Wish Lists

[Eureka]

I know this is probably a common topic, but what as-of-yet unseen features do you hope will make it in to Overgrowth?

For me, this might be something already in development, but a big engine feature I'd like to see is fully functional armour. So that if an armoured part of the body is struck, depending on the force, angle, materials and sharpness involved, the blow may be deflected or cushioned by the armour. If that could happen, it would be unprecedented in games (I think) and would also deepen the game's combat. From watching development videos, fights seem to be over very quickly, and are usually a matter of landing a few solid hits, or even 1 if you have a weapon. Armour seems like a logical addition to the world then, and could serve to enhance fighting strategies and offer new playstyles (since armour should also affect its wearer).

The other stuff I'd like to see is more cosmetic, and so would definitely appear later on (if it does). The main thing I'd like is more varied and stylish combat, with more techniques and strikes rooted in martial arts, including in weapon-use. If each of the main races used a different style, that would also be amazing. I also definitely want to see wildlife, both ambient and hostile, to help make the world feel more alive and also add more types of enemies.

I also like the idea of each of the races having unique abilities, such as rabbits having sensitive hearing and powerful jumps and kicks. I'd definitely like to see that expanded to the other races (I understand the main ones are rabbits, cats, dogs, rats and wolves. I don't know a great deal about what they will be like so forgive me if I get some aspects wrong) with traits like:
Cats - Fast reflexes and very nimble. Able to dodge very well and can easily recover from falls and takedowns (always land on their feet). Also able to see well in the dark. They could fight with some form of kung fu, reflecting their flashy/narcisstic nature.
Dogs - Master craftsmen and very discliplined. More capable with weapons and armor than other races. Resilient, take a long time to wear down. When bare-handed I see them fighting with some form of karate, focusing on arm-based strikes such as chops and elbow strikes.
Rats - Very fast and very quiet, ideal sneakers. Small size also allows them to fit in tight spaces. Prefer fighting with small weapons but when unarmed use a style that makes use of fast pokes and jabs.
Wolves - Extremely strong. Fight using focused strikes of concentrated, explosive power that resembles a sort of kickboxing and wrestling. Also able to smell blood and thus detect and track potential enemies.

Anyway, those are just sort of the impressions I got and a few ideas. There's probably some stuff I got wrong relating to what's already been planned, but I wanted to share it anyway. Thanks.

[zamzx zik]

I was under the impression that 'fully functional armor' is almost already possible under various incarnations - Just look at the way they define sharpness on weapons. They use something similar to a specular map or texture map in order to 'paint' on where objects are sharp.

For armor, I'd imagine you could map out where the armor is on the character model texture and then define 'when this part of the texture is struck, damage is negated' kind of dealio.

[kehaar]

The weak-spot/strong spot aspect of armor could be a little odd with the auto-aim style of OG controls-- where you don't have just a specific button for a specific strike. It'd be fun to mod in some cross-hair style manual aim for knife throwing-- so you'd fail if you didn't nail 'em in th head or something....

This is a little off subject, but I always think of how armor must make the wearer fatigued-- so the advantages could turn out to be deficits in a long fight, or on a long run. Dunno how that could work into OG with their control system. Games that have some form of it require some input, but something to ponder...

Oh, and welcome to the forums, Eureka! Nice first post.

[Korban3]

I asked Aubrey a while back when we might see an armor system and he said it was going to be rather soon. While that can mean months in game development, I understand that David has ideas for a modular armor system, so a modular and functional armor use against weapons seems like it goes hand in hand. This is one of those features I can't wait to have.