The "best" choice

Alex · 2004-08-14T07:45:06

In games that are non-linear, many gamers save before critical decision-making times, in order to see what effect a given decision will have on the story to follow, then go back and check the other options to see what the "best" choice would be. I know this, since I find myself doing the same thing in some games. This also applies to treasures in dungeons, for example, if you take a treasure and unknowingly block the path to three treasures that are even better, simply load up a save game and get the better ones: no harm done. What I am wondering is if there were a system in place to remove this option of essentially jumping back in time to make better decisions. We don't get that luxury in real life, so to keep the player immersed in the game's world, wouldn't it be better if it were not possible there either? You would play the game making decisions just as you would if you were in the actual situation, and the story customizes to your TRUE decisions, not your IDEAL ones. I also want to raise the question of how this could be done. As far as I see it there are two options, and it ties very intricately to how data is recorded in the game. Either, the game is saved automatically with each action taken, in which case the only real way to roll back to a previous "save" is to copy the save file, and replace it when you want to go back. The other method fits into a system where the game is saved at various save points scattered throughout the game world, similar to many RPGs. In this case, you would have to place important decisions far enough away from save points in order to make the player not want to go back and load a previous save. For example, the player may save at the beginning of a dungeon, do the entire dungeon with puzzles and enemies (possibly saving after some of the more difficult puzzles to remove frustration in the event the player dies), some more enemies, a boss and THEN place a story-shaping decision, so if the player really wants to choose something different, they have a lot of stuff to redo. I'd like to hear some comments and opinions on this type of system. What do you think?

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Alex August 10, 2004 11:30 AM

9 comments, last by rmsgrey 20 years, 5 months ago

The "best" choice

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The "best" choice

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