ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Trials

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ThePaSch
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ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Trials

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In each installment of ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Trials, or TPAAIGTCT for short, we will take a look at specific methods and general hints for various areas regarding the creation of trials that have proven and will prove to be vital to creating a trial that everyone is going to want to play. Helpful screenshots and detailed illustrations, along with in-depth explanations on why and how the given advice will impact your trial in more than one positive way will help you create the trial that you always wanted to create, but never had the guts to.

Part 1: Cross-Examinations and how to pull them off correctly

Cross-examinations are a fundamental part of each and every trial. Naturally, they are highly important to keep the player interested in your trial and to prevent it from going stale and boring the player to death. Because testimonies and cross-examinations will make up the bulk of your trial's storytelling, it is highly advisable to throw them in at any given opportunity. After all, the player is not going to want to listen to your characters figure out the case themselves; they want to be a part of that process, shaping and puzzling together the core facts of the case at hand. On the contrary, long cross-examinations tend to get dull, leaving the player with the sole goal of getting out of it, just to make progress. As such, you will want to pack as much information as possible into as little statements as possible. Luckily, Ace Attorney Online gives us the opportunity to extend the normal textbox size of three lines, making it possible to transcend the original games in ways no one ever thought possible. For instance, compare the information given in this frame of testimony:
Spoiler : :
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to the information given in this frame:
Spoiler : :
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As you can see, the latter variant offers much more in-depth storytelling and characterization in virtually the same space, while still conveying the basic gist of the testimony. This is the advantage to working with an online casemaker - you are not bound by the artificial limitations that the DS versions imposed on themselves. You should make use of that notion whenever possible.

Alternatively, if you - for whatever reason - decide that you indeed want to impose these trivial limitations on yourself, you can split the message up:
Spoiler : :
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But, for the sake of this guide, we are going to work with the much handier option of keeping the information in one frame. It will also make it easier to convert your testimony into a cross-examination later on. Let's take a look at the witness' full, complete testimony, naturally in the style of shaping your trial's lore while still providing fundamental case information:
Spoiler : :
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Now, with each statement in a testimony comes the necessity of providing a relevant response to the defense's pressing. In general, when the player presses a statement, he or she does so because he or she wants more information about that statement. Keep this in mind as you create your cross-examination - you will want to provide the player with new information in order to make them feel like they accomplished something and made progress. For instance, when pressing the first statement of our testimony, avoid this:
Spoiler : :
Image Image
You will notice that, no matter what response the witness provides to our lawyer for this question, no new information will have been gained in the end. Time is an abstract topic and generally not important in any given situation. Instead, make use of the great amount of information already given by the witness' statement and try to expand upon it. Take this example as a pointer:
Spoiler : :
Image Image
Compared to the previous example, no matter what response the witness provies to our lawyer for this question, he will always acquire new information in the end. To expand upon this scenario, let's assume that a piece of black forest cake is $2,99. Our lawyer might have a great amount of use for this new tidbit of info, so let's add a new statement to the testimony that explains the price further and provides an explanation as to why it may be too high, too low, or just right for the provided service, i.e. a piece of cake. Keep in mind that you absolutely need to pay attention and incorporate your characters' unique quirks, so let's add a reference to our witness' personality, which, in this case, is one of a computer nerd, as his name suggests:
Spoiler : :
Image Image Image
And now, free from limitations, doubts and shallowness of information and facts, create your own cross-examination in this style as a closing excercise for this chapter of TPAAIGTCT. This concludes our first installment! Our topic for the next installment: The Endless Cross-Examination: Stop Amending Every Tidbit Of Junk, You Dimwit!
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by lazyplague »

Uhhh. PaSch, I think this would fit more in the Tutorials Section.
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by ThePaSch »

Read the "guide"; I don't think it would fit in there at all. :P

But, yeah, I guess I should add a disclaimer. The fact that this is not a serious guide is maybe not as obvious as it should be.
Last edited by ThePaSch on Fri Aug 16, 2013 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by lazyplague »

There's really nowhere else this would fit.
And this section definitely isn't where it would fit, as it's not meant for Editor or trial talk.
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by Remilia Scarlet »

But here, more people are likely to see it. This isn't just a guide for trials, I think we can apply the information here to all aspects of life.
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

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Remilia Scarlet wrote:But here, more people are likely to see it. This isn't just a guide for trials, I think we can apply the information here to all aspects of life.
Indeed! That is the intention. The next time someone takes you hostage at gunpoint, urging you to provide an excellent cross-examination in short time, you will be prepared!
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

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*Likes, comments, favorites and subscribes*
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by kwando1313 »

But no following, Dan? For shame.
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by DeeYo »

Thank you, ThePaSch. I was lost inside the dark woods of ignorance, groveling in the mud of not knowing how to make decent cross-examinations, but you, as my savior, descended from the heavens and extended your holy arm so that I could learn from the masters. I will utilize this divine knowledge until I die, and will not allow anyone to advise me to make cross-examinations otherwise. Thank you for enlightening me, o great one!
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by Bad Player »

Pasch, I'm pretty sure AAO takes plagiarism very seriously. You clearly stole this guide from Luna Atmey =\
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

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DeeYo wrote:Thank you, ThePaSch. I was lost inside the dark woods of ignorance, groveling in the mud of not knowing how to make decent cross-examinations, but you, as my savior, descended from the heavens and extended your holy arm so that I could learn from the masters. I will utilize this divine knowledge until I die, and will not allow anyone to advise me to make cross-examinations otherwise. Thank you for enlightening me, o great one!
You shall be granted eternal wisdom by adhering to your newfound knowledge, embracing and cherishing it at every step you make. You, young disciple, have illuminated yourself through your decisions - it was none of my doing!
Bad Player wrote:Pasch, I'm pretty sure AAO takes plagiarism very seriously. You clearly stole this guide from Luna Atmey =\
Or, perhaps, I am simply not the only one to live by standards of wisdom and insight!
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Re: ThePaSch's Awesome And Insightful Guide To Creating Tria

Post by Ping' »

In the words of another crazy German:
...approved.
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