fun or turns you off?

[OtomeWeekend]

I've actually been meaning to add a certain system in my unrevealed project(nope, not pumpkin princess) where you have to pass a certain test to move on to the next chapter or its game over for you. I dunno, i liked the sound and the mechanics of it, and if you carefully read the whole dialogues, you'd certainly won't fail it. but IMO, it sounds fun, i dunno if it sounds fun let alone interesting to others though ._.

BTW, just in case everyone is thinking why.... this project is actually a historical one and i want it to not only be filled with otome love but also filled with educational stuffs. :/

i know people would say that i should do what i want to but i'm really just asking opinions; would it even be fun or interesting or completely turn you off and won't bother for the game?

[Taleweaver]

I've actually been meaning to add a certain system in my unrevealed project(nope, not pumpkin princess) where you have to pass a certain test to move on to the next chapter or its game over for you. I dunno, i liked the sound and the mechanics of it, and if you carefully read the whole dialogues, you'd certainly won't fail it. but IMO, it sounds fun, i dunno if it sounds fun let alone interesting to others though ._.

Why should this be a turnoff? Early gameovers FTW! Ace Attorney is full of it!

[OtomeWeekend]

lol. yeah, now that you mentioned it, ace attorney does have it xD

....though that certainly didn't cross my mind ._. x]

[Camille]

I actually like mini-games, haha, as long as they're not too ridiculous and somehow fit with the theme of the game. Uta no Prince-Sama has the rhythm mini-games and the music/lyric tests you have to take in order to get to the next chapter, and those are mostly fun.

[Arcanum]

Hmnn… Maybe not if you get a game ove? Say, maybe failing it contributes to a bad ending instead of giving you a game over. I get really frustrated when I want to get though some part and I'm unable to because I'm not skilled enough to pass the minigame XD'

[Funnyguts]

So by test you mean the kind a teacher gives you, and not a general challenge to overcome?

[sake-bento]

As long as it doesn't require reflexes, I'm good. First person shooters, realtime RPGs, and to some extent, even platformers, are pretty killer for me. I seriously lack the reflexes necessary to play any of those games well, which then makes the game little more than an exercise in frustration for me. ^_^;;

[Crocosquirrel]

There are two games that come to mind immediately when you suggest this, and ways that it could be not-fun. The first is Ephemeral Fantasia, in it's guitar minigame. Nobody bothers to tell you, in the manual or the game itself what buttons to what, and you wind up needing to press up to six buttons at the same time and timing counts on a standard Dualshock 2 controller.

Were it a GH-style controller, that might just fly.

If you blow it, you wind up at a disadvantage, and too much of that will make things nearly impossible.

The other was the PC version of House, MD, that had minigames in which you had to do as many as four things at once (complex actions no less), and you're on a very short timer. I understand the timer concept, since people can die if a doctor doesn't work fast enough. What I don't get is trying to operate a bypass machine where you have to figure out which way to route blood through the system and hit switches in the right order while spinning up the pumps with your mouse by making a tight circle over it.

Remember children, color inside the lines now. If you color outside, or leave a pump for a moment, it starts to slow down.

You have 45 seconds. Go!

Those things are Not Fun. If I want to do Stupid Controller Tricks, I have a pile of fighting games I can go for. I don't want to perform anatomical impossibilities with a controller or break my wrist on a pump when I know it's just going to happen again.

[OtomeWeekend]

well, actually the test is a knowledge quiz... ._. As I have mentioned, i plan this game to be more on the educational side than the otome side.
The numbers of questions aren't decided yet but I plan that it would be not too many(4~6 might be the best target). I dunno how to program mini-games, so I pass on them.

...Apparently, making a mistake in the test would end the game for you, because the contents of the test would be included in the whole dialogues(and hyperlinks to real history facts), so that won't be really difficult(less you skip all the dialogues). While finishing and passing the test would open the next chapter and can even raise a stat I called "friendship and loyalty" parameter. ---Since the game is about history, and during the civil war in japan(Sengoku Period).

As for the reason why i can't drop this idea is---because of the plot of the vn.... and the goal of the heroine. There'S not other way to show how the heroine progresses to complete her goal in the game(and i don't want this to be the typical vn where the heroine really did nothing but still gets a happy ending...)

............................But if people are gonna get disappointed by this kind of system, i might need to re-think about the mechanics of it ._.

[SusanTheCat]

Would you be able to redo the test? Or would you have to start from a save point?

Ultima 6 had a similar system where the mayor would ask you questions. If you didn't answer them correctly, you could go back and talk to the townspeople to get the information.

I think it would be ok as long as it is presented as educational. If you are playing an educational game, you almost expect to be tested.

Susan

[Funnyguts]

You could always cheat and have the girl go back in time and experience the Sengoku period for herself.

Can you not have the test tally correct scores and give the player a passing or failing grade at the end of it?

[HikkiPanda]

Is there a reason why failing a test will result in game over? Usually a school test is not that dangerous (unless you faill all of them ^^;)

[Crocosquirrel]

Dropping the wrong test, especially in an elite school can get you suspended academically. So that could be what a game over could represent. This doesn't seem like a bad idea if the information is presented in-game.

[ririruetoo]

Historical hmm? Like Rose of Versailles? ( one of my new favorites!!)
Anywho, that sounds like a good idea, I don't why anyone would mind it.

[Marcelo_Orlando]

I like the idea, but I would have to advise against it. The "gameover" feature would be a turn off for most. From what I've noticed there are only a few members here who are into history and like to play those types of challenge games, but I fear we're outnumbered and it would turn many away from playing your game.