More free roam sequences?

And a couple... well, okay, not a couple words from me.

To avoid confusion, let's define the terminology. By the free roam sequence, I mean a location where you control where the PC will go, who she will (or will not) interact with, and in what order. This is generally similar to traditional gameplay from most games, but with the adjustment that Inner Empire is still a text game. You can take the first half of Chapter 1 as an example of this "free roam sequence."

Why am I putting this to the vote?

There have been quite a bunch of requests to "bring back"free movement/exploration/free roam sequences. Probably some people are worried that it won't be any more or something like that. Let me assure you - there will be many more episodes with free movement in the game.

My original idea is to alternate between free movement episodes (where it's necessary) and episodes where the game will lead you to the required point (where wandering around aren't needed). And the latter does not mean the choice loss at all. In fact, there are even more choices in such episodes (without free movement). Why is this so? Keep reading and you'll find out.

This vote will allow me to understand your desires. It is open-ended.

More details on the episodes with free roam sequences.

Text games in general, and the engine I'm making it on, are not particularly designed for this kind of gameplay. It's possible, but it's harder, and if it's harder, it costs more work, and if it's more work, it affects the update schedule. See? Everything has a price. Please factor that into your vote.

Why are such episodes more difficult? There is a strict need to consider the protagonist's order of actions and spell out possible reactions or changes to the environment/NPCs/descriptions. The more potential communications or actions within a free roam episode, the more difficult this becomes.

Also, in a number of situations, free movement is pointless. For example, in update 1.5 there's another overnight stop and 3 action options, each of which opens up a different sequence of scenes. Could I, in theory, make it in free roam mode? Yes. You could wander around the lake or climb in the grove's shrubbery... But what's for? There's nothing there. There's the troupe's camp, the characters in the camp, and... there's a wilderness all around where is literally nothing but trees, bushes, lake, and fields all around. But, once again, yes, I could give you the control to wander around, even though it's completely pointless and only adds more extra clicks to the gameplay for you along the lines of "go there", "talk to this character", etc. I mean, the structure of the scenes would change, but the actual content would remain the same.

In other words, for free movement to make sense, it has to reward the player for exploration in some way. If Inner Empire had a classic inventory and some sort of crafting/alchemy system, then wandering around the wilderness could be rewarded by collecting ingredients or something... But it doesn't and there are no plans for that. I do have some ideas, though...

What to reward the exploration with?

Remember Sargon promised you your own tent? He was not lying. You will have it. There's no need for it now, the troupe is moving fast, stopping only for overnight stays. There's no need for tents. But when there's a need to stop for a long time, or when it rains... Besides, tents are needed for places where there's no place to stay overnight, no taverns, etc. In cities, Selene will sleep in a normal bed in an inn.

Why I bring this up. The tent or hotel room is your personal space. And I plan to add a sort of trophy chest there, where you can store all sorts of interesting things and curiosities found on your travels. Some of them will be just a reminder of events that happened. Others may open up additional possibilities in certain scenes and situations. And some may turn out to be much more unusual than they look, but it will not be easy to find them.

Finding stuff like that would be the rationale for the free-roaming episodes. Just... you know, so that scampering around makes some sense.

Next update (1.6)

There will be a free roam sequence episode. You will be exploring or rather investigating, which means a sequence of actions is important, so freedom of movement is needed. It was planned a long time ago and is on schedule, so to speak. It will not be affected by the vote. This vote will rather guide me when working on the next updates.

Also, please don't expect update 1.6 before September. My timid hopes of making it to August umm... Maybe I shouldn't say this, but a distraction has arisen. Seriously so distracting... Baldur's Gate 3. That damn game is addictive, I swear, and not a single warning on the poster! And I think you understand how interested I am in playing a game with a multi-level dialogue system. It gives a lot of... useful ideas. But don't worry, I haven't neglected working on my game. Ha, I couldn't, even if I wanted to... But I won't bullshiting you that I'm not distracted by anything right now xD

So... September, yes.

P.S. And squirrel. You know, that moment in the prologue with the squirrel. I swear I made that one up myself! And yes, the game even remembered if you threw a rock at the squirrel! Anyway, you'll meet more squirrels in Inner Empire. And it has nothing to do with BG 3. I'll probably add a little homage to BG 3, though. And there will be a squirrel... And a bear.