In this episode of the Lunch time blog I'm going to talk about multiple storypaths and outcomes in point and click adventure games.

In computer games it is very difficult to implement a (story)path system in which any player can play the game the way they want. In RPGs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWToR) Bioware did a good job by providing the player a good/lightside and a bad/darkside rating system on which dialogue options become available. It is even possible to kill a companion character in SWToR. If all of the choices are dissected it will become clear that even in these games the variaty of outcomes is limited. This is because every choice and every action that shapes the path of the player should be designed and created and this will cost lots of development time. If the player(s) only play certain paths and other paths aren't played at all it will be a loss of development resources. It's difficult to keep a good balance.

The above mentioned games do have one thing in common. They are build with a large amount of resources (manpower and money). Because the sales numbers for point and click adventure game are much lower than for RPGs the number of resources that are put into point and click adventure games are also lower. This means that every bit of resource is needed to create great content that is shown to every player. Because the games are focused on one story that should be walked from A to Z without much distraction the replay factor of the game could be better. This means that the game will only be played one or two times. Even when the price of the game is far less then the famous RGPs players will find it difficult to compare the two in a choice between price and quality/quantity. A lot of times they will choose the more expensive game. More expensive should be better most of the times is the general thought. I think that replayability is one of the most important reasons to win over a large group of players.

One of the things to create better replayability is to include multiple storypaths and outcomes for the game.

Let players play the same game from a different perspective. Let them choose to play a sweet and caring person or let them be the most evil character in the world. Don't make these choices for the player, but let them choose themselves.

It is an art to create many and versatile choices all over the game. Not only in dialogue options, but also in gameplay. Do you want to have a key to a secret chest. Persuade the one and only person who knows about this to give you the key or go searching the forrest for clues, it should be the players choice.

The choices should make sense to the player, There should be a purpose on the action he or she takes. There should be a reward for acting the way they do and it should be reflected in the outcome of the game.

If you always bullied a certain NPC in the game it should hate you no matter what kind thing you do to the other villagers. If the other villagers throw in a party because you saved them from doom, the bullied NPC still won't show up at the party or he could even come to party only to crash it. There are lots of options to play with. Give the story a bit of a swing by designing a few twists by connecting the story to the choices made by the player and its status to the other NPCs.

Thank again for reading my lunch time blog. Next time I'm going to spend some time on side quests.