thesolarionproject
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Game Design Poll - Game Direction - Patrons Only
🕑 Added 2021-08-04 12:26:20 +0000 UTCHey guys,
So as I mentioned in my previous post, I was looking to start bringing polls / discussions to the followers & patrons of the project to try and see if I can make some big improvements to the game to try and widen the appeal.
It has been brought to my attention recently that the game feels sort of aimless in the direction it wants to go (which I agree with). And I was thinking of how to remedy that.
This presents two options:
1 - I can either stay focused on the visual novel side of things and amplify features that benefit that style of gameplay. By this I mean having player focused choices that impact other parts of the story, having greater attention on sound, including voice acting (if we ever get there).
2 - The other option is to start focusing on the gameplay cycle and start bringing a real game out of what we have so far. The main focus areas for this would be the space and / or ground combat. Adding that to be part of the character's progressions (so some re-writes necessary). At the moment I'm leaning more towards ground combat so we can let character's personalities really shine there at times.
As patrons, I want to poll you guys separately as you guys are the lifeblood of this project and I don't want to make any sweeping changes that would leave you unhappy with the direction of the project.
Please leave any thoughts or ideas you have to this in the comments or on the discord.
- Nergal
Comments
Billhyahoo
I am going for Option 2, I think the game from its beginnigns was built with a Mass-Effect vibe, and without certain elements of gameplay it will not feel complete. Additional gameplay features (Like combat) will help make the player more involved, so at least personally I can say that it is very gratifying to unlock a special scene with your favourite character after beating a boss, winning a battle or solving a puzzle. The main problem I see with just having it play as a visual novel only, is the passive play: Only reading dialogue with no other type of vehicle to progress the story may feel monotonous in the long term. I strongly believe that other elements of gameplay will strengthen the game just by adding variety, and will allow for the game to achieve things it would not be able to just by being a visual novel. Besides, some of the narrative is built assuming that a combat element is added in, so not making one will requiere the rework of parts of the game.
Thank you for the feedback! It's definitely something that has crossed my mind as well, and I imagine most people are in agreement with you too :)
Josh
the groundwork's definitely there to really start expanding on the gameplay aspects. I voted for option 1, but only because I've seen so many adult game devs become far too enamored with their own gameplay mechanics that they forget they're an adult game. Suddenly I'm supposed to kick back on the couch with my xbox controller and tryhard some running/platforming section for an hour (looking at you, dandy boy). If I can't play the game with one hand on my mouse, one hand on my dick, and my attention split between approaching enemies and the fat ass of my protagonist, it's only going to get annoying. If Solarion had started with a strong focus on gameplay then it would have a different audience today that would be far more receptive to those aspects being expanded upon, but I think a lot of people supporting the game now still look at it as 90% visual novel and 10% little space ship you use to get to new VN sections. I personally don't want to see another percentile thrown in to account for combat gameplay of any kind.
