tlaero wrote:1) Dialog trees
I'm not a big fan of these. The biggest trouble is that I don't want you to have to play the game through again and again to get subtly different content...
2) Dialog "wheels"
This is what Bioware games do (Mass Effect, etc). You get to a point in a conversation with a character and you can choose a bunch of options, but they all circle back to the same point...
3) Light Side vs Dark Side
Another Bioware aspect where you do the same game twice, once playing one kind of character and again playing a different type of character...
4) Dialog choices that don't cause (significant) branches.
This is one of the easier interactivity options to do, but it's also probably the least satisfying...
5) Whole scene choices
Do I go to the strip club or to the bar? A lot of games do this. Kind of a dialog tree at the granularity of entire scenes...
6) Multiple full paths
"Good" vs "Lewd" path or "Do I date Jane or Jennifer?" This is really just doing multiple games bundled together...
7) Non-linear scenes
This is something I did in Life With Keeley. In large part, you could do the various scenes in any order and still get to the end...
8) Scenes you can "miss"
I did a fair number of these in RfJ. If your score wasn't high enough, you could miss the striptease + blowjob scene and still complete the game successfully...
9) Bad choices
Dead end choices that result in the game stopping suddenly...
10) Others?
Is there something I haven't covered?
Which of these things do you like and dislike? What could I do in my games to make you feel like your choices are having an impact on what is happening? I'm interested in hearing your opinions on all of this.
Tlaero
1) Dialog trees
It only make sense if the content leads to important information or to a different path in the game.
2) Dialog "wheels"
Same as above, only the mechanics is different.
3) Light Side vs Dark Side
It's good to have different paths you can choose.
4) Dialog choices that don't cause (significant) branches.
Options that don't have an effect in the game mean nothing to me.
5) Whole scene choices
That's more like a game to me. I fully enjoy these options.
6) Multiple full paths
That's more like a game to me. I fully enjoy these options.
7) Non-linear scenes
I like when I don't have to follow a defined sequence of events.
8) Scenes you can "miss"
It is interesting as a bonus part of the game.
9) Bad choices
If you have save games I don't mind that some really bad options can finish the game precociously.
10) Others?
In an erotic game, the sex scenes are the player's reward, and it is my expectation that I will have some control during these scenes.
I like when I can choose to kiss the girl first or go straight to sex, or rub her butt, or boobs, or go straight to anal sex, or begin with oral sex. And in the end I like to pick where I want to climax (Inside, outside, over her body) I really like when I decide what to do.
I hate when I have to follow some sort of a sex map like the usual: First kiss, then rub her boobs, then rub her sex, than oral sex, then vaginal sex, then anal sex (if it is even there)