RMMV Color based faction system And trying to get the player to pick a side

[BubblegumPatty]

Hi I plan to make a RPG where the "Elementals" and their strengths/weaknesses being based on Color Theory! The plot is every couple hundred years or so, the goddesses on the world bestow one person with the power of the "Palette" (allowing them to learn any of the other Color alignment's skills), and tasked to decide what shape the world will take Devil survivor/SMT style. In this game there are 6 factions based on the primary and secondary colors, each with their own ideologies and stories, and the player must align with one of them. This allows them to learn their skills, and after a certain point of the story the Player character takes a new form with stats to best compliment the specificity they chose.

But to make the story run smoothly, I want to figure an elegant way to "Sell" the player on these 6 factions as quickly as possible. All the factions have reason to bother the player since they hold the power to singlehandedly change society, so I figure maybe they can barge in during the tutorial/opening portions of the game to try to appeal to the player. A problem with this I worry is it might come across clumsy, or worse make the player dislike all the factions.
What's some nice ways to convey the factions ideologies and their leaders personalities In the opening hour? Is my initial idea fine as is?

 

[mauvebutterfly]

I think that introducing 6 factions all at once could be a bit overwhelming to a player. It would also be hard to write in a way that feels natural. For my suggestions, I am assuming that none of your factions are stereotypically evil; while they might not have the same goals, they should all have redeeming qualities to the player.

If I was trying to establish this kind of conflict in a world, I would probably start by finding an issue that would have some sort of universal appeal and use that to introduce your factions. For example, there could be a disease, or a famine, or some sort of monstrous/demonic invasion. Whatever it is, it should be obviously bad and something that everyone would agree needs to be dealt with. What this allows you to do is then present several of your factions as having reasonable alternative solutions to this problem. The player should feel that no matter who they choose to side with, they should have a reasonable chance of solving the issue.

To keep things relatively simple at the start, I might only have a couple of the factions involved in this initial issue. The participating parties can then encourage the player to join them and suggest that the player travel to their stronghold to meet their leaders. On the way to the stronghold the player gets waylaid by several side missions that introduce the remaining factions and possibly start to put the first factions introduced into a bad light. This will cause the player to reconsider their initial choice and consider one of these new factions. Alternatively, you could show a faction failing to do something despite their best intentions and have critics claim that another faction's methods would have done the job better. Or you could have the NPCs of a region demand conflicting solutions with several of the factions all helping out in different ways.

One concern I'd have with your proposed setting is that the player would be immediately desired by all the factions. If you're wanting the player to make an informed choice, it's probably better to have the factions demand proof of the player's commitment to their cause, since that delays the player and gives them more time to see the other factions at work. I guess it depends on how long your game is though. If it's on the short side, you could essentially just have 6 different mini-campaigns that the player gets to play through. If it's longer, or you don't expect the player to start over to experience the other factions, then it's probably better not to have them commit to one faction too early.

 

[ZombieKidzRule]

I think the idea is fine, you just have to be careful how you implement it. I think it is critical that the player knows that there are 6 factions to choose from so they shouldn’t rush in to anything until they have all the information.

I don’t know if this would work for what you have planned for your story or intro, but one thing that leaps to mind is to have a beginning cutscene that tells the player about a bedtime story that someone important to them used to tell them as a child. The story would be written very simply, like for a child, and it would seek to teach a lesson from the perspective of each faction.

So, you have a situation that each faction views differently and the story is highlighting for the child the different view points. The cutscene could even have the player/child asking but which side was right? Only to be told that is something they are to decide for themselves when they are older.

If you keep the tale to something simple, like a bedtime story, it shouldn’t take that long to highlight the primary differences among the factions.

Then, if you wanted, you could also prompt the player that they can talk to the NPC who told them the story as a child to get more information about each faction. Now that they are older.

That is just one possibility. You would just have to figure out why the story exists to tell children when it isn’t slanted to any particular Faction with no bias.

 

[ShadowDragon]

you can make a guide, and talk to those factions/guilds etc 1 by 1 and
what they can offer (special armor/weapons not gained else were or by
other faction, so t hose are unique, maybe a bit stronger than the one
they sell in the armor/weapon/item shop.

you can go as deep and simple as you want, depending if you can only
take 1 faction or more or restricted by 2.

there are ways to combine, sell, trade, craft (if they are unique to others),
and other possibilities.

whatever suit your game best, go for that approach.

 

[sunnyFVA]

My first impulse would be to open the narrative with an in-universe reason all of the factions can be represented. Things like a festival where each faction puts forth a champion or a conference of diplomats for example. That way, characters spouting ideology or acting "stereotypically" for their faction can feel more natural.

To supplement this, you could write in a cultural idea like a poem or set of idioms that broadly and simply characterize the factions. Even if it is not immediately and robustly informing the player, having something simple and memorable to work from will make further exposition stick more reliably. Calling back to something like that (especially in the environmental storytelling such as signage, iconography, etc.) can help contribute to cohesiveness as well.

 

[BubblegumPatty]

Thank you for your input and advice everyone!
I think I'll try all the factions doing what they can to solve a combine goal, and introduce each in batches to showcase the group personalities and their philosophies (and potentially their conflicts with other groups).
Perhaps as a compromise, The faction leaders don't know the player's got the palette powers until after the first boss, at which case they should already affiliated and thus don't have to worry about being bothered. However if the player chooses they can change factions freely until halfway through the game, which case they finalize their loyalty to their current faction and achieve the form and Unique player only skill associated with them.
I'm already planning of having an intro explain the world's premise, but I can add bits about how the past Palette holders worked with others as a hint that picking a faction will play a part. And of course NPCs praising or bad mouthing the other factions.

 

[AquaEcho]

You could make it like Fire Emblem Three Houses where you meet the faction leaders in the first handful of maps and then choose who you want to join after getting to know them a bit.