In a huge game world, what is a good way to telegraph to the player that certain locations have detailed content while others only exist for minimally functional reasons? Let's say that you can fly a ship to dozens and dozens of star systems. Scattered throughout the star systems are countless stations: police bases, listening posts, refineries, habitats, etc. Some of these habitats contain interesting characters to interact with, plots to solve or situations to get involved in. Others are just simply functional. Police bases might offer random pirate bounties, listening posts might be hacked for messages, refineries could trade goods, habitats might let you hire new crew. Rather than forcing the player to dock with these locations, get out, talk to everybody and find that there really isn't much going on, which would be preferable: 1) If there's any action in a system, it comes to you. People seek you out based on your skills and/or reputation. If nobody calls, there's nothing happening. 2) The only action that happens is wherever you go. So if the game decides that it's time for trouble/adventure, then when you next dock at a base, no matter what it is, that's where the action happens.

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I can see merits to both approaches. #1 gives you a world where you mostly focus on gameplay that fits within very specific systems, such as fighting pirates or trading your way to success. The downside is that if you want lots of personal adventure, you'll have to jump around alot (depending on how communications work, I was thinking no FTL radio in the game). Because jumping costs fuel, this could be expensive. #2 makes sure that you're always in the path of the action, but it really really bothers me that the game has a deus ex. For one, it makes the world feel less immersive, less concrete. You also have less control over how much action you want, and can even make the player feel targeting by the game. I can see the player asking, for instance, why an evil villain pops up on some backwater, especially if they're sticking to backwaters to avoid evil villains. Thoughts?

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I can see merits to both approaches.

Me too. Both of these are much better than forcing the player to scour the environment searching for the relevant characters (like in Morrowind), and both will make good games. However, in my opinion the choice you make between the two will influence the way the game plays significantly, so it will depend on what sort of game you want to make.

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#1 gives you a world where you mostly focus on gameplay that fits within very specific systems, such as fighting pirates or trading your way to success. The downside is that if you want lots of personal adventure, you'll have to jump around a lot (depending on how communications work, I was thinking no FTL radio in the game). Because jumping costs fuel, this could be expensive.

You can downplay the weaknesses of finding personal adventure with proper communication (which doesn't have to be through broadcasts). As long as there's pointers to the appropriate places to go to (such as through conversations with other people, stored in a log and referenced on a map) this could help a fair bit.

You can also use markers to help guide people to the important places. A too simplistic example would be if only blue stars had important events, whereas red stars were merely functional; the player will quickly learn the pattern. Obviously that's a bit too restrictive, but you could put subtle clues as to which bases are story-important or functional types through the use of colour or shape. This however is a bit "deus ex machina" [smile].

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#2 makes sure that you're always in the path of the action, but it really really bothers me that the game has a deus ex. For one, it makes the world feel less immersive, less concrete. You also have less control over how much action you want, and can even make the player feel targeting by the game. I can see the player asking, for instance, why an evil villain pops up on some backwater, especially if they're sticking to backwaters to avoid evil villains.

This is the approach I would choose, but mainly because that strikes to the core of the sort of game system I've always dreamed of creating.

I honestly think this won't be as big a problem as you describe, as long as you craft the world the right way. If the player is made to feel like the "chosen one, selected by the prophecy to blah blah blah... etc.", then they will expect the universe to revolve around them.

However, to work the events will have to be crafted to fit the story world in such a way as that immersion is kept. I'm not sure on the best way to solve this, as I've been struggling with the same problem myself for ages. It might be possible to back-chain events so that they make sense, using the power of the system to modify the universe to suit it's own ends. For examle, if an evil villian has to pop up on some backwater, the system must invent a reason for him to be there; maybe that could be the location of his secret project, or myabe there's a hidden resource there that he wants, or maybe he's looking for the player and he's got a system of informants to spy for him.

But either approach will work quite well, I think.

Sorry for the reorganization of the quoted material.

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Original post by Wavinator 1) If there's any action in a system, it comes to you. People seek you out based on your skills and/or reputation. If nobody calls, there's nothing happening. I can see merits to both approaches. #1 gives you a world where you mostly focus on gameplay that fits within very specific systems, such as fighting pirates or trading your way to success. The downside is that if you want lots of personal adventure, you'll have to jump around alot (depending on how communications work, I was thinking no FTL radio in the game). Because jumping costs fuel, this could be expensive.

If there's no FTL radio but there is FTL travel, "mail" (whether electronic text or holograms or whatever) will become more popular. That is, assuming that FTL travel is significantly faster than light (which it probably is if people are traveling the stars). Bounties, intercepted messages, trading of goods, hired guns all came about long before the telegraph allowed instantaneous broadcasts. It could give your game a very "wild west" flavor. FTL ships being the new railroad.

Anyway, point is, there could be enough communication to point the player in the right direction. If you want to keep to people seeking out the player, they could begin with a "Did you hear... ?" which would tell you where to go to get a "I need a favor...".

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Original post by Wavinator 2) The only action that happens is wherever you go. So if the game decides that it's time for trouble/adventure, then when you next dock at a base, no matter what it is, that's where the action happens. #2 makes sure that you're always in the path of the action, but it really really bothers me that the game has a deus ex. For one, it makes the world feel less immersive, less concrete. You also have less control over how much action you want, and can even make the player feel targeting by the game. I can see the player asking, for instance, why an evil villain pops up on some backwater, especially if they're sticking to backwaters to avoid evil villains.

If you don't decide the event before hand, you could always choose an event appropriate to where the player landed. Game decides to give the player an event of a given magnitude, then the game gives the player an event of that magnitude appropriate to where he lands.

Also, I'm curious why this would give less control over how much action you get. In #1 it doesn't sound like events are compulsory, so why are they in #2?

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Original post by Wavinator In a huge game world, what is a good way to telegraph to the player that certain locations have detailed content while others only exist for minimally functional reasons? Thoughts?

I think it's all about presentation. Both will give the player a "center of the world" feeling (1 - Why does everyone always come to me? 2 - Why does this **** always happen to me?). Either making the player the center of the universe or making it seem like this happens to everyone in the player's occupation would work.

Maybe when you dock you automatically download recent "postings". These could be sorted by type (Wanted posters, guns for hire, traders, etc.) and location (perhaps with local postings first). This avoids "why me", points the player in the right direction, and gives a quick way to identify minimally functional regions (e.g. few local postings, and those that do exist are more personal. Compare small town papers to the New York Times and other nationally known papers.).

Use a mix?

Trigger: wherever you are, to bring you back into the main plotline.
Action : People would approach you, rumours would be available in the bar, hyper-mail is in your in-server, etc.

But to actually ACTIVATE that mission, you have to go to a specific base somewhere else.
- Most missions are open in terms of time (so it'll stay open till you visit that base
- Some are time-sensitive; get to base/place within 5 days, etc
- Anything plot-sensitive, of course, will be open.

So you can still have the Siege of Station Alpha [i.e. action happening at a specific predetermined place] while the player gets the message wherever he might be.

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Original post by Wavinator Rather than forcing the player to dock with these locations, get out, talk to everybody and find that there really isn't much going on...

How about when you look at something their names is displayed. When something interresting is about that character it displays in another color(white->blue for an example). For locations, like a space station, it would display if there are any interesting people or items inside.

This could be customizeable since some players may like it(players that are interrested in completing the quest as fast as possible) and some may not like it(players that like to investigate).

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Original post by Wavinator 2) The only action that happens is wherever you go. So if the game decides that it's time for trouble/adventure, then when you next dock at a base, no matter what it is, that's where the action happens.

Blech. "Covert causality". Haven't you ever had the experience of clicking through a dialogue tree, deliberately picking the most inflammatory responses possible and yet being completely unable to steer the conversation into chaotic waters? Instead, you're coddled by a previously imperious Palace Guard who has suddenly developed the indulgence of Margaret Dumont in a Marx Brothers film. Likewise, how are your players going to feel when they realize that GOD HIMSELF has created an impenetrable shell of conflict around them? That despite their ability to dispatch three dozen space orcs with panache, they are utterly incapable of tiptoeing around a single boat full of space pirates? Your players will resent you for doing these things to them.

What about simply providing the player with information abut said systems and letting them decide? Perhaps certain notorious evil races are attracted to certain types of planets/stars abundant in a certain area, perhaps we could scan a system for life-signs and only bother with systems with low population if we want to avoid confrontation (although confrontation could still be hiding in the shadows!). Perhaps some systems are distinctly marked as being teritorial space for a given race by constant communicator signals. Perhaps you can pick up distress signals.

I think the best bet is to take a look at how ships in things such as Star Trek/Star Wars/Aliens/etc are attracted to their detinations and be inspired.... if a system is dead space and completely uninhabited, have life-sign indicators reveal that there is no life.... then perhaps occasionally spin it around and have someone blocking the life-signs and hiding a vast alien empire for good or evil purposes!

I personally would stray away from the "player as centre of universe" method as it seems a little too much like infinitely respawning enemies... unfair and illogical, I'd rather have to hunt around a little for my gameplay than be pi$$ed off at it for making up the rules as it went along.

I hope that is some help anyhoo!

Cheers,

Steve

How about something like this when you click an icon or something.

Captain:> Computer, get me a report on the station we're aproaching.
Computer:> We're aproaching listening station 327x21 (undamaged). Standard crew compliment plus 2 additional lifeforms detected. 1 docked ship badly damaged with standard shipping beackons. Communications through this station have been high in the past week. Labour message boards indicate 1 contract available for escort mission.

Maybe from this you figure out that the ship was attacked by pirates recently. Even if you don't want to escort the ship, talking to their captain might yield the location of the attack so you can either investigate or avoid them. Of course your ship may also be strong enough that you don't care and just continue on your way.

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Original post by Trapper Zoid However, to work the events will have to be crafted to fit the story world in such a way as that immersion is kept. I'm not sure on the best way to solve this, as I've been struggling with the same problem myself for ages. It might be possible to back-chain events so that they make sense, using the power of the system to modify the universe to suit it's own ends.

A simpler solution would be to just limit certain events or characters to locations where it logically makes sense for them to be. If you have a police officer who's important to your story, the player will only encounter him around police bases or areas of heavy police presence. If you need the character to pop up for story reasons, have a percentage chance of spawning him everytime the player enters an area that fits those criteria.

If you keep some kind of encounter table for each event or character you could also expand it as time goes by. Initially, the evil villain's table might only include places like busy spaceports or shipping lanes, so those are the only locations where his events will spawn. As time passes, you might want to push the player into an encounter with him. Since it makes sense that the villain would be hunting for the player, systems could be gradually added to a second encounter table for the villain's goons that are out looking for the player. If the player runs into the goons, then the villain knows where he is and that particular system is added to the villain's own encounter table. Eventually the player will run out of places to hide, be forced to confront the villain, and you'll have a (fairly) logical chain of events leading up to the confrontation.

This also strikes me as an effective way of dealing with the problem of minimal content areas. If all of your story events/characters are built around loose criteria instead of concrete locations, you don't have to worry about the player wandering around with nothing to do. If an arbitrary amount of time passes where the player hasn't been involved in a story event, the game can just select the 'best fit' event for wherever the player happens to be. You can push the player towards certain ends without either forcing him to visit every location in the game or (worse) having events take place where they don't make sense.

My personal view is that there should be events both local and global. By global I mean abstracted events happening through out the galaxy that do not involve the player but I can choose to become involved in them if I choose. Like wise no matter where I go there should be something interesting to uncover. Perhaps locations could accumulate event points at some rate and have set stats that determine the types of events that can occur. Each event would consume event points. So if I'm in the backwater rim sector on a one shuttle colony this might accumulate event points very slowly. So very little of interest or importance occurs. However enough lucky rolls on the event table could allow for the an important event to occur such as an the arrival of an alien armada, but this would be rare and unlikely. The more important the location the more interesting the events should be.

One idea that springs to mind in terms of guiding the player to the places that they would find interesting is through the use of magazine and papers. There could be a number of different magazines that contain articles on certain subjects and related events. For instance if I subscribe to the "Astral Compass", which is a monthly fringe exploration magazine then each month I would see articles on describing new fringe exploration related events. Such as an article describing how the government of Vega sector is attempting to conceal the discovery of builder (an interstellar race that predates galactic civilization) ruins on one of their desert planets, or tales of a giant space creature devouring ship passing through the Orion Oort cloud.

These magazines would serve as a way to tailor the playing experience to the player by providing them information on the type of events they are interested in. It could also be a good way of providing regular updates on events occurring in the galaxy for the player. For instance there could be a Terrain newspaper that is following the course of a conflict between a super villain attempting to destroy the earth. This brings to another important point events should be able resolve themselves without player interaction. The earth super villain conflict should not wait for me to action before something happens. It should also not have a binary outcome of player must stop the villain in 10 days or the earth is destroyed. I much rather see a flow to events wins and losses happening on both sides. One week I read how the super villain’s robotic army has conquered Mars. Next week I hear how the Terrain defense forces allied with a race of interdimensional space hamsters have beaten back the super villains attempt to gain a foot hold on the moon.

A good way of doing this a boosting fan loyalty, would be to have a internet based event database that automatically updates the players version each time they start the game. This online event database could be tied into a set of moderated forums. Where players could create new articles to appear in the in game magazines, as well create new events that other players could expand on and turn into serial events, or simply add alternative descriptions to. Nothing players like more these days then modding and the idea that everyone who plays the game could experience the Alien Death Machine plot that they wrote with their name on it, would appeal to a lot people. Or simply seeing the hints and tips posted by other people right there in the game taken straight from the forums.