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Cheesy motivational imperitive, that begins a whole story
Author
Now, of course i using a complete cliche to motivate the character in my game, but I''m giving it a bit of a twist. Hopefully it will be a bit more well recieved than that REALLY cliched game story posted here with the sword, and the letter N and crap.
Now, the game is set in a pre-industrial post-steam world, which is as best as i could describe it. Well, its partially set in that world. There is another world simaler to it, but in many ways very different, ie. politics, technological standpoint, moral standpoint, and a sort of evolutionary standpoint. Then there is one more world, which i cant get into, it ruins one of the cooler parts of the game.
When i started doing the plot for this game, i had no real way to motivate the character, which was causing a serious problem. I cant very well have a game with an unmotivated character, that would be stupid. So what motivates a character? Well, lots of things. Things that would motivate a real person. Things like the loss of a loved one, someones dying wish, the promise of a buffet when he is finished. That sort of stuff.
So i decided to go with the tried and tested method of the loss of a loved one. Sort of. The characters real father was a sleaze, and basically just lazes around, occasionally throwing in some comic relief, because a game cant be entirely serious. So, the character lacks a significant father figure now. Cant have that. Wether people like to admit it or not, the usually have someone they regard as a father figure.
So, i created a situation where the character gains a father figure. I enlisted him in the army, or what is called in the characters world as the ''Rural defense force'', which became a standard in most small towns, because of a group of people who steal wheat and corn, and burn buildings. So, the character enlists. And now we create the father figure. The father figure is another member of the Rural Defense Force(RDF from now on), who has a few years on the character. Maybe 5 or 6.
Regardless, eventually the father figure and the character are full fledged members of the RDF, with the father figure working as a scout to look for raiders. The father figure is making a patrol, when a phenonmenon(sp?) in the game called a Reality Tide, which in essence is a bridge between the 2/3 different worlds. Of course, the people on this players world dont know that, since no on returns. EVER. The occurence of the Reality Tide is very rare, and usually very small, however, this one is HUGE! Approx 35 metres tall, 200 wide, and 10 deep, as in uderground.
So, the father figure is engufed in this phenomenon, and only his partner, (minus his horse since he ran like a little girl) who informs the rest of the RDF of what happens. Now the character is motivated. So he tries to find out what causes these Reality Waves, to find out what happened to his father figure, now the character is finally motivated. Good.
What do you think?
mmm, dairy goodness 
You ought to have the father-figure waiting at a buffet at the end of the game. Viola! A second form of motivation.
Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates
- sleeps in a ham-mock at www.thebinaryrefinery.cjb.net
You ought to have the father-figure waiting at a buffet at the end of the game. Viola! A second form of motivation.
Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates
- sleeps in a ham-mock at www.thebinaryrefinery.cjb.net
Sounds good.
You''ll probably have to be careful to emphasise the "father figure" nature of the character. Given the military situation, the player''s initial assumption is likely to be that this person is his commander whom he must rescue out of duty/loyalty, etc. You''ll want to find some way to get across the emotional nature of the realationship if you want to get the player involved at that level, as opposed to the more intellectual level (in a computer game, at least) of duty/responsibility. Perhaps a well fleshed out backstory tying the two characters together or some decent dialogue/cutscenes before the speration incident.
Another technique might be to have the player and the father figure travel together for a short while before the incident. Have them engage in one or more mundane combat encounters. This "working together" situation is a good way to bond the player to a character. Usually works best if it''s just the player and the NPC on their own - if there''s a bunch of NPCs, the important NPC tends to fade into the background a little. Remember the Barneys in Half-Life? - if you fought alongside one of them for a while, you tended to get a bit pissed if he got vaped, even though he was totally expendable. Psychologically, it''s probably some kind of "shared experience of risk" thing. Could be worth a try.
That business of reality tides and such like sounds interesting as well - parallel world themes can be great in games if handled properly.
You''ll probably have to be careful to emphasise the "father figure" nature of the character. Given the military situation, the player''s initial assumption is likely to be that this person is his commander whom he must rescue out of duty/loyalty, etc. You''ll want to find some way to get across the emotional nature of the realationship if you want to get the player involved at that level, as opposed to the more intellectual level (in a computer game, at least) of duty/responsibility. Perhaps a well fleshed out backstory tying the two characters together or some decent dialogue/cutscenes before the speration incident.
Another technique might be to have the player and the father figure travel together for a short while before the incident. Have them engage in one or more mundane combat encounters. This "working together" situation is a good way to bond the player to a character. Usually works best if it''s just the player and the NPC on their own - if there''s a bunch of NPCs, the important NPC tends to fade into the background a little. Remember the Barneys in Half-Life? - if you fought alongside one of them for a while, you tended to get a bit pissed if he got vaped, even though he was totally expendable. Psychologically, it''s probably some kind of "shared experience of risk" thing. Could be worth a try.
That business of reality tides and such like sounds interesting as well - parallel world themes can be great in games if handled properly.
Author
actually, the way we''re handeling the parellel worlds thing is almost perfect in every way we looked at it. We''ve got the major issues down pat done, and we even have an explanation on what exactly happened to cause the whole parrellel world issue.
Now, the whole father figure issue is explained pretty well, since you can sort of see it around the way the cahracter acts, and in the way of cut scenes. We had to handle the explanation very carefully, to keep it from being too cheesy. The last thing we need are lines like "You are like a father figure to me." Well, we could have that line, but we would expand upon it a little.
To explain the whole father figure thing, we had to implement a funeral, since everyone thinks that the Reality Tide killed the father figure. The same thing they think for other people who this happens to. So, the funeral triggers emotions in the character, causing flashbacks. In the flashbacks, you are able to sort of see the development of the Father figure into a father figure, and the rest you can pick up along the way in the game. You also learn about the relationship between the PC and his actual father, that way you can see his reason for needing an external father figure, and also causes you to know what the PC feels, so you may feel a bit empathic towards him.
Now, the whole father figure issue is explained pretty well, since you can sort of see it around the way the cahracter acts, and in the way of cut scenes. We had to handle the explanation very carefully, to keep it from being too cheesy. The last thing we need are lines like "You are like a father figure to me." Well, we could have that line, but we would expand upon it a little.
To explain the whole father figure thing, we had to implement a funeral, since everyone thinks that the Reality Tide killed the father figure. The same thing they think for other people who this happens to. So, the funeral triggers emotions in the character, causing flashbacks. In the flashbacks, you are able to sort of see the development of the Father figure into a father figure, and the rest you can pick up along the way in the game. You also learn about the relationship between the PC and his actual father, that way you can see his reason for needing an external father figure, and also causes you to know what the PC feels, so you may feel a bit empathic towards him.
I do not get this idea because a "father figure" in a plot acts as a "father figure". If he gets killed off he cannot act as a "father figure". It would work if he was a very close friend, brother, or a companion. Say the hero makes a close friend in the RDF, then the friend disappears...
You could have it so that the father figure saved the player''s life in some earlier occourence, so the hero owes the father-figure a favour. I can imagine the dialogue after the father figure disapears:
Commander: Why do you have to go? The RDF needs you!
Hero: Because he once saved my life, what kind of friend would I be if I didn''t at least try to save his? Besides the raiders have nearly been wiped out, the RDF will be fine without me.......
It''s cheesy but effective.
- DarkIce
Commander: Why do you have to go? The RDF needs you!
Hero: Because he once saved my life, what kind of friend would I be if I didn''t at least try to save his? Besides the raiders have nearly been wiped out, the RDF will be fine without me.......
It''s cheesy but effective.
- DarkIce
or perhaps you could go in a different direction and have him stay with the ''military'', though he is plagued with the idea that he could have done something, not to mention
hallusinations(sp?) of the man still being there. Then one day while on the patrol he encounters another of these things that took his father figure. Aided by his guilt and a hallusination of the father figure''s death, he runs toward the phenomenon, and though his fellow soldiers attempt to stop him, he throws himself to what he believes will be his death.
But of course it isn''t.
i''m quite new at this, so the suggestion may have its faults in the gaming world, though i have written something of this sort in prose.
hallusinations(sp?) of the man still being there. Then one day while on the patrol he encounters another of these things that took his father figure. Aided by his guilt and a hallusination of the father figure''s death, he runs toward the phenomenon, and though his fellow soldiers attempt to stop him, he throws himself to what he believes will be his death.
But of course it isn''t.
i''m quite new at this, so the suggestion may have its faults in the gaming world, though i have written something of this sort in prose.
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