Allow Player to skip Content: Yes - No?

[Milennin]

TotalBiscuit put out an interesting video regarding the skipping of content in videogames. For those who don't have ~25+ minutes to watch the whole video, here's a short summary:

-He thinks skipping content in videogames is good because it gives more power to the player. This way, the player decides for himself what he thinks of as important content, rather than letting the developer decide for him.

-He compares it to other forms of media, such as books and films, that already do let you skip parts you are not interested in reading or watching.

-He says skipping content has been a part of videogames for a long time. Cheat codes (in particular level select), skip cutscene keys and alternate gamemodes unlocked from the start are examples of features that have been a part of videogames for a long time.

-The option to skip content is optional and you are not forced to use it if you don't like it.

Since we're on the RPG Maker forums, let's stick to the topic of skipping content in RPGs. Do you think it is okay for an RPG to let you skip over its cutscenes and/or combat, and why do you think so? Would you consider adding an option in your RPG Maker main project to let the player skip content?

 Discuss.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

I look at it this way.

If I have a player that wants to experience everything the game has to offer, it'll go unnoticed whether I want to skip content or not.

On the other hand, if a player doesn't care about my story and just wants a game, that player is less likely to say 'oh, I can't skip this, I guess I'll pay attention instead' and more apt to say 'screw this game, I'm gonna go play borderlands or something!' 

and on yet another hand, what if the player that wants to experience everything gets so enthralled in the story and mechanics that they forget to save and find themselves put back a couple hours, having the option to zip past all the previously experienced material instead of having to sit through all the same scenes you've already seen all over again is always a plus, so I can't really think of a real negative to denying players that type of option.

 

[Schlangan]

For me, fighting should not be skippable in terms of disabling enemies, but can still be avoided somehow with game mechanics.


Concerning cutscenes, I plan to do it slightly differently from the options you proposed. My cutscenes will be skippable once they have been seen ONCE. I'll use a file that will appear in the game folder to tell if a scene has been seen or not. If it has not, the player will have to follow the entire cutscene. If however the player has already seen that scene, it will possible to skip it (and a message in-game will appear to tell so).


That way, I'm sure that the player will see what happens at least once, but he will able to skip the scenes if for example he died while fighting the boss and he wants to try again without bothering with the cutscene.

 

[trouble time]

I don't think skipping content works well in RPGs where progression is an important factor. If you have the ability to manually set your level between 1 and 99 as you play then people will critize it for being too easy since any challenge at that point is self imposed.

On the other hand, I understand the desire to skip content. I read a full story synopsis before I jump on board with games, movies, and well any media. since I don't wanna waste my time and if I could get the full impact of the story from reading a synopsis then the story wasn't good enough (at least in my eyes). It's the same with games really.

In my own game I use visible encounters so they can be avoided and anytime there's a boss with a cutscene infront before you're given the option to start from the beginning of the fight while skipping the cutscenes (I might also do something similar with starting on the same floor if you lose a regular encounter though I might not restore items lost. I blanced the game so items aren't ever really nessicary by making the healing magic a lot stronger, the items are mostly there for when your healer is down and you need a quick heal or to remove a debuff.)

 

[Baka-chan]

Except for boss fights it's nice to leave the choice to the player if he wants to skip cutscenes and battle. For example Bravely Default left the choice to the player how high the encounter rate should be so the player could change it to 0% to freely explore everything without being annoying by monsters that he could easily 1 hit anyway or increase it in case he needs exp to level up for the next bigger fight.

Sometimes it gets pretty annoying if you try to explore everything but every x steps you get an encounter against some useless enemies that would just waste your time. The only exception are bosses that are part of the story.

For cutscenes it's always nice to have the choice to skip it in case you have already seen it the last time you played that part.

 

[Zoltor]

I picked other for the final question, because you only mention cutscenes, and battles, yet you use the term content.

My game is going to have a lot of side quests, and while they are optional, you can actually completely lose out on a lot of side quests from being even a possibility, if you don't do a specific side quest that gives you access to the hub city, that hosts the majority of side Quests.

I'm not making it a super secret, as the initial side quest is actually mentioned in the story, and its importance will be clearly stated, but technically it could be skipped altogether.

Also there is a fairly major optional story arc, that not only focuses on one of the 3 major characters, but also nets you a secret character.

The beautiful thing is, doing a certain side quest chain, that nets you the secret character in question, not only comes with her own storyline, and adds extra story to another character, but drastically expands the paths open to you. I'm also going to no doubt add a special ending to the game, providing you got her to join your roster)

Now that it comes to mind, doing that side quest may be one of the requirements for unlocking the best side quest in the game too, 

 

[Vox Novus]

For rpgs, I don't get why one would want to skip combat; that's basically the main reason to play them in the first place. Granted I guess if you were making something really light-hearted maybe for a younger crowd or something I could see this but beyond that of course having touch encounters let's you skip elements of combat at times; wasn't sure if you were including that... Anyway bosses probably shouldn't be skippable in part because they contain important story elements and are a way to test the players progress in the game. 

As for cutscenes, this is something I can see being skippable by choice, mostly if the player wants to skip a scene they've already seen because they are re-playing or just lost a boss fight etc... Most people won't just aimlessly go skipping the story since that's part of the draw of the game.

 

[Schlangan]

As for cutscenes, this is something I can see being skippable by choice, mostly if the player wants to skip a scene they've already seen because they are re-playing or just lost a boss fight etc... Most people won't just aimlessly go skipping the story since that's part of the draw of the game.

I still prefer to force the player to see it once, because else they could skip a scene they've never seen by mistake. And putting a replay sounds more annoying to do than a "skippable if seen once" option

 

[cabfe]

For rpgs, I don't get why one would want to skip combat; that's basically the main reason to play them in the first place. Granted I guess if you were making something really light-hearted maybe for a younger crowd or something I could see this but beyond that of course having touch encounters let's you skip elements of combat at times; wasn't sure if you were including that... Anyway bosses probably shouldn't be skippable in part because they contain important story elements and are a way to test the players progress in the game. (...)

Deus Ex Human Revolution (just to talk about a somewhat recent game) allowed a non-combat playthrough. And it's a RPG, not aiming at a young audience.

The initial version didn't allow to skip bosses and received bad critics about it. The Director's cut version now allows it.

Combat is not the main reason to play for a lot of people.

 

[Ramiro]

cutscenes should be skipabble most of the time, at least if you already saw it before...

There isn't a good reason to not allow that.

I just ask a question, if I, a game designer, design each even on my game, why I should let the player choose wich is important and wich isn't, after all I designed it to work that way.

You can't go to the cinema and skip the scene of X talking to Y because you just don't like/don't care about it...

you play a game because you look for its contents, you should not follow the idea of "I want my game to be like all the rest and I will add the features to attract all the world"

Thinking about that will lead to make your game fit into stereotypes and trends... and be "yet another rpg maker game"

That is a good reason why you may make shorter the cutscenes after the first time (undertale does this and works great because its part of the idea)

or design another mechanic for game overs.

Youyr game should be designed in short periods, so probably instead of trying the player to skip content I prefer the idea to make your content fit a way a player would have a good time with it...

 

[Kalin]

I agree with most of what's been said already. As a player I want to see all the content, but only once.

Last night I was trying the first two games mentioned in the puzzle RPG thread, and I didn't find many puzzles but did see a lot of tedious random encounters.

 

[Vox Novus]

Deus Ex Human Revolution (just to talk about a somewhat recent game) allowed a non-combat playthrough. And it's a RPG, not aiming at a young audience.

The initial version didn't allow to skip bosses and received bad critics about it. The Director's cut version now allows it.

Combat is not the main reason to play for a lot of people.

If you don't want to experience combat in an rpg, then you don't want to play an rpg. Combat is an integral part of the rpg genre, if you don't go through battles what type of game are you playing now? It would be more like an adventure game or puzzle game.

 

[Schlangan]

If you don't want to experience combat in an rpg, then you don't want to play an rpg. Combat is an integral part of the rpg genre, if you don't go through battles what type of game are you playing now? It would be more like an adventure game or puzzle game.

Don't forget that RPG stands for Role Play Game. It means that you play a role, and you can have a role where fighting is completely optional. Of course, common JRPGs have fighting as a core (my game is the same), but you can find RPGs without any fight.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

If you don't want to experience combat in an rpg, then you don't want to play an rpg. Combat is an integral part of the rpg genre, if you don't go through battles what type of game are you playing now? It would be more like an adventure game or puzzle game.

Let them play a game that's more like an adventure or puzzle game then, the game genres are already so screwed up and melded together already. At the end of the day there is probably nothing you can do to make sure a player 'plays the game right' that doesn't just oust those that don't want to play that way, there are just to many options available these days.

 

[Zoltor]

If you don't want to experience combat in an rpg, then you don't want to play an rpg. Combat is an integral part of the rpg genre, if you don't go through battles what type of game are you playing now? It would be more like an adventure game or puzzle game.

^This.  battles being able to be skipped altogether, defeats the purpose of playing a RPG altogether.

 

[Milennin]

For rpgs, I don't get why one would want to skip combat; that's basically the main reason to play them in the first place.

What if the player prefers to play for the story/characters or exploration aspects?

You can't go to the cinema and skip the scene of X talking to Y because you just don't like/don't care about it...

You can skip to scenes on a DVD or Blue-Ray, and you can skip to whatever page you want in a book. You can skip to the next song on a CD.

 

[Heirukichi]

In my opinion players should be able to make their choices (with few limitations, of course). There are different gamestyles and different players as well. You should decide which kind of game you are going to make and then decide which kind of players should play it. Even when you made your choice, you should consider that a different player could eventually play your game and you have to make things in a way that allows them to do it (without letting this affect your first purpose too much).

It is obvious that a game for hardcore players cannot be enjoyed by casual players. And it is also obvious that an hardcore gamer will probably focus on mechanics and skip most of the skippable content just to focus on tough fights. It is also true that a player which focuses on storytelling will probably dislike fighting the same random encounter every time he walks to reach a location.

Assuming this as true we should make a choice and, in my opinnion, allowing players to skip cutscenes/combat is a good way to let many players enjoy the game without affecting the game too much. After all is up to the creator which content should be skippable and which should not.

 

[Zoltor]

What if the player prefers to play for the story/characters or exploration aspects?

You can skip to scenes on a DVD or Blue-Ray, and you can skip to whatever page you want in a book. You can skip to the next song on a CD.

There's a simple solution for those people, play games of the correct genre lmao.

Adventure games, and VNs exist for a reason.

 

[cabfe]

There's a simple solution for those people, play games of the correct genre lmao.

Adventure games, and VNs exist for a reason.

The choice to use violence or not is what makes it an RPG.

 

[NeoPGX]

What is your stance on content skipping in RPGs?

 

Answer: The Player should be able to skip some content, such as long cutscenes.

 

 

 

 

What is your stance on skipping combat in RPGs?

 

Answer: The Player should be able to skip regular encounters, but not boss fights.

 

 

 

Would you consider letting the Player skip content in your own project?

 

Answer: Cutscenes and regular encounters, but not boss fights.