Most desired features, given Overgrowth's online comic, etc.

[Wapos]

I can't quite cover it in the subject-line, but I thought I would open a question to encourage the type of discussion that I thought I would find here in the "secret" forum (but have not found so far).

The question is made less broad by the information we've already got, in the form of the FAQ, the online comic, and the alpha itself, however: what are the features you are hoping to find in overgrowth?

I'm presuming that people would want to discuss features that were absent in Lugaru (because there's probably no point in reiterating how much you loved x, y or z in the prequel).

I would also reiterate that the Wolfire FAQ (etc.) clarifies that we will be looking at a fairly linear plot (not an open-ended/sandbox game) --so it would best if such desired features were within those limits.

I'll give just one suggestion here myself, with two examples to illustrate it.

I would like to see (very simple) choices made within the plot that would (1) increase difficulty and (2) present the player with some type of ethical dilemma.

The two examples, as promised:
• Remember the final battle with the Alpha Wolf in Lugaru? The Alpha Wolf reproaches you with the statement that you would be unable to win without your weapons, that he considers dishonorable. The protagonist offers no reply. What if (in this sort of situation) you could decide to throw your sword aside and fight bare-handed (i.e., more difficult, and perhaps providing some minor branch in the plot or dialogue).
• Remember the question of whether or not to kill the wolves' children in Lugaru? Again, perhaps a situation like this, could give you an option to spare the wolf-cubs' lives (with some unpredictable result, for the various options).

This sort of thing has existed in video games since Nethack. I'm not proposing anything that would extend devtime or increase the polygon count here, just a general suggestion. I've always found that it increases replay value to have branches of this kind in mid-game (rather than difficulty-level settings at start-up that don't change the content of the plot).

I realize that some members of the forum may have talked about these things years ago (perhaps when the forum first opened?) but I didn't see anything of the kind here, and so I thought I would open the door to see what other Alpha testers were thinking.

[t2vanden]

Believe it or not, I really want structured multiplayer. Like a balanced, structured, set of multiplayer modes and competitive matches. I didn't notice until recently how much potential this game has as a seriously fun multiplayer game. The level of detail and variety in the combat combined with a vast amount of weapons and a potentially unlimited number of levels, it would be a real shame if we didn't see multiplayer in a full, fleshed out experience in the final release.

[johndh]

• Remember the final battle with the Alpha Wolf in Lugaru? The Alpha Wolf reproaches you with the statement that you would be unable to win without your weapons, that he considers dishonorable. The protagonist offers no reply. What if (in this sort of situation) you could decide to throw your sword aside and fight bare-handed (i.e., more difficult, and perhaps providing some minor branch in the plot or dialogue).

You can do that, and many people have. You want a prize or something? All snarking aside, I would like to see things like that acknowledged, perhaps the way they are in the challenge mode where you get recognized for clearing a level unarmed, or picking them off one by one, etc. Alternatively (or additionally), the way you handle a fight could affect people's opinion of you in the future. Should they fear the long-eared assassin who lurks in the shadows and leaves no trace save the corpses of his enemies, or should they respect the way of the warrior-monk who fights only as hard as necessary and avoids taking lives as much as he is able? It seems a lot of people on the forum are kinda already expecting that to be in the game anyway, but I don't know if we have anything official. I do remember David saying that one of the design elements he likes is that "it's only as violent as you are", or something like that, in that you have a choice of whether to be gentle or brutal.

[Wapos]

Well… speak of the devil…

Don't know if you guys already saw the changes discussed for Alpha 183, but (coincidentally or not) the "conduct" of the character (in the Nethack sense of the word conduct) is now tracked on screen for you.

Unlike Nethack, I assume that all rabbits are vegetarian.

BTW, although I'm not a stickler for realism one other "feature" came to mind from an encounter with a wild rabbit yesterday (we have a lot of wild rabbits around here, typically three times the size/volume of a domesticated cat, sometimes larger still).

This particular rabbit was eating out of a garden and felt cornered when a group of people walked around the corner and it had nowhere to run to (they were just commenting on how cute the rabbit was, of course, but the rabbit regarded the people as a threat, naturally enough).

The rabbit put its ears down flat and straight back (something I have not seen before: when they sense a threat at a greater distance, they point their ears upward, and look alert). It also opened its eyes very wide and stared directly at its potential predators.

The "feature" that this made me think of was simply that the ears could move around expressively (given that you're looking at the back of a rabbit's head for the majority of the game, etc.). A rabbit's ears do not always point straight upward and, at a minimum, you could have different ear-behaviors for stealth / tracking, as opposed to charging into combat, retreating, etc.