Hormalakh

For those interested in the Arcanum playthrough by MCA: His twitter has answers: https://twitter.com/...191652829933569

I can't tell if you're joking or not. It may be that "likeable" or "memorable" are the wrong words here. There's something phony about a character who wants to be liked. Maybe we need to think of them as "compelling" or "intriguing" ? The reasoning behind getting it right is the same. But if they're now compelling or intriguing, then.... http://forums.obsidi...aracterization/ Chris Avellone is the guy who's come up with some of the most loved and well-known characters in RPGs.

Hate to be the grammar nazi, but it's "ado"; adieu is goodbye. It's Nazi. You capitalize proper nouns.

I don't think Chris Avellone is really much into making memorable companions. That's too old school.

Don't want to sound pushy...I pretty much expected this sort of update. It's cool - we had an awesome one before the new year. But one can always hope right? It's the same kind of hope I have that they'll suddenly update us tomorrow and say that the game is done.

Slightly disappointed in the lack of mechanics details from this update, but I'll get over it. Thanks for the update nonetheless and hope those who are sick get well soon. Also, request to have Tim Cain talk a little about non-combat mechanics if any of those are any more developed that when he talked about them last. e: I meant Tim should talk about them within the next few updates.

Wow ingenious. Increase market share of your software by giving an older version. People will use it and see that they need it and then some will undoubtedly go out and buy the newest version. You also limit the pirate problem. I noticed they're also doing monthly subscriptions for their newest suite. Very interesting business decisions.

Is there a puzzle involved? Or is this meant to play more like a fetch quest where you just have to find all the information and cannot solve the puzzle without actually finding all the information? I don't think there is a problem with certain puzzles having to involve the player rather than the characters. I have mentioned in the past that intelligence limiting the characters should play a role, etc. But I'm not sure how important that should really be. Most parties will have at least one character that will have a high intelligence (playing a mage) or a high luck regardless of whether these attributes are even considered (will luck even be an attribute?). We don't have to LARP our computer characters in everything that they do.

lol @mstark re: degeneracy. There is a difference, I believe, in the reasons you give for so-called "degenerate load/save" and reasons that the developers give for degenerate reload/save. One has to do with trying out different strategies to solve a particular problem or challenge when all the information is laid before you. This would be the example of Commandos. The other (and the one that I agree should be reduced) is when the challenge itself is the lack of knowledge (you don't know what kinds of enemies you'll see so you can't be sure what spells to prepare) and the only way to really bypass that challenge is to "meta-game" and "degenerately load and save". Even if you played Commandos today, the challenge is still there. You still have to execute the strategy correctly to win. With other DnD RPGs, the challenge of not knowing what enemies lie ahead of you is no longer there. There is still a challenge there (similar to Commandos, you have to execute your strategy correctly) but it is severely reduced.

I did want to point out an observation that I've had about this. In older games, where the obstacle to finding the answer to these questions was extremely high (there was no internet and hints were only found through expensive phone calls or limited strategy guides), developers continued to utilize such puzzles/riddles for their audiences, without much furor. However, now with the unlimited supply of solutions and strategy guides available at the touch of a mouse button through the internet, suddenly the furor has increased? For the players who don't like such puzzles, the answers can be quickly found online and they do not limit their gameplay. Whereas for players who would rather solve such puzzles without the hints given by a multiple choice, they/we do not have such an option. It seems a little backwards to me. If you get frustrated by the puzzle and want to just move on, look up the solution online. If you want the challenge, it's there for you. Even I, from time to time, don't really feel like solving word puzzles, and I'll just look up the answer online to bypass a specific puzzle. I guess there are more elegant ways to give players "hints" but I don't find it to be too big of an issue when I can't solve the puzzle.

How is trial-and-error guessing from a list of options different from trial-and-error guessing from a series of letters or syllables? How is it metagaming? Trial and error guessing from a list of options already tells you all the information you require. It gives you all the options possible and severely limits the options for the player. You aren't really guessing/metagaming from a series of letters unless you're absolutely sure you have all the information. For the LABORATORY example, if you hadn't found the BO clue, you might still be able to figure out LABORATORY with the incomplete information. Or maybe you're not sure if its LABORATORY or LAVATORY since you're not sure if a BORA or a VA exists or not.There is still a challenge involved there of trying to solve puzzles without having all the clues in front of you. The other aspect is that these typed-in puzzles can act as in-game obstacles for developers to help maintain some sort of path for players without forcing it upon them. If you've found the clues in the universe to help you solve the puzzle, then you may proceed to the next section of the game. But if you are able to guess the answer (or if you are replaying the game and don't wish to repeat certain portions of the game world) then you can by-pass this obstacle. You do not have this option with a multiple choice riddle because the answers are limited and thus such riddles can only act as extremely weak/low obstacles for the player. You can also always have riddles with limited or no clues (all the letters aren't given to you) that further challenge the players. Perhaps these riddles might be included for rare items or experience, but I doubt that most players would want them on plot-driven aspects of the game.

I loved those games. Thief was also a nicely done 3d stealth game that utilized sound extremely effectively. The floors that you walked on had different sounds and would either cause the guards to hear you very quickly (marble or metal floors) or to not hear you at all (carpeted floors). You could also shoot out torches with water arrows and hide in the shadows. These stealth games are awesome. If Project Eternity can utilize any of the game mechanics when it comes to stealth, that would be quite fun.

Once again I'd have to recommend World of Xeen. There is a Dungeon of Doom, as it's called, that has one whole level dedicated to a crossworld puzzle. It's really an interesting way of doing it. There is a fairly long story before you get started about the adventures of someone on the world of xeen, and several of the words are highlighted in green. Then when you go through the level, you see how long each word is based on the pacing and the clue is given at the beginning of each series of steps. When you type in the answer, always an answer from the highlighted words, the floor below you changes from shallow puddles to stone, informing you that the answer was correct. The extremely big dungeon level rewards you with experience and the opportunity to delve further in the dungeon. The whole dungeon was optional however, and I'm not sure if it was because of the "difficulty" of the crossword puzzle or because of development time running out. It is, nevertheless, highly regarded as one of the best puzzles for M&M:World of Xeen.

There have been games that have overcome this problem in the past. One game that comes to mind is the Might and Magic World of Xeen series. These games required you to type in words but the letters were given to you through clues that you had to search for in the dungeon, for exaample. The clues can be given and then you type in the code. This forces the players to actually play through the content instead of metagaming answers through a multiple choice quiz. Of course, there were then the really difficult ones that required a bit of thinking, but even those only had rewards that were non-story driven and just gave you experience. obviously, the developers can also make the riddles case-insensitive and punctuation-insensitive.

good ideas. always a fan of inspirations being drawn from other games that have shown to be fun. if properly implemented, it can even solve a lot of other issues as well, like pulling enemies, etc. i just wonder if it is difficult to implement. is the code particularly tough to add to an RPG framework? i'm not sure how feasible the technicals are.

Yeah. Crazy, Stupid Love was a surprise. I generally don't like these movies because it's just about Dating Culture and that's just boring. Of course, I didn't know Steve Carrell was in it.

Did you watch TG yet? I think I want to watch it again....

lol at understanded. respect for speaking a language that isn't your first. as for your questions, there will apparently be "misses" in the game. this conversation with Josh Sawyer wasn't set in stone - it's still a work in progress.

Masteries, Rune Pages, Build Order (Which skill should you invest in first? Which Gear should you focus on buying etc. etc in what order?). All of this different for which champion you like. You've barely scratched the surface Hormalakh if you just started playing. Takes time to get to level 30. No I know about Masteries, runes, BO, etc. for each champion. The point was that the actual amount of champion customization that you get in these games is obviously nowhere near as much as you get in a cRPG. Your damage output and armor etc are also quickly calculated for you using fairly simple systems. There is no "weapon specialization" for example. The masteries and runes that you get give you attack advantages to all aspects. It's a broad game, but a fairly shallow one. Yet the point is that these advantages you get can apply to any champion that you have. Your choices are not towards improving your characters as much as it is towards getting the right runes, gear, etc. These are external to the champion. Which is fine for these MOBAs; that is the way they were created because ultimately they are derivations of a limited system (Starcraft and Warcraft) which didn't really allow that much character customization.

So congratulations you pushy bastards though obviously it's not finished yet, it looks like Sawyer might have been swayed... I think the above proposed solution is actually quite great. The beginnings of a good hit/miss system.

Movies I've seen? In the last few days? **** The Incredibles ***.5 Men in Black 3 ** Looper **** Crazy Stupid Love ****.5 Little Miss Sunshine * The Karate Kid * Bad Teacher (more like Bad Movie) ***** V for Vendetta ***.5 John Carter *** 21 Jump Street **** Kick-A** *** The Man in the Iron Mask My eyes hurt

I rushed in here to see if someone was feeling suicidal and to tell them not to kill themselves and to seek help and that they are loved. Alas, anime was what I found instead. Tokyo Godfathers is a really good anime too.

The card system (event-dependent based probability system) reshuffles at a set point (the end of each battle, maybe?). Over an extended battle you are likely to critical fail (miss), fail (glancing blow), hit, and critical hit a set number of times, each of which varies on X and Y factor (skills?). Variability is maintained and future events (success in shots/melee attacks) are dependent on previous events. Reloading due to failure is pretty much the same as a reshuffle, so your odd aren't changed with a reload. incomplete-information problem is maintained (sometimes you can win tough battles if you get the right set of "cards") and it's actually fun. Edit: Or you can try a mixture of the two. Conditional probabilities for melee and unconditional probabilities for ranged weapons/magic (with a lower critical failure chance). Probability is fun! edit 2: If you reshuffle the deck every so often (end of battle) you aren't sure if you will necessarily fail. "I hit three times and I was due for a fail but this is a new battle. I might fail or I might not."

One last idea. Instead of making misses not occur and staying away from RNG, how about trying dependent-type probabilities instead of independent event probabilities. Instead of rolling a dice, what about pulling cards from a deck? Will that change anything?

lol i think they know better than us how to make a game. i don't consider any of my comments "advice" anyway. they're just snapshots of my gaming experiences. far be it from me to give "advice" to a game developer. i think it's a matter of finding a balance between frustration and clear player choice. some older probability-based conflict resolution has been frustrating for players in the past )there have been many threads on this board about save-or-dies for example). It's a trade-off I think between choice and frustration. I could be wrong, but that's the vibe I've been getting.