- Aug 22, 2016
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I've been thinking about the whole rollback controversy and how to handle it. There are a lot of diverging opinions out there, some of them strong enough that it can be a dealbreaker to people. There's also the fact that I have a vision for what I want Long Live the Princess to be, and I don't really want to compromise on certain aspects of it. At the same time, I don't want to alienate people over such a small part of the game. What to do?
Here's what I'm thinking, and it goes back to something that I played around with in my design document a while ago. I could create a compromise that would satisfy both camps. When starting a new game, you would be presented with a choice between two game modes. They would be the following (names and content subject to change):
Purist Mode: Rollback disabled. Saving your game is only possible while sleeping at night.
Casual Mode: Rollback fully enabled. Saving your game is possible at any time.
The "purist mode" would represent my core vision for the gameplay loop, inspired by the Persona games that work in a similar way. The "casual mode" would be there to satisfy those who care less about the choice mechanics.
The short-term effect of this implementation would be the removal of all rollback restrictions until the game is more complete. Purist mode doesn't make a lot of sense at the current stage of the game.
Thoughts? Opinions?
I think it's wasting your time creating 2 modes. People who want choice to matter they won't use rollback people who won't they will. However, you can discourage using rollback by making it less effective. Make choices have a long term effect, make it take time to resolve. As long as your core gameplay mechanics is intact (detective, spell, etc.) I don't see it as compromise your vision.Purist Mode Casual Mode Thoughts? Opinions?
You should present secrets as a tree where gathering interpreting and using certain information or taking a certain action leads to a certain branch and perhaps closes another.Yes, only small secrets right now. Actually, this reminds of something I'd like to hear people's opinion on. As I'm writing, I'm finding the current Small/Large/Dark secret structure to be limiting. It's weird to have each girl have exactly this amount of secrets. Right now I'm leaning towards having a system where each girl can have any number of secrets, from few to many, and that you have to deal with them in a linear order (which you would anyway with the current system). Each casting of Invade Mind would then allow you to delve deeper into the girl's secrets, unlocking more content.
Do any of you have any thoughts on this? This is the exact kind of situation where feedback is extremely useful, particularly since I haven't made up my own mind yet.
not implemented yet, you can find a small secret for the three girls at this point and that's ithello guys, so i talked to this thaddeus guy and he told me i should go to him to train courage in the morning but i see no option to do so, or is it not implemented yet in the game? let me know guys i really am likign this game, maybe a hint for the developer add in some middle age music so its more immersive because a game with no sound whatsoever is not really appetizing for most people, just a hint
There will be something like that, though I'm aiming to keep the clue system limited to spellcasting as much as possible. This is the kind of thing that will or won't happen depending on the needs of the plot. Expect to see Invade Mind used against more people than just the girls though. The main plot will require use of the spell.You can also implement secrets for other characters not just the girls i mean this game will have politics in it so having dirt on as many people as possible is a must and having a option to manipulate people on secrets alone(without magic) will also be good.
That just sounds like introducing a game mechanic where it isn't needed. There are already going to be consequences for actions in the game. Formalizing these things as "secrets" to be used against the player adds needless complexity, in my opinion.There should also be secrets about/against the MC which his enemies can use.Like if you rejected the BJ in the clothing store a secret unlocks which can be used by you against the cheating wife or to gain the husband's trust if you accepted the BJ a secret unlocks which can be used against you.
Sounds like Life is Strange. I don't want to touch that can of worms. Time travel becomes incredibly complicated incredibly quickly, so I'd rather not deal with it. There are going to be many other fun spells though.A limited time travel spell combined with the option to make something happen or stop certain things from occurring will also be interesting.
The current method of handling rollbacks is actually more work than the suggested alternative. Right now I have to manually add a special line of code after every choice. If I went with the alternative I could just remove those lines and instead toggle global changes to the rollback mechanic, which is much easier. The only challenge would be the save limitation, but that's something I wouldn't have to deal with until later, and its impact on the rest of the game's development would be minimal.I'm a fan of the rollback option in general, BUT ... (and I'm being purely selfish here) it seems coding in both 'modes' would be a nightmare for you. As a result, I see production (timely, larger updates) suffering as time coding would take away from time spent on artwork and scenario-building. I'd much prefer timelier updates, given the choice.
I want to add music at some point. Ideally I would compose it myself, as I have many, many years of experience with making music, but that might not be realistic if I'm also going to create art and write the story. If the income from the Patreon becomes significant enough, I might just end up licensing some music in the end. What I won't do is use unlicensed music. Since licensing has an associated cost, it's not something I want to deal with this early in the project. Rest assured, there will be music eventually.maybe a hint for the developer add in some middle age music so its more immersive because a game with no sound whatsoever is not really appetizing for most people, just a hint
I like complexity in a story and playing the game of politics but im just giving suggestions.You are the dev it's up to you to make the game as simple or as complex as you want.There will be something like that, though I'm aiming to keep the clue system limited to spellcasting as much as possible. This is the kind of thing that will or won't happen depending on the needs of the plot. Expect to see Invade Mind used against more people than just the girls though. The main plot will require use of the spell.
That just sounds like introducing a game mechanic where it isn't needed. There are already going to be consequences for actions in the game. Formalizing these things as "secrets" to be used against the player adds needless complexity, in my opinion.
Sounds like Life is Strange. I don't want to touch that can of worms. Time travel becomes incredibly complicated incredibly quickly, so I'd rather not deal with it. There are going to be many other fun spells though.
Oh, I know. So much of the naughty content relies on the abilities, and Agility in particular. I can't really get Agility training in until 0.4 at the earliest because it requires a character I haven't introduced yet, but I have content ready that needs that ability. I might add a "free" Agility increase at a certain spot in 0.3, but we'll see. Other abilities should also see some use in 0.3.Game will need the stats to get interesting, for now it's sort of no fun being unable to sneak around
There is no end yet. I used to have a time limit but turned it off with the latest version so that people can play around as they wish. In a later (much later) version the game will end after a specific number of days. Right now, you're finished whenever you feel that you have seen everything.What is the secret to end the game so far in v2? I've done everything, just trying to finish (no pun intended).