Good story vs evil story, This is specific to the game I'm making Options

[MEands]

So I'm planning on making a game, I have the gameplay elements decided, but I'm not so sure about the story.

The gameplay will be similar to the style of Megaman X games. The player goes on missions where they have to navigate a platforming level and then destroy the boss at the end.

I wanted to change it up a bit though, so it isn't just a copy of megaman. What if in each level the player has the option to not follow the orders of the main characters, and actually fight for the villains. Either by actually making each level "environment" have 2 different stages of good and evil, or just giving the same stage 2 different missions, and you can choose which to follow.

I want to give the player a choice in the game, and also give the game some replay value.
I was just wondering what you all thought of this idea, and if you had any tips for how to go about it.

This post has been edited by MEands: Apr 21 2013, 05:29 PM

[Descrow]

Hmm. The good/evil outcome of a set mission is a standard staple in Karma-loaded games like Fallout and the like.
The thing is, if you want to implement this in a Platformer, you shoot yourself in the knees design-wise.

You can either decide to go good or bad *before* a mission, which is fine, but effectively makes it so that you
have two games in one game. You'll have to change up level design (or at least the enemies encountered).

If you choose to leave the good/bad choice to be made in the level itself, you have a problem. Do you have
both good and bad npcs in a level? Do the enemies attack you regardless of whether you want to be good
or bad? And if they don't, can't you just ignore them all until you double cross them at the end of the stage
where you shoot the boss in the back? The only way to avoid this problem is to have two paths in your
levels, which again makes for two games in one game.

Also, platformers are inherently static. Does your being good or bad influence *anything*? or can you decide
to switch between good or bad between levels? That'd make it pointless. Not doing that, however, locks you
into a road of either good or bad, effectively negating your ability to make choices (which again makes it
pointless).

To bring this to a conclusion: There's a reason why the "choice between good and evil" staple is used
exclusively for sims, godgames, and rpg's (counting Mass Effect, even if Karma is genuinely pointless
in this game).

Also: If you want to do a good/evil game, prepare to do twice as much work, or have your game suck.

[amerk]

You also have to decide how it effects the rest of the game.

If you're good all the way through or if you're bad all the way through, that's easy enough to alter the story to be good or bad.

But what if the player is good some of the times, but bad in other areas? Now you have to decide to what extent they were good, and in what situations, and go from there.

Also, what if they start off good but end bad. That could show the character was always bad, and hiding his true intentions, or that somehow he became corrupt in the course of the game.

Or if he was bad at first, but then became good. That could mean the character has a heart, and felt guilty, and decided to change.

Not to discourage you or anything, just that things like this do take a lot of planning and preparation, because there are a lot of ways the story could pan out as a result.

[Descrow]

You also have to decide how it effects the rest of the game.

If you're good all the way through or if you're bad all the way through, that's easy enough to alter the story to be good or bad.

But what if the player is good some of the times, but bad in other areas? Now you have to decide to what extent they were good, and in what situations, and go from there.

Also, what if they start off good but end bad. That could show the character was always bad, and hiding his true intentions, or that somehow he became corrupt in the course of the game.

Or if he was bad at first, but then became good. That could mean the character has a heart, and felt guilty, and decided to change.

Not to discourage you or anything, just that things like this do take a lot of planning and preparation, because there are a lot of ways the story could pan out as a result.

True, that's how it should be. Sadly, it hardly ever pans out like that.

Take Knights of the Old republic for example. Throughout the game you can make multitudes of decisions. What
do they influence? Whether npc's like you (and rewards) and what powers you can use well (you can take
everything anyway). Only at the *end* of the game do you make the final decision and is the story and world
really impacted.

The same goes for Skyrim, fallout 3/New Vegas, Mass effect etc. You can be Evil, Good or have a split personality
and *still* none of the games really change until you are at the very end of the story and you're forced to make a
last decision. The concept of good/evil games is awesome, but it usually boils down to superficial choices that
decide either short term rewards or whether you let the final boss live.

Why? Because doing otherwise gives you twice as much work.

This post has been edited by Descrow: May 7 2013, 08:21 AM

[markchapman10]

To solve the enemy problem, you could have an evented karma system. I myself though would make the decision before the mission Start out simple and work your way towards more complicated feats in the game. The best thing about rm is that its completely sandbox, and you have many people to test your game for you before you actually release it.