GMMichael
Guide of Modos
On this episode of Designers Needing Designers:
Hey designers! I'm writing an online game, interactive fiction, and a solo RPG. All at the same time because they're all the same project. And I need some ideas.
A little background might help the question make sense: the game is played by reading webpages and using rules to create your responses to those pages. The webpages are static, the rules are dynamic. In order to guide players to the right pages, I'm using a mechanism I call "switches." The player keeps track of switches on her character sheet, and "switches" them on or off based on webpages visited or rules outcomes (like what a die rolled).
For example: a player reads a webpage that says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon sneers at you from behind heavy iron bars. Game switch ON?" The last part provides a link to a different page IF the player has activated the game switch before entering the dungeon. In the example, the player has not, so she disregards the switch question and "goes" to the next room.
The next room (webpage) says, "You are in the lever room. There is a large sign next to a large lever that says, 'DO NOT TOUCH.'" If the player decides to pull the lever, she's directed to turn the game switch on, noting it with a checkmark on her character sheet. Then if she goes back to the dungeon, her game switch is on, so she must click on the 'Game switch ON?' link to get the alternate version of the room which says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon stands outside its open cage, nearly breathing fire down your back. Game switch OFF?" The last part of this alternate page is intended to redirect the player to the original version of the page if needed, or if she arrived there by error.
So I have a series of switches that turn static webpages into pages that at least have a touch of if-then functionality.
And so, my question: one of the switches is like a hallway light switch - it has two stations, both of which can be on or off. Can this be used to give the player a more interesting interaction than if-then? How could it be utilized?
Hey designers! I'm writing an online game, interactive fiction, and a solo RPG. All at the same time because they're all the same project. And I need some ideas.
A little background might help the question make sense: the game is played by reading webpages and using rules to create your responses to those pages. The webpages are static, the rules are dynamic. In order to guide players to the right pages, I'm using a mechanism I call "switches." The player keeps track of switches on her character sheet, and "switches" them on or off based on webpages visited or rules outcomes (like what a die rolled).
For example: a player reads a webpage that says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon sneers at you from behind heavy iron bars. Game switch ON?" The last part provides a link to a different page IF the player has activated the game switch before entering the dungeon. In the example, the player has not, so she disregards the switch question and "goes" to the next room.
The next room (webpage) says, "You are in the lever room. There is a large sign next to a large lever that says, 'DO NOT TOUCH.'" If the player decides to pull the lever, she's directed to turn the game switch on, noting it with a checkmark on her character sheet. Then if she goes back to the dungeon, her game switch is on, so she must click on the 'Game switch ON?' link to get the alternate version of the room which says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon stands outside its open cage, nearly breathing fire down your back. Game switch OFF?" The last part of this alternate page is intended to redirect the player to the original version of the page if needed, or if she arrived there by error.
So I have a series of switches that turn static webpages into pages that at least have a touch of if-then functionality.
And so, my question: one of the switches is like a hallway light switch - it has two stations, both of which can be on or off. Can this be used to give the player a more interesting interaction than if-then? How could it be utilized?
