Damion Schubert wrote:
> We also were hoping that people would talk about
> high-intensity events that were automatically generated. Consider how
> people can talk about high intensity Left 4 Dead games.
That's an very good phrase, very closely related to meaningful consequences.
they are, arguably in a chick/egg relationship. Does having meaningful
consequences (say, perma-death) result in high-intensity events
(fighting a boss), or does creation of high-intensity events (an
incredibly hard-fought encounter) result in meaningful consequences (a
memorable victory)?
As usual with such interelations, it probably doesn't make sense to give
either one primacy; I think they are approaching the same thing from
different ends of the scale.
High-intensity events are short term, highly-involved situations that
require a lot of mental involvement from the player. As such, they are
best created from the core gameplay mechanics - the core actions the
player's perform. Just making combat more engaging, for example,
immediately makes players place more meaning onto winning a fight.
Meaningful consequences spring from long-term goals and the resolution
of plans, and therefore are best encouraged within your storyline and
advancement system. There are quite a few long-standing story-based POWs
that are based around providing meaningful consequences via exactly
these channels.
Strangely, however, there seems to be an inclination to view these are
mutually incompatible, whereas it appears obvious to me they are in fact
complementary.