Game Design - The Value of Rollback
Added 2017-04-07 09:04:33 +0000 UTCBefore I get distracted, a quick update on the state of v0.6. All the special endings are written and image sets are half done. I've still got to go through and fix a bunch of spelling mistakes that were found in the last version, which I'll probably do in the next few days. Over all, we're quickly marching towards the release of v0.6!
By default Renpy includes a rollback feature that allows the user to undo actions or step backwards in a conversation. This allows you to go back and reread dialog you skipped accidentally, or undo a decision you just made. A game like Lab Rats is based around decision making though, so rollback might at first glance seem like it's harming the game by allowing you to undo decisions that are harmful. Throughout development it's been one of the most useful and user friendly features though, and I wanted to take a little bit of time and look at why.
In Lab Rats, most of the gameplay comes from decision making. Spending a serum here, or saving it for later, spending cash on serum supplies, or with mom on Monday morning. These are all decisions that have worth while trade offs, and require a little bit of thought from the player. Rollback does nothing to harm these types of long reaching decisions, where you're picking between one boon and another.
Rollback is a great feature for making the dialog system more forgiving and intuitive. Menu tags can sometimes be misleading or lack sufficient description for the action. Without the ability to undo those choices, you might commit yourself to an action you didn't intend to make. For an example, look at fallout 4 and it's poorly labeled "Sarcasm" option that appeared in many different dialogs. Those responses could range from dry wit to complete craziness, but you could never tell until you were committed to that path. Allowing rollback lets you pick an option, read a few lines of story down and then decide "yes, this is what I meant to do." or "Wait, that doesn't seem right.". It provides far more context to a piece of speech than I could ever hope to fit on a single selection tag.
So, expect to have rollback enabled in Lab Rats forever. I may tweak the exact number of events you can undo, but the improvements to the gameplay experience make it a key feature of the game.
Comments
I love the roll back system! There have been so many patreon games that I've played with sudden bad ends which put you back to where you last saved or bad choices that make you miss scenes that you didn't know about forcing you to save all the time. Also I'm the type in RPs that always go through all dialogue choices first and then decide so it's really great.
Nevenga Games
2017-04-12 04:19:22 +0000 UTCa bit off topic but, have you ever thought about adding a non-incest option? im one of those people(sorry there) that gets turn-off by that, and i belive there are others like me, something like a rename option like calling mom by her name would work wonders, of course, i understand that im in the minority here, but why not give a thought? anyway, congrats on the amazing work you are doing here, i have no doubt you will make one of the best patreon adult games!
2017-04-11 05:28:13 +0000 UTCI love the rollback function. Please do not remove it and keep the option to roll back far enough to change a decision made. Nor just the color of the serum used. I totally agree with Magnus. Doing paperwork with Nora is boring. There are other fun things to do with Nora, lol.
eldenor
2017-04-09 01:13:31 +0000 UTCI think in an earlier version you could only role back 4 or maybe 6. I could take back a sex decision but not roll back far enough to change serums. Now I can say hell I couldn't fuck mom with blue so let me try red.
Threetees
2017-04-08 17:29:48 +0000 UTCI like the rollback function, as it avoids incessantly doing quick saves before trying to find out the effects of different serums, or just deciding that you don't want to spend another boring evening doing paperwork in the lab with Nora. (There are much more interesting things to do with her...)
Magnus Carolinus
2017-04-08 14:50:18 +0000 UTCOn this topic I was actually wonder as I'm new to this project. Many of the events seem extremely random and I wonder if that could be improved. I found I spent a lot of time save/load to get the event I wanted... If they were more predictable that could be less necessary. Particularly with the night visits etc... that sem hard/impossible to trigger?
Timothy Cowher
2017-04-08 04:14:45 +0000 UTCI wasn't sure rollback worked to redo decisions, i always seem to get the same random encounter when i rollbacked.
2017-04-08 03:06:38 +0000 UTCI like your approach to it. Rollback is important in this sort of game; we are investing our time (and possibly money) into seeing content, and rollback makes it a lot easier to find it. And as you said, it greatly reduces frustration. A deep rollback avoids a lot of "crap, I should have saved back there" moments.
Dubsington
2017-04-07 13:04:47 +0000 UTC
