I am developing an RPG that has tentative plans to have five linear storylines but five nonlinear main characters. Basically the same story told from five different points of view. Assuming I am able to pull it off- would this concept appeal to a player? I''m curious because I certainly would love to play an rpg that you could play both "good" "neutral" and "evil" parties.

That concept certainly attracts me. In fact, we (my team) have similar point in our cRPG design: 3 possible outcomes from the main story, depending on the interaction (or not - if player choses to watch the story develop without having part in it) of the player. Speaking in standart rpg trems, if you do good quests - you get good outcome and vice versa. You can also play neutral role (which is supposed to be the hardest part) and maintain the balance of the powers. Also you have many non-relevant quest, which don''t affect the story directly but some of them give you access to others, that ARE story-relavite. Player will also be provided with indirect ways to affect the way the story develops. Anyways... I guess that corresponds w/ your idea quite much, so...

I''d like to know if others use that concept too. I already know of four teams, besides mine, working on something similar. Correction, five.


Boby Dimitrov
boby@azholding.com

My only problem with something like this would be in whether or not the same storyline, which you know well in detail by at least the second play, is fundamentally different (gameplay-wise) to be interesting even with a different character.

The problem with knowing the story in advance is that all the anticipation, wonder, and expectation is gone. You know X will betray Y, that Z will die, that A will be resurrected... etc. All that''s really left then would be NPC reactions. If your RPG is like most, though, your emphasis (gameplay-wise) will be task based, not reaction based: Go here, kill this, deliver this, solve this puzzle, etc, rather than sway, bribe, persuade, slander, etc...

If this is the case, you may want to consider making the 5 storylines visible enough so that the player can knowingly avoid ones already done. Also consider the length of the story lines, as this will affect replay.

--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

A true non-linear game is actually being made for XBox right now called Project Ego. Check it out, there''s some amazing ideas in it. You take your character (male or female) from 17-death. Appearance is all dependent on your play style, mage, warrior etc. and you can have realtime scars etc. that stay with you. Anyway that''s mostly graphical, but the whole thing is that the world is completely dependent on itself and can change if you do anything. If you kill a certain person, it may change the entire game. Neat concept, allows for inifinite replay value if done right.

~WarDekar

It's not so much as "play this character and then that" as more like you play them in groups. All them have ties to this simple fact:

There was a vast and powerful empire that was ruled by a council of shamen/druid like priests. A man named Cintar rose to power in one of the empire's kingdoms. He poisoned the entire council and is trying to gain control of the empire.

The immediate response to something like this might be "oh no! evil man! who is going to restore the empire!?" But I am deliberately avoiding this.

For instance if you take the "neutral" path the main character is Marion Lapis. The story starts off when she meets Tavin and Opal and goes on from there. In several parts of her side of the story she is seperated from these two people and meets/interacts with others. The end of the game from her point of view only finds out what happens ultimately to Opal but not Tavin (at least with these two particular characters this is the main characteristic of her plotline). In fact her story stops two thousand years after Tavin's. She is frozen in time early on in her plotline to Tavin's dismay. When you play her you learn the aftermath of the other character's actions.

So as you might have guessed by now Tavin is another character you can be. The story starts some twenty years before Marion's and ends like I mentioned two thousand years before hers. He is the twin brother of Ayriau (they were seperated when Cintar took over their country). Opal is his lover. Tavin wants to liberate the country stolen by his rival Cintar. He runs a resistance group. He belives he was chosen by the gods to rule a new age of the empire.

You can also play Ayriau and Cintar. To put it shortly, you find out all the "behind the scenes" about the "villian" when you play Cintar. Actually my goal is to have the player gain respect for him and create doubt whether Tavin is really the "hero."

Ayriau's role I am still developing. Her main goal is to find and protect a holy relic that both Tavin and Cintar want. This relic is rumored to have the power to make one a god.

I bet this made it more complicated but basically the "goal" is different for each main character so different things are addressed in each plot line, but the plot still "stays the same." You don't find out the entire story unless you play/read the entire thing but they certainly can stand as seperate stories with mystery surrounding them.

Also I'd like to point out that there is no emotionless brainless drone that listens unconditionally for no real reason to his allies and NPCs. All the characters in this story are quite involved with the plot.

Edited by - Zuriel on June 1, 2001 12:54:48 AM