How to write a non-linear story...

[Osaka]

I've read all the pros and cons. I've heard general commentary on linear and non-linear plots for crpg's, and what I would like to know is how it's accomplished? I loved the variety of options in Fallout 2, but am at a loss as to how to create such a structure of plot and dialogue and keep it all straight.

Are there any good primers out there?

Thanks,
Drew Torrens

[Bladen]

Many long hours is how you do it.

[HanoverF]

You get your begining, and your end, and then you come up with a great deal of various middle. Make as few hoops for the player to jump through in between as possible

[Human Shield]

I would start by getting away from any script writing.

Population the world with fractions that have different wants, set up conflicts.
Then think up interesting characters for the different fractions as well as neutral.
Set bounds of what the player can do.
Write out reactions to every action (or set up a dynamic adjustment system)
Pick a good place to start.

I would do away with some main plot around the player and set the entire world heading towards something and the player decides how to impact it.

[Spazmo]

[Osaka]

I was looking for more of an answer to "how in ____ am I going to be able to keep track of all the little things to make sure I don't cause problems with the plot down the line"

Example: Player may or may not have stopped the assasination of King Fred (or maybe they did the killing). Obviously this will affect all events that happen in King Fred's kingdom from then on, and will have farter reaching consequences. Now this is an extreme example, but the little things can have far reaching consequences as well. how do you keep it all straight and make sure you don't ignore something critical?

[Spazmo]

Well, lots of playtesters help. There's no real trick to it, I don't think. I guess it takes a lot of creative gruntwork, but it's worth it if your game turns out good.
_________________
How appropriate. You fight like a cow.

[GreenNight]

The majority of actions should have local impact, and at most foreign karma.
Example: Helping a gipsy seer in town A gives you (apart from xp and rewards) a nice reputation against gipsies all arround the world but a bad local reputation in this town, and an increase of price in the smith because he hates her. Not helping her causes the town to be attacked by a horde of bandits in twenty days.

The world should be easy to explore. No major location should be as hidden as to require to chat with a very limited set of characters, or a single, difficult to find object in order to discover it.
Example: Arcanum and Fallout, you could go anywhere, do anything, and even then complete the game. Not sure for arcanum because my lazy ass has not finished it once.
Example 2: if you want to have the player only go to discovered places (ala ToEE) have as many ways as possible to discover how to go to the main places of action, specially to go to the finishing places. Having objects as maps can be a charm for this, as the characters could kill a whole city and even then find how to go to the place they have to go.

Make at least three ways to go farther in the adventure. Call the "good", "bad", "don't care" if you want :wink:

Have some way (diary, a npc, a whole class of npcs, an spell,...) to let the character find where's he supossed to go next for when the player feels lost.

...

No more random thoughts for now, be happy.

[JJ86]

Well you definitely have to start with a solid story with many characters. The story has to be valid with variations on the main character - meaning that it could still flow well if the main character as man, woman, stupid, old, etc. Maybe the first thing you could do is to think of minor variations of the story based on different characters. Then find key areas of the story where the path can veer. These key areas can be at conversations or during quests.

Then it will become an iterative process where you will refine it as you make adjustments. You really need to be creative to be able to think of how different things would affect a story. Maybe a chance meeting with NPC-X will allow the PC to get on the path to save Town-A. Or make variations dependent on charisma, reputation, etc. Just keep going through your core story with different variations and see how things might be affected. It is a long process but as long as you are prepared and are willing to experiment then it is should be do-able.

[Guest]

To keep track of things, use 'Webbing', a planning kinda of thing.

Draw a big circle and write 'King Fred' in it, then draw lines from Fred for each possible outcome, and then make bubbles on the ends of those lines, label the lines and fill in the outcomes, and then just keep webbing it on, the more you weave everything together, the more immersive it becomes (but dont over do it if it's only something as simple as giving a beggar money, unless you are planning something for that beggar).

Also remember to reward all styles of play about even, players wont wanna do things if all they do is get slapped for it and it's kinda lame to make certain styles not viable.

Also, when doing 'Decision - Outcomes' include options for different character types, the smart, the stupid, the ugly, the beuitiful, and so on. Not just good/evil/neutral, try to mix and match those two types, too. Evil and beautiful? Let the player seduce King Fred and then slip some poison into his drink.

Had a few other ideas, but lost them, hmmm.

[Human Shield]

What do people mean by "a solid story". Do you want clearly defined villians and friends? Do you want scripted plot twists?

I would rather be able to choose who I want my friends and enemies to be.

[suibhne]

In addition to the other great advice, build the world before youi build the plot. I.e., you'll have an easier time imagining the full range of narrative possibilities if you really have a handle on the world in which these narratives will take place - meaning other characters, politics, culture, even the damn weather if it's useful.

This is why licenses (like FR or Star Wars) are so useful: they cut out a whole heck of a lot of design time. (Of course, crappy games still rely too much on the licenses and don't do enough to breathe life into them.)

[DarkUnderlord]

[Saint_Proverbius]

[MrBrown]

[JJ86]

[lawfoster]

For the whole author telling a story vs a more open ended game, it does depend on how restrictive the story is. From what I've seen, I see most platform "RPGs" to be hopelessly linear to the extreme-people leave and join wether you want them to or not, etc. The only thing you really control is what attacks you make and where you wander to on the overland map. Open ended games tend to be better, as I think I have more control over stuff. Sure, I see the hand of the designer even in games like Fallout, but I'm not always sure if I've done a quest the "best" way.

As for writing a non linear game, there are still controlled places where people "can't" go. Monsters too powerful, sealed magic doors, etc. I would think the best way is to think of a world and populate it, but alter it depending on what is happening. Don't just stick with what you first did. And basically think of how you want the game to end, then think of the ways to do it. I'd also suggest keeping track of how quests are resolved so you don't repeate them too much. [/quote]

[Human Shield]

Most games mentioned are non-linear in a single direction, much like the mention of a flowchart.

I would like to see a web-design chart. The player starts in the center and is free to choose a goal to go towards. Dialouge at the start would point out options but the player is free to go any direction (not talking about walking around a map). Like if in Fallout the game didn't stop if you joined the mutant army, and the main opponent is now the BOS, and their bunker is now the final area. The story line for a such a game would be more cause and effect. And would probably be the toughest to do.

[JJ86]

Check out the grandtextauto website and bookmark it. The entry from yesterday will probably point you in the direction of everything you need to know.