79 - Save Games

[JPrice]

I think autosaves are the best way to approach a game like this really. Whilst having the option to save whenever is a convenient and useful feature to have in most games, for something like Neverending Nightmares that relies a lot on immersion I think that autosaves are good way to avoid any user interface interaction and to make the player spend more time within the gameplay.

Of course it comes down to how well implemented the system is and it being fair without screwing the player over, but as Matt said NN isn't really going to be designed as a difficult game so I'm content with autosaves. I can totally understand the divide in this thread though. As people have said having constant autosaves could take the menace out of some of the more hostile situations.

Point is, I don't think you can really win fully with either method (manual or auto) here Matt! hahaha
Just implement the method you've described and see how it works for the game I suppose, if it doesn't work then just alter it to fit the other method and see if that works better!

[matt]

But how will the proposed branching paths factor into this?

That is a very good question. I am still trying to figure out how that will work myself. What I am thinking is that there will be a nightmare map that lets you pick up and play at any nightmare you previously unlocked. It will also give you a hint as to where the branches are - although I like the idea of people just starting a new playthrough and see where it takes them.

I'm not quite sure how that will work with autosaves though. I am thinking about having an autosave per nightmare, so you can keep your progress in one scenario and try something in a previous one, but I'm not 100% sold on the idea. In general, I want to encourage people playing from start to finish without going back and second guessing their decisions and trying different things. For those of you who are programmers, I want depth first playthroughs and not breadth first. Still, I want people to be able to enjoy the game however they want, so I might do it anyway.

Will there be a point in the game where you have to accomplish something (say not getting killed by a monster), in order to take a certain story path? If I died there on my first playthrough, then accidentally die again the second time through, would I have to start all over again?

You definitely won't have to start all over. I think the nightmare map will help with that.

Also is NN going to use Steam cloud, or is it too early to start thinking about that yet? I've always been curious, what decides which games use the system, is it completely up to the developer or are there other factors?

Definitely we'll use Steam Cloud. We are going to implement it soon. It is trivially easy to use, so it is silly not to. Personally, I hate it when games don't use it. It is entirely up to the developer... I feel like if they don't implement it, I think it's because of laziness. I can't think of any other reason NOT to use it.

I promise I will fix any bugs that come up with the save system.

I am definitely open to suggestions about the save system, but I ask that you give my scheme a chance first.

[gagaplex]

The nightmare map sounds like a great solution as checkpoints/chapter-beginnings go. Or make it like a branching, clawed tree... as the decisions/actions/choices you made increase, you get closer to the spindly, finger-/claw-like edges of the tree...

In any case, if the individual nightmare scenarios aren't too long each, starting over from that sort of nightmare map would work, I think. One autosave per nightmare sounds better, still.

I think I just misunderstood what you meant, because I thought there would be one autosave for the entire game. Which would mean that, if you wanted to go a different route - without something like the nightmare map - you'd have to start COMPLETELY over to go a different route, resulting in tons and tons of retreading of the early sections...

But since that's not what you're aiming for, I'm already very happy.

[matt]

Cool. I'm glad we are on the same page. I guess I should have been clearer in my video.

Making it look like a tree sounds like a good idea. I'll have to talk to my artists, but it'll be a while before we start working on that. We are trying to nail one playthrough first.

[ranger_lennier]

I can see the tree concept working well. Really, I'm fine with playing straight through the first time with whatever path I end up on. But I'd be less likely to keep replaying to see the rest of the game if I had to repeat the early sections over and over. Personally, I'd find that more frustrating than repeating content because it was difficult, so it's good that Matt has considered that issue already.

[matt]

Personally, I don't like replaying things that I already played, so I definitely want to design the game to be less frustrating to people like myself. hahah