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killit95
Member Posts: 5 Arc User
This has probably been asked already, but I have a predicament. For a mission I'm working on, the player is to be given four options. The only problem is that with what I currently have, it's required to complete all four. The options are to (1) destroy group A, (2) destroy group B, (3) destroy group C, or (4) do not destroy any groups. How would I go about letting the player decide what they want to do?
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Short answer - this can be done with optional objectives using extensive trigger work. But it can't be done as part of the "official" story tree.
Each optional version opens a separate pathway so the player can continue to the actual story objective.
I can see 1 possible way for you, certainly.
4 rooms. You must get through 1 of the rooms to complete an objective (optional one) in order to unlock the door at the other end. All four doors lead to the next objective in the story (corridor for example)
Room 1 has Group A. Defeating group A unlocks the door from room 1.
Room 2 has Group B. Defeating group B unlocks the door from room 2.
Room 3 has Group C. Defeating group C unlocks the door from room 3.
Room 4 has nothing and the door at the end is unlocked.
If you want it in 1 room you will still need four possible exits to reach the story objective. (I have done this in the past using a wall made up of 4 small walls. Each optional objective completed drops one of the wall sections.
Alternatively you can have all groups nearby and destroying one opens 1 of 4 paths for players to proceed.
But if you want 4 options in the form of interact buttons it gets more complex. The way I see it, If I am not mistaken, you may need to first ask them if they want to fight or not fight using 2 invisible objects to interact with.
Choosing fight will change 'not fight' to hidden and vice versa so each cancels out the other making only 1 choice possible. Then, the fight version can spawn the option to fight A or B. But then you also want C, so you would have to branch off again. Choose A or B/C, then B or C.
I see no other ways off the top of my head to have only 1 choice out of 4 that will allow progression back into the mission storyline objectives.
Please tell me a better way if you have one.
Using the triggers.
Assuming it's a space battle ... once the objective before this has been completed... for this example say it's a reach X marker.. have a dialog box spawn giving the player these four options.
... this is to hard to explain... I'll make you a video showing you how to do it. Unless someone beats me to it.
If the objective is to reach a marker to go to complete the mission they can do this and fight no groups.
The three groups can then be placed around the space map (with beacons nearby so players can find them, perhaps). The player can then destroy any of them they choose before going on to the reach marker.
The ultimate answer to this question is you can only have one end result to progress the story to the next objective. However, you can have multiple and changing actions occur on your path to that final objective. But, for example, you have a console you need to interact with to end the current objective in order to move to a different map you have to interact with that console to trigger an objective complete to progress to the next map. No choice can be given and progress the story. You can get around this in a way by providing the player with a dialogue choice (select A, B or C) and ask the player to remember their choice. That way when the next map is presented you ask them to input the previous choice they made and you can design accordingly - but again you are only able to end that next map with a single objective. So even if you present different actions based on a dialogue choice the end objective would still need to be the same in order to complete the current map.
Not sure if that makes sense but that's how it works.
One of the tricks you can do would be the following...
captain enters a building and needs to interact with a console, move to the next room and interact with another console. Once the second console interaction is complete you transition to the next map in the story. Now, regardless of what happens from the time the captain enters the building to the next map transition, in order to transition to the map you need to interact with the second console, there can be no choice here.
Now, you can add triggers to different parts of a dialogue tree. So during the interaction of the first console you can add variation to the gameplay. Say for example the interaction with the first console is the gather some information secured by a code and you prompt the captain with two options. The first is enter code A and the second is enter code B. Code B is the wrong code while code A is the correct code. In your dialogue this selection would branch into two independent dialogue trees. Entering code A would result in a positive dialogue tree while code B would result in a negative tree. The first dialogue prompt in each of these trees is your trigger. When the first prompt for the dialogue A tree is reach could trigger, for example, completing the objective and some text from your tac officer that says "good job, let's find the next console." The first dialogue prompt of the code B tree you could trigger an enemy mob which attacks you, or shows up down the hall, or have anything, while also completing the console objective. This would force the captain to have to kill the enemy mob since, of course, the enemy mob will be hell bent on killing you. A sneaky way of forcing an objective on your captain without needing an objective defined in the story line.
In this way the path from interacting with the first console and interacting with the second console can very in almost any way you want. But the static story line remains the same - that is interact with the first console and then interact with the second console then progress to the next map.
Think of story progression in the foundry like life. You are born and then you die. Birth is your first objective and death is the last object that progresses you to...whatever you believe happens after you die. This doesn't change, there is no choice, there are no options. Every person must go through this story line. But what happens in between birth and death can be infinitely varied and complex and with choice.