Archive: 7 posts

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I'm currently working (very slowly) on a Pushing Daisies level. to those who haven't watched the show each episode opens with a short section featuring 'Young Ned' (or later on, just young versions of major cast members) learning a lesson about life, then by the end of the episode the lesson will have been altered to show a less simple version of the lesson. The problem I have with creating this section is that really, it's difficult to get any gameplay out of the young ned section and what I have in it isn't particularly gripping. Also, after this section the style of play changes completely to focus more on Ned solving a mystery so it's not as though the first section even acts as much of a tutorial. Is it better to show this section as one extended cutscene? would you get more bored (or more likely to leave a level) watching around 3-5 minuets of footage which really, unless you're a fan of the show, offers very little to you or would you be more bored by wandering around a school at night time, completing a very unexciting platforming section and then having to watch maybe only 30 seconds or so of footage afterwards? I worried that potential players might be put off by the less then inspired initial five minuets is all. Thanks Smudge.

2012-11-26 18:27:00 Author: Smudge228 Posts: 533

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Youcould experiment with making them skippable. But to answer your question, it really does depend on the quality of the video for me. The better you show your story, the better, even if I haven't seen the source material.

2012-11-26 21:17:00 Author: xxMATEOSxx Posts: 1787

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It sounds like you've answered your own question. Generally, LBP levels tend only to get about 5 minutes of attention MAX from players. Your main playbase will be "serial level players", i.e. people who go around playing dozens of levels in just a few hours, every day, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. In any case they will be instantly judging your level with various unfair biases (did it take "too long" to load? were they bored by the last three levels they played?). The best thing you can do is give them an immediate activity, and an immediate reward for that activity. I'd jump straight into gameplay. You can make the 5 minute intro a separate level that's a movie. Players can then see there's a movie and a gameplay level, decide for themselves which to start with, and free you from worry. This also gives you more flexibility with thermo as you won't have to combine the cutscene and gameplay (and related logic) into one level.

2012-11-27 01:39:00 Author: Unknown User

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what if I were to make the intro section I currently have an optional part 1 should you wish and then have the bulk of the level as a seperate 2-3 part linked level? won't these players then decide that because when joining into part 2 the story isn't fully explained that they will not continue to play? This is quite a conundrum.

2012-11-27 16:01:00 Author: Smudge228 Posts: 533

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I loved the show and I remember there were scenes of his childhood that show him learning about and understanding his powers. When he had the stopwatch and fire flies for example. That could be made to be like a tutorial although I'm not sure what you are including in the players repertoire. That said, you are right; anyone who hasn't seen the show (which, let's face it, is going to be pretty much everyone) won't understand or enjoy the intro. And, as said already, first impressions are huge. I recommend a separate level.

2012-11-30 04:23:00 Author: Unknown User

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Either make it an entertaining cutscene or keep trying to come up with simple gameplay ideas that you're happy with that don't take too much time or working out, I'd say. If you just want to get into the main level quickly, do a cutscene.

2012-12-01 13:56:00 Author: julesyjules Posts: 1156

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Most players won't be willing to sit through 30 seconds of intro, let alone 5 minutes. If you're concerned with volume of plays, then you'll want to let the players into the action and make sure they're having fun as quickly as possible. I was tinkering with an idea for a level series I was working on some time ago. The idea was that the cutscene would be told in comic-style panels at the top of the screen while gameplay was handled at the bottom. If the player just charged on quickly, then the cutscene would scale down, showing only the most crucial scenes, but if they lingered and watched the scene, it would play the longer version. So, like, there would be points in the cutscene where it would check to see if the player had reached a certain point in the level: if he had, then it would skip to the next crucial scene, but if he hadn't, it would play the in-between dialog/character development. That way, you don't have people skipping the scene entirely and then having no clue what's going on or waiting frustratedly to get into the action, but people who are interested in the story get to see more and get to know the characters better. My idea for trying to keep everybody happy!

2012-12-01 23:05:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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