The Shape of Adventure - Devlog #11
In a previous blog, I wrote about how All Hail Temos would have “Many Adventures vs a Main Quest”. Now I want to show what some of these adventure structures look like.
All Hail Temos is a Scrolls-like first-person open world RPG that focuses on character and world-driven stories, versus a Chosen One or “Stop the End of the World” model used in many games.
In this entry I’ll show some of the shapes of the adventures I’m using, if you were to turn the stories into decision points.
The simplest example of the adventures in my demo has a shape like this. which I am labelling as “Protection”:
Your character enters the adventure, things happen, and ultimately there are 3 possible outcomes. The actual on-goings of the story may have several or many steps, but these are the decision points: Start, End 1, End 2, End 3.
There may be more decisions during the adventure than these final 3, but ultimately they will turn into 3 primary outcomes. Each of the decisions was still recorded and may affect future adventures, or personal relationships with the characters involved.
This adventure which I am labelling “Winner and Loser” has 2 outcomes, where ultimately your character is choosing a winner and a loser. There are 3 ways to enter into this adventure.
Having different ways to enter into the adventure gives a different context to the adventure, which is maintained throughout the adventure and ending, and can also affect future adventures when they reference the outcome of this adventure.
When I wrote the outline for this adventure, I didn’t intend on it to look so symmetrical, but that’s the way this adventure turned out. There are 4 ways you can initially start the adventure, shown on top.
Later, there are 2 more ways you can get into the adventure in the middle. You may not have taken the entries on the top, and you can start the adventure in the middle instead here.
This creates 2 outcomes, and each of those 2 outcomes has 2 outcomes themselves.
Ultimately there are 4 conclusions to this adventure, but there are many different ways that you can get into the adventure. Each of those different methods is completely recorded as to the steps that were taken, and this can change future adventures if you have or haven’t done specific things in the past.
In terms of the narrative gameplay, having adventures with several endings, but also several ways to start them gives many different ways that they can be played. Not only can different choices be made inside an adventure, but how you get to the adventure changes the context of it.
This can also add replayability if you want to see how you might have approached this differently. As more and more adventures are written, then these differences in choices and outcomes will stack to create more unique stories.
All Hail Temos is being created to provide action gameplay with branching narrative adventures, where you can choose how you want to approach things from different angles. The focus is on you creating a unique and fun adventure from characters and events in the world, as opposed to a strong central plot which everything else is revolving around.
If you would like to find out more, please Wishlist and Follow.
All Hail Temos is a Scrolls-like first-person open world RPG that focuses on character and world-driven stories, versus a Chosen One or “Stop the End of the World” model used in many games.
In this entry I’ll show some of the shapes of the adventures I’m using, if you were to turn the stories into decision points.
The Simplest Example
The simplest example of the adventures in my demo has a shape like this. which I am labelling as “Protection”:
Your character enters the adventure, things happen, and ultimately there are 3 possible outcomes. The actual on-goings of the story may have several or many steps, but these are the decision points: Start, End 1, End 2, End 3.
There may be more decisions during the adventure than these final 3, but ultimately they will turn into 3 primary outcomes. Each of the decisions was still recorded and may affect future adventures, or personal relationships with the characters involved.
Winner and Loser
This adventure which I am labelling “Winner and Loser” has 2 outcomes, where ultimately your character is choosing a winner and a loser. There are 3 ways to enter into this adventure.
Having different ways to enter into the adventure gives a different context to the adventure, which is maintained throughout the adventure and ending, and can also affect future adventures when they reference the outcome of this adventure.
Power Struggle
When I wrote the outline for this adventure, I didn’t intend on it to look so symmetrical, but that’s the way this adventure turned out. There are 4 ways you can initially start the adventure, shown on top.
Later, there are 2 more ways you can get into the adventure in the middle. You may not have taken the entries on the top, and you can start the adventure in the middle instead here.
This creates 2 outcomes, and each of those 2 outcomes has 2 outcomes themselves.
Ultimately there are 4 conclusions to this adventure, but there are many different ways that you can get into the adventure. Each of those different methods is completely recorded as to the steps that were taken, and this can change future adventures if you have or haven’t done specific things in the past.
How will this affect gameplay?
In terms of the narrative gameplay, having adventures with several endings, but also several ways to start them gives many different ways that they can be played. Not only can different choices be made inside an adventure, but how you get to the adventure changes the context of it.
This can also add replayability if you want to see how you might have approached this differently. As more and more adventures are written, then these differences in choices and outcomes will stack to create more unique stories.
Conclusion
All Hail Temos is being created to provide action gameplay with branching narrative adventures, where you can choose how you want to approach things from different angles. The focus is on you creating a unique and fun adventure from characters and events in the world, as opposed to a strong central plot which everything else is revolving around.
If you would like to find out more, please Wishlist and Follow.