Tagged: king of dragon pass
beyond the pass
I just can’t get you out of my head. It’s King of Dragon Pass, again, and I’ve been thinking about how to best draw inspiration from it for Collegia. What was it I so enjoyed about the experience of playing it? What did I find frustrating? Are there ways to take these in new directions and create a different and still worthwhile experience? I present to you a chart of my thoughts:
<Ack; I’m having a heck of a time getting nice borders on this table. I’ve added some formatting for improved readability. Sorry about that.>
Awesome things |
Counterpoint |
A better solution? |
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Hidden mechanics increase player buy-in |
Once the mechanics are understood (to an extent), they’re relatively simple to apply, e.g. “Guys are mad? Give them 15 cattle.” The mechanics that remain unknown (because they’re not reflected in the lore) can lead to frustration in the face of repeated failure.
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Yikes. |
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Predetermined stories add richness to the setting |
They are (taking into account a fork or two) always the same. After a while, you’ve seen the most common many times (and the less common perhaps not at all. |
More stories? That just delays the point where you’ve read them all.Better mixup of when they occur (e.g. early/late game)? This can only be done to a point; the endgame needs to have some unique content to feel special.
Semi-procedural generation? Could stories be written on the fly in response to the choices you’ve made throughout the game? Perhaps they could be constructed from recombinant blocks of story elements? That’s a tall order, especially if one is wanting to paint a cohesive picture of the world.
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Hero quests necessitate comprehensive reading (and thus buy-in to the lore) |
Once the player knows the story of a heroquest, they no longer need to understand it (as they can just choose the right options) They also don’t really help you play better (i.e. they are stories removed from your day-to-day activities)
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On the topic of procedural generation, could quests be constructed based on past decisions and history of this particular playthrough? Though this does run the risk of being too transparently formulaic and not adding as richly to the flavour of the world. |
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Complexity of behind-the-scenes world interactions is sufficient to produce emergent stories |
Seldom reflected in predetermined stories (which are richer and more explicit in their telling) |
Ensure that each predetermined story relates meaningfully to one or more happenings in the present game. Rely less on chance and more on triggers hidden in the gameplay.
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Challenging road to becoming tribal king |
Once achieved, there is pressure to play much more defensively (i.e. with reduced choice) |
Can one increase the complexity of necessary decision-making while keeping the sorts of challenges consistent? I feel like KoDP’s endgame is one of running down the clock rather than coming to a climax.
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Satisfying balance of risk and reward (e.g. high level ring member will definitely get the job done… if they don’t die) |
Can be frustrating when you set everything up as well as you possibly can and still fail |
If something has a maximum chance of succeeding, perhaps knock some of the worst outcomes out of the possibility pool? It’s artificial, but it might lead to greater player satisfaction. Alternately, the constant risk of certain activities could be made more explicit so the feeling of disappointment is not one of frustration.
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I know, I’m all over the place, but there’s a definite theme emerging here in the possibilities of procedural generation. This is curious; it’s so distinct from the way in which King of Dragon Pass drew me in with its handcrafted stories, forcing me to find meaning within them to succeed at playing the game. Is that a property exclusive to prewritten narrative? Or can recombinant story blocks be written well enough to provide a consistent foundation for world-building? It’s times like these I wish I was a better writer (and a better programmer and a better designer)…
consequential
Picking up the slightly older King of Dragon Pass the other day, I’ve been just delighted by the intricate relationship of all its moving parts. If you’re not the link-clicking type, the game is one of managing a clan of fantasy barbarians, guiding their larger governance decisions as they navigate a world of god magicks, tribal relations, and tradition. I’ve been drawn in deeply in part by its rich setting, but much more so by its patterns of delayed and often obscured consequence.
The game is very explicit in its presenting the player with choices to be made, but keeps its hand hidden as to where each choice will lead you. Many of the game’s internal calculations are concealed completely and I’ve found the best way to succeed is to understand the beliefs of my people and act intuitively based upon them. Does that not sound brilliant? This system forces the player to invest in the lore of the game and honestly think through each decision, not knowing if it’s a trivial one or if it will come back to haunt you several years down the road. This leads you, as a player, to justifiably feel as if each decision is a critical one.
Playing too Michael Brough’s (excellent) prototype 86856527, I’m reminded of how a well-made roguelike will force a similar gravity on a player. You must keep the rules of the world in the forefront of your mind as you make each move, else you’ll fail swiftly and irreversibly. What distinguishes the structure of King of Dragon Pass is how these rules are tucked away within the legends and the history of the world setting. Only by buying into your tribe’s religion and dogma can you hope to act in their best interests.
It makes me think about how educational games might improve upon their frequent block-of-text/minigame alternations. It’s not enough to force a player to regurgitate learned trivia; where meaningful engagement comes in is when a deeper understanding is required to progress. It’s a real art, though, to wed this with compelling and rewarding game mechanics. But King of Dragon Pass does this and I now know more about their fantasy barbarians than I ever learned about those of the real world. Perhaps it’s the roleplaying aspect of the game which provides the backbone for this investment: by requiring the player to get into the head of their avatar, the learnings are based less on the system of the game and far more on the content. A victory, perhaps, for games as storytelling devices?
What would this system of consequence look like applied to other genres? What if Mega Man’s every shot could be tied to some potential future consequence? Would they come back four levels later to haunt him? Would the player start to think about their actions? How could a designer obscure the system enough for a player to look beyond the obvious patterns and deeper into the world setting? Ha! Perhaps Mega Man isn’t the right vessel to support this. But for games with a rich setting and tomes worth of lore, forcing the player to act in accordance with the rules of the world — as opposed to the rules of the game — could do a lot for their buy-in as well as the lasting intellectual impact of the game.
bervquest 