Lugaru 2 objects vs context
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:50 pm
I know in Lugaru one you can interact with obstacles fairly well- wall-jumping, grabbing on to ledges, etc.
These are some of the most valuable assets in any game.
The best example I can think of is in the game Assassins Creed. It is a good game for those who like Lugaru- the fighting is advanced and you can do a lot of things with different weapons.
I noticed two major things about the game.
In that game, you can do things that people don't take much notice of, like gently pushing them aside if you're in a hurry, and you can do things that people notice and talk about, like fighting knights, or running into people and pushing them over. So, you can act with personality and like someone in the real world. I expect the pheonix engine in Lugaru 2 will do that pretty well- each character moves in a different way, etc.
But, in Lugaru 1, there is no social aspect of the game. Either everyone on the map is your ally and you can't attack them, or everyone on the map is your enemy and you can't do anything to negotiate. Your allies never idependently associate or talk to eachother without talking to you and can never help you in a fight on one map, and your enemies will follow you, quite literally, to the ends of the earth. Everything in the game revolves around the character and what happens doesn't really feel like real life. The only effect it has on the actual gameplay is making it feel more real, because, it makes the situations more real.
The second thing is how much you can interact with your surroundings. You can lock on to your enemies, which is very useful, and you can do things like hide in a pile of hay to escape from your enemies, sit down on a bench to be inconspicuous, and find handholds and foot-holds to climb buildings. Where you jump and where you move is also slightly affected by your surroundings. If you face a wooden beam so that it's horizontal to you, you can jump onto it and walk to either side- automatically not jump to far, and automatically move along the beam so that you don't fall off unless you move almost perpandicular to it. It was my favorite console game within ten minutes because of these features. Lugaru had fairly good interactivity, but at that scale, Lugaru 2 could be an unparalleled game.
These are some of the most valuable assets in any game.
The best example I can think of is in the game Assassins Creed. It is a good game for those who like Lugaru- the fighting is advanced and you can do a lot of things with different weapons.
I noticed two major things about the game.
In that game, you can do things that people don't take much notice of, like gently pushing them aside if you're in a hurry, and you can do things that people notice and talk about, like fighting knights, or running into people and pushing them over. So, you can act with personality and like someone in the real world. I expect the pheonix engine in Lugaru 2 will do that pretty well- each character moves in a different way, etc.
But, in Lugaru 1, there is no social aspect of the game. Either everyone on the map is your ally and you can't attack them, or everyone on the map is your enemy and you can't do anything to negotiate. Your allies never idependently associate or talk to eachother without talking to you and can never help you in a fight on one map, and your enemies will follow you, quite literally, to the ends of the earth. Everything in the game revolves around the character and what happens doesn't really feel like real life. The only effect it has on the actual gameplay is making it feel more real, because, it makes the situations more real.
The second thing is how much you can interact with your surroundings. You can lock on to your enemies, which is very useful, and you can do things like hide in a pile of hay to escape from your enemies, sit down on a bench to be inconspicuous, and find handholds and foot-holds to climb buildings. Where you jump and where you move is also slightly affected by your surroundings. If you face a wooden beam so that it's horizontal to you, you can jump onto it and walk to either side- automatically not jump to far, and automatically move along the beam so that you don't fall off unless you move almost perpandicular to it. It was my favorite console game within ten minutes because of these features. Lugaru had fairly good interactivity, but at that scale, Lugaru 2 could be an unparalleled game.
