Osvir

Unfortunately, no. Swapping sections of the rendered 2D image is trickier than it may seem. But maing variations of the image would not be? For instance: 1 original image (which you showcase) 1 image where everything is the same except a single building (basically a copy+paste picture wherein one building has been modified) Of course, time better spent elsewhere really but I couldn't help but to propose it at the very least. Another method would be to treat buildings like props, similar to how you treat foliage like props, but I bet you already have thrown that idea around and didn't choose to pick it because it is potentially extra work? (hypotethical analysis)

Brilliant stuff! I'm at work so this will be short. I really like this concept :D but I am wondering, is there a chance that... instead of restoring the west building simply into what is shown in the screenshot, could we replace the building with something else? (Stables, Tower/Outpost, Library etc. etc.) choices~ "What do you want to build?"-ish

That's not a bad idea. Though, I reckon it would be something to cater to people who like to collect stuff in games and play it to completion 100%+. Oh and Obsidian would have to market it somehow (kind of how the Dark Souls dev was marketing this idea of some Pendant being special, then it turned out it was just a joke, but it did make people play the game much more in search for the answer to the Pendant). Community wise it becomes a "treasure" and the one to find it gets some "platonic" achievement in the community. The Pendant btw. EDIT: An item that maybe has a 1 in a million chance (or more) of being found/dropped. Lottery in the vanilla... or modified to unlock easier~

Apart from the general excitement of the experience of playing the game, I am excited to play with all hardest difficulty options on from the get-go. Pretty much a blind hardcore game, see how far I can get kind of thing.

The whole talk early in this thread about Excalibur and the significance of the "Knight" (or Squire/Stable-boy, which Arthur was first and foremost I believe) gives me an idea. What if we could forge a sword that someone else gets, an NPC, who then later can become an enemy or a friend. Maybe we forge a sword as a gift for a King or Queen, or maybe just a stable-boy, who then later becomes a powerful man or woman in the game. Choice & consequence kind of thing. Or we could forge a sword, it gets stolen during a rest sequence, then we find rumors about it during our passing. How it switches hands, or it gets further stolen, or NPC's talking about it as a dreadful weapon, or a peace-keeping weapon. All in the soul of the hammer (i.e. What the Player chose to forge it into). EDIT: Of course, the Player should be able to gain these Legendary Weapons as well, but by giving them away they gain more story and perhaps even more buffs/enchantments. You get the weapons later, but they suddenly have more story and more "Legendary" to them.

Correction: The concept is a very simple one, but I doubt that it was "very" easy to implement in the Xenonauts engine (which, according to the devs, is a horrible engine). It is also a tactical interface with RTwP and that RTwP feeling to it, so it isn't just "somewhat" tactical, it is tactical. What I meant to say was "somewhat difficult", it could get cranked up just a little bit on the hardest difficulty. But that might be something to appear post-release in mods (maybe).

If there are ship to ship battles in Eternity I envision it being somewhat "Heroes of Might & Magic"-esque because that's the most effective and simplistic way of doing it. Basically you have a tiny ship icon on the world map screen, and when you encounter an opponent ship you get into a generic "battle map". Not much variety to it, encounter wise it is almost always a different encounter, but the map itself is pretty generic (maybe some different props every now and then). I imagine that something like this could work for Eternity, make 2-3 different ship maps/levels that you can experience/encounter similar to how HoMM deals with it. Add in some environmental effects for variety (night, day, storm, snow, rain etc.etc.). No Assassin's Creed 3 or 4 Ship combat, even if that would be lovely. Best way to explain it: Boarding encounters; "board the enemy ship"-encounters. Another method to do it in a simplistic way is Xenonauts. Their Air-to-Air combat interface and combat is somewhat tactical and implemented in a very simple manner. However, that can get very repetetive in a medieval Ship-to-Ship game I believe if they would occur often. Xenonauts has more material to work with (5-6 Alien UFO's, upgrade your own planes and get more planes etc. etc.).

There could also be some skill triggered NPC and world reaction. Vanity Titles. - I use Pickpocket skill 100 times (total) w/ Rogue - Class Title changes to "Thief". Does not change any stats or skill progression, just narrative reaction. ~ Although a Fighter, Wizard or someone else might be able to use the "Pickpocket" skill as well, only as a Rogue would you get the "Thief" title. ~ A Fighter could instead get "Bandit" or similar. "Scoundrel" maybe. Lots of variations. Important to note that this would be an individual title for an individual party member. So if Aloth would become an Arch-Mage that wouldn't turn your main character into one. And if you'd pickpocket with a Rogue and it becomes a Thief, that wouldn't make anyone else in the party into Thieves. Individual actions for individual characters~ Though, it'd be (to go even deeper) quite intruiging to see if a "Title Combination" could equal some extra in-narrative "Party Reputation". "It is the Band of the Ruthless Savages!! Eeeek!" if you manage to get like 2-3 different titles on 2-3 characters in your party. If you'd go down a different path and you get 2-3 other titles for your party the NPC's might start calling the party "The Holy Saints"~

Prestige titles I suppose. Something you achieve in the game by doing stuff. In-Narrative "Achievements". Become a Master Thief in the Thief Guild/Faction? Hey, maybe you're clansmen begin to call your character "The Shadow" and NPC villagers whisper about rumors of things disappearing, maybe they too give some sort of "name" to the character based on his/her actions. Though, this is difficult to explain and it's really 2 different sections: Section 1: Nicknames - Gained by getting reputation in the game - Different factions, different villages etc. etc. has different rep. meters Section 2: Class Titles - A Barbarian title turning into a Warmonger title. - Title gained by building the Barbarian down a certain path. For instance, let's take the Barb as an example here again: - Barb Level 1 - Barb Level 2 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 - Barb Level 3 - Barb Level 4 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 - Barb is evolving.... - ... Barb evolved into Warmonger! - Warmong Level 5 - Warmong Level 6 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 (It is still the same Barbarian perks regardless, so you won't benefit anything special except an evolved "title" depending on your previous choices) For instance, let's say I picked only "do as much damage as possible" related perks during leveling up, which is why my title would turn into "Warmonger". But if I had chosen something else like... throwing perks or abilities, or depending on my characters most favored weapon (Spear or Axe) my Barbarian's title could transform into "Spear Thrower" or "Axe Thrower" accordingly, or "War Shaman" or outright "Shaman" or "Wildling" etc. etc. depending on gear, stats, world-reactivity, narrative, factions <- That is wishful thinking, It would still be a Barbarian in its core, but the title could change depending on how the Player builds the class and plays it~ EDIT: TL;DR: Let's say the Barbarian has a total of 10 Class specific Talents, but on one playthrough you'll only be able to have max 4 or 5 of all those skills. Depending on which 4-5 you pick your Barbarian could get a different title.

Skimmed but... What about Class titles? In another thread I brought up an idea of "Multi-Paths" instead of "Multi-Classing". Maybe your Class can change title depending on how you build it? A so called "Class Change", except it wouldn't be a Class Change mechanically, only Class Title Change. I think it'd be nice as it could give some feedback to the Player about their "Class Build" decisions. Example: - I start off with a Fighter - Get to level 5 with a Tank build or become good friends with a Guard Faction - Fighter title becomes Soldier~ Guardian~ or whatever is most appropriate Or a "sub-title". Still a Fighter, but get a secondary title in the bio or underneath the Class title. I didn't play too much of Kingdoms of Amalur, but I did enjoy the Class system. Can PE draw some inspiration from the concept in KoA and do its own thing with it? (= mechanically appropriate to PE)

Of course, I fully agree, face to face is always the best. That does, however, not exclude the option. The technology exists today in a way it hasn't existed before, and I guess I am also looking into the future of technology where I believe it'll become something (possibly) more common and/or more advanced to allow for it to be more seemless. If it is sane or not sane for the a company to do so or not... that depends on the individual hired does it not? If the individual is not up to snuff, then it's a big risk. But if it is actual passionate talent that could do PE (or any game really) good regardless whether the person works at the office or in a "long-distance" environment? Today we have long-distance school, I can study from afar by joining a school which provides me the option to study from home. Is that insane of the school too? School is, after all, a "preparation for working" environment. Long-distance school is harder because all the responsibility is on the individual, but if you perform well you get the same grades as the one who goes to a physical school (or maybe better if you are the passionate kind). I'm not applying for a job at Obsidian I'm just brainstorming ideas, philosophical & technological. I also want PE to be the best it can be, and if the best doesn't exist in Cali for the Contract Writer position, it probably does in some other state or country

I didn't comment on this before for some reason, but this is possibly one of the greatest weapon ideas ever. Take the best freaking tool in the entire toolbox universe (the wrench is amazing! Don't deny it!) and make it into a powerful Fantasy weapon. "The Unrelenting Nippletwister"

Yes, I mean, I don't have much more to say *shrug* your idea seems simple enough (but I'm still gonna dig a lil bit deeper into Morale). Morale Meters does not have to mean "Run awaaaay!" as we can see in Total War games or the IE games (Morale Checks IIRC). In the IE games the Morale Checks are horrible and chasing down enemies is only frustrating. I suppose a better term of what I mean is a "Combat Efficiency Meter" or "Party Effeciency Meter"... or maybe just as simple as a general "Efficiency Meter". So in light of that, it would affect your character's general efficiency. If down at the "Panic Level" it would merely mean your character would perform bad, not that they'd run away. I just think it could aid in the discussion on difficulty (specially on harder difficulties). About "Panic" in context of this conceptual idea: If "Berserk" makes your character stronger and uncontrollable, "Panic" would make your character weaker and uncontrollable. Panic could even have some low-chance critical hits that deal more damage; "Desperate Critical Hit" or something, a "more-than-lucky" shot. Topdecking Mechanics if the link doesn't take you straight to the time, it is 18:08-19:00.

I'm kind of bothways on the invisibility thing. The rules could easily be explained in-game in a sort of immersive manner as well. In a "it makes sense" kind of way a la "If you go up 2 guys against 1 guy you'll work better together, and the 1 guy will probably get his ass handed to him". But then again, could be nice to get some sort of representation of it as well, but how and where? With all the "dice rolls" of hitting and dodging already, where would this thing fit in without cluttering it up? 1 solution could be a "Morale" meter. The lower the "Morale" meter is, the more penalties your character gets. A sort of feedback on your decisions. If you send 1 Wizard to deal with 2 Goblins, you might see the "Morale" meter quickly go down, but if you send him back, it would replenish itself slowly. If you send in 2 Fighters to deal with 1 Goblin, you could instead see the "Morale" meter go up steadily or stick steadily at its capped neutral value. Here's an idea for a sort of "Morale Meter": Good decisions make your guys happy, and bad decisions make your guys sad. This is also why I think it'd be more difficult if a sort of "Morale Meter" is invisible. Because if I send in my Fighter into a fight and I see his Morale is dropping (or he's getting some penalties of some kind), then I could just send him back and send something else at the enemies until I see a "growth" in the "Morale Meter". Similarly, if my Morale Meter is going down, then I know that the Morale Meter of the enemy is going up. Well, in this idea it would~ so there's a potential that something like this would give the Player too much feedback on their decisions. 1. Danger Level (Red): Risk of panic, you might lose control of your character. 2. Penalty Level (Yellow): Your character is in a disadvantegous position and is getting penalties to defensive and offensive rolls (e.g. 2 enemies vs 1 character) 3. Neutral/Normal Level (Blue): Standard, walking around in the world~ 1-on-1 of equal power level. 4. Bonus Level (Green): 2-on-1, you are doing good decisions and in a good position, hence you get a slight advantage to offensive and defensive rolls. 5. You-Are-Playing-Like-A-Boss Level (Pink w/ Sparkling Stars): You are perfection itself and win every fight, well rested always and never take any damage. Welcome to "Da Boss" Level. Your characters are dominating the battlefield. Jokes aside, this could be a Morale level you get if you can keep your party on a roll by making good decisions generally in the game and almost never go down to "Penalty Level". The only thing that should be affected really would be the rolls, not any statistics per say (So your character isn't suddenly stronger, but just gets better rolls). Example: On Neutral Level 3, your characters rolls might be between 1-20 as standard. But on Penalty Level 2, your character might see an increase in 1-15 rolls, and 16-20 rolls become rarer. On Bonus Level 4 you might instead see rolls between 6-20 popping up more often, and 1-5 becomes more rare. So it wouldn't mean that you'd get better "damage" output in any way, but the dice gets "adjusted".

Time zones: Yes. That is up to the individual is it not? I mean, if I had a chance to get a job at Obsidian or any game development company off country, I'd adjust my daily routines and time schedule. In this example, it would be entirely up to me. People work morning, day, evening, night~ and it is up to them because they probably went into it knowing what was required of them. Solutions, not problems. Different part of the world/different states: Let's put it closer to "home" then. What if there is talent in Colorado, or Arizona? But they are either intimidated or don't think they've got a chance (due to the "in-house" requirement) and thus won't apply at all to begin with. Or someone living in middle of Texas, but aren't ready to commit to it entirely (moving to south Cali in this case) and won't apply either. "Is there a future for the talent/employee at the company?" kind of deal, or would they move to Cali, work a couple of months, then move back to Texas when their time is over, or can they build a career? A sort of safety for the employee~ (if they live far off) I strongly believe a "long-distance" working environment could be healthy for office based companies for a "pre-on-location" employment, but specially for talent. Again, I'm not talking about "outsourcing", or maybe I am, but a different variant of it. Communication as it usually is: - Go up to person - Talk with person Communication in my idea: - Go up to laptop - Talk with person There isn't any difference to it in the act itself. Of course, it is different to talk to someone over the phone than talking to someone directly eye-to-eye. But in a professional environment it shouldn't matter where you communicate but how you communicate so that you can get the job done. Having a sense of purpose. I am sure the talent exists in Cali as well, that's why I said "IF". Because I am 100% sure that there is talent somewhere in the world, IF there is none for the job in Cali.

Hmm... Early Levels: "Oh **** an Ogre!" Mid Levels: "HAH! ONE Ogre!? Feel my blade!" - Two more wild Ogre's appear - "**** THREE Ogre's!!" I'd also wish to chip in an idea about "Melee Engagement" that I'm surprised I haven't brought up. But something to make combat more interesting for both Player and AI alike would be to add a slight "ToHit" bonus the more targets hit the same target. Basically, if you fight 1-on-1 against a Goblin, you'd have normal "To Hit" chance and "Resistances" etc.etc. all that Deflect, Reflex and so on would be the same. But as you go up against 2 Goblins instead (1-on-2) you could start seeing some invisible penalties. Your character has more trouble Deflecting 2 characters than 1, and reacting to both of them also becomes harder, not to mention Psyche should get a little bit lowered as well. Additionally, if you are fighting 2-on-1, you should be at an advantage, and your Psyche goes up (Team effort), Deflection becomes way easier and Reflex (reaction) becomes much easier, because if one of your guys slips up, the other can react to it. This would make the game potentially more balanced and more tactical. In terms of difficulty it'd make 3 Ogre's more terrifying than a single one at later levels. It would at the same time make Ciphers (for instance) a viable option as a second attacker in melee combat. A Fighter can take care of two of the Ogre's for a while (because he has abilities which allows him to deal with several enemies at once, maybe he wouldn't get any penalty for having 2-3 enemies attacking him at once) whilst a Monk or Barbarian can handle the 3rd Ogre. The Cipher can then sneak up on the 3rd Ogre and gain a bonus to attack and everything because there are 2 attackers. I don't know if any of the IE games had any of this, but sometimes in the IE games it felt as if it didn't, and sometimes it felt as if it did. It gets silly when you have 4 characters hitting a single enemy, and almost all dice rolls miss. Shouldn't it be easier to hit a target if you group up on it? Regardless, I believe it could spawn some pretty interesting AI play, for instance, the 3 Ogre's grouping up and doing a sort of focus fire on one of your party members. Different types of enemies could have a "2-in-1" type of deal as well. The Ogre could be counting as a "2 Creature" so having it attack your Monk would naturally give the Monk a penalty to Psyche, Deflection etc.etc. but hitting it with 2 characters would give you normal values, and 3 characters could give you a bonus in this case. 3 Ogre's would, in this case, count as the same value of 6 Creatures. It quickly gets terrifying, even at mid- to late-levels as more and more enemies begin to appear in mobs.

What if the talent doesn't exist in California then? This is kind of what I wanted to get at with this thread. Not really "outsourcing" it but a possibility for a career. What if the talent exists in... I don't know... England. Of course, it'd be simpler to say "What if the talent exists in Ohio?". The below could be a sort of "preparing for transfer" and "test period" as well. "Is this someone trustworthy we want in our office? And can they deliver?". Getting a job like this, and work in an office environment from their home computer could give them a possibility for a career (and remain in contact with Obsidian by getting a dedicated cheap laptop for them to use). Work the same hours as Obsidian, use Skype and the "Share Screen" function (so that if Obsidian wants to check up on the person they can easily do so, like they can for any employee, a voice chat can also always be active so if Obsidian wishes to speak with the Laptop guy in England they'd also be able to do so without a moments notice). The whole idea with the thread (linked above) was a suggestion to find talent for companies & provide a career for the talent, and not to find cheap contract employees. *shrug* it'd give Obsidian, or any company really, way more options in case "talent" is scarce in the area (again, what if there is no Enviro Artist in the Cali area which Obsidian is asking for).

That's mechanically too similar to the Monk, I'm afraid. Tactically it is not. When the idea is not taken out of context:

You can't design "epic levels". It comes by itself. To quote Update #64: ^This.

I agree indirectly. The Psychovampiric Shield doesn't seem to be a "Shield" per say. I think a more fitting name would be "Psychovampirism" or similar to reflect the ability (I drain your Intelligence to gain Deflection). If there are more than 1 Modal ability for all Classes, I could see how the Cipher could have a "Soul Shield (Modal)" ability (a reversed "Soul Whip" ability, essentially) that gives the Cipher Focus when he/she is attacked and gives Magical Resistance, an excellent Anti-Magic Tank build perhaps, should you face Magical Melee Enemies. Maybe being in "Soul Whip" gives more access to more offensive Cipher spells and being in a more defensive "Soul Shield" mode would give access to more defensive spells (I.E: Can't use all Offensive Abilites when in "Soul Shield", can't use all Defensive Abilities when in "Soul Whip").

11 Classes, 12 levels... hmm http://www.goblinscomic.org/09022005/

That is a really great way of describing "Multi-Paths" actually. Start off as a plain "Fighter" but become a "Wizard Slayer" as the game progresses. In this idea, or vision, you wouldn't be able to pick "Wizard Slayer" at character creation, but it'd be something your character would become after a couple of levels depending on how you allocate points and build your character~ that's the essence of "Multi-Paths" (as I like to call it). More inspiration here. And an elaboration: Character Creation - I pick Fighter Gameplay: - I progress and I allocate points, depending on how I build my character it essentially becomes one of these -- Berserker -- Wizard Slayer -- Kensai It is a semi-classless system idea I suppose, except more restricted and boxed in than TES or Fallout. If you pick a Fighter you wouldn't be able to deviate from the Fighter-path, but you could enhance it into a nisched Fighter role.

I can't say the specific classes yet, but a Party that is diverse and can handle many different situations. I want each character in my party to have at least 2 tasks that they can perform in combat depending on situation*. I want two different types of tanks, that's all I know. One Anti-Magic Tank and one Anti-Physical Tank that can support each other when they are not the "main" situational tank. * A Fighter who is an Anti-Physical Tank, but can also stay in the back row and shoot arrows with the Archer-type for instance. With the Adventurer's Hall I will most likely stock up on a large diverse mini-army that I can swap around with depending on where I'm going too. Though, I intend to play without the Adventurer's Hall on my first playthrough (which I believe will make it harder).