'm missing" and that encourages me to play the game again and do things different.

 

[Doorknob22]

It would be weird if you could suddenly give flowers and treat like a princess to the girl that you have been insulting and humiliating every day so far, unless the dev can think of reason why that situation would make sense, but if all the good/bad boy options should be available during the entire game then that is a lot of different situations to cover and spend time on that is time that the dev could spend doing anything else, like sex scenes.

Personally, I like it when I can't choose the "bad boy" options while I have enough points to be considered "good" but still can't see those options in the menu, so that way I can see "what I'm missing" and that encourages me to play the game again and do things different.

If you're talking about the same girl, I agree. It wouldn't make any sense to be a complete asshole on one scene and a sweetheart on the next. However, I'm referring to situations where developers decide that if you have been a bastard to girl A you will not have an option to be a sweetheart to (unrelated) girl B.

Bit of self promotion: in my game you can be a complete asshole to one girl and gallant knight to the next. The game doesn't keep "karma score" or whatever and you can do whatever you like. However, if you started on an "asshole flow" with one girl you will remain on that course until her story is complete.

 

[doble77]

Well, if it is because of one only choice you took several scenes ago and it gives you the bad ending no matter what you do after that bad choice, then its a no-no for me. It makes me feel like I've wasted my time from that point I took the wrong decission.

Spoiler: IIRC in chapter 1 of Dating My Daughter...

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

However if its like you describe and it depends on a sum of good vs bad choices, it could be fine as long as it is not an black/white situation. I don't know how to exactly explain this... I think its a bad idea to say "You raped the girl, but you helped her do the house chores and found her lost phone, so that's one bad point and two good ones, so you get the good ending". Maybe an spectrum of "grey finales" would be the best option, but I'm sure it would be a hell of a workload...