Thinking about Charisma and Hard Modes

 I've been thinking about Charisma and Hard modes in games.

For context "Charisma" is an aspect in games that deals with "Schmoozing" or convincing characters in the game. I've seen it used from anything like bargaining, to romance, to totally deescalating a fight.

Hard modes in videogames deal with higher difficulty. Usually this means the enemies will be stronger or faster, which makes the game more of a challenge.

I was working on more writing for Automancer and playing some more Skyrim and thought: What if Charisma in my game influenced the difficulty. I don't know if I'll have an official "hard mode" in my game, but I do want to focus on player choices.

Like dialog may trigger a boss fight or depending on your choices the characters will unlock different spells. Or say you want a challenge and want to instigate a fight, I want there to be that option when applicable. Even if the story is at a linear point where the plot has to progress a certain way I want your choice as the player to give a result depending on what you pick.

After all, I think one of the greatest parts about videogame media is that it's interactive.

My most recent adventure in Skyrim

Ps: gonna try to blog more when I can.