fun or turns you off?

[Auro-Cyanide]

Game over could definitly annoy people if you don't do it right. I would suggest either:
-Letting them retake the test (so they automatically get another chance)
-STONGLY encouraging the player to save before, so they can just jump back into the save.

Having people restart from random points (especially if they are like me and won't save often unless they feel it is need) will make them rage. If you really want the test to have dire consequences, failing it could negatively effect the story (get a bad ending etc). If it is going to be serious consequences, I would also consider giving the player a heads up that the test is actually important so they at least go in prepared for what happens. It is pretty annoying when something you don't think is a big deal has huge negative consequences (unless it is linked to the plot eg. a butterfly flaps its wings)

[Soraminako]

I think it would be fine even with a game over in case of loss, as long as the player is warned beforehand that consequences will be significant. XD
That way they could simply save before taking the test, if they have been warned. If they didn't, oh well, they were warned.

I HAVE to ask. Are you making a Sengoku Basara fan game? *just wondering*

[OtomeWeekend]

Well, that's why i have a notice before the test that "You better save your game first or you'll need to restart all over again."

Apparently, the game is actually something like a girl from the future and something like she is tasked to change the past, --the heroine is quite the smart type and she calculates or thinks everything basing on the present's history and in every chapter, there is some major events and stuff that needs her knowledge to get solved, thus the test(think RPG games xD cept its history not glory).

@soranomiko: I love sengoku basara but i ultimately love the history of sengoku period(its our current lesson in our history subject). As much as I want to make a sengoku basara fangame, this is not related at all to SB.

About retaking the test, I'm still thinking if i should. :/ But maybe I'd include an auto-save and load though. I could drop the RPG system in this game but i really can't just drop the test...(should i post the summary afterall? so that people can get the picture to why? Dx)

[Funnyguts]

Shouldn't you be obsessively saving in a VN anyway? I dunno, maybe my perspective is skewed after playing Sierra games.

[OtomeWeekend]

well yeah... though i'm not obssessed over it... especially when playing haruka games Q_Q it was too troublesome so i usually just push my luck xP

[shizuka]

My suggestion here is instead of making it a disjointed portion of your game (ie. a minigame or a test) that tears the reader out of your novel portion of the game and into a test portion, is to integrate it into your game. I'm not sure how your story is written, but if it's set in the actual historical period, it's pretty easy to do: why not have the reader *apply* what they had been supposed to learn? So if your story is about medical procedures in the Sengoku era, you could write a narrative where the player is supposed to apply that to save a sick patient. And if your heroine doesn't manage to save the patient, and try again.

While the idea of warning the player to save is better than no warning at all, it still feels like an idea from RPGs in the 1990s. Many modern games don't penalize failure heavily, as that tends to lead to players "throwing controllers across the room." A better idea is to allow the user to try again until they pass, as your goal is to make the players learn (right?).

[Chrizine]

While the idea of warning the player to save is better than no warning at all, it still feels like an idea from RPGs in the 1990s. Many modern games don't penalize failure heavily, as that tends to lead to players "throwing controllers across the room." A better idea is to allow the user to try again until they pass, as your goal is to make the players learn (right?).

Agreed.

But I would so love to play a history game with tests, as long as all questions can be answered with only the knowledge from the game. If you need to have background knowledge beforehand, that would be a far worse turn-off (at least for me) than bad consequences if I fail at a test that is possible for me to solve.
But anyway, go ahead, make your game! If you say the tests are necessary, hell, include them! I take it they will fit in the story if you say you need them for the story

[Auro-Cyanide]

While the idea of warning the player to save is better than no warning at all, it still feels like an idea from RPGs in the 1990s. Many modern games don't penalize failure heavily, as that tends to lead to players "throwing controllers across the room." A better idea is to allow the user to try again until they pass, as your goal is to make the players learn (right?).

And than you have games like Demon Soul that will make you pay. And it's popular because of it.
The idea is to consider what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to challenge the player, or help them learn? Once you figure out what you want to do, the answer should be pretty easy.

[Lumen_Astrum]

It sounds fun.
It will teach the player to be more attentive to the dialogue. XD
(Is this Maria Makiling or something about Philippine History... or something different? O:)

[OtomeWeekend]

no, no, its about sengoku era... i gotta drop the idea about the mariang makiling because of out of resources and ideas for the story... like i said, its the kind of game, i might need a co-writer, or better if a team cause its a little too difficult from the setting and it doesn't help I'm not living in the philippines now cause well, i have limited references..

I'll brainstorm for more ideas to improve the game but since I am not a skilled programmer there is some programming like "if you failed the test try again" type of programming is out of my hands Dx ---well, if ever i would include a re-try for the test I would only give something like one chance ---if only i could actually program it

[Lumen_Astrum]

If you ever continue that Maria Makiling project, I'll help you research and code stuff in the game
(Aaaafter I finish this KN first... XD)

[OtomeWeekend]

then i should consider picking it up again later xP *check my dev blog why* ahaha... then i'm adding lack of inspiration unlike this current one which was full of them cause....I've been getting some hardcore moments with anything sengoku Q_Q