The Hint System

[Datadog]

We all know Telltale's going to throw in a hint system regardless. Every one of their games has one. But I just thought of a cool way they could pull it off in King's Quest:

Do the hint system in the style of one of those old Sierra hint books. You know, the ones covered in red ink where you have to look through red cellophane just to see subtle hints and answers. An in-game version of that would be much better suited towards KQ than having the character blurt out what they think they should do next.

[Sabin Stargem]

Personally, I was hoping that they use small snippets of myth and fairytales, considering that solving puzzles is often based on such things in King's Quest.

[Rather Dashing]

I swear to God, if there is a Hint button taking up 33% of the screen's real estate, I'll snap.

[Sixkiller]

I would actually prefer no hint system at all, but that's just me.
I think the snippets of fairytale would work.

[Datadog]

I'd prefer no hint system myself personally. It's a strange way of having the game tell me it wants to be beaten and over with already.

I remembered the parody hint book in "Space Quest 4" and that's what struck me as an interesting way to do it in KQ. Of course, maybe that idea would be better reserved for an SQ series.

[Woodsyblue]

Most modern adventure games have a hint system. It is a good compromise for players who are stuck but refuse to look up the answer on the net.

Personally I have no problem with hint features as long as you have the option to not use them or, even better, turn them off entirely.

[Spadge]

I'm sure we'd have a huge hint button in the middle of the screen, a bunch of Goals that constantly pop-up, Sedric following your every move and drop constant hints and the camera zooming in on everything you need to pick up, so you don't miss it. And that's just on hard difficulty with hints off...

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Spadge

I'm sure we'd have a huge hint button in the middle of the screen, a bunch of Goals that constantly pop-up, Sedric following your every move and drop constant hints and the camera zooming in on everything you need to pick up, so you don't miss it. And that's just on hard difficulty with hints off...

Also remember that the default hint setting is between 50% and Full, making SURE that if you don't go into a settings screen first thing out of abject fear, 60% of your screen's UI and 80% of all dialog will be a direct, obvious, and strongly pointed-out hint. If you're lucky, the game will let you try to solve it once before chiming in, but usually it will heap the hints on well before you have the chance to do anything at all, and heaven forbid you actually miss on your first go at it!

[philthethrill]

Has anyone here played Everlight: Of Magic and Power? I'm just asking because I liked the way the hint system worked. Each time you got a new objective, it would be recorded in a journal. Whenever you got stuck, you could open the journal and each objective would be listed, and under each objective there would be three candles you could light. If you lit one candle, it would give you a general hint. Two candles would give you a more specific hint, and three candles would give away the answer. What I liked was the game would criticize you for using the hints. It would say, "Pfft. You could have figured that out yourself. Try using your brain next time." What I also liked was that the number of hints you used would affect your ranking at the end of the game. In fact, as soon as you light the first candle, the game warns you by saying, "Using too many hints will affect your ranking at the end of the game. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

I also liked how the game handled the level of difficulty. It didn't dumb down the puzzles, but instead it determined how many hints you would be able to use. On Easy mode you would have unlimited hints, on normal mode you would have several hints, and on expert mode you would have very little hints. If at any point of the game the level of difficulty would be too easy or too hard, you could always change the level and the number of hints would change accordingly.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by philthethrill

If you lit one candle, it would give you a general hint. Two candles would give you a more specific hint, and three candles would give away the answer. What I liked was the game would criticize you for using the hints. It would say, "Pfft. You could have figured that out yourself. Try using your brain next time." What I also liked was that the number of hints you used would affect your ranking at the end of the game. In fact, as soon as you light the first candle, the game warns you by saying, "Using too many hints will affect your ranking at the end of the game. You don't want that to happen, do you

Souds like what they did in Puzzle Agent.

[Pak-Man]

I think Telltale should leave hints out, but sell an invisible marker book with the answers, starting with a cryptic clue, then a more obvious clue, and eventually explicit instructions. :^)

[MusicallyInspired]

If they put a hint system in they should default it to 0% instead of 50%. And not even mention its existence. People should know by now that Telltale's games have a hint system. No ugly buttons on the screen or annoying popups.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

If they put a hint system in they should default it to 0% instead of 50%. And not even mention its existence. People should know by now that Telltale's games have a hint system. No ugly buttons on the screen or annoying popups.

I might be okay with them mentioning it on a set-up screen, similar to how Season 2 treated settings.

[MusicallyInspired]

A one-time mention at the startup of the game (or setup like you say) it cool. As long as its never mentioned in-game.

[Blooglspash]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

A one-time mention at the startup of the game (or setup like you say) it cool. As long as its never mentioned in-game.

Cedric: "Graham, if your having trouble getting past this puzzle, there's a POIsonous hint button on the top right corner of the screen!"

[Datadog]

Dear lord - a pop-up Cedric who's always in your face and giving you hints every ten seconds. This absolutely, positively, indisputably NEEDS to happen.

[joek86]

If it's King's quest there's only one way for it to work.
First hint gives cryptic clue
second hint is just slightly less vague
hitting hint a third time on a single puzzle kills you instantly!

[MusicallyInspired]

As far as I'm concerned that's the way it should be. People need to learn to think again. :P

[Marquillin]

Originally Posted by Datadog

Dear lord - a pop-up Cedric who's always in your face and giving you hints every ten seconds. This absolutely, positively, indisputably NEEDS to happen.

For the record TellTale, I'm pretty certain this is sarcasm from Datadog. I know you probably know this, but I'm taking no chances

Yes, have a hint system. Put it in the same place it's always been: subtly embedded in the scenery, descriptions, dialogue, symbology, music, sounds and books (say an in-game Guidebook to the land of the green Isles sort of thing).

We're pampered enough with the internet for the game itself to say, "it's o.k, you don't have to be struggle, You deserve to keep watching this movie!". What if all our teachers did that?

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Blooglspash

Cedric: "Graham, if your having trouble getting past this puzzle, there's a POIsonous hint button on the top right corner of the screen!"

Let's even improve that.

Cedric: "Graham, if your having trouble getting past this puzzle, there's a POIIIIISONOUS hint button on the top right corner of the screen! Maybe we can UUUUUUUUUUSE it.

Edit: and when the player klicks on the hint system ist is a death trap.

Graham: *uuuuuuuuuuses hint system*
Cedric: No Graham stay away frem the edge
Graham AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!