Non-contrived Save Point

[Dymdez]

Seriously struggling with coming up with a save point that is not contrived or cliche. Hexagrams, books, its all so played out. Any ideas? I tried fireplaces and fires of a certain color, but some places just don't have these types of things and it looks odd.

 

[GrandmaDeb]

How can a save point not be contrived? I mean, not to be snarky, but we don't have them in real life.


So one feature they need is to be recognizable.


But if you hate books or crystals you could have bookcases or an item in your inventory or wishing wells.


Or floating sparkles, or fireflies you have to catch, or what have you lol

 

[Goldstorm]

A few ideas come to my mind:

• You can have a prompt come up when the party rests at an Inn for them to save.
• A campfire with more options isn't a bad idea. You can have them set up a campfire, eat a meal that gives random stats (like the FF15 demo) and save there. Maybe even splash in some story.
• A travelling bard that will chronicle the adventures of the hero, he could even tell you stuff you've done or give hints on what to do next (Will the hero tackle the giant ogre in the north? Or will the story end here?!)
• Save in between loading zones.

 

[captainproton]

I like Goldstorm's bard idea.

You could have a priest who "takes confessions"

A shrine to a god or goddess, like the muse of history

An hourglass or some other timepiece, like you're fixing your place in the timestream

 

[Mushinronja]

I feel like saving is more of a gameplay thing than a story thing, so to me being able to save anywhere makes sense. But yea, aside from that, journals, campfires, memory storage devices that your character inserts their entire head into, idk

 

[captainproton]

Social media. Save by updating your instafacer status.

 

[Dymdez]

How can a save point not be contrived? I mean, not to be snarky, but we don't have them in real life.

So one feature they need is to be recognizable.

But if you hate books or crystals you could have bookcases or an item in your inventory or wishing wells.

Or floating sparkles, or fireflies you have to catch, or what have you lol

Well, we can't judge everything in our games by what we don't have in real life, or else everything in them will be contrived. I'm referring to immersion so, for example, a player would read a book, which is why its a respectable save point, but a hexagram is like way out there. I just wanted a non-contrived non-cliche save point. It has to seem natural in the game. I like your idea with fireflies, I have some cool one's I think I found on one of your pages, Interesting, thanks.

A few ideas come to my mind:

• You can have a prompt come up when the party rests at an Inn for them to save.
• A campfire with more options isn't a bad idea. You can have them set up a campfire, eat a meal that gives random stats (like the FF15 demo) and save there. Maybe even splash in some story.
• A travelling bard that will chronicle the adventures of the hero, he could even tell you stuff you've done or give hints on what to do next (Will the hero tackle the giant ogre in the north? Or will the story end here?!)
• Save in between loading zones.

These are all great ideas, thanks. Autosave is interesting. I like auto-prompting at some areas. What about that glowing sword in the ground that comes with the RTP? Would that be too cliche? Would players be upset that its not an actual item you can get lol.

I feel like saving is more of a gameplay thing than a story thing, so to me being able to save anywhere makes sense. But yea, aside from that, journals, campfires, memory storage devices that your character inserts their entire head into, idk

My game is setup in a way that saving anywhere would allow for some serious "cheesing" if you know what I mean.

 

[- Aërendyll -]

I like the campfire idea. This can also be combined with the fireplace, though I'd say the fireplace is the indoors version.

When it comes to methods of saving that don't seem weird in-game, do remember that players tend to pay more attention to things that stand out rather than blend in. Especially when it comes to saving your game, it would be a bad idea to make it hard to figure out where to go for saving. Try to not make save points blend in to the point of being hard to find, though if you want to make your players hate you, you might want to do that.

As for concrete ideas about what to pick for objects: your setting will make a big difference in what kind of save points stand out like sore thumbs and which don't. Fireplaces would be hard to come by in modern towns with modern heating systems, for example. Post-apocalyptic, medieval and ancient cultures, however, would make at least campfires a good option.

Another way to save your game could be by using NPCs rather than objects. Instead of a book or hexagram, have e.g. an eccentric bard listen to your party's adventures or a wizard casting a spell. There's other ways to go about NPCs as save points for sure and they can be really interesting. You can also usually make them disappear from their fixed spots without it being weird - like if you're in a scene where you're being chased by an enemy and can't save, the explanation for the save NPC not being there could be that they are hiding from said enemy. In some other cases, saving NPCs are a worse choice, though - like in games where the protagonist is on their own and not sure if there are any people they can trust.

Just some food for thought, I hope it helps!

 

[Matseb2611]

Have a talking plant or a quirky chatty monster that seems to appear in every area you visit.

 

[D.S.SIRIUS]

What kind of game is it?

I think if you could use something that suits the story and scenario well, then that's a good way to approach it.

I always liked the red squares that they used in Silent Hill 2 for instance. It was always quite mysterious the way they'd make the entire screen glow red and give the impression of someone "peering into your mind".

If you just wanted it for gameplay reasons though, that might be more in depth than required...

 

[Dymdez]

What kind of game is it?

I think if you could use something that suits the story and scenario well, then that's a good way to approach it.

I always liked the red squares that they used in Silent Hill 2 for instance. It was always quite mysterious the way they'd make the entire screen glow red and give the impression of someone "peering into your mind".

If you just wanted it for gameplay reasons though, that might be more in depth than required...

Medieval fantasy, Zelda ABS style... I just want something that looks natural, Ive tested so much to no avail! The dilemma is stemming from the fact that I want the save point to be the same thing throughout the game, but the problem is that this "same thing" will have to look natural in a castle, forest, cave, etc..

 

[D.S.SIRIUS]

I would say you'd be best considering what kind of mood your game has. If it is rather more light hearted like Zelda then something like the bard previously mentioned would be a good choice. Mother 3 had a good example of an interesting save point mechanic with the frogs that randomly appear about the place that save your game. If it's more serious however, then you would be best considering something that is darker in tone is my opinion.

 

[Dymdez]

What about this idea...

Instead of having the same "thing" represent a save point, I could have tons of different ones throughout the game, pertinent to the environment. So in a library, the save point is a book, or in a tavern it would be a bard, etc.. Would that be too annoying? Or would the player see that as its own sort of mini-game, motivating exploration

 

[Mihel]

Nope. When I want to play a minigame I go play a minigame, when I want to save I don't want to check every tile in a map to find a savepoint. Also you wouldn't know in advance which map has a savepoint and which doesn't, since the savepoint could be anything.

Chose one thing, make it recognisable and stick with it.

 

[Sharm]

If I'm playing a game, I don't care what the save point looks like, I just want it to be obvious and do it's job.  So if that thing is a crystal or a angel statue or whatever else has been done a billion times, I don't care at all.  Eventually I don't even really think about it as "this thing is the save point" I just look at it and go "Oh, I need to save".  Even if at the beginning it felt out of place with the environment or it's incredibly clever I completely forget about that in the end, I don't even remember that I noticed at one point.  So, the question becomes, if the audience doesn't care one bit what it looks like and it makes no positive effect to come up with the perfect object, should you care either?

 

[D.S.SIRIUS]

I'd agree with the last point for the most with most games, however, there are ways to make save points stick out more.

For instance, the save frogs in mother 3 each had interesting messages at certain points, or had little quirks about that such as the save frog in the old person home being sat in a wheel chair and speaking like an old person, and also other save frogs floating in barrels etc. It's got a unique charm to it, and the characters variate whilst still maintaining a recognisable feature.

I agree whole heartedly though that you shouldn't make the save points different in each place. At least not with a specific means of noticing immediately that they are save points. Maybe with a certain characteristic glow for example.

If you give me an overall impression of what the mood of your game is like, I can have a go at coming up with something a bit different for you.

 

[Dymdez]

dont mind that crazy animation, he's repairing the wall, and it snapped at a weird time

 

[D.S.SIRIUS]

Hmm... well in that kind of style, people do tend to have more typical save points like chapels you pray at to save or glyphs etc.

Here are some ideas I can pull out of the hat for something a bit different:

1. A devil in disguise that you can save with only after signing a contract. You could always have an event later on in the game that reveals repercussions of doing so.

2. Spirits/spectres that haunt specific areas that allow you insight into the beyond. You can provide the opportunity to save with these whilst also delivering messages from the beyond that foretell later events in your plot. I would keep these messages suitably obscure so that they will only be realised retrospectively. I think that would be an effective means of gripping the player.

3. Mirrors that display a warped perspective of the player. Perhaps the reflection may change based on your in game actions. Would require work to develop a consequence system - or you could just use enchanted mirrors!

Those are a few ideas anyway

 

[jonthefox]

Is there magic in your game world?  Where does magic come from?

^this might help come up with possible ideas for something that would exist all throughout the world, that could act as a save point

Alternatively, just disable access to the save command - and if you don't want to bother with putting something physical into the map environment, simply give the player a prompt "Would you like to save your progress?" at various points.  You could even get more elaborate with switches and variables so that if the player misclicks, or changes his mind, if he re-enters the room ("if Quest X is not yet complete") he is given the prompt again.   Stuff like that.

 

[Vox Novus]

I like some of the previous ideas including the bard or the chatty monster. Apart from something like those I think I would try to pick something that has context in the game and could potentially play into the story in a clever way. Chrono Cross does this really well with the memory recording stations which have a darker more hidden purpose that is revealed as you progress in the game.

If your game has gods or spirits or something you could use shrines which could pop-up in all sorts of places even in lost ruins (someone already suggested something like this I believe) or you could have a fairy spring if there are fairies in your game. Camp-fires can work if you think about it because they could appear anywhere people could potentially go; perhaps they are even the remnants left behind by some great adventurer or other character that has passed through the area and is part of the story.

A lot of stuff can work if you give it the right context.