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In most games we cannot progress until we have completed certain tasks. Whether it be defeating certain enemies or finding a specific object, our progress in the game depends on this.
What if that wasn't the case, and you only got one shot at each scenario? If you fail you don't get the opportunity to try again, you simply move on down a different path. A save option would, no doubt, be essential, so people could retry certain parts to move down different paths if they wanted to try a different route, but it wouldn't be the general idea of the game.
Let's throw this idea into a game, as an example of how it would work.
You're on a space-ship, flying through space. An alien ship attacks yours, and the aliens board. Your first mission is to stop the aliens from destroying any essential equipment that could cause the ship to crash.
You only get one shot at this, you either succeed, or fail. Success would mean that you could return to your home planet, and then follow the path of the story that has you trying to complete missions to stop an alien invasion.
If you fail, the ship crashes onto one of the alien planets. You then follow a story in which you have missions that have you trying to escape from the planet. Different stories could see you finding a way to defeat the aliens on their home planet, if you are successful in each mission. If you fail some, you might still manage to repair your ship, and escape, or a certain failure could destroy the ship, and further successes could mean you manage to send a signal to a ship to rescue you. If you failed almost every mission, but avoided death, the best you could hope for would be survival on a hostile planet, with increasingly longer odds.
If you continue on a successful path, maybe the aliens will never even land on Earth, and you'd be declared a hero. A few failures could see important landmarks destroyed, or maybe having to flee the planet, as the aliens take it over.
The game would have a 'tree' like format, with storylines for ultimate success and failure. Any combination of successes and failures along the path could lead to any number of outcomes at the very end.
Should you die at any point in the game, one of two things would happen:
A) Game over, if you've saved you can try again.
B) A cut-scene will have someone drag you to safety, and you'll be sent down the failure route.
Anyway, here's a rough tree/map of the game, follow the numbers for success or failure to see where the game might take you.
As I said earlier, your ship is under attack. If you stop the aliens go to 6. If the aliens get the better of you, follow path 1.
1: You've crash landed. As you regain consciousness you realise that there are aliens all around the ship. If you succeed in killing of this wave, follow 5. If there are too many of them, you'll have to retreat. Go to 2.
2: Your only option now is to attack one of the buildings to try to a get to a radio, and call for help. If you succeed go to 4. Fail, go to 3.
3: You get captured by the aliens. You have a chance to escape. If you fail here, it's game over. If you succeed you've reached ending A.
4: You've got to the radio room, hold off the aliens whilst someone tries to send a signal. If you fail you'd go to 3, if you succeed go to ending B.
5: With the ship secured from the aliens, you can start to make repairs, you'll need to travel to find some parts though. If you get what you need you return to Earth, go to 8, else it's number 2 for you.
6: With the aliens defeated you return to Earth, and warn of the incoming invasion. The first wave is attacking, so get in your ship, and try to wipe them out. If you succeed, go to 13. If you fail, return to Earth, and number 7.
7: The aliens have landed! Take them on in a number of ground battles. If, ultimately, you succeed, go to number 11. Fail, go to 8.
8: You find that the capital has been taken by the aliens. Try to take it back from them! If you fail, number 9, succeed 10.
9: You've been captured, and are being lead onto a ship. You have a chance to escape. If you fail, it's game over, success will take you to ending C.
10: A huge mothership is nowing powerign a weapon to destroy the Earth. If you destroy the ship in time go to ending D, else go to ending C.
11: A further wave of ships attack in space. If you are successful against them go to 10, else go to 12.
12: A small number of aliens have landed, but they're multiplying! Wipe out the 'mother'. If you succeed, it's ending D, fail and it's number 9.
13: Th emothership arrives. Destroy it and go to 14, fail and go to 11.
14: A final wave of ships attacks. Beat them to reach ending E. Fail and you go to 12.
A: You escape from the aliens, and find a small grounp of humans on the planet. You live underground, in fear of the aliens, but at least you're alive.
B: A ship comes to pick you up. You see the Earth explode in the background.
C: You get on a ship to leave the Earth, as it's about to be destroyed. The mothership is destroyed, but not before it has blown up the Earth.
D: The aliens are defeat, but the planet requires some rebuilding.
E: You're a hero. The aliens were stopped before they could do any harm.
Obviously this is just an example, but it would be great to play as you explored each possibility. You mind find yourself losing a section deliberately!
It looks a little complex, but shouldn't be too difficult to implement. The evolution of each story would be based completely on how well you play, it would seem very free, but really only have a number of linear paths. Still, I'd love to see something like this!
What if that wasn't the case, and you only got one shot at each scenario? If you fail you don't get the opportunity to try again, you simply move on down a different path. A save option would, no doubt, be essential, so people could retry certain parts to move down different paths if they wanted to try a different route, but it wouldn't be the general idea of the game.
Let's throw this idea into a game, as an example of how it would work.
You're on a space-ship, flying through space. An alien ship attacks yours, and the aliens board. Your first mission is to stop the aliens from destroying any essential equipment that could cause the ship to crash.
You only get one shot at this, you either succeed, or fail. Success would mean that you could return to your home planet, and then follow the path of the story that has you trying to complete missions to stop an alien invasion.
If you fail, the ship crashes onto one of the alien planets. You then follow a story in which you have missions that have you trying to escape from the planet. Different stories could see you finding a way to defeat the aliens on their home planet, if you are successful in each mission. If you fail some, you might still manage to repair your ship, and escape, or a certain failure could destroy the ship, and further successes could mean you manage to send a signal to a ship to rescue you. If you failed almost every mission, but avoided death, the best you could hope for would be survival on a hostile planet, with increasingly longer odds.
If you continue on a successful path, maybe the aliens will never even land on Earth, and you'd be declared a hero. A few failures could see important landmarks destroyed, or maybe having to flee the planet, as the aliens take it over.
The game would have a 'tree' like format, with storylines for ultimate success and failure. Any combination of successes and failures along the path could lead to any number of outcomes at the very end.
Should you die at any point in the game, one of two things would happen:
A) Game over, if you've saved you can try again.
B) A cut-scene will have someone drag you to safety, and you'll be sent down the failure route.
Anyway, here's a rough tree/map of the game, follow the numbers for success or failure to see where the game might take you.
As I said earlier, your ship is under attack. If you stop the aliens go to 6. If the aliens get the better of you, follow path 1.
1: You've crash landed. As you regain consciousness you realise that there are aliens all around the ship. If you succeed in killing of this wave, follow 5. If there are too many of them, you'll have to retreat. Go to 2.
2: Your only option now is to attack one of the buildings to try to a get to a radio, and call for help. If you succeed go to 4. Fail, go to 3.
3: You get captured by the aliens. You have a chance to escape. If you fail here, it's game over. If you succeed you've reached ending A.
4: You've got to the radio room, hold off the aliens whilst someone tries to send a signal. If you fail you'd go to 3, if you succeed go to ending B.
5: With the ship secured from the aliens, you can start to make repairs, you'll need to travel to find some parts though. If you get what you need you return to Earth, go to 8, else it's number 2 for you.
6: With the aliens defeated you return to Earth, and warn of the incoming invasion. The first wave is attacking, so get in your ship, and try to wipe them out. If you succeed, go to 13. If you fail, return to Earth, and number 7.
7: The aliens have landed! Take them on in a number of ground battles. If, ultimately, you succeed, go to number 11. Fail, go to 8.
8: You find that the capital has been taken by the aliens. Try to take it back from them! If you fail, number 9, succeed 10.
9: You've been captured, and are being lead onto a ship. You have a chance to escape. If you fail, it's game over, success will take you to ending C.
10: A huge mothership is nowing powerign a weapon to destroy the Earth. If you destroy the ship in time go to ending D, else go to ending C.
11: A further wave of ships attack in space. If you are successful against them go to 10, else go to 12.
12: A small number of aliens have landed, but they're multiplying! Wipe out the 'mother'. If you succeed, it's ending D, fail and it's number 9.
13: Th emothership arrives. Destroy it and go to 14, fail and go to 11.
14: A final wave of ships attacks. Beat them to reach ending E. Fail and you go to 12.
A: You escape from the aliens, and find a small grounp of humans on the planet. You live underground, in fear of the aliens, but at least you're alive.
B: A ship comes to pick you up. You see the Earth explode in the background.
C: You get on a ship to leave the Earth, as it's about to be destroyed. The mothership is destroyed, but not before it has blown up the Earth.
D: The aliens are defeat, but the planet requires some rebuilding.
E: You're a hero. The aliens were stopped before they could do any harm.
Obviously this is just an example, but it would be great to play as you explored each possibility. You mind find yourself losing a section deliberately!
It looks a little complex, but shouldn't be too difficult to implement. The evolution of each story would be based completely on how well you play, it would seem very free, but really only have a number of linear paths. Still, I'd love to see something like this!
It is a very good idea and I am pretty certain that we will see games that use a technique like this in the not to distant future. This kind of idea could offer a whole new look to a lot of games and maybe make the game last longer as you would have to play it several times to make sure you have seen and done everything you can.
In most games we cannot progress until we have completed certain tasks. Whether it be defeating certain enemies or finding a specific object, our progress in the game depends on this.
What if that wasn't the case, and you only got one shot at each scenario? If you fail you don't get the opportunity to try again, you simply move on down a different path. A save option would, no doubt, be essential, so people could retry certain parts to move down different paths if they wanted to try a different route, but it wouldn't be the general idea of the game.
Let's throw this idea into a game, as an example of how it would work.
You're on a space-ship, flying through space. An alien ship attacks yours, and the aliens board. Your first mission is to stop the aliens from destroying any essential equipment that could cause the ship to crash.
You only get one shot at this, you either succeed, or fail. Success would mean that you could return to your home planet, and then follow the path of the story that has you trying to complete missions to stop an alien invasion.
If you fail, the ship crashes onto one of the alien planets. You then follow a story in which you have missions that have you trying to escape from the planet. Different stories could see you finding a way to defeat the aliens on their home planet, if you are successful in each mission. If you fail some, you might still manage to repair your ship, and escape, or a certain failure could destroy the ship, and further successes could mean you manage to send a signal to a ship to rescue you. If you failed almost every mission, but avoided death, the best you could hope for would be survival on a hostile planet, with increasingly longer odds.
If you continue on a successful path, maybe the aliens will never even land on Earth, and you'd be declared a hero. A few failures could see important landmarks destroyed, or maybe having to flee the planet, as the aliens take it over.
The game would have a 'tree' like format, with storylines for ultimate success and failure. Any combination of successes and failures along the path could lead to any number of outcomes at the very end.
Should you die at any point in the game, one of two things would happen:
A) Game over, if you've saved you can try again.
B) A cut-scene will have someone drag you to safety, and you'll be sent down the failure route.
Anyway, here's a rough tree/map of the game, follow the numbers for success or failure to see where the game might take you.
As I said earlier, your ship is under attack. If you stop the aliens go to 6. If the aliens get the better of you, follow path 1.
1: You've crash landed. As you regain consciousness you realise that there are aliens all around the ship. If you succeed in killing of this wave, follow 5. If there are too many of them, you'll have to retreat. Go to 2.
2: Your only option now is to attack one of the buildings to try to a get to a radio, and call for help. If you succeed go to 4. Fail, go to 3.
3: You get captured by the aliens. You have a chance to escape. If you fail here, it's game over. If you succeed you've reached ending A.
4: You've got to the radio room, hold off the aliens whilst someone tries to send a signal. If you fail you'd go to 3, if you succeed go to ending B.
5: With the ship secured from the aliens, you can start to make repairs, you'll need to travel to find some parts though. If you get what you need you return to Earth, go to 8, else it's number 2 for you.
6: With the aliens defeated you return to Earth, and warn of the incoming invasion. The first wave is attacking, so get in your ship, and try to wipe them out. If you succeed, go to 13. If you fail, return to Earth, and number 7.
7: The aliens have landed! Take them on in a number of ground battles. If, ultimately, you succeed, go to number 11. Fail, go to 8.
8: You find that the capital has been taken by the aliens. Try to take it back from them! If you fail, number 9, succeed 10.
9: You've been captured, and are being lead onto a ship. You have a chance to escape. If you fail, it's game over, success will take you to ending C.
10: A huge mothership is nowing powerign a weapon to destroy the Earth. If you destroy the ship in time go to ending D, else go to ending C.
11: A further wave of ships attack in space. If you are successful against them go to 10, else go to 12.
12: A small number of aliens have landed, but they're multiplying! Wipe out the 'mother'. If you succeed, it's ending D, fail and it's number 9.
13: Th emothership arrives. Destroy it and go to 14, fail and go to 11.
14: A final wave of ships attacks. Beat them to reach ending E. Fail and you go to 12.
A: You escape from the aliens, and find a small grounp of humans on the planet. You live underground, in fear of the aliens, but at least you're alive.
B: A ship comes to pick you up. You see the Earth explode in the background.
C: You get on a ship to leave the Earth, as it's about to be destroyed. The mothership is destroyed, but not before it has blown up the Earth.
D: The aliens are defeat, but the planet requires some rebuilding.
E: You're a hero. The aliens were stopped before they could do any harm.
Obviously this is just an example, but it would be great to play as you explored each possibility. You mind find yourself losing a section deliberately!
It looks a little complex, but shouldn't be too difficult to implement. The evolution of each story would be based completely on how well you play, it would seem very free, but really only have a number of linear paths. Still, I'd love to see something like this!
What if that wasn't the case, and you only got one shot at each scenario? If you fail you don't get the opportunity to try again, you simply move on down a different path. A save option would, no doubt, be essential, so people could retry certain parts to move down different paths if they wanted to try a different route, but it wouldn't be the general idea of the game.
Let's throw this idea into a game, as an example of how it would work.
You're on a space-ship, flying through space. An alien ship attacks yours, and the aliens board. Your first mission is to stop the aliens from destroying any essential equipment that could cause the ship to crash.
You only get one shot at this, you either succeed, or fail. Success would mean that you could return to your home planet, and then follow the path of the story that has you trying to complete missions to stop an alien invasion.
If you fail, the ship crashes onto one of the alien planets. You then follow a story in which you have missions that have you trying to escape from the planet. Different stories could see you finding a way to defeat the aliens on their home planet, if you are successful in each mission. If you fail some, you might still manage to repair your ship, and escape, or a certain failure could destroy the ship, and further successes could mean you manage to send a signal to a ship to rescue you. If you failed almost every mission, but avoided death, the best you could hope for would be survival on a hostile planet, with increasingly longer odds.
If you continue on a successful path, maybe the aliens will never even land on Earth, and you'd be declared a hero. A few failures could see important landmarks destroyed, or maybe having to flee the planet, as the aliens take it over.
The game would have a 'tree' like format, with storylines for ultimate success and failure. Any combination of successes and failures along the path could lead to any number of outcomes at the very end.
Should you die at any point in the game, one of two things would happen:
A) Game over, if you've saved you can try again.
B) A cut-scene will have someone drag you to safety, and you'll be sent down the failure route.
Anyway, here's a rough tree/map of the game, follow the numbers for success or failure to see where the game might take you.
As I said earlier, your ship is under attack. If you stop the aliens go to 6. If the aliens get the better of you, follow path 1.
1: You've crash landed. As you regain consciousness you realise that there are aliens all around the ship. If you succeed in killing of this wave, follow 5. If there are too many of them, you'll have to retreat. Go to 2.
2: Your only option now is to attack one of the buildings to try to a get to a radio, and call for help. If you succeed go to 4. Fail, go to 3.
3: You get captured by the aliens. You have a chance to escape. If you fail here, it's game over. If you succeed you've reached ending A.
4: You've got to the radio room, hold off the aliens whilst someone tries to send a signal. If you fail you'd go to 3, if you succeed go to ending B.
5: With the ship secured from the aliens, you can start to make repairs, you'll need to travel to find some parts though. If you get what you need you return to Earth, go to 8, else it's number 2 for you.
6: With the aliens defeated you return to Earth, and warn of the incoming invasion. The first wave is attacking, so get in your ship, and try to wipe them out. If you succeed, go to 13. If you fail, return to Earth, and number 7.
7: The aliens have landed! Take them on in a number of ground battles. If, ultimately, you succeed, go to number 11. Fail, go to 8.
8: You find that the capital has been taken by the aliens. Try to take it back from them! If you fail, number 9, succeed 10.
9: You've been captured, and are being lead onto a ship. You have a chance to escape. If you fail, it's game over, success will take you to ending C.
10: A huge mothership is nowing powerign a weapon to destroy the Earth. If you destroy the ship in time go to ending D, else go to ending C.
11: A further wave of ships attack in space. If you are successful against them go to 10, else go to 12.
12: A small number of aliens have landed, but they're multiplying! Wipe out the 'mother'. If you succeed, it's ending D, fail and it's number 9.
13: Th emothership arrives. Destroy it and go to 14, fail and go to 11.
14: A final wave of ships attacks. Beat them to reach ending E. Fail and you go to 12.
A: You escape from the aliens, and find a small grounp of humans on the planet. You live underground, in fear of the aliens, but at least you're alive.
B: A ship comes to pick you up. You see the Earth explode in the background.
C: You get on a ship to leave the Earth, as it's about to be destroyed. The mothership is destroyed, but not before it has blown up the Earth.
D: The aliens are defeat, but the planet requires some rebuilding.
E: You're a hero. The aliens were stopped before they could do any harm.
Obviously this is just an example, but it would be great to play as you explored each possibility. You mind find yourself losing a section deliberately!
It looks a little complex, but shouldn't be too difficult to implement. The evolution of each story would be based completely on how well you play, it would seem very free, but really only have a number of linear paths. Still, I'd love to see something like this!