Dragon's Dogma plot structure

As part of the early stages of my PhD research, I've been studying branching narratives and trying to come up with a consistent system for diagramming them. This image represents my current solution, and this approach seems to work for any game that I've tried so far, including tabletop RPGs.

I'm currently only looking at the structure of how the branching narrative functions, rather than any actual story content. The goal is to be able to disassemble and reassemble these structures, to fit the current status of the story. It's early days yet.

Here's a sort of key for the diagram:

Lots of one-game-a-weeks - a run-down

Here's a brief look at some of the little game designs I've been furiously working on over the last couple of months. I'll provide some (Windows only) links for if you want to try any of them, but be warned - they are small, incomplete prototypes and they may not have end conditions or built-in ways to quit (or even real instructions on how to play). You may have to resort to Alt-F4 or the Task Manager to close the programs.

Descriptions and links in the full article, below the jump.

MB1E

I've got an idea for a game with only one ending, but multiple beginnings. I'm not sure how that would work though.
I'm giving it some thought.

Free downloadable game - The Factory: Digital Edition

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

The Factory: Digital Edition is now available for download. Click the link above to do so. I hope you enjoy my new game.

It is a direct conversion of a gamebook/card game of my own design. It is a sort of text-based adventure. There are six endings, fifteen events with twenty outcomes and fifteen different items to find. You can choose your character's goal, which influences how the game plays out and how it can end. One more thing - most of the game is randomly generated each time you play, so it should never quite play out the same way.

TF:DE still progressing

I realise that the last time I posted, over a month ago, I said that The Factory: Digital Edition was pretty close to completion. I think I estimated about a week? So that didn't happen. My apologies. It's been a bit of an eventful month, and I underestimated the amount of work I still had to do.

As you can see above, I have now completed the title screen. Whoop! The help screen is also done, though a little boring. The sounds are sorted, aside from maybe two more. Now I just need to make a credits screen and some images for the 6 endings. The images in particular may take a while. I hope to have it done before Christmas. Wouldn't it make a lovely present?

I'll keep you posted. I'm good like that.

TF:DE - pretty close to completion

Hello! Here is another work-in-progress screenshot of The Factory: Digital Edition. It is now very nearly complete. The game is fully playable now that I have implemented all of the items. I just need to polish it all up now. Make it real nice for you.

The screenshot above should be representative of final game play. I'm happy with the look of the game as it is played at the moment. I am going to add a title screen and some kind of help screen. Also maybe a few sound effects. I then need to tweak a few transitions and the like, and then it will be complete.

Are you excited? I kind of am.

Update on TF:DE

The Factory: Digital Edition is coming along nicely. I'm treating you to another screenshot. Fifteen events, twenty outcomes, five goals and six endings are all working properly. It basically plays now. I just need to implement the fifteen different rewards, maybe add some sound effects, add a help bit and make a nice title screen, then it will be finished.

Sorry, I just keep rambling on about myself. So how are things with you?

Work in progress - The Factory: Digital Edition

Yet another thing that I am "up to" recently. The Factory is a narrative game book/card game that I made a while back. I'm in the process of transforming it into a video game. It's good practise, and it also means that many more people will be able to play this little game that I'm pretty proud of.

The story is randomly constructed each time you play and there are multiple endings and character types. You will probably enjoy playing it. Above is a VERY early screenshot.

17X9 - the first battle

In the first recorded conflict of 17X9, the Flavus Technocracy launched a Liberation Strike against a Kingdom of Mov Broadcast Station. It was a fierce battle, but the Flavans came out on top, thanks to the support of a unit of Wasps. Once the Movish had been defeated and their bodies destroyed, the Flavans levelled the Broadcast Station and moved on.

In another universe...

It is the year 17X9. War rages across New Laurasia. The Flavus Technocracy is locked in a bitter conflict with the Kingdom of Mov. The time for diplomacy has passed. This will only end when one side is utterly destroyed.

Some good stuff by Gregory Weir

Recently I've been playing a fair few free Flash games on Kongregate. It turns out that a few of the ones that I particularly enjoyed were made by the same person - Gregory Weir. These games were:

How to Raise a Dragon - a very open, branching interactive story with a lot of player choice - very charming. (The image on the left is from this game)

The Majesty of Colours - another branching game, but this time more open to interpretation - quite beautiful.

The Day - an interesting experiment in the separation of goals - plays as an adventure/collectible card game - the narrative unfolds in a very clever way.


Gregory Weir also keeps a blog - Ludus Novus - with some interesting writing about interactive art. I recommend paying it a visit.

Free downloadable adventure game - The Cursed Caves

DOWNLOAD The Cursed Caves here.

Yes! The Cursed Caves is finally complete. Please feel free to download and play it. I welcome your feedback, also.

This is quite exciting really. My first totally complete game! I hope it is well-received.

Sorry for the cheesy title of the blog post. I thought it might attract more hits with a few buzz-words in there.

Apparently, some internet security programs may think that the game is a virus. Sorry, I'm not sure how to fix that. I promise it isn't though.

*** EDIT *** I am sorry, but I think that the game will only run on a Windows PC, as it is a .exe file. This is the only way I was able to export it.

Bonus Content! Unused ending screen from The Cursed Caves

This is that.

This ending does not happen any more. You can take some information about the game from this though. If you care enough, that is. And if you don't - why not?

EDIT - Those little people were all properly animated and stuff. And there was a cool scrolling effect happening with the sky. But you'll never get to see that. Sorry.

More sprites from The Cursed Caves

Who wants more sprites from The Cursed Caves before I go to work? You do? Well, that's great then!

See how I didn't just flip the sprite for the Hero walking left and right? That's because I care. And it really irritates me when characters in games repeatedly switch sword arms and such.

A demo shouldn't be too far off now, hopefully.

Some sprites from The Cursed Caves

Here are some sprites from The Cursed Caves - the game that I'm currently working on. I have blown these up so that you can see them a little better. I'm considerate like that. I don't want to release too much information all at once, so I'll leave it at that for now.

I am considering releasing a demo version once I've got a bit more finished. Let's wait and see, shall we?

Oh, and as a bonus, here is an early, rejected design for the Hero:

Raptor webcomic splash page

Well hello there. Gosh, it has been a while. I've been so absorbed in getting on with a few projects that I neglected my blogging duties. Sorry about that.

Here is the splash page/intro for the Raptor webcomic that I've been working on with a couple of guys (http://www.raptornoir.com/). I finished this a while back, but I am going to re-do it. I went for a more straight-up comic-book feel and layout here (albeit with a pixel-art visual), and I think I lost something in the process. The older, black-and-white, video game-esque concept images for Raptor were much more effective and engaging. I intend to re-draw this whole page in that previous style. Still, this piece took me a while, and I am pretty proud of how it came out, so I thought I would put it up here.

There are more updates to come. I am trying to get a few things to the point where I can show you something substantial.

5 days of my plot structure

Following on from the previous images - I decided to map my own plot structure for five days. This is the result. It's interesting to see which loops occur frequently, and just which parts of my days are often the same.
As a theme, I'm finding these illustrations of structures to be an interesting topic. Particularly with the previous structures of game books - I'm illustrating a story, but with no mention of the narrative within my image. Yet I find the outcomes quite beautiful. They are illustrations of the structure, the underlying mechanics. This is an idea I am going to explore further.

House of Horror plot structure

Here is another plot structure diagram. This time I mapped House of Horror, also from the Fighting Fantasy Project.
It occurred to me, after posting the Hellfire plot structure below, that the sketch image that I had made whilst playing was more interesting than the re-done image that I posted. So this time I went straight in with a pen and decided to post the results. It's a little messy, but I think it makes for a more intriguing illustration of my experience of the game's structure. Isn't it beautiful? I find the structure sort of mesmerising.
These images don't quite contain enough information. There are some aspects of the games that I haven't been able to record. For example - some parts of the story can be re-directed depending upon which items the player is carrying. I may work on a more complex method of representing these factors, but I like these diagrams the way they are.

Hellfire plot structure

My dissertation contained a section dealing with the theoretical mapping of interactive plot structures. I decided to have a go for real, and this image (click to enlarge) is the result.
I spent a while playing Hellfire (an online gamebook), from the Fighting Fantasy Project, and mapped out all of my attempts. The squares are interactive points (including their "page" numbers), the arrows are the flow of events, the circles are possible endings (all deaths) and the blank squares are options that I didn't choose.
By the way, the Fighting Fantasy Project website is pretty fun. I recommend stopping by if you are/were into gamebooks. Or if you're gamebook-curious. Or if you've got some time to kill (let's face it, you do).

Raptor's office concept

Another concept image for Raptor, using the same style as the last. Here we see Malt Likka and Raptor arguing about something. I feel like this may be going somewhere. It's very time consuming, but I enjoy making things that are tiny and detailed. We'll see what else happens.