Help With My Plot! Options

[Seano299]

Hello! Recently, a friend and I decided we wanted to make an RPG game and I'm in charge of story. I only just begun working on the story yesterday, but I have a fair amount of ideas floating around. The genre we are going for is a Dystopia/Tragedy/Apocalypse (and possibly Romance, but I'm not sure if there will be enough of it to make it a Romance). Now, what I need a little help with is two things. A Dystopian theme that is unique and interesting, and making a decent looping storyline.

Why a looping storyline? This is too do with one of the major features of the game. In the game, you have a number of different paths to take, depending on what choices you have made, but not on the level of Mass Effect, but on the level of Visual Novels.

The paths are based around different characters and you will enter a characters path depending on how high your relationship with that character is. This will be based on what quests you have done with certain characters and certain things you've decided to say to a character. And once your relationship has reached a certain point, that is the character who's path you will walk. This change will occur at a certain point in the story each time.

The story, for the next few hours of the game will go along a very specific path about that character and you will then reach that characters ending. You must then start over and continue down another characters path. Once you have gone down all of the paths, you will unlock a new story to play from within the menu which will end the story and explain why the character has been starting the story over and over.

This is an idea we are very dedicated to and will do all in our power to achieve it and make it possible and enjoyable. So this is where you guys are needed. I want some helpful advice on making stories like these and ways I could make it work.

Thank you very much!

P.S. Also, please tell me whether the idea in itself is a good one. Thanks!

This post has been edited by Seano299: Dec 26 2012, 06:15 AM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I've did something similar in my game (the one linked in my signature).
This is an interesting way of doing things, BTW there could be some problems.
First of all, it's not easy to manage many stories at once. My personal advice is to concentrate yourself on one character's path before creating the second one. Finish them one after another, working to all af them at the same time can be frustrating.
Make sure to let tha player understand how to develop a relationship with the right character, in order to let the player play each story once.
To make an example, I usually follow two main paths:
1. set variables, one for each character, which increase or decrease depending on the interactions with said character;
2. make the player have one (or more) decisions which influence the plot (e.g. he have to choose his assist for the rest of the game - or whatever)

I hope this can help, in any case I'll make sure to add something more when I'll come back from vacation

Jens

[Seano299]

I've did something similar in my game (the one linked in my signature).
This is an interesting way of doing things, BTW there could be some problems.
First of all, it's not easy to manage many stories at once. My personal advice is to concentrate yourself on one character's path before creating the second one. Finish them one after another, working to all af them at the same time can be frustrating.
Make sure to let tha player understand how to develop a relationship with the right character, in order to let the player play each story once.
To make an example, I usually follow two main paths:
1. set variables, one for each character, which increase or decrease depending on the interactions with said character;
2. make the player have one (or more) decisions which influence the plot (e.g. he have to choose his assist for the rest of the game - or whatever)

I hope this can help, in any case I'll make sure to add something more when I'll come back from vacation

Jens

Well, I was planning on working on one route at a time, but I will be planning each scenario before hand so I can hint to other routes within one route. Also, my plan for how getting into a route would work is that there is something called a relationship system. Depending on your interactions with main characters, you can gain relationship points. Dialogue choices would be +1 relationship and quests would be +2 relationship. It'll be designed in a way that you can only get 15 relationship points with one character (A route is determined once your relationship with one character reaches 15).

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Good point. Well, okay, the technical aspect is quite good, so let's focus on the story.
The idea is quite good, a looping story isn't exactly common, so it's certainly welcome

The main point is: a certain number of choices open a path, a different path for each character.
Each time, the story begins from the beginning (don't care about the pun) again for a specific reason, and this is really good (honestly, I haven't found any games like that so far... each of them - the one I'm making is no different - force the player to restart from the beginning as it was a sort of parallel universe). if you were able to connect everything, I'd clap my hands and put my thumb up

Honestly, I couldn't completely understand your... answer.
What kind of advices do you need?
To give some help, I'd need to know some more details about the plot...

Jens

[Tsureiyu]

seems like it would take a lot of work/planning.
I actually think it might be a good idea to work on multiple stories at a time, but focus on the one you're trying to complete, or at least plan it out a bit so all the story details connect with each other in the end, and there aren't loose ends when you make the final story,

But it's a really cool idea, i'd definately play it xD

[Sparrowsmith]

It seems like a good idea, but you really have two choices:
few choices but longer stories, or lots of choices but shorter stories.

If you're running with a dystopian feel along side this character swapping narrative, then I can think of a few ways to make it challenging to the player as well as giving you more structure for the plot.
If the player unlocks another story path only by interacting with that character enough, then the world should be one where people don't really interact much. This fits the dystopian feel and gives the player a sense of progression.
Of course, I don't know how much of the plot you've got worked out already, so I'll try not to go off on a tangent. However, if any of the above helps then I'd be happy to help some more.

[Seano299]

Good point. Well, okay, the technical aspect is quite good, so let's focus on the story.
The idea is quite good, a looping story isn't exactly common, so it's certainly welcome

The main point is: a certain number of choices open a path, a different path for each character.
Each time, the story begins from the beginning (don't care about the pun) again for a specific reason, and this is really good (honestly, I haven't found any games like that so far... each of them - the one I'm making is no different - force the player to restart from the beginning as it was a sort of parallel universe). if you were able to connect everything, I'd clap my hands and put my thumb up

Honestly, I couldn't completely understand your... answer.
What kind of advices do you need?
To give some help, I'd need to know some more details about the plot...

Jens

I guess I can fill you in with the basic plot.

It's about a boy living in a small village on the edge of his country. People were told to never leave the village and the ones that did never returned. But he was curious, so him and a friend head to the outskirts to explore and find themselves in a cave. Within this cave they discover creatures that they'd never seen before. These creatures attacked them relentlessly but they escaped alive. When they tried to tell this to people within the village, no one would believe them. The more they tried to look into it, the more suspicious people began to act. Eventually, the village was attacked and everyone in the village was killed besides the main character and his best friend, who once again escape alive, thanks to the help of a mysterious warrior. They then discover that the creatures were controlled by the government to keep cizitens of a city/town/village within their city/town/village. It was used as a sort of hidden dictatorship. No one knew what was outside of their homes. Just that whatever was out there was dangerous. The main character then becomes homeless and wanders around the land for people to help him take over the government.

This is the basic premise of the story, of course there is a lot more to it than that. Essentially, once the player leaves his village, the game truly begins and you begin meeting other characters where you can build up relationships with them and go down a path. I plan for 6 routes to be available by the games completion and I have currently planned five of the scenarios and a few scenes within them.

What I need help with is making the dystopian side of the story clear. I feel that at the moment the dystopian side isn't quite clear in the story and I truly need help with making it much more obvious.

If you want to hear the scenarios for the different routes, I will gladly tell you.