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Open world RPG design notes from Enderal, a big long Skyrim mod

Radiator Blog

Whenever an NPC is about to dump backstory and exposition on you, they'll ask you to take a seat. This is a convenient diegetic way of locking the player in-place for a cutscene, while also priming the player for an extended cutscene. Diegetically, the NPC has to prepare a machine or potion, or get supplies, or whatever.

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A day in the life of a narrative designer

Game Global

When you imagine doing this job, is it mostly about crafting amazing cutscenes? You should concentrate on building up your writing portfolio and getting regular game writing work. How can I get this NPC to convey a specific emotion if I don’t have that specific animation in my toolbox? And that’s valid!

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Indie game capsule reviews: Immortality, Wayward Strand, Cult of the Lamb, Betrayal at Club Low, Atuel

Radiator Blog

This isn't a big apocalyptic video game betrayal cutscene where a villain reveals himself and destroys a castle, instead it's a smaller deeper betrayal that instantly brought me back to being a teenager. Gradually all these advancements and upgrades add up to a NPC-driven town that can maintain and feed itself automatically.

Indy 52
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The Lost Ark Has Found its Way

Deconstructor of Fun

The map models are rich and varied in terms of items, buildings, and terrain changes, which offsets outdated graphics performance. Animation: Two perspectives, the separation of cloud and mud Lost Ark has a sincere visual performance, among which are various cutscenes from a top-down perspective. The rough cutscene).

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Sandbox vs themepark

Raph Koster

There were creative worlds such as MOOs where anyone could build anything. It was like resetting a little stage-play; the NPC actors hit their marks and reappeared at their start location. Some of this was used to just add nicer NPCs, with conversations, reactions to the environment, etc. Why did something like that come to be?

Sandbox 64
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Deathloop deconstruction / design thoughts

Radiator Blog

NOT telekinesis, only works on NPCs / PvP) Havoc (temporary shield / damage buff), very useful for people who keep dying (i.e. me) or PvP buff but conceptually rather boring Aether (cloak + invisible to laser sensors, attacks cancel it, can be upgraded to only consume mana while moving). It would feel terrible.

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The three most important qualities in an RPG

Keith Burgun

You don’t have to build a fully functioning economy or put something behind every single door, or whatever. Even a handful of new mechanics or other properties are often enough to help create that question in people’s minds: “what else might be possible in this game?”

Fantasy 52