Messages

16

General / Re: Uhm, the economical and crafting sistems stil need some more loving..

« on: February 04, 2015, 04:37:54 pm »

I have to say Elhazzared really has spelled it all out, at length and in great detail, and I agree 1000%. His side is plainly observable facts, the detractors' side is a bunch of opinions. Those opinions matter, of course, that's why we're all here putting them down in zeroes and ones, *BUT* the difference is that if that system were "fixed", ie. you could sell all your crap at the merchants, the detractors could still play the exact same game they want to play, roleplaying along, picking up this and leaving that, and all the compulsive hoarders on the other side (who I think you'll find make up the vast majority of players) could *ALSO* play the game they want to play. It's win-win.

Leave it as it is and on release there's going to be a lot of griping from new players. If it were good design they were complaining about, I'd say screw 'em, but it's not. It was a stab at some innovative design that in this one case failed and should be abandoned.

17

General / Re: Uhm, the economical and crafting sistems stil need some more loving..

« on: January 15, 2015, 02:01:15 pm »

Happened to be reading a blog post by a talented indie developer (this guy's explanations of good game and level design should be read by game developers of any genre), and saw this quote, which perfectly matches my own opinion about "chores" in games:

Herein lies a golden rule of game design: If the optimal way to play a game is to do something boring, players will still do it even if it makes their experience less enjoyable. Thus a well-designed game should strive to avoid rewarding this kind of behavior.

18

General / Re: Uhm, the economical and crafting sistems stil need some more loving..

« on: January 12, 2015, 08:57:15 pm »

In reply to the start of the thread, I have to say again that making people run around to different merchants to sell your junk always was a bad idea, still is a bad idea, and always will be a bad idea. There are a dozen different smart ways to manage an RPG economy, throwing in pointless chores for players to contend with is not one of them. It stands out especially in a game so thoughtfully planned out and executed as Underrail. Ferchrissakes, change it back!

19

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #35: Portraits and Music

« on: October 28, 2014, 03:32:25 pm »

Frickin' awesome! Love the portraits. Have you considered having separate images for portrait and backdrop, so I could pick the head shot and pick broken bathroom tile or a trash can fire or a metal bulkhead behind it?

20

Suggestions / Re: LOVE YOUR WORK! BUT...

« on: October 27, 2014, 05:03:29 pm »

@epeli: I like Crafting, but speaking to Elhazzared's concerns, you've spelled out the advantages to learning Electronics but what about Mechanical? My problem is that you really need at least two of the Crafting skills to create a lot of the crossover stuff. Do you think Mechanical (for armor and ballistic weapons) pays off alongside Electronics?

21

Discussions / I'm Author of the Week on Lovecraft eZine!

« on: October 27, 2014, 03:11:14 pm »

really brief article

In commemoration of this honor, I've also marked my novel down through Sunday, Nov 1 to $2.99. (this is .com and .uk only, malheureusement)

22

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #34: With Fire and Brimstone

« on: September 30, 2014, 02:03:04 pm »

To all your GUI improvements, I say Thank Glob!  Good work Styg.

Raging flames and toxic gas also awesome.

23

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #32: Blood Sports

« on: July 08, 2014, 05:37:12 pm »

Game is shaping up to be as massive as it is awesome.

24

Other Games / check out these Dead State animations

« on: June 23, 2014, 03:24:56 pm »

I created a YouTube channel with the animal animations I created for Dead State. Dog hasn't been released yet.

25

Discussions / Re: just published my first novel, cover inside

« on: February 08, 2014, 03:54:15 am »

I occasionally contribute to the writing on AoD, and am animating all the animals for Dead State.

26

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #28: Energy Shields

« on: February 07, 2014, 04:47:21 pm »

Energy shields sound rad, but I'm not crazy about the graphic since it completely obscures your character.  I personally would rather see just a glowing circle on the ground, or the same sphere but at 10% opacity, or best of all a sphere that becomes opaque when it's hit, then fades out again.

27

Discussions / Re: just published my first novel, cover inside

« on: February 07, 2014, 02:06:58 pm »

That's really odd, since the Preview worked.  Anyhoo, it's there now.   

28

Discussions / just published my first novel, cover inside

« on: February 07, 2014, 01:59:28 pm »

Styg very kindly invited me to post here when it was finished:  Dreamlands

Here's the blurb:
----
Isaac Sloan, the dissolute scion of a once wealthy family, is nearing the end of his credit when he receives an urgent summons from his estranged uncle. In Arkham, he will learn of the dying man's double life, and of long forgotten enemies newly roused.

Join Isaac Sloan as he parts the veil separating the pedestrian world of early twentieth century New England from an uncharted land of riddles and horrors. In that mysterious realm called the Dreamlands, he will become enmeshed in a struggle against the servants of an incomprehensible entity.
----
Though I've made some contributions of writing and character animation at Iron Tower, I am still on the fringes of the computer games industry.

29

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #25: Game Economy Changes

« on: January 08, 2014, 08:50:29 pm »

Yeah, restrictions are absolutely necessary.  Unfortunately, you're suggesting that using every type of inventory restriction known to the RPG is the way to go.  How many parameters does the player have to consider now when contemplating a single item on the ground?

How much is this worth?
Can I use it for crafting?
If it's useful, can I repair it?  Will it cost more to repair than to buy?  How about crafting a new one?  Maybe I should recycle it.
How much does it weigh?  Is its weight:value ratio superior to this other item's weight:value?
Will I be able to sell it?  If I know someone who buys guns, will he buy both of these guns?
Am I willing to carry it until I find the merchant who wants it?
Is it worth sacrificing 10% of my Dodge in order to go overweight with it?

This is aside from managing your useful items which are constantly degrading, the number of lockpicks you think you need, your schematics, etc. etc.  Players need to make significant decisions, that's what the RPG is all about.  In my opinion, too many player decisions are going to be inventory related, to the detriment of the core game.  It's too much.

30

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #25: Game Economy Changes

« on: January 08, 2014, 04:19:17 pm »

I understand that developing a viable economy has been a goal for Underrail all along, but you've gone way too far on player restrictions.  Here's what we've got so far:

• degrading items (dislike this, but only because I'm going to be spending so much time on the excellent crafting system)
• weight limit (hate this)
• merchants won't buy everything (creates busywork for player, ie. you can get the same end result, sell everything, it just takes more time)
• if you find the right merchant,  he will only buy a limited quantity of the few items he actually wants (makes sense at least)

Most games are happy with one of those restrictions.  You're bleeding the fun out of looting and turning it into a junkyard management sim.  Proposed changes:

• Have a "junk man" in each zone who will buy anything you've got, but at 50% of the going rate.
• Make all junk components like scraps of fabric and metal, saw blades, computer parts, empty syringes, worthless to sell.  This would make balancing A LOT easier, and will save the OCD gamer from spending 90% of his time staring at his inventory.  Probably prevent a couple of suicides too.  You'll be saving lives!!
• Get rid of the weight limit.  Ugh, I can't decide if I hate that more or having to visit four merchants to clear my inventory.  If you have to do something like this, make it a size limit.  Then at least we don't have to do the weight/value math in our heads for every worn out pistol and leather armor we pick up.

If you're going to stick with disposable lockpicks (another ugh), can the game auto-select the lowest bonus lockpick to do the job, and also give you an instant result if the lockpick isn't going to work?  What would be easier and even better is if we went back to non-disposable lockpicks.

Happy New Year!