Story branching?

zealotdanceparty · June 2013

Hey,

I have only worked with the foundry for a few hours.
Its a great tool! Although having worked with software like the cryengine and udk, i find it still a little lacking in features, but i know it is impossible to ask to have a fully fledged level and gameplay editor.
Terrain editing (and painting) would be awesome, or the abillity to fly through to map freely and better control over the manipulation of objects would have been nice

(In play mode it isnt always easy to get a hold of the pivot points, even with the distance slider set to max)

But still, great job, the UI is really intuitive, didnt even have to look up tutorials at all to create a quest driven story with multiple maps.

Now. I think story branching is very important in any story driven scenario. But i do not see a immediate way to realize this with the tools at hand.

It would be nice if i could open up a dialogue, and for example say: answer a enables mission objective a, answer b enables mission objective b.

Am i overlooking something perhaps?

Anyway, this tool is very sweet for story telling none-the-less, i am going to have fun with this

.

orodalf · June 2013

Not possible.

neverwinter1776 · June 2013

Never say never.
People get very creative with things that seem impossible. Yes it would be great to have this built in, but as for now, it seems that the Foundry is linear and uses "and" logic. Mr Flemming (although he falls a little short on explaining it fully), goes through an interesting work around trying to use "OR" logic.

http://youtu.be/2rqnwZBn67o

He might also be the one who uses killing a mob out of sight as a timer... see Creative no? ;-)

zealotdanceparty · June 2013

neverwinter1776 wrote: »

Never say never.
People get very creative with things that seem impossible. Yes it would be great to have this built in, but as for now, it seems that the Foundry is linear and uses "and" logic. Mr Flemming (although he falls a little short on explaining it fully), goes through an interesting work around trying to use "OR" logic.

http://youtu.be/2rqnwZBn67o

He might also be the one who uses killing a mob out of sight as a timer... see Creative no? ;-)

Thanks alot, thats f*** genius

cyguard1 · June 2013

neverwinter1776 wrote: »

Never say never.
People get very creative with things that seem impossible. Yes it would be great to have this built in, but as for now, it seems that the Foundry is linear and uses "and" logic. Mr Flemming (although he falls a little short on explaining it fully), goes through an interesting work around trying to use "OR" logic.

http://youtu.be/2rqnwZBn67o

He might also be the one who uses killing a mob out of sight as a timer... see Creative no? ;-)

Yes. This is a much better answer than "Not Possible". You have to be a little inventive here as compared to the engines you mentioned. If you jump into the NW_Foundry chat channel you'll find a whole bunch of people that try to make Not Possible, Possible.

zahinder · June 2013

Simple form:
Story goal, go through blue door.

There are two corridors to get to that door. You talk to someone and choose a door and then despawns.

That's a very simple example that can expand to many different ways to reach a goal.

saerrael · June 2013

cyguard1 wrote: »

Yes. This is a much better answer than "Not Possible". You have to be a little inventive here as compared to the engines you mentioned. If you jump into the NW_Foundry chat channel you'll find a whole bunch of people that try to make Not Possible, Possible.

'Not possible' falls under the category of 'Ooooh, a puzzle! Let's see if I can figure this one out.'

glantorx · June 2013

Careful use strategic Story Objectives and NPC Dialog with way-points off, liberal use of NPC driven dialog and appear/disappear on dialog prompt reached.conditions between Story objectives/NPC dialog.

i.e Have a STORY NPC suggest two ways to go, say two doors, have an invisible wall in front of each, on dialog prompt reached invisible wall A or B disappears. Now each path continues without STORY objectives until they are needed again. NPC's can have dialog under contact so most things can be done with out main STORY objectives, the only downside is the lack on QUEST Objectives in the quest list.

Hope that helps.

raphaeldisanto · June 2013

Well, technically it's still not possible, in that you cannot branch storyboard objectives.

That isn't the same thing, however, as providing multiple paths to reach the same objective.

Or, of course, you could dispense with objectives completely and just have a start and end objective and do everything else via triggers.

angrysprite · June 2013

raphaeldisanto wrote: »

Well, technically it's still not possible, in that you cannot branch storyboard objectives.

That isn't the same thing, however, as providing multiple paths to reach the same objective.

Or, of course, you could dispense with objectives completely and just have a start and end objective and do everything else via triggers.

Not true. An "Objective" (as listed in the quest objectives panel) is anything placed inside the storyboard (which is not required, save the last step before quest completion - many Cryptic quests are exactly this way: one goal: kill the boss). It *IS* true that there can only be one singular "final" objective that ends the quest. However, using Place Markers as objective goals is the best workaround for what the OP is asking (along the with "randomizing timer" techniques, etc.).

Place the two different objectives *side by side* on the storyboard (rather than "over/under") - this way *either* objective can be reached to continue the story. So it would work similarly to this:

(In the storyboard):

Etc....

Now you can have two separate paths... PlaceMarker 1 in one tunnel (or whatever), PlaceMarker 2 in another tunnel. The player only needs to reach one of them to continue on with the quest. NOTE however that both "paths" will be listed in the quest objectives simultaneously, so you'll want to be creative with how you name them, and exactly which goals you want listed inside the StoryBoard.

And one more thing: since ALL of these objectives are "live" the player can do either "path" at will unless they are physically separated preventing the player access to the "alternate" path he chooses.

This is where you must be creative in how you present the quest to the player. My point: It CAN be done.

THE DIFFERENCE:

If you want to require ALL encounters of an objective to be complete: you add these intractable to the *same* StoryBoard step (example: interact with all three separate objects to get three keys).

If you want to allow the player to choose one of many, then create separate StoryBoard objectives side-by-side in the story editor. Now only one (any one) of them needs to be completed before the StoryBoard moves onto the next step.

To create a TRULY "branching" quest, simply create different branches in the StoryBoard editor - each "column" of StoryBoards is a different branch.

The only caveat is that the end-quest must end at a single point.

lolsorhand · June 2013

The best way to put weight to diversing storylines is through items imo, you can build upon this idea with physical walls, or different npcs as well. The possibilities are endless in a way, but because you have to in a way work around the foundry itself.. It takes longer and requires more of you as the author.

You want a challenge, I would say go ahead with it.

pris23 · June 2013

I completely agree with you about story branching. I would like the ability to create Optional quest lines for example that still show quest trails if the person chooses the dialog path to accept an optional quest. Thanks for bringing up this point.

Story branching?

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