[Squinky]

Originally Posted by TheTwelve

Another excellent article Squinky. I'm looking forward to more and, of course, the eventual game's release! Keep 'em coming.

Thanks. From someone who's also attempting crazy things to revolutionize the indie adventure scene, that's quite the compliment. Also reminds me that I need to get around to playing Linus Bruckman. Gah, I'm horrible at playing games I keep promising I'll play!

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

But what else can you do there? What are the natural extensions of the problem of 'assassin needs to get passed guard to see queen'. Disguise? Distraction? Sneak attack? Persuasion? Acrobatics? Evasion? These are all known elements of a character whose main stock in trade is stealth. However, even in an experimental game, you have to limit the number of possibilities based on the resources (art assets, animations, game engine) available. And of course, the theme should dictate which are the most important types of interactions to follow. If you can't afford to have all of those possibilities, you choose the ones that need to be there to frame your puzzle correctly. Naturally, choosing action or thinking comes to mind here, and the two most obvious are Sneak attack and Persuasion.

I had a few other alternate solutions to this puzzle in my head as well, actually, but ended up choosing the ones that I found most interesting, and that required the least extra art assets. (I could have, for instance, included an AG-standard build-a-rope-ladder-out-of-materials-in-your-pocket solution, but decided against it because a) it's been done too many times before, and b) it would have required me to scatter around more inventory items and do a lot more drawing.) As a person who's been studying computer science rather than art for these past four years or so, I'm comfortable with including more dialogue and creative scripting, but less so with including more art and animation. Interesting, that.

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

That level of interaction may prove to be too subtle for some, but nevertheless presents interesting possibilities for audience immersion. They will really feel like it's up to them to decide the ultimate fate of the protagonist in the game.

That's what I hope, anyway. The problem with subtlety, which I recognize, is that it is sure to go right over a lot of people's heads in a way that stories with a blatant theme wouldn't (and that seems to be exactly what AABN is implying). This seems to happen a lot with certain comedies, where the majority of the audience laughs, but for all the wrong reasons. And yet, I'm being subtle anyway because there are already too many stories out there that are didactic, that are basically the same stories we've been hearing for hundreds of years, but with different characters and settings. What's the point in me reusing hackneyed plots when I can try something different?

Originally Posted by samIamsad

The opinion of the many developers stating that doing this huge amount of extra work for something the player might not even see is a valid one...

Copy-pasted from an Adventure Developers forum thread:

"In the meantime, a response to the common 'extra time required to design things that the player won't even see' argument. I find this to be a fundamentally flawed one because it is based on the assumption that everyone who starts a game will finish the game. Since everyone with half a brain knows that this isn't necessarily true, you already have a case in which you, the game designer, have created a lot of content that a lot of players will never see. Does this mean you should leave most of your game on the cutting room floor?"

Originally Posted by samIamsad

Filling out the application for beta testing as we speak.

Haha, I'll keep you in mind when I get to that point.

Originally Posted by Harald B

To achieve total moral relativism, the consequences of your actions should be independent of their moral standing. In fact, you could argue that realistically immoral acts should be rewarded, since simply picking the acts that are best for you without regard for their morality is typically perceived as highly immoral.

This is an option I plan to explore as well, though, as with the self-sacrificial options, I have no desire to frame it as the best possible one, otherwise I'd be imposing an egoistic view of the world, which is really no better than imposing a "moral" view of the world. Again, my goal is not to reward actions that I agree with and punish those I don't, so much as it is to provide meaningful dramatic consequences for a selection of varying actions.

Originally Posted by Harald B

Getting back to that example with the guard: I hope you also stress the cost of letting the guard live. Hating you even more after you pulled a fast one on him, he'll cause you as much trouble as he possibly can later on. Or maybe if you try to trick too many guards eventually one of them will pretend to go along only to trick and capture you. (I mean, really, sweet-talking the guard to get past seems like something that only works in games and movies anyway. Having the habit backfire quickly would be nothing more than realistic.)

That's a very interesting and fun-sounding idea. Wasn't planning on it before, actually, but I might try to fit something like that in if I can find a satisfying way for it to enhance the existing story.

Originally Posted by Harald B

I'm very interested to see how this works out, that's for sure! I don't look for morality in games (or anywhere, frankly), but any story that has an ethical and/or philosophical component with actual depth to it is a rare gem, even moreso if it doesn't promote any single view as the ultimate truth.

Considering my interest and background in moral philosophy, I find it impossible to take one view for granted without taking others into consideration.