UNTIL DAWN : DECISION TREE ANALYSIS
GAME & LEVEL DESIGNER
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Adobe : Analysis decision tree with Draw.io.
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Adobe : Create clear flowchart.
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Soft-Skills : Rigorous, test and search solution.
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Hard-Skills : Flowchart, progression, Level design decision tree.
I wanted to know how a Decision tree looks like and works. So I decided to play Until dawn in order to find every choices and theirs consequences. The decision tree permited me to do a complicated Flowchart with draw.io.
Does Until Dawn give the feeling to pay the consequences of our action ?
Acording to wikipedia, Until Dawn is a classic slasher : A slasher-film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed tools. Until dawn is based on two gameplay :
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QTE : Narrative/Events QTE and Actions QTE
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Decision making : Dialogues or path.
The whole game is based on the butterfly effect. Some choice will have a huge impact for the story or a character later and, the game makes sure to remind the player with a butterfly feedback on screen. If players miss a QTE or with the wrong choice, for sure they will have to face the death of a character. So two best friend can play the game on their own, I'm convinced that they will have a different experience.
How the decision tree works ?
Let's take a look of the chapter 1 of the game :
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The first choice doesn't really have consequence but it permit to players to have a different experience, most regarding to personality or curiosity or challenge.
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The second choice when players can choose between shooting the bag or the squirrel will lead to an huge consequence in chapter 5. Once again, people who want to deeply go into the horror or people that are too sensitive to kill an animal, both will play a different game. And we are only at the begining.
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You can see through this flowchart, that most of the choice are in yellow, so won't have a consequence, but it's still a part of making a decision tree, it's all about giving as much possibilites as it's possible to offer hundred different experience.
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So the whole game will be cut with slow sequence when choices won't have consequences, whenever which one you chose, but it permit to keep players into a stress state and let him trust that ALL choices are crucial.
The butterfly effect
How to create a butterfly effect :
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Hit or miss a QTE at a special moment
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Do a choice that will save or kill a character
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The statut dead or alive of a character will change the rest of the story.
If I take the case about Jessica in chapter 4, Jess is taken by the wendigo and players face their first series of crucial choices. Here, the three points I mentionned are present in this sequence :
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Hit or miss a QTE will be determinant of Jess survival
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Take a decision between safe or risky path will also be determinant of Jess survival
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If Jess is alive or dead, the scenario will be different in chapter 9 and 10
But the game let players to miss sometimes, as you can see on the flowchart, a lot of path go to Jess survives, but that isn't changing the main effect of the sequence, put the player in an high level of stress.
Is the game really offer different experiences ?
I would say yes. Let's jump to the chapter 10. At this point, players may have lost 6 characters or save them all or save 3 or 4 or more character. But maybe some character are in different state of mind ? Maybe... You got the point.
The moment when Sam and Mike join the lodge for the final fight, regarding to your decision, there are 10 possibilites as a STARTER. So already 10 differents scenarios. And theses scenario will have different ends according to :
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Choices.
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QTE passed or missed.
If developpers wanted to offer undred of different scenario, good job. I let open all the flowchart about the 10 chapters and you can see how sometimes branches can open.
This exercice was really intersting for me to understand decision tree and gameplay through consequences.
PS : I successed to save everyone ! :D
