multiple objectives

[Sliver-Rako]

Give me multiple objectives and I'll be a very happy bunny :7

[Niklas]

Yep, I've been thinking a lot about this. The "Primary objective and secondary objective" but is that enough? Or do we want/need to have the ability to have "endless" amount of objectives on a single mission?

[Sliver-Rako]

how about Primary and secondary objectives and maybe having one of two slots open for bonus objectives that don't end to be done to win but give people something more to aim for ....maybe i'm just being evil :sneaky:

[Niklas]

Isn't that the case with secondary objective? When primary objective is done you can end the mission in a sucess but with the secondary objective also completed you get some bonus...or?

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

I believe that this will be covered by including a proper trigger-event system in the missions.

[Niklas]

Yes, however the objective need to be shown and explained in the briefing so there is a big difference in menu design when making a game that allows 1, 2 or 100 objectives on each mission.

Also, you might need to remind the player which objective is which and what you need to do to complete it. We did this in AA1 with the "commander popup" every time you started/resumed a mission and sometimes during a mission too.

[malin keshar]

how about non-linear missions?for example,if you completed both prime and secondary objectives,you will have new route through next mission,or even completely different tasks("protect",instead of "search").Or "breakthrough" mission that appear,if you leave 1 of your squads behind in previous missions

[Sliver-Rako]

:w00t: OMG!!! that is the best idea ever I think I've fallen in love with you for that idea :7 lol

[Niklas]

Just think that the rules have to be something that is used basically on each mission. We cannot make too many different uniqe rules and features that are used in just a few campaigns/missions.

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

The only way to do this kind of stuff and make it manageable is drop the static victory conditions altogether and throw in a scripting system of some kind. With some tweaks it could also allow for adjusting mission parameters ("Operating console A opens bulkhead B", "all Flamers start with 4 shots only" or "AI only activates one blip that turn"). The downside would be making mission creation more complicated (you could look at how the trigger/event system works in Abuse; we'd be dealing with something like that).

I don't think that the kind of non-linearity malin is talking about is practical. However, if we go with free-form exploration rather than completely linear campaigns, this sort of thing would occur on its' own as your exploration uncovers different objectives or Marines have to fight their way out from being surrounded.

[Niklas]

One thing we could do is to make the next mission different depending on the outcome of the previous mission. Depending on if you completed the primary and secondary objective or only the primary.