Adding replayability

[CrazyCrab]

Hi everyone,

my current project is about being a thief, so there is obviously a pile of locations to go to and then, well, steal. That said I don't want the game to be ''you've stolen once, now you know where all the loot is'', as it's meant to be more of a sandbox / open-ended experience. I've taken some tips from Payday 2 where each time you do a mission the location of the guards and treasure changes, but as in that game it usually evolves into ''guards everywhere shoot them now''  so I want to build upon that and make it more replayable.

What I currently have in mind is 2+ variants for the whole game, as in you start the game and you randomly get assigned a Seed, be it A, B, or whatever. This affects some global events, the heists that you will have access to and major stuff like that. Then each mission will have a Mission:Var variable, where it defines the position and the number of guards. Then each treasure has a random switch that will define if it's there or not. You may have runs where you get complete trash, you may have runs where the building is full of good stuff. Then there is some legendary treasure, that you can only get once and will take a lot of planning to get, it will be there no matter what Seed of Mission:Var you get.

Does that sound good enough? Or maybe just more maps will be better? I like to pay great detail to my maps and decorate them as nicely as I can, so I think that the player won't mind visiting them more than once, but then I'm not sure.

 

[Kai Monkey]

Replayability comes not just form having lots of stuff to do, but also having many ways of doing it. Most players would rather replay the same level 100 different ways than play 100 levels which all feel the same. Try and make situations where you can solve problems in a number of different ways. 

Additionally, if you could have a look at my Random Dungeon generator script, and see if there is a way of using that to make random heists (Like, perhaps, generating a random mansion and hiding loot depending on what stage of the game you are in). That script is really designed for adding replayability to gameplay orientated games. 

 

[arekpowalan]

Following kaimonkey's answer, you may:

1) Add multiple events that are the results from the player's actions, like different scenes or different quest rewards.

2) Add difficulty after each steal. The guards would realistically tighten up the security after the loots are stolen.

3) Add multiple playable lead characters, each with different attributes which allows different stealing methods

4) Add multiple reactions when sucess and fail at a stealing attempt, maybe additional gameover scenes based on the bounty level.

5) Adding specific missions that provide different challenges at stealing. for example, "Complete the mission in 3 minutes" or "Scare away the lead guard without a fight", with each extra mission giving the player different extra rewards.

 

[Eschaton]

Well, I was going to say that you should have multiple classes...each class having very distinct gameplay. But then you said it was going to be a thief, so...

 

[CrazyCrab]

Well, I was going to say that you should have multiple classes...each class having very distinct gameplay. But then you said it was going to be a thief, so...

Well, it's a thief... family? I suppose. You're playing an undead guildmaster and you possess different people to take on heists.

So there is a rookie, a bruiser, an assassin, a charlatan, a ninja, an illusionist, etc. You unlock different classes as you play and you cannot ''lose'', unless you lose the main storyline. Well, not really lose, you just get the bad ending. With a bunch of endings I'm hoping to not making getting there too hard / monotonous.

 

[sonofjay6]

RPGs that usually got me playing their new game+ are games that have like parts where you can't really achieve on the first playthrough like there is an area that you need this X skill but that skill can only be achieve way later on the game and you're not allow to backtrack. Also another aspect of the game that can encourage players to replay the game is having different choices that leads to different outcome that overall change the ending. This is usually why people play Chrono Trigger over and over and over again.

 

[Eschaton]

RPGs that usually got me playing their new game+ are games that have like parts where you can't really achieve on the first playthrough like there is an area that you need this X skill but that skill can only be achieve way later on the game and you're not allow to backtrack. Also another aspect of the game that can encourage players to replay the game is having different choices that leads to different outcome that overall change the ending. This is usually why people play Chrono Trigger over and over and over again.

YMMV; if a game made me play it twice for 100% completion, I wouldn't get 100% completion.

 

[captainproton]

I think, more than different endings and unlockables, the game needs a good story. The gameplay has to be enjoyable, combat rich and varied, the characters engaging. I've replayed games like Link to the Past or Mystic Quest or Super Metroid, knowing there's only one ending, and everything was found because I had fun playing them. A lot of devs forget about storytelling or simple fun.