Non-Linearity Created 16 years ago2008-01-15 05:54:14 UTC by Penguinboy

I've been bouncing ideas around lately and have thought of a few ways to utilise competitions in a way to get something similar to TWHLMix, such as having each entry begin and end in the same fashion to make them easy to string into a short mod, or a passaround compo (start with nothing, each user adds a room/a few rooms to the map and passes it onto the next person).

One thing that comes to mind is using a minerva(someplace else)-like text system to tell a story that branches off. so the player can go left and discover one ending, or they can go right and get something completely different.

my idea for this is to have it in levels. the first level could be to make a branch of the first map, (a small level with the base story included), then the next level is to pick a level and create a branch of it with a new twist on the story, and so on until there is an impressive number of endings.

perhaps if it was a compo the best two could be picked, but in later stages there would be too many levels and not enough people.

i dunno, i'd just like to see a mod with multiple endings (not just those sissy multiple endings you can just load the last map and play it again to see, alternate endings that you gotta play the mod again with completely different maps), and i reckon the best way to do it is through compos.

anyone got any insight on this? ideas? recommendations? am i being unrealistic? stupid? I think its a very plausible idea, and a mod with lots of endings and branching maps would attract a lot of attention. maybe.

I love it. I would quite gladly work on a little section or 2 for that

Sounds awesome. But you'd also have to make sure things aren't repetitive... I mean, if to chose a different path is as simple as just taking a different hallway... I'd have to be slightly more complex (think Splinter Cell 4) like doing or not doing something = blah blah blah...

Sounds interesting. I'd like to try single player mapping sometime, so a small map would be good.

Sounds really good. I never played Someplace Else, but I have it downloaded, and have planned on playing it for a while. Have to check it out. = )

Coop things are great if you can get people to do what they say they will do.

I like the idea of passing around a map with assignments or not, but too bad you couldn't make an evolving/revolving map without having to wait for the next person to finish... I mean, it could take ages. (either you'd have to make it really simple or very precise insturctions/restrictions)

Anyway I think it's a great idea!

You should, it's a brilliant mod. Best version of Xen I've ever seen.

The coop thing sounds like a cool idea! You could give co-workers a time-window, like one week, then his turn is over. If someone is not finished he might have another turn some time later and maybe can modify his work to finally put it in. Also when a "way" forks, maybe two ppl can work on each fork and it will be put together in the next release.

Although this kind of non-linearity is not done in commercial game releases, because it would mean lots of work for something that might never ever be seen by the player, you might find ppl here that are crazy enough to do it.

i dont like that, because the player changes the story, and its silly that the story only makes sense if the player has to have several copies of himself to make the stories related.

i think that if the tier system is worked, the mapper can choose their own story to suit the previous map. like, each person only does a small amount of the level, like 5 minutes of gameplay. and each map changes the storyline a little bit so that some endings are close but different, and some endings are completely different.

you'll have to excuse any typing mistakes as i'm not used to typing on a laptop.

well there are lots of different stories see, and only one story can be followed at one time.

the game play would be sweet too.
But will there be a way for opposing paths to cross? or no?

either way, i'm in for mapping.