Common Sense Corner

[yamina-chan]

Further on the subject of long conversations with NPCs: I actually dissagree, to a certain extend.
Sure, you would not want to spend hours with every single one probably, but not everyone has to be kept on short terms either.

For example, you can have the conversation be split up into chunks, meaning that you might trigger the first three textboxes uppon talking to a person and have it end on a note where the player can wander off. If they talk to the NPC again however, the conversation will resume.
Implimenting a way to skip through message boxes can also help, in case you talk to that one person with the long monoluge again.
(And again: if your NPCs are interesting, longer conversations are not as bad as long as you don't go overboard with it Xb)


As for alloweing players to skip cutscenes...well...that comes down to personal preference. But you should have at least have a "savety-mechanisim" in your set up for that, should you use it; not allowing cutscenes to be skipped unless they have been seen at least once.
Few things can be as counter productive to the experience of playing a game then accidently skipping through a plot-point reveal by accident, missing vital - or just interesting - parts.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

On the subject of NPCs, I agree that they should be more than just glorified signposts/blatant plot devices. To that end, I gave different, non-plot related shticks to my towns so I can develop the NPCs around them. For example, the inhabitants of a town visited early are trapped in a cold war of some sorts between a shady mayor and an equally shady elder. This scenario will unravel independently from the main plot, to give the impression that the world doesn't spin around what the main character do.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Updated the first post to have a Table of Contents, for anyone who wants to go straight to the beginning of a subject we discuss!

Okay, here's another one:
Have some way to go to a previous area quickly!

Nobody wants to go through 2 hours of walking backwards through the game to push a button to unlock a secret boss you've hidden, or walk a loooong time just to talk to Professor Spaghotte Mixcoat for a quest you've set up.

Also, not every scene needs to be "Important" to the story. You could have a scene where you meet an NPC that ends up in another town later on, and they have something for you.

Up to you, as always

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Discussions on Repetitive NPC Actions

Another point regarding NPCs:

Make sure they don't say the same thing the whole game, or are always doing the same thing every time!
Someone talking about the volcanic beast who terrorizes towns after you beat them three chapters ago could get awkward

Also, do not forget to give everyone a personality of some kind. Your main characters aren't the only ones with unique clothing styles, or unique and clever ways of speaking!
If you think you've got your characters down... develop a few NPCs!

[Taylor]

I've hopefully covered two of these things in my projects, or thought about them -
You can skip through all dialogue at high-speed by holding down the menu button. Other events or actions aren't sped up, but I could add in the same check through eventing.
As for NPCs themselves, I want to do something like The World Ends With You. There's a whole mass of silhouetted people in crowds moving around populated areas, but only those detailed and standing in place can be talked to. These people would at least be useful to the player, perhaps. Or funny. NPC dialogue is hard.

[MetalRenard]

I love the silohouette idea. That gives it a kind of aesthetic/artsy side too if you can pull it off.

I have a question - How do you feel about games with a huge and long learning curve? I have two examples in mind, any space simulator and Guild Wars 2.
So, in space sim games you usually control a space ship with all the buttons and gizmos - thrusters, fuel, weapons, targeting, all that. In most games I've played it's taken me 2 hours just to learn the controls. How would YOU go about teaching this to the player without lengthy text boxes explaining each part? I haven't seen this done well, yet. I love the idea of space sims but find myself getting bored before it even gets started.

Guild Wars 2 does this right and is my counter example. Although it's not a space sim, it is a very complex game with a ton of things to learn. First of all it levels DOWN high level player characters so your experienced buddies can come help you without being too powerful to keep it interesting (thanks for being my guide all the way to level 80, Pherione!).
Next, levels 1-80 (highest level) introduce new ideas, concepts or mechanics and only when you hit level 80 do you feel you've understood how it's all supposed to work. The game progression is built in such a way that it teaches you new things constantly without holding your hand and then, when you get to level 80, you're free to travel the entire world and feel prepared to do so. FYI, leveling up in GW2 is fast and natural so it's not an issue.

[DerVVulfman]

In the case of games like Morrowind and Oblivion, you're guided by NPCs who tell you to move along here or there. As you get into the game, pop-ups appear instructing you how to enter your equipment menus, arm yourself, and perform an attack. Doors may remain locked to prevent you from going too far in the beginning area until you actually perform the described task, ensuring you know how to do it. However, I was a little miffed at Oblivion's persuasion system.

I did the same with my Lycan Demo. When you're dropped into the Swamp Village, you only had three NPCs, one told you how to equip your sword and bow and how to use them while the other gave you a six pack and told you how to chug 'em down. You couldn't even get outside of the village until you talked to the two that armed and supplied you with provisions (a 6-pack). And once you entered the actual swamp with the nasties, another popup told you how to do the rest.

And with my Vehicles demo, the first boat you encounter.... EVERYONE presses [ENTER] to board the boat the first time! The demo actively says 'You're pressing Enter. Press SHIFT to board/unboard a vehicle.' That seems to tell the player how to use a boat pretty quickly and effectively

I can understand about a space simulator having a complex learning curve insofar as the cockpit's dashboard, learning fuel management, having to balance the energy drain of an auto-repair system vs the energy cannons and shield systems when in battle, discovering what different alien cultures treasure in trade while attempting barter, and so forth. But the mechanics of an RPG and how one controls the player and deals with the characters should not contain that much of a learning curve.

AKA, beginning maps and first time appearances of features should guide the player to some degree. Don't throw them into the lake expecting them to know how to swim!

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Discussions on Changing Their Clothes

Everything seems to be getting a little complicated in here, so I guess I'll be the one to bring in the simplifications again

Alternate sprites with different clothing!

Did your character leave the game's military power? Why would they be wearing the same clothing (Or armor as a civilian) three years later?
Or maybe if you go to a town later in the game, someone is wearing a blue shirt instead of the red shirt they wore before!

Wearing the same thing for years might get smelly

Common sense is fun

[DerVVulfman]

Yeah. I haven't seen many games where the player wears a different outfit. Well, unless you count Cloud trying to sneak into the Honeybee Palace.

And of course, many an anime the player wears the same thing over and over and over. Seriously, how many orange jumpsuits does Naruto have?

There are not many RPG games that have a wardrobe changing option, the Elder Scrolls games being one of the exceptions. But that is not to say I haven't seen RPGMaker games that allowed a wardrobe change. One of the games I uploaded into the Complete Projects... an actual RPGMaker 2000 game... the lead character had to change for a dance. But still, he had to return to the original actor look.

Making the clothes smelly though? Hahah... A 'counter' on the number of days the person wears the same clothes to reduce their reaction towards NPCs? Sounds fun. Though you'd have to find a way to reset it after the player changes clothes, and ensures he/she doesn't goofily cheat by just derobing/rerobing the same outfit without taking it to the laundry.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

I think they showed Naruto's closet at one point, but I may be wrong about that... It was all the same, if I remember correctly

Anyway, everything is getting sooooo complicated again!

Just, at a certain point in the game, change the person's clothing! Final Fantasy Tactics does it, among a few other games I can't remember the name of right now... They wore different armors at different points of the game. No need for a wardrobe change function at all

A counter WOULD be funny, though. Or perhaps you smell after fighting a smelly beast? (That goes in with the NPCs saying different things that may have been mentioned earlier!)