After some thought and a lot of research I've come to the conclusion that significant player choices should be able to change the following:
1) The environment - i.e the gameworld in which the story unfolds.
2) The story itself.
In terms of changing the environment the task at hand is actually pretty simple. For example if the story featured an evil red dragon who ate the local townsfolk, the player's choice to take on and then defeat the dragon would be easy to reflect in changes to the town environment previously under threat.
For example before the dragon was defeated the town:
1) Had a group of brave but arrogant knights each boasting of how they would be the one to defeat the dragon.
2) Townsfolk too scared to hold the annual summer fate for fear of attack
3) A merchant going out of business because people are either leaving the town in fear or staying at home rather than visiting his shop
Following the dragon's defeat all of the above features of the town change:
1) All but one of the knights leave. The remaining knight pledges his loyalty to the player due to the player's bravery.
2) Upon the player's return from slaying the dragon the summer fate gets into full swing as word has reached the town that the dragon is dead. The player is made the guest of honour at the fate
3) The merchant invests in a new line of dragon scale plate armour which he sells to the player at a heavy discount
Whilst these are only examples - some of which are pretty unoriginal - they all serve to highlight the fact that aspects of the environment have changed due to the player's actions. The pre-victory features of the town carried the theme of fear and despair whilst the post-victory features draw on features that were already present, but changed the theme to happiness and success.
If areas have a theme based on the circumstances of their inhabitants, then guidelines to consider for environmental change are:
1) Change to existing features allows an old area theme to be replaced with a new one based on the players actions i.e the environment has changed from bad to good. Adding new features offers the potential for greater emphasis of a new theme but sacrifices the connection with the old theme - i.e things are good now (but we don't know what things used to be like)
2) The feature that is going to change must be noticeable by the player. If the captain of the guard changes his tunic from a red one to a green one after the defeat of the dragon and the significance of this is not communicated directly to the player then the change was too subtle and the opportunity has been missed. If the town guard all wear red, are heavily armed and patrol the town before the defeat - but then change to all wearing green, carrying light or no arms and are all stood in line listening to a speech about how everyone should be grateful to the player, then the change is clearly easier to notice and draws attention to itself.
3) The change should be in keeping with the story or the quest the player has just undertaken. If in the above example the player learns that red tunics are worn when times are bad to remind townsfolk of the blood spilled by their ancestors fighting dragons the change feels more significant on a number of levels. Removal of the red tunics symbolically communicates that the danger has passed, no more blood will be spilled, the war is over, the guard are now focused on the "green shoots of recovery".
4) The player should always have an idea that their choices may have good or bad consequences. Unforseen changes can take place but they must not appear to punish the player's actions particularly if the players actions were good or neutral. Unforseen change should be good or neutral in the eyes of the player. If the player's actions result in something terrible, or a number of terrible things, happening to the town the player may well feel unfairly punished for their actions. Changes like this are along the lines of the defeat of evil the dragon leads to an orc invasion and the enslavement of the town - something a good player could not have forseen.
Well since this post has turned out longer than expected I’ll split the discussion of story changes into another post and leave you with the new logo for Eyes of Eilistraee – minus the background image (which is coming soon).
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