Descriptions: Many or none?

[CrazyCrab]

Hi guys,

working on my game and I realized that I never payed too much attention to it but its likely that the descriptions Im using may be somewhat out of place. Given that most of my storytelling experience is based on being a Dungeon Master in DnD, its quite likely that Im adding things that aren't necessary in a video game in the 1st place and while I consider them a nice world building tool they may be something that players will find annoying. 

An example off the top of my head:

You're walking in a ruined castle. There is a statue on the way. when you walk by it you pop an event saying: ''There is something unusual about the statue, but it's hard to describe what it is. You could almost swear it looked at you when you walked past it, but it seems perfectly normal when you investigate it.'' This is followed by a choice of either destroying the statue (immediate combat with a golem) or leaving it alone (the golem will be present in a bigger fight later on making it harder)

Do you think the text in unnecessary and most players wont even bother reading it? While personally I read all of the test in most RPGs I know many ppl wont bother to pay any attention when there is no voice acting or action and descriptions of scenery aren't exactly dynamic.

 

[whitesphere]

I'm a newbie, but from the many RPGs I've played, it's a tricky balancing act.  Too much description can become a wall of text and be ignored.  

Personally, I would have a series of short texts, which rotate as the player chooses the statue again. Basically, that simulates "looking more closely" at the statue.  It would also add nicely to the eerie feeling about the golem:

1st Time:  "The statue has something unusual about it."

2nd Time:  "Light flickers over the statue's eyes."

3rd Time:  "A cool wind blows from the statue's head."

Think: Dr. Who's really nifty episode about the "Angels" which cannot move if observed.  But if you blink, they can move REALLY fast, but stand still when you look at them again....

 

[Sharm]

This is all about training your player and rewarding them for following what you've taught them. If you want people to read the text, teach them that reading texts gives you advantages, and point it out (through gameplay, show don't tell) as early as you can. Watch a few Let's Plays or pay attention to how you treat a brand new game. What's the first thing you do? You check the items in the room to see which ones you interact with and which you can't, and that informs your behavior for the rest of the game.

 

[Mouser]

You're walking in a ruined castle. There is a statue on the way. when you walk by it you pop an event saying: ''There is something unusual about the statue, but it's hard to describe what it is. You could almost swear it looked at you when you walked past it, but it seems perfectly normal when you investigate it.''

The last clause certainly should not be there. How would a player know it 'seems perfectly normal when they investigate it', if they don't investigate it. There are some visual effects you can use via eventing to call a players eye to something (if they're paying attention), but don't give out more than they should know. Call their attention to the statue somehow - this can be as simple as having it put 'out of place', but don't tell them anything more unless they go and investigate it themselves.

 

[Julien Brightside]

If possible, you could edit the statue sprite or have an event that glimmers when the player walks on a certain tile.

 

[Kaelan]

Depends on how it's presented. If it's a normal-style RM game and you're popping up text-boxes that interrupt the gameplay, I imagine that would get annoying quite fast. On other other hand, if you did it like this, I think it's fine:

Spoiler

^ You can stop to read that or ignore it altogether. I think that's why that format works.

 

[Zoltor]

Depends on how it's presented. If it's a normal-style RM game and you're popping up text-boxes that interrupt the gameplay, I imagine that would get annoying quite fast. On other other hand, if you did it like this, I think it's fine:

Spoiler

Spoiler

^ You can stop to read that or ignore it altogether. I think that's why that format works.

What game is that(that looks awesome, a video game version of Heroes Quest/a PnP game)?

Anyway that's not a very viable option in RM, it would take a lot of custom scripting for that(very hard, and confusing type of scripting at that).

Some development tools/engines have a built in text box in the hub(that is meant for log keeping, and online chat, but is easy to setup for story type texts), not RM though.

However there is another way you can do it, make your texts into pictures, and show the X text picture at the bottom of screen as needed(show picture doesn't interupt gameplay, unlike show text, so when it shows us, you can keep going about your business)

 

[Chaos Avian]

Or even the use of a gab window of some sort, triggered by player touch. I believe Yanfly has one such script.

 

[Kaelan]

What game is that(that looks awesome, a video game version of Heroes Quest/a PnP game)?

Anyway that's not a very viable option in RM, it would take a lot of custom scripting for that(very hard, and confusing type of scripting at that).

Eschalon 3, it's a really awesome game. You should check it out if you like turn-based PnP-like RPGs, I had a pretty good time with it.

As for the text window, it's not that hard to do at all. I'm working on something similar for my game right now. You just have to add a couple windows to Scene_Map and have a way of dumping text into it. It's basically exactly the same thing as Yanfly's gab window scripts, but you just never hide the text window and display more than one line at a time. It's perfectly doable if you have a little bit of scripting knowledge.

 

[Zoltor]

Eschalon 3, it's a really awesome game. You should check it out if you like turn-based PnP-like RPGs, I had a pretty good time with it.

As for the text window, it's not that hard to do at all. I'm working on something similar for my game right now. You just have to add a couple windows to Scene_Map and have a way of dumping text into it. It's basically exactly the same thing as Yanfly's gab window scripts, but you just never hide the text window and display more than one line at a time. It's perfectly doable if you have a little bit of scripting knowledge.

Yea that indeed seems awesome, I think It's Digital only though, but for 20 bucks I'm not gonna break the bank. However I'm too busy on developing my game to get involved with such a game atm, so I'll save that site to my favorites, and check it out when I have ample time to enjoy playing such a game.

Oh yea, the Scene_Map, that would work. Athough dumping the text in there might be a tad tricky. You could probally edit the default script(aka change the path of the write text, to write the text in your Scene_Map windows, instead of the default RM text windows).

 

[CrazyCrab]

I found a way to handle the box, since it seems to be the best way.

http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/field-scripts/gab-window/ if anyone wants to use it as well ^^

 

[Zoltor]

I found a way to handle the box, since it seems to be the best way.

http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/field-scripts/gab-window/ if anyone wants to use it as well ^^

You'll need to edit it a little(should be a super easy edit though), but yea that would work.

 

[aozgolo]

Descriptions of objects I believe should be done like in Adventure games, where every object may have a description but you won't know until you click on it. It's easy enough in RPGs, you can add the text but it won't appear until you activate the object. Players who want all the flavor text will examine everything, players who don't care won't even think to click on it. You just need to train your players that this is possible which is easy by adding lots of descriptive flavor text AND rewards early in the game environment.

One of the first things I tend to do in a RPG Town is wander around and see if the barrels, cabinets, bookshelves, crates, etc. have anything in them, Obviously not all of them do but you go through and check a few barrels and one of them has a potion... well hey now I know the game developer spent some time hiding some cool stuff in the environment, so I'm off clicking everything that I can to see what it does or what it gives me, even if it's just flavor text I feel like the game world is more realized without getting in my way.

So your solution is just make it button activated.