Chain Project VS Chain Game

[Fisherson]

Since my dog woke me up and I'm not quite in the mood to Morty-fy some fools in online pocket Mortys let's talk to the community about my new idea of how do a Chain Project rather than s Chain Game.

Firstly the difference between the two is shocking simple despite the similar sounding names. A Chain Game relies on a tried and true process of making one chapter at a time and sending it on till it's done given a time limit usually cause ...well it's easy to get side trekked.

A Chain Project relies on one guy making enough game by himself that it's playable but only story and battle bits. The next guy then provides mini games, music or whatever he wants his task to be and he's done on to the next bloke till we get a full game which the first guy bug tests, adds whatever is necessary he figures and patches any bugs that occur. 

There's a massive advantage in doing it this way in that with one person handling one system or task they hardly will be overworked and there's no need to rush. Means their creativity is focused on the task at hand. They also don't need to worry about making a character in the middle of their chapter but instead suggest one to the main project head and then they plug the data in using a whole scope of chapters when the project head feels they are needed. Makes 'em feel less left out or too late to the party. Also means the story won't get hung up by one person's social life after the first chapter and force them to become a vampire to save the Chain Game. XD

It does have some disadvantages in that it does rely on one guy making the whole story by himself. I'm not too worried for my first attempt on that as Juno's Iliad was partially penned down when I was playing through the middle of JO but for future projects it may not always be practical,  still it's nice to have options right? And it makes a fun bit of experimentation for sure.

Either way within a month or two we'll likely see just how practical it is as that's when J.I. Will have it's Chapter 1 done and hopefully will allow us to try and break new barriers.  This has been sleep deprived Fish before cafine. Thank you and cockadoodle doo!

[Prpl_Mage]

Erm. So it's basically just a typical project but with the word "chain" in it?

All types of projects are about management, and dividing the workload is a part in that. It would be more like one person being in charge and the other people adding input and in the end cool stuff to it. Like a polish. Or a pimpin' colour job.

Another disadvantage is of course that if any person "important to the project" gets into trouble, the entire thing falls apart. Another problem is that RPGM really isn't good for parallel development. So basically, the common problems associated with working together on game projects.

But I assume you had this in mind for Juno's Illiad? That it would go from a chain game sequel of your own to some community project?

[Momeka]

Yeah, I'm not entirely convinced. Mostly just feels like a bunch of people are helping out on one persons game. I feel like something like this would lack the charm and fun of a community project. And basically everything purple said as well.

If we want to mix up the chain game format I had a random idea a while back which might be fun. Instead of each person making a chapter in a long game everyone instead make a short game (pretty much around the same length a chapter would be). But all the games takes place in the same world and each game would build upon the world and reference back to previous games and characters. Either all the games would be unlocked from the start, so you basically just experience the contained stories for themselves. Or you unlock the games in sequence and all builds to resolve an over arching story in the world. For example maybe each game follows a new pirate crew searching for a legendary treasure or each game follows a survivor in a post apocalyptic wasteland searching for a new place to live. Where the final game would resolve the thing, so maybe the pirate crews battles over the treasure or maybe the treasure is cursed and the pirates have to work together to reseal it etc.

[Prpl_Mage]

If we want to mix up the chain game format I had a random idea a while back which might be fun. Instead of each person making a chapter in a long game everyone instead make a short game (pretty much around the same length a chapter would be). But all the games takes place in the same world and each game would build upon the world and reference back to previous games and characters. Either all the games would be unlocked from the start, so you basically just experience the contained stories for themselves. Or you unlock the games in sequence and all builds to resolve an over arching story in the world. For example maybe each game follows a new pirate crew searching for a legendary treasure or each game follows a survivor in a post apocalyptic wasteland searching for a new place to live. Where the final game would resolve the thing, so maybe the pirate crews battles over the treasure or maybe the treasure is cursed and the pirates have to work together to reseal it etc.

So kinda like a themed anthology of games? We have some sort of world premises set and then each person make a short game/story based on that and we collect it all in a big pile?
That's a pretty good idea.

I also enjoyed your idea with having two different "teams" do chain games based on a prologue and have 2 versions that will end up rather different in the end because of the individuals involved in it.

My idea I had some time back was related to the custom title screen feature. That instead of making the story linear, have some sort of central city hub where each chapter would start and end. Or have each chapter being an option from the custom title screen.

[Momeka]

So kinda like a themed anthology of games? We have some sort of world premises set and then each person make a short game/story based on that and we collect it all in a big pile?
That's a pretty good idea.

Yeah, still thinking that the game would be done in order. So each new person can play the other games and use them to build upon the world.

I also enjoyed your idea with having two different "teams" do chain games based on a prologue and have 2 versions that will end up rather different in the end because of the individuals involved in it.

Oh ****, I had completely forgotten about this one. Yeah, I think it would be fun too.

My idea I had some time back was related to the custom title screen feature. That instead of making the story linear, have some sort of central city hub where each chapter would start and end. Or have each chapter being an option from the custom title screen.

Oh I like it. The only thing is we probably wouldn't be able to do the default combat system since levels would mess up the difficulty if you can do stuff out of order. But it might also be fun to do a chain game that isn't a jrpg.

[Prpl_Mage]

Oh I like it. The only thing is we probably wouldn't be able to do the default combat system since levels would mess up the difficulty if you can do stuff out of order. But it might also be fun to do a chain game that isn't a jrpg.

Yeah I have some different ideas on things, but haven't gotten around to see if they are more than ideas so far.
I can probably make them work, but they also need to be easy enough to work with for other people to use them.

[Zoltar]

So if this is the game plan for Juno's Iliad does that mean that people like me, who really, really still mondo bad regret not getting to do a chapter in the first game, won't contribute? Because that would be lame.

Though on the flipside I could see why you would do it this way for a sequel. You've probably written out some huge open world story that builds on the choices in A'Chia and has multiple plot elements that have to be seen through from beginning to end...Hard to do in a Chain Game right? Wipeout.

But, and hear me out here, Jedi Brother, could you not let everyone make a chapter then put those elements of this huge plot together around them?

Like if I had to do a space game I would totally male the map open after a refresher tutorial then give each person a planet, or three, to make a hub galaxy thing! You could then go in and put in your finishing canon story and habe it so the player stumbles into it and like completes it at their own leisure. This also would gnarly support a big cast too~  Just a thought from your buddy Zoltar.

Wait...Aww rats. Now I want to make my own game like that. Imma crack out my computer when I wake up and have less smexy company around.

[Fisherson]

Zoltar....You might have something there. A hub Galaxy would be an interesting experiment and I could in fact give people their own planets or sectors of the map in general since our star map will still use hyperspacial bypasses rather than a jump based system. It does also as you say support a bigger cast especially if you have Darone types who can be recruited, killed or just ignored entirely.  Breaking the linear cycle of how  chain games progress would also go with the theme of Iliad which is going to have a more complex choice matrix.  I also would like to have random interactions pop up like in divinity now that I've seen that system. It is better for immersion and it can really flesh out the characters.  Though I'm not ready to declare this chain open yet either way. I want to try and get all the old team back and invite new people in too. Maybe push it past 8 chapters for the main game and have detailed side quests that don't just close storylines but actually add to the story and serve the player more.

Edit: Frack you make me want to do this so bad but people need to rest and play the recent chain game....XD I love and hate you right now.