Is failure an option?

Eigen · 2010-01-29T20:36:57

Hi, fellow GameDevs. I'm working on an FPS. Come on .. keep on reading! :) The game has two factions and the player can choose on which side to play. The story on each side is broken into several pieces which take place all over the world. Each location has around 5 missions. Now comes the interesting part. All those 5 missions are connected in such a way that if you fail one mission it alters the story line. For example, first mission: an enemy general is planning an attack on your base. Your mission is to assassin the general. If you succeed you prevent the attack on the base (and do counter attack in the next mission), but if you fail you have to defend the base (in the next mission). Though, in some points I'd like the different story-lines to merge again, otherwise it gets too convoluted. I mean .. first mission divides into two results, those two divide again and so on .. it gets too massive. Whenever player dies, he/she can read some text on the screen of how the result influenced the story. Then the player can select to "Accept result" or "Retry mission". But my main concern is this: Would the player accept failing a mission as an actual result? I fear that they will try again until they succeed. It's all fine and dandy but then they would only see the main story line. I don't want to take the retry option away from the player either. Only limit it in some way .. I mean in real life when something goes wrong you have to life with the consequences. It's only sometimes when you can retry. Thanks in advance!