One of the features of the game that I am going to be focusing on are dynamic game overs. This is something I did on Bob the Archaeologist a while back, where the narrator would have various lines he would say upon Bob’s death. Usually making fun of him.
Rather than being a mocking narrator though, in this game each unique death will be accompanied with an image and story to describe the ending. The reason I want to do this is to highlight the risk that the main character is taking. I don’t want this game to feel like the princess choosing to rescue herself is a consequence free action that you repeat until you get it right.
The princess is not a warrior; as I said in the first post. So, taking on the task of rescuing herself comes with a personal risk she would not normally have to face if she waited for her rescue. So, I did not want to gloss over that danger by having consequence free limitless continues.
There is no shame in not being the most physically powerful person in the world, so I also don’t want to end up giving the impression that anyone who needs help is somehow inferior because of it.
At the same time, I would not want to bore the player with lengthy game over screens every single time they die, so I’m probably going to offer three options. One which gives you the game over screen each time you die, one that only shows the game over screens the first time you see a new one, and one that skips the game over screens entirely.