Post by chriscrawford on Oct 30, 2016 13:34:33 GMT -8
At today's meeting, the group came up with several exciting ideas, all focussed on the notion of expanding the role that Encounters play in the game.
The first idea was a response to my insistence that players read the novel before playing. Everybody -- myself included -- agrees that computer users NEVER read the manual, and hence requiring them to read the novel before playing is absurd. But I maintain that they cannot play the game without being introduced to the characters. The characters must come alive to the player as real people with real emotions. I cannot communicate that in the gameplay itself -- thus the requirement for reading the manual.
At which point, somebody (Chris Conley? John Kirk?) suggested that we build that information into the the Encounters. I took their suggestion and ran wild with it, proposing that we incorporate the entire novel into the Encounter system. This would comprise a gigantic expansion of the Encounter system. After some further consideration, I believe that the idea has enough merit to deserver detailed consideration, which I am now embarking upon.
Another suggestion was that we permit players to refer to previous Encounters during conversations with other players. My first reaction was dread -- accomplishing this would require a lot of work. After some thought, however, I realized that the idea is fundamentally unsound because the Encounters are not (as yet) based upon character traits. If we have an Encounter about somebody stealing your bicycle pump, there's no logic that analyzes which character would be appropriate. At this time, ANY character can be used in ANY Encounter. There are logical restrictions about the sequencing of Encounters, but no restrictions based on the characters' personality traits. And no, I'm not going to add that as a feature: it would only serve to complicate a system that is already too complicated.
There are many other implications of these ideas. This means that the pressure is now on Ross to complete the Encounter Editor soon. We may need to recruit more Encounter authors. We may need to expand the feature set for the Encounters -- I very much hope that we can avoid that.
I have many other thoughts on these issues, but they are still only half-baked. I'll announce them here when they are better-baked. In the meantime, comments are solicited.
The first idea was a response to my insistence that players read the novel before playing. Everybody -- myself included -- agrees that computer users NEVER read the manual, and hence requiring them to read the novel before playing is absurd. But I maintain that they cannot play the game without being introduced to the characters. The characters must come alive to the player as real people with real emotions. I cannot communicate that in the gameplay itself -- thus the requirement for reading the manual.
At which point, somebody (Chris Conley? John Kirk?) suggested that we build that information into the the Encounters. I took their suggestion and ran wild with it, proposing that we incorporate the entire novel into the Encounter system. This would comprise a gigantic expansion of the Encounter system. After some further consideration, I believe that the idea has enough merit to deserver detailed consideration, which I am now embarking upon.
Another suggestion was that we permit players to refer to previous Encounters during conversations with other players. My first reaction was dread -- accomplishing this would require a lot of work. After some thought, however, I realized that the idea is fundamentally unsound because the Encounters are not (as yet) based upon character traits. If we have an Encounter about somebody stealing your bicycle pump, there's no logic that analyzes which character would be appropriate. At this time, ANY character can be used in ANY Encounter. There are logical restrictions about the sequencing of Encounters, but no restrictions based on the characters' personality traits. And no, I'm not going to add that as a feature: it would only serve to complicate a system that is already too complicated.
There are many other implications of these ideas. This means that the pressure is now on Ross to complete the Encounter Editor soon. We may need to recruit more Encounter authors. We may need to expand the feature set for the Encounters -- I very much hope that we can avoid that.
I have many other thoughts on these issues, but they are still only half-baked. I'll announce them here when they are better-baked. In the meantime, comments are solicited.
