Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra
 
Confessions from a Text Game Junkie by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/04/2007, 9:25pm PDT
Jerry Whorebach wrote:

BioWare today released a new, properly posed, downscaled, and doctored screenshot:



Note the player-character's three dialogue choices, all of which presumably lead to the same node. They're making a game about guiding the thinking man's Richard Riddick through conversations consisting of "What?" "What?" and "More exposition plz" AND THEY'RE WORRIED ABOUT THE GRAPHICS LOOKING DUMBED-DOWN? I've hated BioWare ever since they decided Baldur's Gate II should be even LESS like Fallout than Baldur's Gate I, but this has lowered my opinion of them to a whole new level.


Ha ha ha, I used to do shit like that in my text games when I first started making them. (I assume nobody here cares, but everyone on the Internet already hates this site by now and therefore me by proxy, so what the hell.) I was trying to avoid throwing a "cut-scene" at a player when I did that, therefore pretending through conversation trees that things were interactive. I always felt like an uncreative hack when I only gave the player one choice, so I'd shoehorn a couple more in. Three options always sounded like enough.

It's a waste of time, though, because even the dumbest player will figure out that they are being railroaded like so much Rebel Assault. I later decided that I'd either revisit the scene and make it so an actual interesting choice is offered (and ensure that the player realizes this) or try to make the other two options as funny as possible. You don't get a whole lot of text to do that in the PC's response, but I think you can do better than "What the hell???" I think you can do better than people reacting to Creexul's wonderful Michael Moore post from earlier this week, in other words.

In the last game I made I tried to implement a rudimentary karma system where the game kept track of each NPC's opinion of the player. I didn't anticipate the player trying to role-play a deaf guy, however, as our first option in the above screenshot indicates. I would instantly buy this Bioware game if they made is so that the audio cut out and you really did need to ask the locals "What?" in order to figure out what is going on with the plot.


the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!
PREVIOUS NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
I think BioWare is trolling me. by Jerry Whorebach 04/04/2007, 8:12am PDT NEW
    Re: I think BioWare is trolling me. by Quentin Beck 04/04/2007, 6:04pm PDT NEW
    Confessions from a Text Game Junkie by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/04/2007, 9:25pm PDT NEW
        Re: Confessions from a Text Game Junkie by Quentin Beck 04/05/2007, 6:00pm PDT NEW
            oops, that was me. NT by motherfuckerfoodeater 04/05/2007, 7:59pm PDT NEW
        I call making redundant choices funny The Monkey Island Picard Maneuver. NT by Jerry Whorebach 04/08/2007, 10:15am PDT NEW
    The dialogue thing is photoshopped on there. by Jhoh Cable o_O 04/04/2007, 9:39pm PDT NEW
        Re: The dialogue thing is photoshopped on there. by hilario 04/04/2007, 9:57pm PDT NEW
            Yes. Also shooping a few woops. NT by Jhoh Cable o_O 04/04/2007, 10:29pm PDT NEW
        Re: The dialogue thing is photoshopped on there. by Tony 04/05/2007, 8:55am PDT NEW
            Or maybe, you won't have to replay it at all. by Jerry Whorebach 12/25/2007, 4:27am PST NEW
                How many ways can you really say "Tell me more about (X)"? NT by Fortinbras 12/25/2007, 12:49pm PST NEW
    Proof positive BDR doesn't read these boards anymore. by Jerry Whorebach 04/08/2007, 10:05am PDT NEW
        Too bad the co-founders aren't BDRs. by Worm 04/08/2007, 10:11pm PDT NEW
 
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