Interactivity in games

How much is interactivity important in the games you are developing?

RPG Maker has a lot of tools and option that allow us to create videogames amazingly interactive. Personally, I love those games that make you say: "Hey, this game is intelligent!"

I really like point-n-click games and old graphic adventures, where the player had to interact with the I.A. in many different ways. In my RPGM project, I am trying to give to the player an interactive gaming experience: I want the player to be able to choose what to do, influencing the story and the events. I really think interactivity is important, I do not like the linear games, where you can do things just in one way. I want to give a bit more freedom to the player.

So, what do you think about all this?

To me, it depends a lot on the type of game. If the point of the game is to tell a story, then I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a very linear game flow, but if it's something like a dating sim, obviously the player needs to be able to influence the story greatly.

I'm currently working on three games, two of which are somewhat linear, but not so much so that there are no choices to be made. Basically, I aim to have at least two endings for all my games, mainly because if nothing else, it gives the game a bit of replay value, which I think is great.

There's not a right or wrong answer to wether interactivity is important, because it depends entirely on the point of the game. That's what I think anyway =P

Everybody would love to play a truly interactive game with every actions having an impact.

That is almost impossible to do, because it requires a tremendous amount of work. Even for big game companies.

The only games that came near that were short (like 30 minutes - 1 hour at most) because of that huge amount of work. The most recent I played was The Stanley Parable. It was a shock, as a player, to have a game react to every action you make, even when you think you're breaking it, it was in fact something foreseen by the programmer and it makes fun of you. Truly an amazing experience. But that's one game in a million or so.

I'm creating an interactive adventure novel at the moment (mix of interactive story - adventure game - visual novel) and try my best to have interactivity with the world and the dialogues as much as possible.

But, as a lone maker, there's only so much I can do.

Having the game remember what the player said or did and putting little touches later according to these points is generally enough for your game to feel "alive" and "intelligent".

You don't need a world-changing choice every 5 minutes.

One of the most frequent critics on amateur games is NPCs not reacting to what you have done. Like them talking about a scary monster in the wood (which you already killed) or someone kidnapped (and returned home long ago thanks to you)... That can kill immersion very quickly. Just having a little modification in their dialogues makes the game interactive and enjoyable. No need to overdo it.