I'll have to be careful how I go about this, as it could turn out to be a potential spoiler, but I'm struggling for inspiration as I near the end of my game. It's not so much a lack of inspiration in the 'unmotivated' sense, but more a lack of ideas for the last couple of episodes.

You see the player must work through the lower ranks of a drug's organisation to get to the main boss, with each baddie or contact 'unlocking' the next-in-line. So far this has been done with the player gaining the information in various way (conversations, theft, hacking, force) and I feel the pattern is getting a little repetitive (go to baddie, get information. Go to next baddie, get information. Go to next baddie... etc etc). The baddie I'm working on now is the penultimate and it would just be nice if I could do something different with this one.

Any ideas as to how I might gain information about the 'Big Boss' in an interesting and original way?

What about if you have to become an imposter. So you would need info on both the boss AND the person you're impersonating? And you'd need a suitable disguise.

Or get close to a family member of his. You're the new child minder. The delivery man. The window cleaner. Milkman.

Both nice ideas, Silver. As the story stands now, this guy has done a runner and I was going to have the player search his apartment, so I'm kind of on the 'imposter' line.

As I suspected, though, I've probably already given too much away * I think I'll just have to figure it out myself.




* He says, expecting three million players

A computer left idle in an office? A file cabinet in the corner? A personal letter left in the trash? Brain dump of an associate in a virtual reality environment?

jaynabonne wrote:Brain dump of an associate in a virtual reality environment?

Ooh, don't laugh. I like it!

Without knowing anything about your game, I have no idea if this suggestion helps at all, but the best way to break a pattern is dramatically. If the player has been accumulating pieces of the puzzle from each boss, and is expecting the last one from this guy, the most clever thing you can do is NOT have them get it from this guy at all. Again, without knowing anything about your game I can't give any more specific help than that, but if you can get them the information after, but not because of, fighting the penultimate bad guy -- preferably in a way that makes the player feel smart for having figured it out for themselves -- it'll add the twist I think you're looking for.

Does the info from the earlier bosses have any common thread between them? If so, maybe that's the key piece the player needs: to realize the thread is there, and figure out the logical next (and final) step?

Just a thought. If you can be even slightly more specific (though I understand if you can't), I could offer alternative suggestions.

I like your thinking, jd. It's a bit like a Red Herring, I suppose, but if I make sure the player draws a blank at this one, I've still got to figure out a way of feeding them the lead to the Big Boss.

OurJud wrote:I like your thinking, jd.

Well, great minds and all that.

I guess it comes down to this "information" and its word length. If the information the player needs is explanatory, you're kinda screwed: somebody is going to have to explain that to the player, and if it's not the bad guy it'll just be somebody else, and in that case it's actually illogical to break the pattern and might be more frustrating than clever.

If the information is something short -- a password, a code, the name of a location -- that can be discovered in almost limitless ways.

Passwords: Tattoo on bad guy's dead body? Hidden in the "text speak" of a text message stored on their phone? Anagram of the title of their favorite book/song/movie/whatever?

Number Code: Time on a watch? Missing numbers on an uncompleted Sudoku on their desk? Flight number on a plane ticket?

Location: Map in the car glove box? Most commonly pinged GPS location on their phone? Clue based on a stain on bad guy's shoes or clothes (mud leading you to the river, animal blood to the meat-packing district... you get the idea)?

Just a few off the top of my head. If you see anything that could work, have at it.

Thanks again, jd - some genuinely interesting ideas that have certainly got me thinking

Yeah, I like the idea of 'breaking the pattern'. Have things work the same way again and again, and just when your player is lulled into a false sense of security, maybe even a little bored, throw something new in to shake things up and make them pay attention.