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		* TWEETS *

7:40 PM, 12/16/2020
My game doesn't have enough structure. There are many towns, but only one has the ability shop. The queen will ask you to look for a different princess after each dungeon, but how will the player know to visit her? They need a reason to go back to the queen.

7:50 PM, 12/16/2020
Multiple towns also makes it hard for the player to know where to look for clues.

8:00 PM, 12/16/2020
The queen could tell you where you go. And the destination could have NPC's who fill you in on the rest. But the player might need a hint about where the destination is.

8:10 PM, 12/16/2020
So even though it's a fairly open-ended game, each task needs to start with a predictable and linear way of learning where to go.

8:20 PM, 12/16/2020
The blunt way is for the queen to just tell the player everything and they'll ignore all the other NPCs who only have (what they assume) is canned repetitive dialog.

8:30 PM, 12/16/2020
But what I want is for the queen to give you a destination, and the NPC's you pass along the way give you clues about the situation there and hints about secrets you can find along the way.

8:40 PM, 12/16/2020
My Tears of Inferno game had a predictable structure for the player. Wake up in your house. The people in the game's only town talk about something that happened that day and where it occurred, you explore a dungeon at that place to discover the juicy details, get an ability...

8:50 PM, 12/16/2020
... explore a little more of the surrounding area with that new ability to find rewards, return to town to buy stuff with the money you accumulated, look for new characters and amusing side-quests in town, then go to sleep and repeat.

9:00 PM, 12/16/2020
The player starts in the same place and talks to the same relatively small group of people to learn where to go. The repeating pattern means the player knows what to do each time the game's structure loops.

9:10 PM, 12/16/2020
In my new game, the intended player-path is castle, dungeon, town, castle. Learn about a place to go, go to that "dungeon", return to town to buy a new ability, then learn about a new place you can go with your new ability.

9:20 PM, 12/16/2020
Getting to the dungeon can be open-ended exploration. But an incentive and convenient travel need to bring the player back to the main town and the queen.

9:30 PM, 12/16/2020
So first the player needs to learn that the queen exists, learn that an ability shop exists, and have a reason to come back. The player needs to know what these places are for.

9:40 PM, 12/16/2020
Therefore, maybe start the game linearly so that the player can learn these things. And after the loop is clearly understood, then open up the world.

9:50 PM, 12/16/2020
Maybe they start in the castle. Learn where to go. Pass through a linear town along the way out. Place an obvious shop near the exit. Lock off access to most of the world except for the first dungeon...

10:00 PM, 12/16/2020
After the dungeon the player has money and can only return to the main town. The shop is immediately available. Something reminds them to return to the queen. And nothing else is worth paying attention to until after you speak to the queen again.

10:10 PM, 12/16/2020
After speaking to the queen, the town should change indicating that everyone has something new and relevent to say. And the cycle can repeat with much fewer restrictions. But travelling back to the "main" town needs to be quick and easy after each dungeon.

10:20 PM, 12/16/2020
But each "adventure" doesn't necessarily end right after finishing a dungeon. There's usually another town nearby that concludes that particular situation. So I don't want an instant fast-travel available right after the dungeon or the player will miss that part.

10:30 PM, 12/16/2020
Dragon Quest Builders had warp beacons. You could only fast-travel to those beacons. I think what I need is the opposite. I need warp points that send you back to the main town, but they need to be accessed only after you leave the dungeon and pass through its nearby town.

10:40 PM, 12/16/2020
So the game could funnel you out of the linear castle and main town, let you explore the world, the current destination funnels you into another town and a dungeon.

10:50 PM, 12/16/2020
Then when returning that dungeon funnels the player to the nearby town, to a convenint warp back to the main town, and then to the castle.

11:00 PM, 12/16/2020
Almost there... I want the player to return to the shop and then the queen. So maybe I should reverse their placement? Start at the shop, then the castle, then the town on the way out... Then later the player warps back to the shop and has to pass the castle on the way out again?

11:10 PM, 12/16/2020
Or keep the castle first and provide a strong incentive to go back to the castle after returning to the shop. This is a hentai game, so the promise of a sexy scene when you get back could work.

11:20 PM, 12/16/2020
Many of the pieces are already in place. But I don't want to give away the sexy secret about the castle right away.

11:30 PM, 12/16/2020
But I have an idea. If the first dungeon is guaranteed, maybe the first new ability you buy should lead to back to the castle when you try it out?

11:40 PM, 12/16/2020
Create a direct path from the shop to the castle that the player explores out of curiosity? They don't know that it returns to the castle. They're just trying out their neat new ability and the new path just happens to emerge there.

10:55 PM, 06/03/2021
I figured out a simple way to teach the player that the ability shop exists. What if the queen doesn't tell you where to go for the first mission, and instead asks you to "ask around town" for information about the missing princess?

11:00 PM, 06/03/2021
People in town direct you to ask at the shop because someone there used to work at the castle.

11:05 PM, 06/03/2021
Then a person at the shop tells you where to search for the missing princess. By this point, the player has seen the shop itself. Which is the whole point.

11:10 PM, 06/03/2021
In a way, the later quests already work this way. The queen tells you where to go, but those destinations are just other towns instead of the starting town. The people in those places can add juicy details and direct the player to the related dungeon.



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	* SUMMARY *

Intended loop
castle, town, explore world, dungeon-town, dungeon, dungeon-town, shop, castle

Add an easy way to warp back to Yipe shop from near any dungeon town.

Leaving a dungeon requires the player to pass fully through the nearby dungeon-town before they can access the warp back to Yipe shop.
	Better yet, put this warp INSIDE the town.

Buying a new ability in the shop should enable a new path back to the castle.
But it should not be obvious that it leads to the castle.

The player should discover something very interesting each time they emerge back in the castle.

The player must pass the queen in order to leave. It should be obvious that she has something new to say.

Leaving Yipe castle should require passing through the main town to get clues about the current task. This could be similar to the dungeon and dungeon-town funnel.

ability-based barriers to leave yipe beyond the 1st dungeon.
 jump rivers
 cracked mountains
 laser burns trees  (ALL trees)
 (no need to require magic key, because you need claw to unlock it)

... scanner?  Which destination does the player go to with this??
	Casino prize?
	New dungeon + new girl?




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	* REVISION *

Choreograph the player's introduction