The Problem with Contracts

A brief discussion on the three main types of contract systems in games, examples from popular works, and how they relates to SE2. Advantages, disadvantage, and different mitigation ideas to use.

-- 1. Linear

Examples: RPGs, Action games, Adventure games. Think of any storyline scripted for players.

SE2 impact: What is being used now, hand crafted static contracts for players to work through.

Advantages: Easier to code, can be balanced and bug-free. Can be independent from other game-world systems. Can be used to create/build a narrative for players to experience as they work through them.

Disadvantages: Static. Repeated times gets stale. Must create new contracts to create new content, each time. Repeated attempts break immersion, player realizes they have no real impact on the actual game world, just the illusion of accomplishment.

Mitigation Strategies: Create a really good story that connects the different contracts that players will enjoy multiple completions. Introduce an illusion of accomplishment and world impact. Make main storyline able to be optional to accomplish on repeated starts, like Skyrim's main questline vs it's side quests.

-- 2. Randomly Procedurally Generated

Example: ElderScrolls Radiant AI quests, rpg random quests, X4 'missions'.

SE2 Impact: When SE2 will generate random static contracts for a sector.

Advantages: Lots of content for players that will never end. A way to get resources or farm credits. You have optional choices based on what type you like or want to do. Can be a wide variety with enough content.

Disadvantages: Illusion of accomplishment in the game world or impact inside the overarching world. Only builds up the player's personal goods, divorced from a wider goal or need. Means players won't care about actually accomplishing it, just getting what they can out if it as quickly as possible.

Mitigation Strategies: Players to generate contracts for the NPCs to follow, in their faction. Players will then be able to create their own meaning for the different contracts they can create.

-- 3. Real-Time generation

Examples: Rimworld, any 4X game with random AI locational beginnings, where they are forced to create a strategy to win. Dynamic campaigns on any military RTS.

SE2 impact: maybe in the main storyline? Multiplayer will try for it.

Advantages: Life. Player choices have impact on the game world, accomplishing contracts have greater meaning.

Disadvantages: Balance and bugs are challenging to achieve. Can end up in a no-win situation. Much harder to develop for designers. Resource intensive on computer.

Mitigation Strategies: Create a 2d system to control the game world's entities, along with the AI behavior tools that players can script and mod, with all their appropriate hooks, for NPC, Faction, Sector, and System-wide.

--any other ideas or mitigations strategies, add your thoughts below!