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Play-By-Forum / Re: Scavenging
« on: April 29, 2015, 01:34 »
Ok.
I think there's a benefit to settings that mostly take place in the modern real world, but introduce sci-fi (or, in a pinch, occult) elements, but not outright fantasy. You already know a lot about the setting; in fact, any new elements can be specifically described. You don't rely on imagining completely different world like middle earth, and in a game this is even better for resolving disputes because it's easier to establish rules early on. Stories are usually the opposite: you want to have a different world so you can handwave narrative necessities because they make sense in your new world.
Off the top of my head: FEAR, X-Com, Silent Storm, Fallout, Soldier of Fortune, the movie Eraser. Often the sci-fi elements don't get introduced until halfway through.
There's also the small genre of Nazi alt-history fiction. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a fine if unremarkable shooter, and Shock Waves is a nice old movie. The last 10 years or so produced a glut of such movies, most of them horror, and many of them have zombies. Zombies are big nowadays anyway. Lots to draw inspiration from.
I think there's a benefit to settings that mostly take place in the modern real world, but introduce sci-fi (or, in a pinch, occult) elements, but not outright fantasy. You already know a lot about the setting; in fact, any new elements can be specifically described. You don't rely on imagining completely different world like middle earth, and in a game this is even better for resolving disputes because it's easier to establish rules early on. Stories are usually the opposite: you want to have a different world so you can handwave narrative necessities because they make sense in your new world.
Off the top of my head: FEAR, X-Com, Silent Storm, Fallout, Soldier of Fortune, the movie Eraser. Often the sci-fi elements don't get introduced until halfway through.
There's also the small genre of Nazi alt-history fiction. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a fine if unremarkable shooter, and Shock Waves is a nice old movie. The last 10 years or so produced a glut of such movies, most of them horror, and many of them have zombies. Zombies are big nowadays anyway. Lots to draw inspiration from.
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Play-By-Forum / Re: Scavenging
« on: April 28, 2015, 16:40 »
Do you need a way to conduct combat though? Do you intend to have a simple system without positioning, like in Final Fantasy?
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Play-By-Forum / Re: Scavenging
« on: April 27, 2015, 13:23 »
Don't be afraid of "inspiration". You can get a lot of positive recognition for creatively and shamelessly plundering past works. Just consider Fallout, Far Cry Blood Dragon, Tron 2.0, DoomRL, movies like Drive and Avatar, Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas.
Maybe you'll turn your system into a videogame, call it Arcanum, and send it back in time to 2001 for Interplay to publish.
I myself have a soft spot for mostly realistic games with sci-fi elements.
I find hexagonal systems to be extremely promising. They might relieve some tactical considerations/calculations. For example, line of site and explosion radius can be simple hexagons, not some weird jagged circle on a grid. It might be a lot of work to figure out its implications. For the setting to fit, consider alien worlds and races. Think Starcraft and Prey regarding advanced organic technology. There are some hex-games out there you can research and try out, including a fork of Linley's Dungeon Crawl.
Maybe you'll turn your system into a videogame, call it Arcanum, and send it back in time to 2001 for Interplay to publish.
I myself have a soft spot for mostly realistic games with sci-fi elements.
I find hexagonal systems to be extremely promising. They might relieve some tactical considerations/calculations. For example, line of site and explosion radius can be simple hexagons, not some weird jagged circle on a grid. It might be a lot of work to figure out its implications. For the setting to fit, consider alien worlds and races. Think Starcraft and Prey regarding advanced organic technology. There are some hex-games out there you can research and try out, including a fork of Linley's Dungeon Crawl.
4
General Discussion / Re: Design Rant : Inventory
« on: April 07, 2015, 21:16 »
I've scanned this thread since my last post and it looks like devs are going for a doomrl-aliensrl kind cross-pollination. It's hard to give feedback when we don't know the structure of your game. But if it's like doomrl but pushed in the direction of aliensrl, then you might as well stick with the simple doomrl version of inventory, as I think it would've been better for aliensrl. Aliensrl-style would've been good for doomrl, but not so good for itself. Shallow ammo reserves are rather frustrating in aliensrl, where you'd go scavenge just because you ran out of 1 kind of ammo.
Suppose aliensrl had configurable inventory more like doomrl. I think people would end up configuring their inventory to suit their build. The typical pistol build is ammo-efficient but ends up in many emergencies, and prefers to travel through the medical tower, stocking up on medkits and gadgets. The typical heavy build eats up ammo like no tomorrow, so has to pack ammo at the expense of other utilities, preferring the storage tower. This heavy build is rather safe as long as you take proper precautions while exploring, and until you run out of ammo. As aliensrl stands now, after you max out your supplies (as is done periodically), whether you run out of ammo or other depends on your build.
Because in aliensrl all characters have to use up their supplies anyway, the players can/should be challenged with working out the ideal ammo/medkit+gadget ratio for their character, or dealing with an unfortunate sub-par ratio. This gameplay element doesn't really work in doomrl as it currently stands, because of abundant ammo and globes, forbidden backtracking, and because the inventory gathers clutter from mod-packs and clothing. I'd predict that aliensrl would be more fun and far more tactical with an open-ended inventory and Angel of Red Alert, do you?
Suppose aliensrl had configurable inventory more like doomrl. I think people would end up configuring their inventory to suit their build. The typical pistol build is ammo-efficient but ends up in many emergencies, and prefers to travel through the medical tower, stocking up on medkits and gadgets. The typical heavy build eats up ammo like no tomorrow, so has to pack ammo at the expense of other utilities, preferring the storage tower. This heavy build is rather safe as long as you take proper precautions while exploring, and until you run out of ammo. As aliensrl stands now, after you max out your supplies (as is done periodically), whether you run out of ammo or other depends on your build.
Because in aliensrl all characters have to use up their supplies anyway, the players can/should be challenged with working out the ideal ammo/medkit+gadget ratio for their character, or dealing with an unfortunate sub-par ratio. This gameplay element doesn't really work in doomrl as it currently stands, because of abundant ammo and globes, forbidden backtracking, and because the inventory gathers clutter from mod-packs and clothing. I'd predict that aliensrl would be more fun and far more tactical with an open-ended inventory and Angel of Red Alert, do you?
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Requests For Features / Re: Challenge modes ideas - old and new.
« on: April 02, 2015, 00:25 »Angel of Stasis - MovementspeedTIME is doubled for doomguy and enemies, knockback is halved.
How about just +20% speed boost for every monster? as a compensation, you get +2 passive protection.
Hmm? I tried to think of a high-gravity environment, where movement is slow and things tend to fall quickly. So everything gets a -50% speed modifier, which strongly discourages moving when there are ranged attackers around.
Angel of Dakka - every attack is carried out twice at no extra cost of time or ammo. So a double shotgun would make 4 blasts, and an archvile would hit for 40hp.
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Requests For Features / Re: Challenge modes ideas - old and new.
« on: April 01, 2015, 20:36 »
Angel of Nudity - You cannot wear armor or boots, but get +3*lvl% resistances.
Angel of Hoarding - Start with a backpack, can't drop anything other than ammo (because expending it would be boring).
Angel of Adrenaline - There's a speed modifier for every action that depends linearly on your health. You get -25% at 0, +0% at 50, +25% at 100, +50% at 150, +75% at 200. So you move fast only at low health, and supercharging is dangerous.
Angel of Delayed Gratification - You only get traits every 3rd level, but you get to choose 4 traits at a time.
Angel of Blinking - Every action has a 2% or 3% chance of teleporting you somewhere nearby, like a shambler.
Angel of Blindness - Your field of vision is of radius 2, but enemies outside your vision are marked by Xs at a large range. The second rank of intuition lets you see what kind of monsters are close to you, as from a Tracking Map.
Archangel of Blindness - Your field of vision has radius 1, but you always have a Computer Map effect. You can already sense monsters a couple tiles beyond your vision, which can be extended by the second rank of intuition.
Angel of Conflict - Every monster is set to actively hunt the player.
Angel of Gravity - Knockback gets a +100% boost for doomguy and enemies.
Angel of Stasis - Movement speed is doubled for doomguy and enemies, knockback is halved.
Angel of Squishiness - Enemies always get gibbed upon dying, which means no resurrection but no drops either. N! fobidden in addition to ITYTD.
Angel of Plasticine - Walls and barrels are fragile and unarmored on all levels.
Angel of Violation - monsters receive a -100% melee resistance while the player gets a -200% melee resistance. You can guess the archangel version.
Angel of Mutation - You get experience twice as fast, but traits are randomly distributed instead of chosen.
Archangel of Mutation - You still get experience twice as fast. Every time you level-up, one trait is randomly taken away, and two traits are randomly distributed.
Angel of Alien - You cannot wear/wield equipment You have a +50% speed bonus but cannot run. You leave puddles of acid the way enemies leave blood-marks. If you press "." 5 times in a row, you become invisible to enemies. And you destroy doors instead of opening them. And you have +100% acid resistance. And while you can't use medkits, you innately have 1 rank of the vampyre trait.
Angel of Bieber - You cannot wield/fire any weapons, but deal 1d1 damage to all visible enemies every turn.
Angel of Hoarding - Start with a backpack, can't drop anything other than ammo (because expending it would be boring).
Angel of Adrenaline - There's a speed modifier for every action that depends linearly on your health. You get -25% at 0, +0% at 50, +25% at 100, +50% at 150, +75% at 200. So you move fast only at low health, and supercharging is dangerous.
Angel of Delayed Gratification - You only get traits every 3rd level, but you get to choose 4 traits at a time.
Angel of Blinking - Every action has a 2% or 3% chance of teleporting you somewhere nearby, like a shambler.
Angel of Blindness - Your field of vision is of radius 2, but enemies outside your vision are marked by Xs at a large range. The second rank of intuition lets you see what kind of monsters are close to you, as from a Tracking Map.
Archangel of Blindness - Your field of vision has radius 1, but you always have a Computer Map effect. You can already sense monsters a couple tiles beyond your vision, which can be extended by the second rank of intuition.
Angel of Conflict - Every monster is set to actively hunt the player.
Angel of Gravity - Knockback gets a +100% boost for doomguy and enemies.
Angel of Stasis - Movement speed is doubled for doomguy and enemies, knockback is halved.
Angel of Squishiness - Enemies always get gibbed upon dying, which means no resurrection but no drops either. N! fobidden in addition to ITYTD.
Angel of Plasticine - Walls and barrels are fragile and unarmored on all levels.
Angel of Violation - monsters receive a -100% melee resistance while the player gets a -200% melee resistance. You can guess the archangel version.
Angel of Mutation - You get experience twice as fast, but traits are randomly distributed instead of chosen.
Archangel of Mutation - You still get experience twice as fast. Every time you level-up, one trait is randomly taken away, and two traits are randomly distributed.
Angel of Alien - You cannot wear/wield equipment You have a +50% speed bonus but cannot run. You leave puddles of acid the way enemies leave blood-marks. If you press "." 5 times in a row, you become invisible to enemies. And you destroy doors instead of opening them. And you have +100% acid resistance. And while you can't use medkits, you innately have 1 rank of the vampyre trait.
Angel of Bieber - You cannot wield/fire any weapons, but deal 1d1 damage to all visible enemies every turn.
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Requests For Features / New class: Outlaw
« on: March 25, 2015, 21:46 »
A brand new class! Maybe many of us have dreamed of classes to introduce, but I think I could really have as much fun exploring this class as I did the marine, scout, and technician. What I came up with:
Starting characteristics: 1) sees exact HP of enemies, 2) Triggerhappy immediately accessible.
The master traits promote a generalist approach, so the class would appeal to players who want to keep their options open.
[Melee] Overkill: Every time you shoot a monster at point-blank range, you also swipe it instantly with the weapon in your prepared slot.
Req: Brute (3), Hellrunner (2), Son of a Bitch
Blocks: Berserker, Finesse, Eagle Eye
[Pistol] Quickdraw: All inventory management, item use, and lever pulling is instantaneous. Only moving, attacking, reloading, and waiting take time.
Req: Finesse (2), Juggler, Son of a Gun, Level (6)
Blocks: Reloader, Iron Man, Tough as Nails
[Shotgun] Brainwave: All of your explosives land exactly on the spot you aim for, as long as you can see it.
Req: Shottyman, Intuition
Blocks: Badass, Triggerhappy, Juggler
[Burst] Scary Guy: Every time you hit an enemy, you drain 100 energy, allowing you to essentially stun-lock single targets. Also, if you aim directly at an a monster, every hit has a 50% chance to throw something out of its inventory (ammo, medkits...) anywhere in a circle of radius 2.
Req: Badass, Iron Man, Eagle Eye (2)
Blocks: Hellrunner, Triggerhappy, Whizkid
[General] Lucky Bastard: When dealing damage, roll two sets of dice, picking the bigger outcome. When receiving damage, also roll two sets of dice, picking the lower of two outcomes. But if that's a crap idea, just modify every enemy’s accuracy by -4 or something.
Req: Eagle Eye (3), Tough as Nails, Intuition (2)
Blocks: Son of a Bitch, Son of a Gun, Shottyman
Starting characteristics: 1) sees exact HP of enemies, 2) Triggerhappy immediately accessible.
The master traits promote a generalist approach, so the class would appeal to players who want to keep their options open.
[Melee] Overkill: Every time you shoot a monster at point-blank range, you also swipe it instantly with the weapon in your prepared slot.
Req: Brute (3), Hellrunner (2), Son of a Bitch
Blocks: Berserker, Finesse, Eagle Eye
[Pistol] Quickdraw: All inventory management, item use, and lever pulling is instantaneous. Only moving, attacking, reloading, and waiting take time.
Req: Finesse (2), Juggler, Son of a Gun, Level (6)
Blocks: Reloader, Iron Man, Tough as Nails
[Shotgun] Brainwave: All of your explosives land exactly on the spot you aim for, as long as you can see it.
Req: Shottyman, Intuition
Blocks: Badass, Triggerhappy, Juggler
[Burst] Scary Guy: Every time you hit an enemy, you drain 100 energy, allowing you to essentially stun-lock single targets. Also, if you aim directly at an a monster, every hit has a 50% chance to throw something out of its inventory (ammo, medkits...) anywhere in a circle of radius 2.
Req: Badass, Iron Man, Eagle Eye (2)
Blocks: Hellrunner, Triggerhappy, Whizkid
[General] Lucky Bastard: When dealing damage, roll two sets of dice, picking the bigger outcome. When receiving damage, also roll two sets of dice, picking the lower of two outcomes. But if that's a crap idea, just modify every enemy’s accuracy by -4 or something.
Req: Eagle Eye (3), Tough as Nails, Intuition (2)
Blocks: Son of a Bitch, Son of a Gun, Shottyman
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General Discussion / Re: Design Rant : Inventory
« on: March 25, 2015, 20:47 »
Maybe it was mentioned before, but I'd like to be rid of ammo as done in DoomRL. Just have maximum capacity for each kind of ammo like Doom itself. For example 100 shells maximum. Outside the inventory, not an item within the inventory. Then you can introduce special items. For example, relatively rare shell boxes you can carry in inventory that, when you use them, add 30 shells to your ammo counter. As another example, shell attachés can be carried that each increase your maximum shell capacity by 50 shells.
that might tweak the reloading system: guns don't actually contain ammo, but have to be "charged up" to be used. So a pistol and chaingun can be both fully loaded as long as you have 40 bullets. The pistol in Duke Nukem 3d works exactly like this - it just reloads so quickly you never think about it. This break from reality would so streamline gameplay that I wouldn't mind.
that might tweak the reloading system: guns don't actually contain ammo, but have to be "charged up" to be used. So a pistol and chaingun can be both fully loaded as long as you have 40 bullets. The pistol in Duke Nukem 3d works exactly like this - it just reloads so quickly you never think about it. This break from reality would so streamline gameplay that I wouldn't mind.
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AliensRL / Re: first impressions and some negative feedback
« on: May 31, 2012, 04:30 »Have you ever played pre-gold versions of AvP 1, on Director's Cut difficulty? Mission: Orbital, Tyrargo or Waterfall? I assume you there are so many Aliens there, that praying for an additional one is the last thing you would do.First I'm scared because I know aliens are around but I have no target to shoot, and then I'm scared of the aliens when I finally do see them.
This roguelike is as it was meant: simple. Regarding supplies: it reminds the real life: there are so many things in it, that you have to choose the things that you would concentrate on.Well look at it this way: two levels of the supply tower can easily contain 300 .44 rounds. In real life, I would collect it all into a neat pile, if I could not carry it around everywhere. In AliensRL I have to leave a mess. Say I leave 150 .44 ammo on a floor. After finding a colt shooting my other 150+ .44 ammo elsewhere, I would return and check every single room on the level for those 150 rounds of .44 ammo. Wouldn't you?
But I agree to a certain point that a basic map tracking could be interesting (especially with the less attractive classes like Engineer/Technician).
Well, DoomRL doesn't have such an option (to reload everything), so it is not as bad as it may seem. ;)DoomRL is not simple as you say AliensRL is. Unlike AliensRL, DoomRL rarely lets you feel safe, so allocating a big chunk of time carelessly is inadvisable. Even after clearing out a level, you would be interested in most effectively using the level's resources to enter the next level berserking and with supercharged health. Plus DoomRL can use a breather now and then, when you calmly reload all your weapons.
And there is a possibility to carry weapons from a place to a place, and drop them there. In the end, you can combine backtracking, pickup&drop strategy to carry more than 3 weapons with you.Yes but it's so easy to forget in which tower, level, and corridor you left a weapon, like medical-3-north. Anyway it's true only for weapons, false for ammo, grenades, medkits, and clothing.
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AliensRL / Re: first impressions and some negative feedback
« on: May 28, 2012, 00:13 »
Ohh really, so the challenge of the game is supposed to be a balance between powerleveling your character and finishing the game as soon as possible. Then there should be insentives to keep your butt moving - such as aliens spawning at an increasing rate, or eggs that set off a facehugger-spawning countdown when approached (rendering the level too hazardous), or crazed personnel running around from the ground up and trying to weld doors or blow up sectors (which can be forewarned via sirens and a countdown just like in the movies.) Deranged people can be as fun to kill as aliens!
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AliensRL / Re: Make AliensRL More Awesome
« on: May 27, 2012, 23:48 »
--- Vent System Overhaul ---
Many rooms should have floor, ceiling and wall vents. A finite number of invisible "name of alien [in vent]" entities should be generated on the map. These [in vent] aliens should be able to noclip and path their way through any wall and any terrain feature to get to your current room and exit out the vent in the room. When they reach the vent exit, they're converted into the real alien type. The only way to detect these invisible things should be with a motion tracker. This would also add the unreliable element to the tracker. Is your device showing a real alien behind that wall or is it just an invisible vent crawler? Far more [in vent] aliens should spawn during the night.
Greatest improvement would be to have aliens escape into vents and either heal up or reappear closer to the player. This would add a tactical and atmospheric element without cluttering up the controls/inventory.
RE: barricades. Effective escaping could be made into the primary action of the game. I've seen it done in mainstream games like Resident Evil 4, Dark Corners of the Earth, and Mafia. A sprinting mode can be offset by reducing the vision radius of you but not the aliens, making it more likely for you to rush into danger.
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AliensRL / first impressions and some negative feedback
« on: May 26, 2012, 02:06 »
My first several characters died quickly, while I was still learning the ropes. Then one character survived an unpleasantly long time.
Honestly, I am amazed at how boring the game becomes. I know that busywork is common in roguelikes, but AliensRL takes it a notch further. The levels are huge and the difficulty between towers is about the same. Going through the complex room-by-room is a rote affair. Even after considering critical hits and range modifiers, combat is very predictable. Most of the time, I feel like I’m following an algorithm for clearing rooms. The vibe is less sci-fi horror and more under-equipped pest control. By the way, that is a huge departure from the marine campaigns in AvP games, where I constantly fling my character around, praying to actually see an alien and jumping when I do.
Why does the map not memorize anything besides barrels, floors, walls, and corpses? I can’t form stashes, so I have to leave many supplies lying all over the place, to be picked up later. I can’t keep track of them all! Plus you might have to swap weapons if you e.g. run out of .44 ammo, and after you gradually fill up on that ammo, the original weapon can be hard to find. This is not realism, this is just unpleasantness.
Do want: A macro that reloads all weapons and switches to the primary weapon.
Do want: An option to walk around unless an alien is in view. Pressing coma+direction is very uncomfortable, plus you cannot control the number of spaces you move. The cramped environments of AliensRL make me press direction keys in quick succession, and in familiar territory, an alien can sneak up unbeknownst to me.
The grenade system is well-implemented IMHO.
One odd quirk I found is that meat-shields do not really exist. Take #aA @# as an example: if I burst-fire at ‘a’, then ‘a’ will take most of the damage. Should I interpret this as aliens being very small compared to grid squares?
Honestly, I am amazed at how boring the game becomes. I know that busywork is common in roguelikes, but AliensRL takes it a notch further. The levels are huge and the difficulty between towers is about the same. Going through the complex room-by-room is a rote affair. Even after considering critical hits and range modifiers, combat is very predictable. Most of the time, I feel like I’m following an algorithm for clearing rooms. The vibe is less sci-fi horror and more under-equipped pest control. By the way, that is a huge departure from the marine campaigns in AvP games, where I constantly fling my character around, praying to actually see an alien and jumping when I do.
Why does the map not memorize anything besides barrels, floors, walls, and corpses? I can’t form stashes, so I have to leave many supplies lying all over the place, to be picked up later. I can’t keep track of them all! Plus you might have to swap weapons if you e.g. run out of .44 ammo, and after you gradually fill up on that ammo, the original weapon can be hard to find. This is not realism, this is just unpleasantness.
Do want: A macro that reloads all weapons and switches to the primary weapon.
Do want: An option to walk around unless an alien is in view. Pressing coma+direction is very uncomfortable, plus you cannot control the number of spaces you move. The cramped environments of AliensRL make me press direction keys in quick succession, and in familiar territory, an alien can sneak up unbeknownst to me.
The grenade system is well-implemented IMHO.
One odd quirk I found is that meat-shields do not really exist. Take #aA @# as an example: if I burst-fire at ‘a’, then ‘a’ will take most of the damage. Should I interpret this as aliens being very small compared to grid squares?
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