Community Polling

[Amethyst]

Relocated from the SD thread from Kurotsune:

Disclaimer: These questions reflect my personal opinion and curiosity and that only.

So, there are two things (for now, at least) that I'd like to ask the community about Starlight Divide.

First, would you rather have Starlight Divide follow an episodic format like Reborn, or wait longer for a full game?

Second, although Reborn has a fairly linear storyline, there are several choke-points in the game where it branches off and it's slightly altered by your choices. What was your opinion on this? Do you prefer a story that's linear with minor alterations, like Reborn, a story more focused on choices and consequences, or a more linear and to-the-point storyline?

Lastly, would you like the war of demons and angels to be replaced with a war of anime schoolgirls and tentacle monsters?

To clarify with the second question, the choice is a matter of balancing player selection vs story strength. More choices comes at the cost of a less developed story. Better story comes at the cost of less choice. I would consider Reborn a balance between the two options.

[Cepheus]

I actually like both formats... but that depends on the game.

I think with Starlight Divide the Episodic-format would work well because you can divide it into chapters... maybe 3-5 Story driven battles is one chapter or whatever

(the original Final Fantasy Tactics had 4 big chapters iirc)

The thing with the full game is... the release date.

Most games are announced when the developers already are a fair bit into developing and coding and what not... and they can say "If our pace is kept, the game will come in *insert rough release-date*"

and if problems occur they announce a delay.

I don't know how big you want to make that game, but if development takes to long the "hype" for the game may fade and people lose interest.

With a episodic format you can keep the interest up easier (see Reborn), and get feedback from the players.

In the end it's up to you... but since I play Reborn occasionally between other games, where the episodic-foramt comes in handy, I vote for episodic-format.

Player-input... let's see if I understand that correct, this one is about choices???

Do I want a strong-story linear

or

like the TellTale Games (Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us etc.), choices have consequences and alter the story and ending in certain ways (certain characters die, certain areas get destroyed or saved what ever)

I don't mind a strong linear story like the Final Fantasy Tactics games (to stay in the tRPG genre) but I also enjoy creating my 'own' story in the same way.

I think I'll go with a fair balance.

[hubbleday23]

Ame in response to the Lastly, would you like the war of demons and angels to be replaced with a war of anime schoolgirls and tentacle monsters?

I would like to vote for anime school girls (trinity seven and RWBY style) please, but i would also like the angel and demons war to be involved.

Edit: I think Ame was talking more about mass effect/ dragon age style story interactivity than the tell tale games

[laggless01]

Ame in response to the Lastly, would you like the war of demons and angels to be replaced with a war of anime schoolgirls and tentacle monsters?

I would like to vote for anime school girls (trinity seven and RWBY style) please, but i would also like the angel and demons war to be involved.

Like a mix of sailor moon and 4chan?

Also, try not to double-post. Instead, use the 'edit'-button on your comment.

Edited January 23, 2015 by laggless01

[LittleDevilex]

1. I would prefer the episodic release. Why? For us shorter wait time. For you more testing, more feedback, more suggestions...

2. I would like more choices and consequences but not at the cost of story quality. To be honest there should be no reason to drop the quality of the story based on that. Of course if there are multiple stories/endings/ways, some will be better than others. But if we take all the "intended" choices we would still end up playing the story you first imagined. And even if we pick the "wrong" choices, at the moment even you don't know how that will end up, so it could possibly be even better than you originally wanted it to be.

Edited January 23, 2015 by LittleDevilex

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

as always and I will be the only one to vote this option most likely, the Full game. I just prefer to see the game it was meant to be.

I totally get the advantage of releasing episodically. As it gives people a way to give feedback, lightens the workload a bit etc...

Now question 2 is hard for me to properly answer. I will answer what I believe is the right choice, but I am not not making the game myself so I don;t feel I should really be the one answering this question. However, I will explain that stance a bit. I am a firm believer that a game should be done in the way that makes the most sense for it. I am a bigger fan of linear narrative, as well, I think it is superior to the choices route, not to mention how much more work needs to be put in if the choices actually end up mattering. Each route has a branch, and on top of that all of those branches must meet at a single end somehow and rarely is that process neat and it is kinda a bungle. But, some choice is nice and gives a reason to look around in the story again.

I believe that a narrative should take into mind what style is most appropriate for the story it wishes to tell. Some narratives just don't work with choices dashed in, and should be told in a fashion where the player is along for the ride. I feel like if a main character is to be a true character that there shouldn't be choices in the game. With choices it is one of those cases where people would pick the choice they would choose, not that the character necessarily would them self. They become more or less a pair of Trousers the player puts on that gives them an in into the world. ((this is seen commonly in open world games. The main characters are usually rather flat, typically having very one dimensional personalities or ones that are hardly defined at all [like the Pokemon games, where your character doesn't say anything the entire time and is sorta just dragged along for the ride.]. This is so the player can more easily fill in the gaps and more easily feel like they are said character.))

Those are the extremes of both, so the middle lies somewhere in between there. I believe that the game should follow whatever path seems the most logical for it. Out of place choices, or lack of meaningful choices can be a detriment, as much as too linear a story. The game should take what approach is the correct one for it.

and @devil, the point is adding extra choices and the like makes more work to do, and allotment of time to the story will have to be greater to get the same quality. The work load would more than double on it's own adding 2-way choices, especially if the choices actually matter, as details of the story changes and can make thing go in a direction entirely different than the other choices. If the choices only do minor things it is less work than that, but still more work. Either way, the narrative overall has to take a hit if you add much more too it.

[Sheep]

I'm gonna recommend an episodic approach, it's worked pretty well for reborn right? I'm going off the fact that you've said it's going to be somewhat similar to Fire Emblem, a game series I'm very familiar with and one that I know for a fact will work fine using an episodic set up. The advantages to episodic releases are potentially huge, you capitalize on the popularity of reborn by giving the players something new without a long wait causing some to lose interest and leave, you showcase what your game is about and get players invested in the characters, allowing for a larger number of people to find it and potentially support its development financially. Stuff like that.

As for the second question? I'm a huge fan of the diversity and amount of choice given to the players in Bioware developed games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, but Fire Emblem has done just fine with a lesser degree of choice. With a game like this (even though I don't really know what this is) I think more choice is always better but only so long as it doesn't affect the quality of the writing.

[Dhanush D Bhatt]

Well an episodic release would definitely be better for us and for you i feel.
As for the second question, it really matters what kind of impact the decisions will have on the game. For example if a choice leads to different characters to be used alongside the hero, although i would appreciate it, i wouldn't suggest it as it a huge burden on you, the developer. If the choices are small and lead to different text or to diverge very slightly (like most of the choices in reborn) then i am totally for it (although i wouldn't achieve peace of mind until i explore all the possible choices )

[Yash]

I think SD should be released as a complete game. Sure the episodic format has major merits, I just feel that it's possible that you forget about the game for a while which could also lead to people completely missing on the rest of the game.. Also I am really impatient and don't like the waiting time for the story line to progress.. So what if that is kinda selfish

As for the second question.. I get the appeal of having a choice based game, as well as following a linear story line.. When with choices and multiple endings the possibilities of multiple playthroughs makes the game more fun.. The mild mix that is present in Reborn is definitely a way to increase the quality of the game.. I think this way you get the best of both parts.. The minor changes add an element of intrigue and allow for re-playability without compromising the base story..

[Jan]

I like the episodic release method. Although I could see why people would rather way for a longer game, rather than wait for small doses.

[Deleted User]

I'll leave it short and sweet.

Part of the success of Reborn in my opinion is the consistent release of new content and the community feedback. You guys are able to work on the game and make adjustments to what the players think of the game somewhat like a constant Beta, not to mention a lot of bugs that likely would not be caught by releasing the whole thing at once, no matter how much testing you did. The Episode method also keeps people coming back where as if the game was all released at once people would play it for a couple weeks until they beat it and then it would sizzle out much more quickly. One more thing the episode by episode release does is encourage replayability to see the changes made over time. A full release you might see those who really like it replay it once or twice, but to nowhere near the degree you'd get with the episode by episode release.

I think balanced is the best approach. Pokemon Reborn, while it does let you make decisions, these decisions don't do much to effect the actual gameplay or long term storyline. The story is very deep, but in regards to how the story itself actually goes it doesn't feel like the player has any real control over it. I think it'd be best to add a touch more of the choice side. Like I dunno a choice that depending on your answer you will have companion A or companion B with you, (Angel or Demon), you get the idea. Not something where it'd be so in your face that the choice leads to hell being dominant on earth, or Heaven either. In short, meet in the middle with a slight edge towards story depth.

[Felicity]

I prefer episodic simply cuz we get to interact and see the game change as we play. Simple, but true.

For the choices, One of the ways that I feel strategic/Turn-based/Rpgs shine is how the players choice isn't reflected in text, but the gameplay itself. Fire emblem, the game Starlight is being most compared to does this perfectly as you are sometimes put in a situation where you have to choose who lives and who dies not because of a simple "Door 1 or 2" choice, but because you know that enemy will do enough damage to kill someone. Furthermore, implementing this into the gameplay takes that gameplay from being an obstacle to overcome to get to the next bit of story to an experience in it's own right. This is something pokemon and many RPGs like final fantasy have failed to do in my opinion, and if this was done in Starlight would be fantastic.

I'd have to say less "Big" Choices, the kind you see in VNs like Fate/stay night or the like, that potentially change the entire Story or impact the ending massively. It leads to a variety of endings that really just leave it all feeling hollow to me. Those "What if" thoughts are just meant to be thoughts imo. However, small choices, simple dialogue choices a character can make would be fantastic,An example would be the bits of dialogue you can get in persona where there isn't much, if any, of an impact on the game. (Before anyone points out, I know that in the social links, every scenario has a "Perfect" answer that lets you speed along the relationship, but that's not my point) they'd have no big impact and the only extra work would be adding some more dialogue that lets people maybe know more about that character.

[Commander]

The first question is an easy one. Episodic without a doubt. Receiving constant feedback really does help motivate someone to keep working on a project. Doing a full on project with little to no feedback can be brutal which actually is a big reason some projects never get finished in the first place. I tend to use the word project because there are so many examples I could give about this outside of fan games alone.

The second one is a very tough question to answer without knowing too much about the game. All three of them have pros and cons that I don't think one could rule out the others. Personally, I tend to emphasize story above all else. I actually enjoy games that offer choices that affect the plot, but most of the ones that do it are more psuedo choices. Basically, the choices you make might do something right now, but they won't really tamper with the overall plot. That's basically how Fire Emblem places choice based question. (That Pelleas scene in Radiant Dawn though).

Dobby also hit it right on the spot. It's the little things that really impact the story. Giving players those choices helps keep them engaged in the story. I'm sure the combat will be more than enough to break up the story so I'd say I want as few as the choices as possible.

[Qaaz]

Someone give a whole pack/jar of cookies to Jericho

[Dhanush D Bhatt]

*Throws bag of attention at Jericho. Is that fine or do you want more?

[Tringus]

The way it's been going is fine. I enjoy the episodic releases, as well as getting both narration for the story and choices on what path to take. If we wait for the full release, that would take forever, and knowing how long it takes for the episodes to be released, a full release would take much longer than that. As for the best of both worlds, it's great to see the story being given to us, but also getting small choices that slightly change how the story goes.

Heh, I even still like to think that the choices lead to certain types of endings, but that's just me. The way it's been going is the best path to take.

[hubbleday23]

Ame what kind of art style will you be going with, because i would like to see you use some of the art style from an underrated and largely forgotten rpg, that just happens to be my favorite on mainstream console. It kinda has been forgotten about since the sequel destroyed what made the original great, also with the success of Pokemon since they where released at around the same time and are very similar in gameplay.

That game is Jade Cocoon Story of the Tamamayu (literally means "The Story of the Jade Cocoon")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Cocoon:_Story_of_the_Tamamayu

[Beba]

Hello.

Voted for:

1.Episodic

2.A mild balance between the two

What makes a RPG (or any rpg-likes games) really good is not a complex story,instead its the characters of that given game.

Lets see - 2d turn-based tactical RPG and Hell vs Heaven theme.

Keep the story simple and follow what you have in mind till end (maybe with multiple endings or not,depends of the desire of the player not the storyteller).

Since the player will a have party (its not fun to be alone ) and for example having a choice to save a innocent angel from an evil demon or helping said demon to kill the the angel,well depending on the choice you will have a new member to your squad.Your party members could have some relationship with each other or with the player and could affect some parts of the story,but it would be intresting to see it since the game would be in a episodic format (dont see why it shouldn't).The player doesnt need to have full control over the story,only needs to enjoy it.

Anyway I am rambling and imagining some stuff.Whatever the game will be,I'll support and play it.Ok,bye for now