Exploration

[InBlast]

Hello fellow RPG makers =)


Do you like when, in games, there is some optionnal things which rewards you for exploration ? for exemple, hidden lore information, or some dongeons which are not used by quest.


To remuse, do you like exploring a world when you know there will be rewards for this, but you don't know what it will be ?

 

[EternalShadow]

Yeah, it does get tiresome when every dungeon you explore is used by some quest in a way or another. It makes the world feel smaller than it should be. Extra dungeons that are just there for lore and loot do pad things out, and give you (and the game) breathing room.

 

[Sieginder Niederlage]

Yeah, it does get tiresome when every dungeon you explore is used by some quest in a way or another. It makes the world feel smaller than it should be. Extra dungeons that are just there for lore and loot do pad things out, and give you (and the game) breathing room.

Agreed, but only as long as there aren't so many that the game is practically bleeding them or if they seem way out of place.

 

[Ugouka]

I really enjoy when there are bonus exploration goodies, however, I'd be careful with them. If you plan on doing lots of these, I'd try to make sure that the "reward" is proportional to the effort required to get it. As a player, I'd be a little irritated if I wound my way down a multi-level dungeon and killed a hyper boss only to unlock a lore object saying "This one dude did this one thing once" at the end. Now, for that same dungeon, if I unlock a hidden skill or an optional character, that'd be a different story.


One other thing I've noticed is that if you like to do stuff like this, consistency is really, really important. If you establish early on in the game that clicking on a bookshelf yields no results, you can hardly expect the player to check them later in the game for goodies. This is obviously a simplistic example, but it applies for most exploration tidbits.


And as for optional dungeons, YES! More content (As long as it's not just recycled maps from a different dungeon) is always welcome in my book if it doesn't subtract from the experience. If you're worried about this sort of thing being tied in or un-engaging, try making an event trigger when you enter the optional dungeon (ie. You enter, and suddenly get trapped, having to work your way out. Or a thief steals a key item and you have to get it back, etc, etc.) This way it's fun, unique content that flows nicely into the game without actually being required for progression. Heck, if you get really frisky and you like lore, you could make switches and variables trigger in these optional dungeons that alter main story conversations later in the game, for an added goody on top of whatever they found there initially.

 

[ロリ先輩]

Throw in some sort of resource management as an incentive for exploration. Whether it's directly extracting resources from nodes, or marking them for associates or companions to exploit/gather from later. Pair that with a move interactive environment- perhaps some level of pseudo physics, and you create a reason for the player to seek out or spend more time on maps. That seemly useless field next to the lake? If you unearth the correction information, you can discover rare medicinal herbs.

 

[InBlast]

Thanks for your returns guys !

Throw in some sort of resource management as an incentive for exploration. Whether it's directly extracting resources from nodes, or marking them for associates or companions to exploit/gather from later. Pair that with a move interactive environment- perhaps some level of pseudo physics, and you create a reason for the player to seek out or spend more time on maps. That seemly useless field next to the lake? If you unearth the correction information, you can discover rare medicinal herbs.

Really good idea ! Thanks !

 

[ロリ先輩]

Thanks for your returns guys !


Really good idea ! Thanks !

Suikoden takes this to an extreme, with character recruitment being somewhat tied to exploration and backtracking- it might be an interesting game to check out if it interests you.

 

[InBlast]

Yep, i will check this out, it can give me some nice ideas   thanks !

 

[Azurecyan]

Incentive for exploration is definitely something to be looked at. The Atelier games(specifically the Dusk trilogy) does this in when you enter an unexplored or new area/dungeon you are given small optional tasks, such as defeating all enemies in the area or gathering all gatherable materials within the area, which will yield bonus exp(usually small like +10 or +20), extra, possibly rare, items or having the option to defeat a stronger enemy in that vicinity. Additionally, new unexplored areas may only become accessible after said tasks are complete. You should definitely check it out as well.

 

[InBlast]

I will too. Thanks =)

 

[Wavelength]

Absolutely go ahead and do this if you have the time and patience to craft that "optional" content as lovingly as your main content; most players really enjoy it!


If it's stuff that can sidetrack the player for hours (as opposed to just little things), and your game has a strong narrative/progression focus, then be sure to carefully guide players who just want to play through the main story as quickly as possible.  Tell them clearly where they want to go next and what it looks like.  If the party comes along an optional dungeon during the main storyline, have someone in the party say something along the lines of "this isn't where we want to be... should we check it out anyway?".


Also think carefully about how you will keep the game balanced when some players are doing twice as many battles and finding twice as much loot as other players (due to choosing to explore optional areas or not).  Very gentle stat progression curves and rewards that allow for extra variety (instead of more power) are really good ways to do this.

 

[Authumbla]

Absolutely go ahead and do this if you have the time and patience to craft that "optional" content as lovingly as your main content; most players really enjoy it!


If it's stuff that can sidetrack the player for hours (as opposed to just little things), and your game has a strong narrative/progression focus, then be sure to carefully guide players who just want to play through the main story as quickly as possible.  Tell them clearly where they want to go next and what it looks like.  If the party comes along an optional dungeon during the main storyline, have someone in the party say something along the lines of "this isn't where we want to be... should we check it out anyway?".


Also think carefully about how you will keep the game balanced when some players are doing twice as many battles and finding twice as much loot as other players (due to choosing to explore optional areas or not).  Very gentle stat progression curves and rewards that allow for extra variety (instead of more power) are really good ways to do this.

Wavelength has very good ideas about how to make this work. You'll want to keep a few of them in to keep the player from being railroaded - this isn't as big of a problem in video games since they're much more linear than tabletop RPG's, but players tend to want to feel like they're in control of the situation. You don't have to make entire new dungeons for this to work - just make your game slightly less linear than FFXIII and you'll probably be set. Alternatively, look at the Zelda series - current games essentially work like a little puzzle box, where every dungeon has an item you need to complete the dungeon and then never need to use again, whereas older games in the series give you items that tend to be useful for all dungeons and you an even complete them in various orders. 

 

[InBlast]

Yup, I will take all of this in mind while i write down the storyline ! There is a lot of good ideas in your messages guys =)