17 replies to this topic

[MoscowModder]

Those of you who've played the Act I demo (either version) may recall the presence of two library books. If you returned these to the library you'd get a chance to read up on the world of Solaris and learn a bit about what's going on. As I continue development, I'd like to add a couple more books that discuss topics that would be awkward to describe in any other setting. Examples: What's up with wizards and why aren't there more of them? What are the tablets?

There's just one problem - at some point in the game, the library will become unavailable, and all books, collected or otherwise, will be lost to the player. To rectify this, I had an idea to add another subscreen pane (or expand an existing one) to let you read any books you've found on your own time. There will likely be 4-6 books total. Either way, all books will be available in Act I; if added to the subscreen some or all may still be available during Act II.

What do you think? Should the books stick around, or should they stay as a reward for those who explore the world before it's too late?

[SyrianBallaS]

I honestly think it should be a collectible for those completionists types but not required which what it seems. It will most likely raise replay value a little bit.

[MoscowModder]

That's what they are already. The question is whether they should be accessible from anywhere at any time, or a specific location until a certain point (after which they are lost).

[SyrianBallaS]

Yeah, I think it should be in the subscreen if someone feels like reading it. It was interesting to me at least. I don't care either way but it sounds like a good idea since the librarian doesn't do anything.

 

Edit: All that hard work for those books burned to a crisp, I think

Edited by GhostKnight22, 13 April 2015 - 06:18 PM.

[Dwarlen]

It would make sense to have them in the subscreen, but I really like the idea of having a library you can go to and read books you've collected. Personally, I would probably base it on how hard it is to get the books. If it's hard to get them, then it seems just cruel burn them up in a library that the player can no longer access. But if they're not that hard to get, then I really do like the idea of a library to read them in. Also, does the library serve a purpose other then the books? If it doesn't, then moving the books to the subscreen would leave the library useless.

[MoscowModder]

The books are all fairly easy to find and obtain, and that is the sole purpose of the library.

[SyrianBallaS]

My reasoning is because the land is totally destroyed and in lore kind of sense, the history of the land will be completely forgotten by the populace. It might not have anything to do with the game itself but one can imagine stuff like that for the fun of it.

 

It wouldn't make sense for a library to be the only building in tact after that devastation, it's cruel but thats how epic stories go.

Edited by GhostKnight22, 13 April 2015 - 06:38 PM.

[Jamian]

I think it'd be fine to destroy the books if you somehow subtly tell the player when the library is about to burn. So he'll have the opportunity to finish reading/collecting books before proceeding.

[Demonlink]

I'm going for no on this one. Yes, it would make be easy to put them on the subscreen, but what purpose would the library have by then? It would be a place that is wasting screen space, and since it would be unavailable later on, that's a great misuse for it. What I thought about instead is of this, when it gets destroyed, maybe have some sort of "extra" area like a survivor's shelter?

 

What I mean by a Survivors Shelter is some sort of place underground or in some area, that has a few remaining people that survived the chaos outside (useful for extra story content). It would make sense to put a small library in there, where you can put the books you've collected so far, including the ones you got (if you did   ) there as well   I'm actually supporting Dwarlen's opinion, because it's interesting to go to a library, and make the player feel like there in one as well.

 

But that's a personal opinion, the final choice would be up to that crazy man out of his mind MoscowMooder. 

Edited by Demonlink, 13 April 2015 - 06:53 PM.

[SyrianBallaS]

I'm going for no on this one. Yes, it would make be easy to put them on the subscreen, but what purpose would the library have by then? It would be a place that is wasting screen space, and since it would be unavailable later on, that's a great misuse for it. What I thought about instead is to keep the library, yes, but when it gets destroyed, maybe have some sort of "extra" area like a survivor's shelter? There, you can put the books you've collected so far, including the ones you got (if you did ) there as well

 

But that's a personal opinion, the final choice would be up to that crazy man out of his mind MoscowMooder.

That made no sense, if you still want that. Another idea could be to "steal" it from some bandits after the libraries gone. Chaos makes everyone an anarchist.

 

edit: I don't think it's a good idea to warn the player, that would mess up the story  I think. It doesn't matter too much to me just saying my opinion.

Edited by GhostKnight22, 13 April 2015 - 06:50 PM.

[Demonlink]

That made no sense, if you still want that. Another idea could be to "steal" it from some bandits after the libraries gone. Chaos makes everyone an anarchist.

Edited my comment, stuff like that happens to me when I type too fast XD.

[SyrianBallaS]

Happens to me all the time

 

Edit: I don't think, logically, people (except people in the castle) wouldn't know what hit them so they really wouldn't have time to prepare

Edited by GhostKnight22, 13 April 2015 - 06:53 PM.

[MoscowModder]

Yeah, in the story context there's no believable reason for the library or its contents to survive. And the change is meant to be a surprise, so a warning beforehand would be counterproductive.

 

Re-locating the books to a shelter might be nice for gameplay purposes, but again doesn't make too much sense in-story. I'll have to think about that one.

[kurt91]

Well, if you think about it, a library is bound to have a librarian. Somebody who is either a scholar with a deep appreciation for knowledge, or just a person who just loves books. If I were inside of a library, and the building caught fire or some sort of disaster occurred, I would naturally grab as much as I can.

 

I understand how ridiculous it would sound to claim that all of the books in the library were rescued or scavenged, but we're not saying that. Out of the thousands and thousands of books in the library, somebody managed to grab eight or so of them before running for their life. I'm sure that it's not an unreasonable suspension of disbelief to ask the player to accept that the small handful of books that were rescued just conveniently happened to be their collection. On top of that, if the player were to continue finding books after that point, it would be only natural that the distraught librarian would appreciate the donation to rebuild the library's collection.

[Binx]

Yeah, I'd say go the traditional RPG route and make all the extra lore stuff able to be accessed via subscreen.