Campaign structure ideas
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:50 am
I wanted to share some thoughts regarding the overall campaign structure - I hope they are of interest.
Though it would be absolutely fine for e.g. a tutorial sequence, I found the 3 demo levels to be slightly disjointed in that your starting setup in the next level is different to your end setup in the previous level. I think that this kind of mission structure does not take not take best advantage of Factorio's fantastic gameplay.
For me, the core element of fun in a game like Factorio is transforming a virgin landscape into a buzzing hub of industry. This kind of long-form game play is immensely satisfying. Do others agree? I think that repeating this process a number of times under different scenarios, each having different challenges, resource levels, goals, and possible techs, under a single overall high-level story-driven progression, has a lot of advantages over setting a number of very short and possibly disjointed missions, each to complete some minor task.
One way to implement the overall high-level progression would be a space view, where choosing a mission involves selecting a planet to travel to. You would usually have 2 or 3 missions to choose from at any given point, and completing missions can unlock new missions (e.g. a tree-structure, culminating in some final story-driven goal such as invading the alien homeworld). Each mission is a "from scratch" long-form game, and each has a different goal. The goals could be quite varied - e.g. mapping the planet, retrieving precious items, terraforming, escaping from a crash-landing on an unintended planet, or building up infrastructure in preparation for colonisation. Preparation for colonisation could itself have many different flavours - building a bio-dome, building landing pads for colony ships, building housing, an electricity grid, and so on.
In role-playing terms, the tutorial could be a sequence of simulated "training" mission before actually leaving for the stars in your professional capacity as a planetary surveyor (or whatever it could be called!) Once you have set off into the real galaxy, missions could be more free-form - it would be your job as a player, and also your job in role-playing terms, to decide how best to tackle each situation.
That's it - apologies for the length. I'm sure I'm not the first to have some of these ideas, but hopefully all the ideas together have some merit!
Though it would be absolutely fine for e.g. a tutorial sequence, I found the 3 demo levels to be slightly disjointed in that your starting setup in the next level is different to your end setup in the previous level. I think that this kind of mission structure does not take not take best advantage of Factorio's fantastic gameplay.
For me, the core element of fun in a game like Factorio is transforming a virgin landscape into a buzzing hub of industry. This kind of long-form game play is immensely satisfying. Do others agree? I think that repeating this process a number of times under different scenarios, each having different challenges, resource levels, goals, and possible techs, under a single overall high-level story-driven progression, has a lot of advantages over setting a number of very short and possibly disjointed missions, each to complete some minor task.
One way to implement the overall high-level progression would be a space view, where choosing a mission involves selecting a planet to travel to. You would usually have 2 or 3 missions to choose from at any given point, and completing missions can unlock new missions (e.g. a tree-structure, culminating in some final story-driven goal such as invading the alien homeworld). Each mission is a "from scratch" long-form game, and each has a different goal. The goals could be quite varied - e.g. mapping the planet, retrieving precious items, terraforming, escaping from a crash-landing on an unintended planet, or building up infrastructure in preparation for colonisation. Preparation for colonisation could itself have many different flavours - building a bio-dome, building landing pads for colony ships, building housing, an electricity grid, and so on.
In role-playing terms, the tutorial could be a sequence of simulated "training" mission before actually leaving for the stars in your professional capacity as a planetary surveyor (or whatever it could be called!) Once you have set off into the real galaxy, missions could be more free-form - it would be your job as a player, and also your job in role-playing terms, to decide how best to tackle each situation.
That's it - apologies for the length. I'm sure I'm not the first to have some of these ideas, but hopefully all the ideas together have some merit!