This is the first installment of my "How I Would've/Should've Done It" section, much like the other random sections I have on my blog. I intend to use this to suggest ways how I would've done a certain part of a game, either design wise or story wise. However, with the whole ye who has no sin cast the first stone idea, I will first stone myself (?) by putting one of my stories up on the chopping block. That story is given by a contact named Roy Cooling.
In a nutshell, Roy Cooling is the agent of the Federal Bureau of Superpowered Affairs. There's a problem regarding medi-porters, a device that teleports heroes to a hospital when they're in danger. Paragon citizens are starting to grumble about the medi-porters being reserved for heroes and not being given to regular people, and as such, a protesting group has formed. This was all sparked by the announcement that the corporation behind the medi-porters was releasing a better, more stable version to ensure heroes are protected. The president of the corporation, along with the details on the new prototype, are kidnapped/stolen by rogue police officers. It's revealed that the man behind the rogue cops was the leader of the civilian protesters who convinced the cops to help them out. However, it's then revealed that there is a different group pulling that man's strings, the Sky Raiders, a group of hired mercenaries. However, the rogue cops then turn on the civilian and try to kill him, as he's the only one who knows their identities. The player either succeeds or fails in stopping that. The player then goes after the Sky Raiders to recover the prototype and the president of medi-corp. However, it's then revealed that the Malta organization is pulling the strings of the Sky Raiders to get the device for themselves. The player puts a stop to it and all is well, medi-corp promises to hand out medi-porters to the severely sick and elderly.
So! First things first, the main problem, I feel when looking back at this, would be too many twists and turns. I would outright remove the inclusion of Malta in this arc and leave it as just the Sky Raiders. The problem is that with so many twists the story becomes difficult to track and loses its focus. I think the story would be much stronger if it was focusing around the Sky Raiders as the "big bad", focusing in on their backstory that they're all ex-military who were essentially rendered useless by the presence of supers. They would have every reason to want to get their hands on the medi-porters. You can keep the political commentary/grey area of the Rogue PPD and the civilian protesters, as they may or may not have a point that it is wrong and that they're doing all of this in order to make things right. However, when it comes down to it, the Sky Raiders don't care about righting the wrong with the civilian populace, they care about evening the playing field that was leveled so long ago by supers.
There are a lot of other details that would have to be smoothed out with this in mind, but I think it would make for a much smoother story. Of course, I could always be wrong, and that's the beauty of this! I fully admit that this, and any future "How I..." posts are going to be flawed and imperfect and will not please everyone or even anyone. However, I find that it's a fun exercise to look back on older work and think about how I would've liked to improve upon it. What do you all think?
Ok, I do see your point on the Sky Raiders as the "big bad". However, I have to say, I did not play it straight through. Myself and a group I tend to play with, broke our time in this into an "episodic" format.
ReplyDeleteNow, approaching it in an episodic format, it was great! The plot twists were a surprise, but not jarring at all.
I have to admit, dealing with the Rogue PPD was actually more entertaining than dealing with the Sky Raiders or Malta. The story seemed to make more sense from the point of view of some police who had gotten fed up with the supers, almost a "Watchmen" like flavor to the story.
I have a counter-question, what if you removed the Sky Raiders completely and just used Malta? Given Malta being the super-secret shadowy organization, manipulating some Rogue PPD who are fed up with the city pandering to heroes does seem very appropriate for them to do without bothering with the Sky Raiders.
Well, the only problem is that this is supposed to be a 20-30 arc, and Malta are primarily 35+ (after a few tweaks); I put in a Titan at the end, but I think since Malta are such a big threat that they should've been reserved for the later levels. I do think, however, that there CAN be Malta still manipulating all of these events, but it's much more subtle and only revealed in a higher level arc.
ReplyDeleteThe amusing twist to all of this is that Rogue PPD are a far, far more dangerous threat than the Sky Raiders. They were developed later in the game's lifecycle and carry with them all sorts of horrible debuffs and controls... super long lasting web grenades, acid mortars, etc. They're the reason my buds tended to avoid Mayhem Missions in that level range! It's a wonder Paragon City needs heroes at all, with such powerful law enforcement tech.
ReplyDelete(I say this out of love, of course. It's just super amusing when mechanics and lore don't see eye to eye. :)
I think focusing on the Raiders is definitely the way to go here. Their mentality (humans first, we were abandoned) is in line with the protestors, AND they have their own teleportation technology. MediPorts would sync well with their means and ends. Malta have porters as well but their focus is more on containing metahumans.
Caveat: I didn't play the Roy Cooling missions, so my comments are only based on what you described in your blog post.
ReplyDeleteFirst comment: Your intuitions should be your main guide. If you are feeling that fewer twists is better, you should go with it!
Second comment: Multiple twists is not necessarily a bad thing. Twists can be a great "hook", and having lots of twists can make for excellent entertainment. One of my favorite movies is Deathtrap, and it has about seven twists within two hours. When piled one on top of the other, each twist is more entertaining than the last! And for me, it was never difficult to follow.
Third comment: Rather than thinking about the absolute number of twists, you might think about the "Twist-to-Character-Development Ratio". I have the feeling that as long as the number of twists is balanced by deep character development, it never seems like "too much". For example, in Deathtrap, most of the twists are accompanied by learning something new about the characters. So, in other words, twists should not be your only hook. As long as your story appeals on other levels, you can keep throwing twists at the audience, without fear of losing them.
Those are my initial thoughts, for your consideration! And thanks for your thought-provoking blogs!