Unrestful: True ending
November 10, 2012 2 Comments
In some games, after seeing all the standard endings, a true route will unlock. I was tempted to apply this same pattern into Unrestful. Today, I wish to explain why I ended up choosing to do otherwise.
One, I wanted the endings to be grey from a morals standpoint. A true ending would imply there is an ideal solution. I would like players to settle on their preferred conclusion instead.
Now for the second reason. Let me be honest. By no means am I expecting Unrestful to capture people’s attention for long. To unlock the true ending, typically, all the other paths must be seen first. I chose not to demand that much of players’ time. Replaying a level gets tedious quickly. I could live without people having those feelings about Unrestful.
Interesting point. It is, in a way, giving the player his well-deserved reward for making his choices up until the end. There are a few games I know that use the unlock mechanic; and so far they’re done well. If ever you do decide placing this in the end (I’m not sure if you’ve completed development of this game, sorry
) I hope you do it well 
For me, having a “true end” unlock is not something done on top of head and just because it’s awesome– it is intended to be there, both as a gameplay mechanic and as a narrative. For it to be a gameplay mechanic, it’s like how the Japanese galges do it: you pick a girl in the common route, and end up with her ending. It then becomes a narrative mechanic/tool when you complete all routes then unlock the ‘true end”– upon which might show you why the repeat was there (case in point: Little Busters!– the reason for repeat was hinted at all throughout) and possible a wham! reveal.
Thanks for the reply, and huge apologizes for taking so long to approve your message m(_ _)m!
Unrestful does have a screen that shows you how many endings you’ve unlocked. I could argue it’s unnecessary, but it’s good for players to see how much a game has to often and not have to guess.
I agree about the true end comment. 999 and Ever17 are two games I can think of where true ends were truly (pun!) warranted. I just feel uncertain about true endings that make all the other routes seem pointless.
Thank you again for dropping by
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