The Dink Network

I'm gonna be a Dink developer...after I graduate from high school.
Having played some D-mods,I found it a little frustrating that sometimes you don't know what to do next.
So,I have an idea that let Dink have a scroll that can always tell you what should we do next.
How is it?

Yeah, I agree that is annoying... I've created a similar scroll like that for my current D-Mod.

Something more elegant would be a party member (summonable) which you may ask what to do next. Something like Alessa in CC2.

I support lol, that would definitely make things easier. Especially if you take a break from one Dmod to play another and then go back and find out you've forgotten how far you are in it.

Nice idea. So, will it be like a quest log type scroll? Or more of a "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO NEXT HINTS PLZ" scroll?

How about a fabulous pocket fairy, like in Ocarina of Time? It could pop up with a *POOF!*

That's why we have walkthroughs. And D-Mods would lose their fun, if everyone always went to se what to do next.

"That's why we have walkthroughs"

They wouldn't be needed as much hopefully.

"And D-Mods would lose their fun, if everyone always went to se what to do next."

Aye, true! On the other hand, if people are so lost that they have to follow a walkthrough the rest of the game I'd personally prefer some sort of scroll that could give me a hint instead.

Don't take this as an offense against walkthroughs; I just think its better if a game can be won without following them throughout the game.

My 2 ducks

I can't say I've liked hint systems in many games that had something like that. More often than not it's one of three things:

1. Useless "hai i think u should get out of this cave lol", "i dont know what to do next sorry =(" or "go to NPCTown" without any mention of the nondescript treestump in the middle of nowhere that you have to kick in order to get there.

2. Used as a copout from having to put clues in the actual game world, instead handing them directly to you in the form of a sentient scroll or some silly magic creature.

3. Completely ruining the game by hand-walking you through it whenever you get the least bit stuck.

Not saying it definitely can't work, just that extra care should be taken when implementing something like that.

Ah - good ol' Baldurs Gate! I think it had a nicely balanced journal and NPC hints, not to mention the cynical remarks like "just coz i own a pub doesn't mean i can tell you where to find treasure and dragons" y'know?

I completely agree.

However, I still like the idea of a journal like I implemented it in the scourger. It has descriptions you basically covered in point 1. But the purpose of it isn't to provide the player with a shortcut. It is there to help the player remember what he should be doing if he hasn't played the game in a good while.

In fact I'm going to try to implement something similar in my next DMOD. (That's going to be a little bit tricky as it is a bit non-linear but still...)

Just like Scratcher said. It's good not to always know what to do next, because if we had somekind of help, people would use it all the time.

How about a help system with a limited amount of points you can use throughout the entire game, and the points can't be increased? That way you have a few chances to get help with what you're doing if you want to, but knowing that it costs you'd only want to use it if you've exhausted every alternative?

I agree with Skull and scratcher though.

yeah, like a magic mirror of walkthrough that cracks after 5 uses.

I completely disagree with that idea.

If you're going to have some sort of hint system, you shouldn't make it only have limited charges/uses. What if someone uses them all early in the game, and can't figure out what to do later? They'll just give up.

Far better is a system like we had in Cloud Castle 2, or a journal system as has been suggested. You don't need to say "Go to the mines for your next quest, pal"... all you need is something to push the player in the right direction.

A good "hint" system could use the King's News posters. For different story variables have different headlines. If the player needs to go to the mines next, have a headline reading "Trouble at the Mines." It would take someone pretty daft not to figure that one out.

There are a million ways to push the player in the right direction without holding their hand.

Well if a Limited Charges hint system isn't to your liking Sabre, how about allowing the player to earn more by passing pieces of the storyline without help?
Say every hint costs 1 point, and the hints help you complete certain "quests" within the Dmod(s).
Completing a quest without help earns you 3 points, completing it with help earns you 1 point.
And if the Dmod has a minigame built into it, the prize could be hint points as well as gold.

Just to shnaz up the idea.

How does "Trouble at the Mines." differ from "Go to the mines for your next quest, pal"? =)

I was thinking of a system that helps you figure things out if you otherwise can't, not something that gives you a general idea on where to venture next. As it would be geared towards people who are stuck, the hints would need to be more useful than those otherwise found in the game, and that brings us to the problem Skull mentioned.

There is a massive difference.

Would you prefer a d-mod where you could easily figure out where your next quest, through NPC rumour and/or suggestion;

"I heard the Smilestein farm has been infested with those dang pillbugs again."

"Trouble at the Mines: Mercenaries Wanted!"

Or would you prefer somebody to explicitly tell you what to do all the time?

"You need to go and kill the Pillbugs at Smilestein's Farm."

"The Goldmountain miners have been eaten by Bane Boncas. This is the way to earn enough gold to buy that teleportation scroll you need.

The latter examples are only better if you're aiming to make a post-modern ironic shotgun parody.

I think CC2 struck a good balance in this respect. We didn't have EVERY NPC telling you what to do, but a lot of them gave you various hints. Obviously it helped that there was typically 2-3 different quests you could be getting on with at any one time.

I'm not so sure about a point-system... it seems a little too yahoo-answer-y.
personally, I enjoyed running around trying to figure out WTF the key in "Hotel of the Middle Night" was.

The only difference in the Smilestein example is the second makes the player look like an errand boy, the first seems to give you a choice, even if it's not really there. It's like saying your girlfriend "I would like some coffee" versus "Make me coffee." The latter is more likely to piss her off but if she has no say on the matter, might as well use that instead the polite wording. Same here, if the Smilestein Farm was necessary instead of an optional subquest, they could use the latter wording. It may even be better, since otherwise you might think you don't HAVE to clear the farm to get ahead in the game.

The Mine example isn't really fair, because the second choice spoils the plot while the first doesn't make any comment on it. Between

"Trouble at the Mines: Gold miners missing! Witnesses report seeing massive bipedal shapes move in the shadows. Clues leading to the solving of this mystery will be rewarded."

and the other option, the difference is pretty superficial.

I do agree that hints should be vague and scattered, but if they're so not vague you instantly know what the quest is about you could just as well tell it how it is.

I don't really remember how CC2 was, but it didn't bother me, so it couldn't have been too bad. Baldur's Gate was pretty good. You could find out stuff about the mines from various sources, and create a picture of what was going on, but it didn't become completely obvious until you got there. And then you could feel good for being right and kicking the "yipping demons'" ass.

i say add the system cuz if some people think it ruins the fun then they shouldnt use it!

But even if people think it would ruin the fun, and shouldn't use it, they still would. There are many people that wouldn't want these things but still would use them. So I say, the best thing in D-Mods IS and should be in the future, that you put for example, a man saying "I lost my gold coin in the forest" and the player would know to find the coin in the forest.

I think Skull is right on this one. I mean just how many people don't want to get fat, but still continue eating at a fast food restaurant? It's all a matter of availability. If people want help they should do something for it, and if 'doing something for it' simply means pressing a button it's just to easily available.

I know for myself that if a DMOD has a walkthrough in the download itself I tend to use it, even though it ruins the game. Nowadays if I come across a walkthrough included with the DMOD I delete the walkthrough or at least remove it from the DMOD's folder. If I'm really stuck I can always look it up again, but I would really have to look for it.