Overgrowth - Random Idea Dumping Thread

[BunnyWithStick]

Yes, I did, I'm just pointing out the one crucial flaw in that: You can't die.

Have all of that, but death as well, if you want a completely deathless game, cheat.

[Zantalos]

Cheating makes the game easier, usually something along the lines of infinite lives or money. Cheating should not make the game harder, in any way.

Dying and then reloading to your last save would just make the game easy. In Resident Evil 4, if you died you'd simply redo that step over again with your health and ammunition back where it was. Killed by a boss, "do it over again!" Wasted too much ammo killing those guys? "let them kill you and do it again!" Even if you just got a scratch, or something happened that wasn't just perfect, you would allow yourself to be killed and take it over again. That is exactly what happens when any kind of save function is apparent, if you have an auto-save you are free to do anything, and take anything back.

So not being able to save the game and take all your moves back is again not cheating, it doesn't make it easier. If you had allies that could finish the fight, you would find out that your death was not actually fatal, you would be, in the words of Miracle Max "mostly dead," and your allies would recover you. Everything that happened, happened, and that fight was lost, you could run back and take it again, but this is your punishment phase, this is where the hero has lost and is in an inch of his breath. So instead of reloading the fight, you would simply recover, but as time passes, they would recover too, and then you could go ahead and try again. Or maybe not, maybe you'll think that that fight was just too hard now and try something else instead, do a different mission.

If it's simply the fact that you aren't dying... fine, then call it death. You will die, but instead of going back 20 minutes and being at full health at the last town you were at. You will go back to the last town or "home base" because you had died, but there will be actual consequences, you will be still pretty much dead, and your stuff probably gone. But at least your time was not wasted, and you weren't rewarded with a 20 minute instant time machine.

[GaGrin]

Generally I agree with what Zantalos is saying. But I do feel that death should be more serious than simply "losing" and I'm uncomfortable with the idea of Turner being unable to die.

Of course alot of the details of this do depend on how much choice we get in the game. The less open-ended the play is, the less we have to worry about the impact of death/save mechanics - as you've only got one path anyway .

In the end I suppose you have to make consessions due to the single character nature of the game. We shall see.

[Zantalos]

I don't think you'll get just one path in Lugaru 2. The world will be rpg like, like in Fallout, and there will be a 3-d map like in Mount & Blade, so they're not planning on a level by level game.

NPCs will be much more dynamic. Free roaming is the key word. Lugaru 2 is going to be totally open. It will be an RPG.

If all goes as planned then Lugaru 2 will not have any discrete levels as such, so this should not be a problem

[David]

I was planning on a combination of both mechanics. That is, most fights are not about survival. Usually they are about establishing power relationships, and you can end a fight by submitting or getting knocked out. However, if you start fighting carnivores or murderers, the stakes are a bit higher.

It is better to be defeated in combat than killed, because even though you may lose status or property, you learn a lot more about fighting by losing than by winning.

[BunnyWithStick]

Cheating makes the game easier, usually something along the lines of infinite lives or money.

Not if you kill yourself with a cheat.

How about this: Have an option to have death or no death in the game, depending on your preference?

[James M]

I was planning on a combination of both mechanics. That is, most fights are not about survival. Usually they are about establishing power relationships, and you can end a fight by submitting or getting knocked out. However, if you start fighting carnivores or murderers, the stakes are a bit higher.

It is better to be defeated in combat than killed, because even though you may lose status or property, you learn a lot more about fighting by losing than by winning.

Yee are a wise man, that sounds great. In the event of being knocked out, how will you recover?

[James M]

Cheating makes the game easier, usually something along the lines of infinite lives or money.

Not if you kill yourself with a cheat.

How about this: Have an option to have death or no death in the game, depending on your preference?

I'm against this idea... although, it could be that there is no death on an easy setting? That would make more sense than having a option to toggle it.

[BunnyWithStick]

That's exactly the wrong thing to do IMO. Instead of have it on a difficulty setting, let people make their own difficulty settings with a bunch of options set to just how they want them.

Double Post by the way.

[James M]

That's exactly the wrong thing to do IMO. Instead of have it on a difficulty setting, let people make their own difficulty settings with a bunch of options set to just how they want them.

I dunno... I guess I'm just against the idea of making it more complicated than it needs to be. Besides, if you have it on "insane" and you can't die... well that's not insanly hard now is it?

Double Post by the way.

I'm sure you'll survive.

[GaGrin]

Stunning reply.

And learning more by losing than winning is an excellent balancing factor for difficulty too.

I'm glad to see that defeat and being a bloody mess have branched out into their own niches

EDIT:
I notice the keywords "Status" and "Property". This makes me happy. Partly to do with the context of being able to lose it - too many games make equipment immensely important, indespensible and irreplacable.

[Dudeman]

This has 83 pages omg...javascript:emoticon(':?')

[BunnyWithStick]

I think you need to enable javascript, Dudeman…

[Usagi]

This has 83 pages omg..

Too many pages? Impossible!

We've barely begun to plumb the depths of randomnessositudinationalismization.

[Zantalos]

Cheating makes the game easier, usually something along the lines of infinite lives or money.

Not if you kill yourself with a cheat.

How about this: Have an option to have death or no death in the game, depending on your preference?

Nah , gameplay preferences like that are really lame. I don't really care about calling it death or not, I was just thinking about something a little more unique than, GTA's revive at the nearest hospital thing. You never die in those games either, but it's alot better than going back to your last save like in Oblivion or something.

I was planning on a combination of both mechanics. That is, most fights are not about survival. Usually they are about establishing power relationships, and you can end a fight by submitting or getting knocked out. However, if you start fighting carnivores or murderers, the stakes are a bit higher.

It is better to be defeated in combat than killed, because even though you may lose status or property, you learn a lot more about fighting by losing than by winning.

But man, that is so cool David. There's just no way that much innovation can come from a single game, it's crazy! I am so impressed by this!
The whole idea about establishing power relationships in fights, I love it. I think it is just so awesome. I want to do all of that. Just beat my opponent into submission, knock his sword away with mine and legsweep him off the ground next to all his dead friends. I want him to give up.


GaGrin, I too am glad that defeat and being a bloody mess have branched out into their own niches, this is very exciting gameplay.

I can't wait!