What is/is there an end game?

Started by baconisprime, June 23, 2013, 09:54:35 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Blacksoul

I read the FAQs about the goal of the game: leaving the planet. But a alternative goal is possible in my mind: to conquer the nature of this strange place and to colonize the planet. My idea is influenced by Star Trek where settlers crashes on a strange world and they resolve to making this place to their new homeworld. Why not? Why should I leaving the place that I'm developed and cultivated? ;-)

Kender

#46
How about a 'revenge' story teller and potentially a end game

Back story:
Something big happened in your home world. you were summoned but ambushed by an unknown spacecraft on your way home. You managed to get rid of the attacker but your ship were heavily damaged, so you force landed on a closest habitatable planet. Unfortunately, your ship is completely gone, only you and the other two crews survived the crash.
you are looking for another way home.

behind the story:
The attacker was a mercenary. The one who hired them is someone you know but not revealed until the end. Apparently he want to get rid of you on low profile, because only by doing so he can claim what he wanted for a long time.

The attack was failed. However, your absence/missing made his wish become true. He still couldn't openly send a force to hunt you down, so he chose to secretly hire mercenaries and/or let his henchmen disguised like pirates to attack your last know location at all cost. You can't leave this planet just yet, because none of those passing trade ships have the required speed to return home in time and they suspect that you are the target of those constant raids, so they won't take the risk to take you on board.

During the time of figuring out a way home, you built up a colony and met many people from different races. You helped, saved, supported their cause, in exchange you learnt a lot from them, their advanced technology, their society, and earned their trust.

You successfully fended off those attacks, but time is not on you side. Rumor says the power of your home world have changed hands. And more urgently is that a rumor amount traders says a huge fleet of mercenaries ships and a Colossus-class battleship is heading to your sector with unknown intentions....

The ending will be:
1) Escape route, capture those henchmen and their evidences in previous fight, manage to build a fast enough shuttle with alien cloak tech to return your home world avoiding being detected by the fleet. Unless you don't have enough 'evidences' by then, you are eventually arrested and executed, secretly.

2) Ultimatum route, you didn't built your shuttle in time, the fleet showed up in your planet's orbit, demanding you, life or dead. You are forced to confront them.
  2a) use weapon technology learn from aliens to destroy the Colossus-class battleship and a majority of mercenaries' ships. some of them landed on your planet, you fight them on the ground.
  2b) use jamming technology learn from aliens to make the orbital cannon on that Colossus-class battleship can not fix on your current location. force them fight you on the ground.
  2c) use shield technology learn from aliens to render their orbital cannon ineffective against you, you fight them on the ground.
  2d) you failed to naturalize the battleship, and even thought you fought bravely you lost the battle.
  additional choices:
  by earning enough trust from your alien allies, they will aid you in the final battle.
  by having high enough social skill and/or huge amount of rare resources, you manage to bribe the leader of mercenaries to leave the battle or persuade him turn against their employer.

  final battle on the planet.
  Depends on the choice you made, the one behind all of this could be on board of the battleship supervising this attack. if you naturalized his ship, he will personally lead the assault on the ground.

3) Diplomacy route, by raising your diplomacy relationship with all your alien allies, and achieve mutual peace treaties with all parties, and by acting as neutral ground to build newly found 'Rim Alliance' on your planet. They will eventually accept your task and help you found out who is behind all this. Then officially declaration was announced that this planet is under the protection of newly formed Alien alliance. The mercenary fleet never showed up....

PS: I also propose that, player have access to all the generic technologies that all the races in the galaxy knows. Alien technology can only be accessed (Tech tree revealed) by 'acquiring' an alien scientist. They can be still humanoid, but have different culture.
Rogue, from Kendermoore of Dragonlance.

mumblemumble

Honestly, I would prefer if there was never an endgame, and the story was based entirely on the colony at hand. That was ty's idea at first, if I recall, following the progression of the colony. Though theres not much showing for it, you can sort of tell by the colony name being requested by the colonists after things start out. I think in the future there will be more events.

As for an endgame though....I think there shouldn't be ANY rush at all to have an endgame, whatsoever, especially considering the game is very bare bones ATM, so adding an endgame NOW would mean hell for balancing.
Why to people worry about following their heart? Its lodged in your chest, you won't accidentally leave it behind.

-----

Its bad because reasons, and if you don't know the reasons, you are horrible. You cannot ask what the reasons are or else you doubt it. But the reasons are irrefutable. Logic.

Kender

QuoteAs for an endgame though....I think there shouldn't be ANY rush at all to have an endgame, whatsoever

I am not suggesting an end game for all the game mod. It is just one story teller. Something for the developer to consider.
Rogue, from Kendermoore of Dragonlance.

mumblemumble

Right, I know, just with games being in development, adding an endgame (gameplay wise) can be super problematic, because then everything after MUST fit between the beginning, and the end....which if you are in the middle of development, is an awful idea.

My comments are mainly to the people who say the game needs an endgame right NOW, which I believe would actually be quite the detriment to the game, this early.
Why to people worry about following their heart? Its lodged in your chest, you won't accidentally leave it behind.

-----

Its bad because reasons, and if you don't know the reasons, you are horrible. You cannot ask what the reasons are or else you doubt it. But the reasons are irrefutable. Logic.

Nailernforce

In Prison Architect you can sell your prison and use the money to build a bigger one.

So how about this:

How about this:

Pack up and resettle
- Choose some equipment / tech to bring with you
- Choose some people to bring with you
- Choose a new and harder AI
- Extra challenges only present in new game +

mumblemumble

Quote from: Nailernforce on November 12, 2013, 04:48:02 PM
In Prison Architect you can sell your prison and use the money to build a bigger one.

So how about this:

How about this:

Pack up and resettle
- Choose some equipment / tech to bring with you
- Choose some people to bring with you
- Choose a new and harder AI
- Extra challenges only present in new game +
Plot wise that makes little sense though...why would a colony abandon a perfectly good and safe base to move into a new, possibly more dangerous area?
Why to people worry about following their heart? Its lodged in your chest, you won't accidentally leave it behind.

-----

Its bad because reasons, and if you don't know the reasons, you are horrible. You cannot ask what the reasons are or else you doubt it. But the reasons are irrefutable. Logic.

air805ronin

Quote from: mumblemumble on November 12, 2013, 05:25:17 PM
Quote from: Nailernforce on November 12, 2013, 04:48:02 PM
In Prison Architect you can sell your prison and use the money to build a bigger one.

So how about this:

How about this:

Pack up and resettle
- Choose some equipment / tech to bring with you
- Choose some people to bring with you
- Choose a new and harder AI
- Extra challenges only present in new game +
Plot wise that makes little sense though...why would a colony abandon a perfectly good and safe base to move into a new, possibly more dangerous area?

2 groups form within the colony and one decides to break off.  One group stays and the other leaves for the new colony.

A lot of ideas in this thread are jiving with how I compare this game to Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein.  Especially regarding the desire to escape being replaced by the desire to stay.  Of course when the actual decision comes you can be surprised by the choice people make.

Sunspots

Quote from: mumblemumble on November 12, 2013, 05:25:17 PM
Quote from: Nailernforce on November 12, 2013, 04:48:02 PM
In Prison Architect you can sell your prison and use the money to build a bigger one.

So how about this:

How about this:

Pack up and resettle
- Choose some equipment / tech to bring with you
- Choose some people to bring with you
- Choose a new and harder AI
- Extra challenges only present in new game +
Plot wise that makes little sense though...why would a colony abandon a perfectly good and safe base to move into a new, possibly more dangerous area?
It could be driven by things like the planet becoming uninhabitable due to pollution/change, food is harder to grow, we have depleted the planets mineral resources, the only way for the colony to suvive and keep expanding is to find new land to exploit..?

Nailernforce

Since when has mankind ever been content with the colonies they have?
It's only natural that once a colony has reached "city status" that some adventurous souls might want to go colonise somewhere else.

Ender

Quote from: Fodd on October 12, 2013, 10:12:00 AM
(Sorry for the long post - TL;DR - just very excited about the game!)
As an alternative option for “end game” mechanics, (and it depends on how much of a “meta game” Tynan wants in there) but as an option that jumped into my head:


im gonna say, i agree with 99% of your entire post, perfect, "never ending cycle" with the ability to then have plenty of challenges for the player who "is always looking for the next challenge" much like myself.
The voices in my head tell me to burn colonists....

Rathlord

Quote from: Pheanox on October 05, 2013, 05:19:20 PM
Depending on the lore of the game, I actually like the idea of eventually after having a successful, thriving outpost, you are contacted by the Federation and are offered membership as a colony of the Federation.  Then how the game continues from there I don't know.  Your outpost becomes the capital city of a colonization effort or is just a game ending scenario.

I like the idea of this, but I think it could be expanded. What if each of the ships that flies by was of a different faction? Say, 3-7 active factions depending on random story teller values. Each factions could have different attitudes towards you (friendly, downright hostile, neutral), could take different actions (trade with you, not interact with you, actually launch attacks from orbit), and that kind of thing. You could gain or lose reputation by how you interact with them (get reputation for trading, perhaps get reputation/honor for defeating an attack from some people, being mean to their enemies, being friendly to their friends, etc.).

That way each faction could have its own endgame concept that would only be unlocked if you brought your friendliness/reputation with them up enough. Furthermore, the faction or factions that are opposed to the faction you're trying to endgame with could become your mortal enemy, launching harder attacks and disrupting your trading as you try to complete an endgame goal.

Some examples:

Trading Race: Often starts friendly to the player. Has lots of trading ships. Players gain reputation by trading with them and giving them favorable bargains. Endgame allows this race to set up a permanent trading post above the planet, and the settlers erect some kind of planet to space defense system to protect it. This allows your colony to thrive, always having access to a huge amount of trade resources that are updated regularly.

Religious Race: Often starts neutral to the player. Has few ships that are traveling on pilgrimages to holy sites, etc. Raise rep by being respectful, trading crafts that increase happiness, giving donations… End game offers you a holy artifact for your colony, but you have to build enough defenses and a specific storage place for it before they give it to you. It could offer the colony an overall huge happiness boost, and pilgrims might occasionally come to visit (as well as others trying to steal it).

Militaristic Race: Often starts hostile to the player. Gain rep with acts of war, valor in battle, treating prisoners well, showing 'honor,' returning their men who you've taken prisoner, and being direct in communication. End game offers you an escape from the planet if you agree to be part of their warfront. This would incur hostilities from many other factions who fear that this faction will become too strong. To successfully complete it, you would be required to complete huge amounts of militarization and perhaps to build a combat ready ship to join them.

Pirate Race: Often starts hostile to the player. Raise reputation by committing chaotic acts, stealing, using gibbet cages, etc. End game would involve joining them in a joint venture to "raid" another place (much like we're raided now). This would involve gathering supplies and weapons and moving to a new map, where a small colony currently exists. The pirates would want you to raze the colony to the ground (which you might not do, but could cause a fight with them). Unfortunately, the colonists caught you coming and sabotaged your ship even as you defeat them (so you can't leave, and must start anew).

"Federation" Race: Often starts friendly to the player. Gain reputation by having a stable, peaceful colony, getting along with other races, and trading. Endgame could offer you a chance for escaping the colony, a chance to become an official colony, or pretty much your colonists choice of how they want it to end. The Federation ending could be the catch-all, allowing you to have some end game drama but not necessarily changing anything major and allowing you to keep playing your colony as-is if you want.

CabbageFoot

I have a simple and elegant solution. Well, maybe not super simple in execution (but I'm not a coder). What if when you finish a play through by constructing and loading and launching a ship it creates a special save file and opens up a new option on the main menu of the game called "New Game+" or "The Journey Continues". By clicking on this menu and selecting your save you can start a new colony but the save file remembers which planet you settled on and does not allow you to select that planet again, so probably you will have to make a new one to land on. The new play through will load the difficulty setting from the pervious game completed and bump it up a notch (consecutively every time you do this). When the game starts it picks a random set of 3 (maybe 4?) crew members (exactly as you loaded them with gear and skills and health). But never fear you might get the other crew later on in the form of random events. As you keep playing may drop your other crew that you didn't get initially (though maybe there is a chance that they don't come back alive, scaling with story teller difficulty?). I think there definitely should be an element of tension to see who from your crew you will get and who was not so lucky to join you on your next adventure. The added difficulty on each consecutive play through makes each new game exciting because although your colonists are stronger the conditions are harsher. Additional option, the New Game+ mode generates the world for you automatically using the same size parameters (saved on the save file) and randomly picks your landing location (for more interesting difficulty ;b)

I think the plot rational for this can be that your ship contains an AI core and that in this world AI cores always inevitably go rogue and try to terminate the humans onboard by causing a self destruct sequence. The humans never catch onto this and think that it was a mechanical problem or software glitch each time that causes them to need to evacuate the ship ;b Maybe in this universe AI always goes evil inevitably if given enough resources and time ;b

I know that this kind of scaling difficulty and continuation sequence would keep me playing the game over and over. People could even brag on how many play throughs they survived, this could be a thing, think about it ;b

GamerGuy


Havan_IronOak

Sid Meiers had a bit of trouble with the end game in his early releases of Civilization.  Getting a spaceship built and launching it to Alpha Centauri was very anti-climactic. His Civilization 5 is interesting in that you can decide which of several victory conditions you satisfy.