Two things to talk about today, both related to wandering. Mild mechanical spoilers.
Nooks & Crannies
This is really just fleshing out the world, and giving the player an incentive to poke around beyond the level required to complete the game. Easter eggs aside, everything in the game (required or optional) should add to the experience in some way. In other words, having side areas simply to pad the node count isn’t my goal. I’m more interested in adding side areas (and items, and characters) that give optional insights into lore, help build the world, or add to the story.
Overworld
Most of the time, the player moves around the world via commands like WALK NORTH (or simply NORTH or N). Location nodes are connected via compass directions (plus special cases like up and down), usually in some sensible relation you could draw on a map.
Act II of the game includes a large region best described as an overworld, where movement is slightly different. Compass directions still apply, but not every spot on the map is a distinct location node. Without giving away too much, it’s an exploration-based area, so learning how to traverse it (and finding the hidden mysteries scattered around it) is a significant portion of the Act.
With that in mind, I’m considering a few novel command modifiers for the WALK verb. In particular, I don’t want to get into miles or kilometers (e.g. WALK NORTH 1KM), but WALK NORTH REALLY FAR sounds like fun. So far my measurements are:
- A bit
- A ways
- A long way
- Really far
Playtesting will have to determine whether this is actually fun/interesting, or simply annoying. If I’m going to annoy the player, I want it to be intentional.