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Poll Results [11.4.10 - 11.9.10] - Text RPG Experiment

Started by Gaiiden Nov 9, 2010 at 1:57 AM 4 replies 1.6k views
Original Post
Gaiiden
Gaiiden
Last Action

With your eyes now adjusted to the dark, you carefully work your way around the room. The bed is a simple feather mattress on wood slats. Some empty shelves are on one wall, covered in dust. A low table resides in the corner. There are no windows. Your nose picks up a peculiar smell that leads you towards a blank wall, but as you get closer you see fungus growing on it. You scrape it off and put it in your pocket.

[font="Courier New"]Open the door--------142---||||||||||||||||-------------------30.8%
[color="#2e8b57"]Look for a way out---200---||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||---43.4%
Go back to sleep-----118---||||||||||||-----------------------25.6%
[/font]
Total Votes: 460

Backstory

You are a traveler. Orphaned at a young age, you have survived on your own throughout your early years hopping from village to village and learning to live off the land. You began hearing stories from other travelers of a great civilization far off beyond the tall mountains. No one from there was willing or able to give you details - all they could remember was that it was grand and amazing. Curious, and with nothing to tie you to this land, you have set out to find this place. After crossing the mountains and a substantial desert on the other side, you have once again reached fertile land. You made camp beneath the trees for the first time in many weeks, but when you awoke again, you find yourself in a house with no memory of having traveled there.

Inventory

[1] Strange-smelling fungus

Codex

  • someone named "Ashwyn" appears to be a powerful... person?
    Story Log

    You wake up. The room is dark. Where are you? How did you get here? You see light beneath a door and hear voices in the next room speaking softly.
    > Sneak up to the door and listen

    You get up and sneak over to the door. It is thick and wooden. Little sound gets through, but you hear a man and woman talking about someone named "Ashwyn". They sound fearful.
    > Search the room
Drew Sikora
Executive Producer
GameDev.net
Gaiiden
Gaiiden
okay I'm wondering if people are picking up on the fact that even tho we're only four turns in there have already been consequences to the storyline as a result of the choices selected. For example, I made note of your eyes adjusting to the darkness as you go to search the room. Had you decided to search it sooner, you may have stumbled into that low table and alerted the people outside that you were awake. Additionally, perhaps if you had chosen to look for a way out instead of searching the room perhaps you would have found a way to escape before the people came to check on you. But then you would have been without a weird fungus that may come in handy later on.

So make sure you're not just voting for what sounds good - try to think ahead to possible consequences of your actions!
Drew Sikora
Executive Producer
GameDev.net
Gaiiden
Gaiiden
Quote:
Original post by szecs
So, where's the gurl in the story??

that is actually something I'm still struggling with. I want to try to keep things as gender-neutral as possible in relation to the character you are playing. I don't know whether this will actually be possible, but I am going to try up to the point where I'm left with no option but to decide whether this is a man or a woman being portrayed here.
Quote:
Original post by szecs
And: maybe the recent state of the poll should be hidden. I, for example, wanted to pick another option, not the leading one, but I don't want my vote to be wasted.

not sure what you mean. Until you vote from the main page, you shouldn't see the current results displayed - unless you're checking on your own beforehand.

Regarding "wasted votes" by choosing an obviously losing option, I'm working on how to incorporate the general results into the evolving story, not just the choice that won out.
Drew Sikora
Executive Producer
GameDev.net
szecs
szecs
Quote:
Original post by Gaiiden
Quote:
Original post by szecs
So, where's the gurl in the story??

that is actually something I'm still struggling with. I want to try to keep things as gender-neutral as possible in relation to the character you are playing. I don't know whether this will actually be possible, but I am going to try up to the point where I'm left with no option but to decide whether this is a man or a woman being portrayed here.


Well, this is a tough question but if you have to decide, since I think there are a lot more males here than females, the protagonist needs to be a male. Otherwise we won't have the contact with the protagonist so we will loose interest.

Quote:
Until you vote from the main page, you shouldn't see the current results displayed - unless you're checking on your own beforehand.

Yup, I got confused a bit: the post here is the result (obviously). The thing that confused me, is that the result of the poll is not listed in the Story Log.
Gaiiden
Gaiiden
Quote:
Original post by szecs
Well, this is a tough question but if you have to decide, since I think there are a lot more males here than females, the protagonist needs to be a male. Otherwise we won't have the contact with the protagonist so we will loose interest.

That's really not the best way to approach how to create the lead character in any story. There is always a calling for strong female protagonists, I would be happy to provide one if that turns out to be so. You don't have to identify with a character solely based on their gender.
Quote:
The thing that confused me, is that the result of the poll is not listed in the Story Log.

That's a good point - I've gone and linked the actions to the results so you can "page back" if you want. Posting the full results in the Story Log itself would clutter things up too much.
Drew Sikora
Executive Producer
GameDev.net

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