Not so obvious events

[lnicol1990]

Hello.

In my game, I've got my character wondering around a deserted village (well, deserted apart from the monsters he has to fight), and he has to investigate. There are plenty of events, but I haven't made it obivious that they're there.

I'm just wondering if that's the wrong way to go about my game, and since I'm writing this, I'm guessing that it probably isn't. But I'm not sure on how to make the events more obvious without putting up a big sign saying 'here's an event, come and click'.

Any advice?

 

[Desecration]

You could have subtle hints linked with the zone or battles, pieces of writing left on tables and such or NPCs from another city prompting the hero to go and check out a specific place. There are many ways you could make the player more aware of where to search.

 

[lnicol1990]

Yeah, I know what you mean.

But what I have is litterally a village, and it looks like everyone just left in a hurry and have just left things lying around. There are objects that are events, but unless you click on them, you'd never guess.

Here's an example:

Spoiler: can you see the events?

Spoiler: events revealed

Are the events too hard to find, or am I just being over-critical?

 

[Unka Josh]

It depends on what you expect of the player-- if the plot can't advance until the player interacts with one specific event, it's a good idea to make sure that it stands out, visually, from other bits of scenery. Otherwise, what you've got would be fine.

My $.02 on your above events: The door, the book, the urn, and the pot I'd head right for. I might not check out the veggies or the glasses. I'd be much more likely to investigate the fire if it was the only fire burning out of several fireplaces.

I'd also be slightly more likely to look at the bag of potatoes-- it stands out, because there's nothing on either side of it. I might look at the clothes for a similar reason.

Also, the map on the wall I might look at, because I know that maps are often significant.

 

[Yin]

Or you can do like cell chamber which from the very beginning tells the player to make sure they look around and check things because they may give important clues. But yeah, I'm a searcher I do it with every game. I know I would've examined it. even if I was SURE nothing was there.

 

[lnicol1990]

By the sounds of it, I was being a little overly-critical.

It is a mission, so the character hasn't done the cliche 'woken up in a deserted town'. He has to investigate the town, look for survivours and recover any supplies (hence the veg). One of things he's looking around for is a set of keys to open up this practically barricaded building (plot advancement).

Is what I've done still alright?

 

[Unka Josh]

If you're searching for supplies, you might want to also put an event on the potatoes, the bottle of wine, the hanging onions, and maybe the cutting board.

But given that you're supposed to search the town, that sounds quite reasonable.

 

[lnicol1990]

I guess I could put an event on the onions, but seeing that they're above head height, the character wouldn't be able to reach them.

Which brings me onto a problem that I've got with another map on the same mission. I'm trying to get the character to jump on a box so they can reach something. I've got the box moving, but the character doesn't want to 'jump onto it' when it's in position.

Any ideas?

 

[Unka Josh]

How are you coding it? Things like that can be a pain, in my experience.

 

[lnicol1990]

Coding? I'm not sure what you mean.

I've been trying to use events, much to my lack of success. I don't use scripts... they kinda scare me.

 

[Cryranos]

Coding as in the event commands.

How do you have the event set up?

 

[lnicol1990]

I think I've worked it out.

I had the majority of the problem already sorted, as in "move the box to a certain place so you can climb up onto it". My big problem was getting the character onto the box. And, I've given up trying to use events. Instead, I've just made a charset of him clambering up onto it.

It's so much easier, and I think it's the best way to go. Now all I have to do is work out the tiny kinks in the charset. ^_^

Thanks for all the help.

 

[calvin624]

You could have your events "sparkle":

It also depends if you've introduced similar events earlier in the game, like reading a book - the character would know to go check all books they see - same goes for the jars, cooking pot and vegetables.

You could put hints like ... "Strange ... the fire appears to be lit but I don't see anyone around, maybe I should take a closer look."

Hope these help.

 

[Cryranos]

Just make it clear that you are ransacking the ghost town and to look everywhere.

If the player either misses it or doesn't take it literally, you could leave notes left by the former townspeople with clues to the locations of important things.

 

[lnicol1990]

Well, there is a mission to get into 'the mysterious locked building' and there are a set of keys that have to be found, so the player knows that they have to look around.

I was just worried that I had made the events too obscure, and the player wouldn't find them. But, after everyone's advice, I'm happy with what I've done.

 

[Kraft]

make it abundantly obvious that you can press enter on anything and get a response. To do this, you need to make it apparent from the very beginning of the game. (ie, in the first area have someone tell the hero to look around the room for a key or something, and make it appear in the LAST of say... 5 or 6 places to look. (like a pot, desk, table, bedroom, bookshelf, etc... just make the player actually have to look)

You dont have to make it appear in the last one, just not the MOST obvious one. But make all the other keyless events say something like "its not here... keep looking!

Have the player go and find some things for a potion in other parts of the game... have the player collect things for a quest... just make it abundantly clear that EVERYTHING can be "used"

Got it?