Social Events

Social Events

Social events are things that have happened in the game world that characters can respond to. They are the best method for creating relationship-driven gameplay where players' choices affect their immediate interactions with NPCs and their relationships with other NPCs in the social engine. Social events allow agents directly and indirectly involved in the event to respond according to in ways that align with their relationships.

Imagine that you're deigning an RPG game where the player's relationships affect the narrative progression of the game. The player has recently been caught stealing from an NPC who saw them as friends. This scenario might trigger a Betrayal social event that:

1. Decreases the friendship stat from the victim toward the player.
2. Makes the victim sad.
3. Decreases the friendship stat from the victim's friends toward the player.

These series of changes could result in new plots to open in the narrative, while closing others off. It might also affect the player's ability to purchase items or obtain favors from other NPCs in town.

Layering these relationship mechanics into a game encourages players to spend more time thinking about how they treat characters in the game.

The guides listed below discuss how to create custom social events for your projects:

• Create SocialEvents Using ScriptableObjects
• Create SocialEvents Using YAML Files