This is a demo of the reputation system used in my pirate survival-horror game What the Sea Wants.
One-dimensional reputation systems remain the most common way to model relationships between the player character and the NPCs. Whether it’s the heart health bar common in sim games or the ubiquitous “he disliked that” of RPGs, the same basic principle holds: A character either likes you or doesn’t, and your choices raise or lower your position along this single axis. These systems suffer from two major weaknesses: First, they lack complexity, and second, there’s an objectively correct choice for a given character. As a result, players often feel forced to kiss ass all the time or be penalized.
To circumvent these problems, What the Sea Wants uses a three-axis reputation system: Friendship, Authority, and Morale. Friendship tracks how much the NPC likes you personally, Authority tracks how much they respect you, and Morale tracks how they feel about their circumstances generally (including aspects that are outside your control). This system is lightly inspired by the mighty Pillars of Eternity Disposition system, but much simplified.
A three-axis system can be modeled in 3D space, and the player’s reputation with a character can be represented conveniently by Unity’s Vector3 structure. Any kind of vector operation can be performed on it. Conditions can be set simply by defining an area of any shape in 3D space, which allows for more nuanced, flexible conditions that would be unwieldy if they were defined just using inequalities.
While higher Friendship and Authority are generally a good thing, choices that raise one often lower the other; higher Morale is always a good thing, but rarely within the player’s control. While independent, these axes can affect each other–for instance, raising your Authority with a character above 75% has a negative impact on Friendship, as the crewmember becomes so awestruck that they’re afraid to approach you.
Two final mechanics add extra layers of nuance. First, dialogue choices don’t indicate the effect they will have, and only Morale is displayed on the character’s profile–the rest must be inferred from character responses and barks. Second, in addition to unlocking new dialogue options, reputation changes also lock off dialogue options based on your past behavior. If you consistently act like a dick, for instance, you’ll lose the option not to be a dick. This helps the player craft a believable, internally-consistent protagonist.
This brief reputation test project allows you to manually set your reputation in order to see how it alters the responses of your second mate, Siobhan, using procedural storytelling. (May contain piratical language, depending on how much you piss her off.)
➣ What the Sea Wants: Reputation Test