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Adventure Log Story
November 01, 2005 06:06 AM
I was considering puting some extra detail into the log of my RPG. In most games, you'll have something simular to this on-screen: Jack hits turtle in the head (10 dmg) Turtle runs away Jack hits turtle in the back (5 dmg) Turtle dies Jack puts away weapons Jack travels to Shady Town Jack talks to Elder Elder asks Jack to hunt down Vampire Jack replies "No freakin way" I was considering converting this type of log into a full-feature story. I'm not really sure how difficult it might become. It might contain some boring reading if Jack hits the turtle in the head 10 times. So it might be necessary to cut out such tedious action. And I might need to dramatise some parts to make it interesting. And it's also likely I would sometimes need to put certain ideas or thoughts into the player character's head. I mean a good story would need to describe why Jack doesn't want to hunt the vampire. But I really don't like assuming anything about the player. Perhaps by making the replies a bit more specific? "No freakin way, I can't handle it" - Then I could describe the fact that Jack doesn't feel like he's up to such a challenge yet. Or "Sorry, I don't have time for such trivial problems" - Describe that Jack couldn't care less about some pathetic vampire. If it was done well, the player could literally write their own adventure novel. And of course it would be totally awesome to recap your history if you took a break from the game. Any thoughts? Any ideas? edit: I should mention that Fallout, as usual, is my inspiration for the idea. With their little "tears some flesh off" or "losing an eye is too much for him" captions that usually pop up after nice hits.
100
November 01, 2005 08:26 AM
Are you talking about something like in hattrick?
-----------------------------------------Everyboddy need someboddy!
November 01, 2005 08:56 AM
I'm not sure, I've never played it. I'm meaning pretty much what I explained. I want to convert the log into exactly what you would see if you were reading an adventure novel. Or at least as close as possible. The story could even contain information that isn't apparent in the game. Such as an introduction to an area. Smells, background info, stuff like that.
Could also add information such as the reasoning behind AI characters. Why they attacked the player. What they wanted. What they were trying to accomplish. Could elaborate character personalities. Such as explaining how much the evil villain hates the player. I might give the player more information than he could normally have. But normally, he would never get it anyway.
Would it be annoying, or would it be interesting?
Could also add information such as the reasoning behind AI characters. Why they attacked the player. What they wanted. What they were trying to accomplish. Could elaborate character personalities. Such as explaining how much the evil villain hates the player. I might give the player more information than he could normally have. But normally, he would never get it anyway.
Would it be annoying, or would it be interesting?
223
November 01, 2005 11:15 PM
Well, a Story-quality adventure log would have to consist of both descriptions of scripted events and narratives of the the players actions.
The scripted parts should be pretty easy to do. But to maintin the same quality for the adventure narrative could be tough.
The thing with narrating the players actions, the game would have to record what happens and then after the fact, take the important points and describe them.
For example, killing a turtle on the way to Shady town might not be all that interesting depending on what else happened.
I imagine such a system would look something like this:
Messy Record
Start:
Jack leaves BrightBurg, enters Western Field
turtle appears
turtle attacks Jack
Jack attacks turtle
turtle attacks Jack, Jack goes to critical health
Jack attacks turtle, turtle goes to critical health
turtle runs
jack attacks turtle, turtle dies
Jack leaves Wester Field, enters Shady Town
Jack passes weapons shop
Jack enters Elders Hut, Trigger Subquest #29
Jack declines subquest: "No freakin Way!"
Stop:
Story record
Jacks Journal, Day 31
On the way from [BrightBurg] to [Shady Town], I was attacked by a [Turtle]. I managed to kill it, but not before it had [chewed a rather nasty hole in my side]. I [staggered] into town and [headed straight for] the [Elders Hut].
I [staggered] into [his] [hut], [clutching] my [bloody] [side] and [he] [barely noticed]. [The Elder asked me to kill the Vampire that had been plaguing his town]. I just got [chewed up] by a [Turtle] and [he] wants me to [Kill] a [Vampire]?! [No Freakin Way!]
This looks like something that can be done with a little work. I think having the story written out as log entries would be much easier than a novel and players would accept it.
The scripted parts should be pretty easy to do. But to maintin the same quality for the adventure narrative could be tough.
The thing with narrating the players actions, the game would have to record what happens and then after the fact, take the important points and describe them.
For example, killing a turtle on the way to Shady town might not be all that interesting depending on what else happened.
I imagine such a system would look something like this:
Messy Record
Start:
Jack leaves BrightBurg, enters Western Field
turtle appears
turtle attacks Jack
Jack attacks turtle
turtle attacks Jack, Jack goes to critical health
Jack attacks turtle, turtle goes to critical health
turtle runs
jack attacks turtle, turtle dies
Jack leaves Wester Field, enters Shady Town
Jack passes weapons shop
Jack enters Elders Hut, Trigger Subquest #29
Jack declines subquest: "No freakin Way!"
Stop:
Story record
Jacks Journal, Day 31
On the way from [BrightBurg] to [Shady Town], I was attacked by a [Turtle]. I managed to kill it, but not before it had [chewed a rather nasty hole in my side]. I [staggered] into town and [headed straight for] the [Elders Hut].
I [staggered] into [his] [hut], [clutching] my [bloody] [side] and [he] [barely noticed]. [The Elder asked me to kill the Vampire that had been plaguing his town]. I just got [chewed up] by a [Turtle] and [he] wants me to [Kill] a [Vampire]?! [No Freakin Way!]
This looks like something that can be done with a little work. I think having the story written out as log entries would be much easier than a novel and players would accept it.
November 01, 2005 11:35 PM
It might be easier if the story revolves around the player as a mystical-like character. Someone who is difficult to understand. The story could leave blanks around the player's decisions to give them that story book aura. Most good adventure novels start this way. The hero is usually unexplained through most of the book. It's his decisions and actions that give the reader a description of his character.
In this story, the hero wouldn't really be the focus, but it could still have the same appeal. The focus with the log story would be to fill the hero himself in on extreme details, and to let him recap on previous events.
I think I'll just have to experiment and try some ideas. If the result is cheesy, I won't bother. But I have a feeling it will be pretty cool.
In this story, the hero wouldn't really be the focus, but it could still have the same appeal. The focus with the log story would be to fill the hero himself in on extreme details, and to let him recap on previous events.
I think I'll just have to experiment and try some ideas. If the result is cheesy, I won't bother. But I have a feeling it will be pretty cool.
210
November 03, 2005 05:52 AM
It seems to me that you cna get away with a sub-novel level story. It will be pretty cool though. The trck will be knowing what parts of the log to compress heavily(I battled through monster after monster) and which parts to include lots of detail in. This is an endgame charachter dump of DoomRL, a game which is essentially a turn-based doom. Certaintly it can be improved upon. Considereably. JUst so You have a standard to exceed. One of the best parts IMHO of this type of report is usually cut out. IT's the story part between
He started his journey on the suface of Phobos.
...
Then at last he found the Phobos Arena.
There finally he defeated the Cyberdemon.
He started his journey on the suface of Phobos.
...
Then at last he found the Phobos Arena.
There finally he defeated the Cyberdemon.
DoomRL (v.0.9.8 (WIN-S)) roguelike post-mortem character dump-------------------------------------------------------------- Ilya Bely, level 10 soldier, defeated the Cyberdemon on level 20 of the Phobos base. He survived 284194 turns and scored 122625 points. He killed 1920 out of 1921 hellspawn. (100%) A natural born killer! He found the Phobos Arena. He stormed the Chained Court. He ventured into the Halls of Carnage. He fought on Hell's Arena. He faced The Wall.-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------ Health 28/50 Experience 112782/10 ToHit +6 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +0-- Traits ---------------------------------------------------- Hellrunner (Level 3) Tough as nails (Level 3) Eagle Eye (Level 2) Cateye (Level 2)-- Equipment ------------------------------------------------- [a] [ Armor ] red armor [2/4] (43%) [ Weapon ] advanced rocket launcher (4d5) [0/1] [c] [ Boots ] plasteel boots [8/8] (95%)-- Inventory ------------------------------------------------- [a] green armor [1/1] (100%) blue armor [2/2] (90%) [c] extended chaingun (1d6)x5 [75/75] [d] BFG 9000 (8d8) [10/100] [e] 10mm ammo (x94) [f] 10mm ammo (x100) [g] rocket (x8) [h] large med-pack large med-pack [j] large med-pack-- Kills ----------------------------------------------------- 78 former humans 344 former human sergeants 330 former human captains 366 imps 340 demons 330 lost souls 21 cacodemons 21 barons of hell 1 Cyberdemon 18 hell knights 31 arachnotrons 7 former human commanders-- History --------------------------------------------------- He started his journey on the suface of Phobos. ... Then at last he found the Phobos Arena. There finally he defeated the Cyberdemon.-- General --------------------------------------------------- Before him 48 brave souls have ventured into Phobos: 43 of those were killed. And 5 couldn't handle the stress and commited a stupid suicide. This topic is closed to new replies.
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