The Story Begins - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 322

Thirsty Pirate
There are two parts to the thirsty pirate puzzle. The first is simply collecting the tankard and
giving it to him. This is handled in a Collision event for the obj_pirate_thirsty object, and
simply checks that Archie is holding the tankard before proceeding. The other part is a switch
that starts a lift moving. Ideally, this would be done in the same way as the traps, but because any
number of instances can make up lifts, it is not so easy to use the instance_nearest function.
Instead, we have created one large obj_lift_long_vlimit object that uses the usual
obj_lift_vlimit object as its parent. When Archie collides with the button object ( obj_button ), it
finds this object using instance_nearest , and then deletes it. This then allows the lift to start
moving and provides Flynn with a way up.

Storytelling
This level was designed to have more dialogue than earlier levels, so it's perfect for showing you
some of the ideas that help tell the story. In each level, we want to set the mood of the location,
populate it with believable characters, and advance the overall story.

Mood
The mood of the scene is very much conveyed by the atmospheric artwork. The location is the
pirate town of Rogues' Rendezvous. It's full of ramshackle buildings and sharp, inhospitable cliff
faces. Already it shows us that Flynn has moved completely away from what he is used to. He
comes from soft beaches and a friendly, sleepy little village. This one is harsh and unforgiving and
he needs to watch his step. Hopefully, that tells players to be wary, not believe every word they
hear, and to watch out for danger. The people they will meet help set the mood as well.

Characters
The characters Flynn meet are very important in setting the mood and giving flavor to a level. It
can be a somewhat daunting task to populate a whole level with interesting characters, but if we
approach it systematically, we'll get there in no time. We start by checking which roles the game
play requires us to fill. The previous walkthrough already tells us what we need to support the
game play. There are a number of rather unimportant NPCs in this level, whose characters don't
have to be particularly deep. Nevertheless, it will be useful for us to flesh them out in a bit more
depth just to illustrate how it's done.
We talked about assigning characters a role in terms of an archetype. Let's do this as we make
the list.
1. Skeleton pirates. These are obviously shadows , and they don't need much personality

other than wanting to kill Flynn on sight.

2.

First Prisoner. This guy is pretty useless. He turns out to not help Flynn at all in his
search, so he is a trickster , lying for his own gain. Plenty of scope for depth here.

3. Thirsty Pirate. A drunken pirate like this is in danger of becoming a stereotype, so we

need to give him a twist. He actually serves as an ally , for although he demands
something in return, he does help Flynn on his way.

4. Second Prisoner . His role in the game play is to help Flynn along, so he is an ally . But

we can set him up as a shapeshifter , so that Flynn isn't certain whether to trust him or
not—particularly after the previous prisoner. That should make it more interesting.