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J. Trudel

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  1. J. Trudel
    I didn't see a forum thread like this one yet, so I decided to create my own. One of the thing we know the least about Project Eternity is the ruleset used in the engine. That's right, the role playing gameplay mechanics. Most of us Infinity Engine fans are also fans of pen and paper RPG in general. For me, one of the most important features of the IE games was that pen & paper feel. I hope that this feature will not be lost in favor to a more ''computerized'', too much scaling and calculation heavy system. I guess I am probably not the only one in that case, but let us share our ideas here and hope that the developpers hear us. The game mechanics in a pen & paper system can make or break the game. I do feel the same can happen in a cRPG. One last note, a pen & paper system in P:E could also be used for a pnp version of the game. A project I would back-up for sure ! Please developpers, don't make us lose the pen & paper mechanics !
  2. J. Trudel
    I would also like to see a pen & paper Project Eternity. However it all depend on how the rules of the gameplay are handled. PnP games tend to have a lot less calculations than a crpg in their design. I hope P:E designers made the rules of the game similar to a PnP, this was also a part of the infinity engine charm. Rules you can calculate yourself.
  3. J. Trudel
    So do you have any ideas ? Perhaps you could explain what you would like or what you don't. At least your post would have the merit of being useful.
  4. J. Trudel
    That's why i always prefer when the devs don't take our opinions seriously. Trying to please your audience is backwards. You should be making the game YOU as a dev wants to make, and have the audience form around that game, not the game formed around the audience preference since there isn't a consencous of what makes a good game among people. I do and don't agree. Yes a large portion of the "audience" is going to be crazy hard core niche people and if you design the game around their tastes you are going to hurt your game. That said there are plenty of people with sane ideas and suggestions that will work, be functional, and stick to the design concepts Sawyer himself said they were going for. Not every fan is someone who doesn't understand game design, you have to pick and choose. As the Dev you should make a game you like and want, but you should never ignore a good idea just because it didn't come from a Dev. I totally agree, Devs should be looking for good ideas. Not to please everyone, anyhow I really trust them to make an awesome product ! And I really enjoy sharing my ideas, maybe some of them will give a a-ha and make it to the final product ! Or they may not , but I know I will enjoy that game, it might not be exactly as I want, but I don't want a game exactly as I want either. @Devs : Is there any planned update on the game rules ? I can't wait to have a glimpse of the game mechanics ! I really hope the mechanics could be ported to a full pen & paper RPG. I think this is one of the things that made me play BG, NWD and Torment back in the days.
  5. J. Trudel
    So, you want all the information that your DM wanted to hide from you right ? I also want to know the rules, more than just wanting to know the rules I would really like if they could be adapted for pen & paper RPG so I could run a campaign. Now for the log, I don't say that it should be removed from the game, I only say that it should be removed from the UI. Seriously, and be honest, were you always using the log in BG and IWD ? My humble guess is that most of the time, you knew you were fighting critters and that it wasn't use full and when you used it you carefully reviewed a hard battle that is going on while you paused the game ? When you pause the game for battle review there is nothing wrong about bringing a sliding combat log on screen and it has the merit to be space efficient. What I think is crucial to know is this (for most of the time) : Did my character made a good attempt ? aka How high did I roll How well it worked ? Or how bad it failed Did I got damaged bad ? All of this information can be given on screen with visual feedback (sounds, animations etc etc.) The game UI should be limited to interactive and character condition stuff only. However, that does not mean I don't want a detailed character sheet, a detailed combat feedback log, a detailed inventory, a detailed spellbook explaining spells. I am just saying that this stuff should not be in the UI.
  6. J. Trudel
    Shouldn't the combat log be removed to keep a better in game immersion ? It might be just me, but I think looking at a text window when a full scale battle is going on before your eyes is kind of lame. If we get enough visual feedback on screen, for example when big damage happen, when you got blocked easily from an opponent or when something fail miserably. We don't need as much a combat window. Of course it should remain an option to review details of the battle while on pause but in the action I think the game would benefit from not having a dialog window. The action menu should remain something for interaction only. True dialog between characters and NPC's can be handled well by having a sliding window, anyway I don't think you will be able to cast a spell in the middle of a conversation (that would be cool however, I see many possibilities for enchantment stuff happening).
  7. J. Trudel
    I think it's good to have a heated debate about the UI, this is a very important part of a good game. I think we should work together to produce a list for the dev of what we would like or not for the UI. To resume some of the points seen here : The UI shouldn't clutter too much the screen. The look and feel should be artistic and fit with the mood of the game. It should be easy to navigate. Especially for spells and abilities. Actions selection for characters should be fully customizable. It should provide visual feedback about characters (portraits, hp, condition, buff etc.) The dialog box could be opted out of the menu and available as an optional box. The menu could be turned off. The menu position should be something the player can choose. A I missing something ? I think that almost everyone can agree with those key design principles.
  8. J. Trudel
    I'm definitely all for a hotkey to turn the UI off completely, even if it gets rid of the portraits too, An option in settings that would automatically switch the UI on when in combat mode, then off when not in combat mode would be awesome. Well, BG had that so i don't see why P:E can't. What ? Seriously, I just re-played BG1 2 and tob not long ago but I didn't find this option anywhere. Well, I might not have looked hard enough... I'm currently playing IWD2 for the first time so I'll have a look
  9. J. Trudel
    Also, the option to turn the UI on/off, while keeping only the portraits on screen would be nice. It would allow players who use only the Hot-Keys to have a better look at the action without a cluttered UI.
  10. J. Trudel
    While I do like the old school feel of the mock-up user interface. I do believe that the main focus should be the environment art itself. I did a small list of things that should be ultra important for the UI. I think the majority will agree. The UI should waste as little space as possible. If no space at all could be used for an interface that works well. It would be the best interface. Period. After all, the UI isn't the game, but a way to make things happen in the game. The player should be able to re-arrange the button, dialog text & portrait positions. An option to slide out the UI would be very cool, I usually hate having the UI taking so much space, especially when in big battles and trying to look at everyone at once. A ultra minimalist UI should be included : No eye candy, no texture, only the portraits, some translucent buttons and dialog box.
  11. J. Trudel
    Here. Thanks, the system hold itself, but a plate armor still remains the better choice in almost all situations. A more simple system would be to have all heavy armors to have the same DT (adjusted for quality with + 5 or + 10) and then giving each type of armor different DT bonus depending on the damage type. Fast weapon could work better against light armor, 2 hands against heavy (bad against light armor because evasion rate would be higher), and 1 hand being average against both types of armor. I don't know if it's just me, but every games want to scale armors depending on it's type. While it would be so much simple to have only two ''class of armor'' heavy and light. Each class having it's benefits, light armor doesn't slow your character as much as a heavy one and also gives better chances to succeed a sneak but heavy armor does protect more, at the cost of speed. Then within each class, types of armors providing different situation benefits. I hope the Devs get notice of this idea, it may solve some maths issues with armor scaling. The truth is armor doesn't have to scale with types, but with quality. I much prefer to have variety. A variety of both armour classes and types within each class. I don't mind if plate is always better than, say, scale. It is in real life, and it is very intuitively so. Simplifying for the sake of simplifying, which is more or less what your proposal sounds like, is bad. Complexity is good, and I expect complexity from this game. Having only 2 class of amors doesn't means not having variety, light armor could be of the following types : padded, leather, studded leather, hide, and gambeson. Heavy armors could be : plate, chain, scale, banded and brigandine. You see, there is variety here, but much more different options that can be good. In real life, plate armor is not always the best choice, in fact many nobles in the past prefered staying with the chain mail even after the developpement of the plate. May I suggest this article http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_mail.html It's just that having only two armor classes (heavy and light) that scale the DT would give more choice to the player for what type of armor he really want. And it can be more realistic than we think. And variety isn't compromised at all. In fact not even complexity is compromise as each type of armors could have benefits in many kinds of situations, and against différents kind of weaponry. This make a more simple system, as well as a more complexe one at the same time. I think it's a win win.
  12. J. Trudel
    Here. Thanks, the system hold itself, but a plate armor still remains the better choice in almost all situations. A more simple system would be to have all heavy armors to have the same DT (adjusted for quality with + 5 or + 10) and then giving each type of armor different DT bonus depending on the damage type. Fast weapon could work better against light armor, 2 hands against heavy (bad against light armor because evasion rate would be higher), and 1 hand being average against both types of armor. I don't know if it's just me, but every games want to scale armors depending on it's type. While it would be so much simple to have only two ''class of armor'' heavy and light. Each class having it's benefits, light armor doesn't slow your character as much as a heavy one and also gives better chances to succeed a sneak but heavy armor does protect more, at the cost of speed. Then within each class, types of armors providing different situation benefits. I hope the Devs get notice of this idea, it may solve some maths issues with armor scaling. The truth is armor doesn't have to scale with types, but with quality.
  13. J. Trudel
    And I would also like to see unique benefits for every armor types, otherwise the options are kind of restricted because in most games a chain mail (as well as many other armor types) are useless at higher levels. I would like to see a concept where the armor are best suited for different situations. For example : In heavy armors, the chain mail shines against slashing blows, the plate against crushing and the scale mail against piercing. But all are still good heavy armor. In light armors, the leather armor shines against piercing, studded leather against slashing and gambeson against crushing. It would leave the player the choice If he prefer a light or heavy armor, and after that the armor type would be a matter of choice, or necessity.
  14. J. Trudel
    Ha ! I misread the term, I guess I should have seen the '':'' and not an ''i''. However, I still think that every cultural ''styles'' looks like to be coming from a different era. It would be fitting to have one more ''advanced'' culture, but now it's somewhat feels like there is no current era in the game which will make the world a bit less immersive.Let us not forget that we live in a current world where Prada suits, biker gang leather chic, African kente cloth, and Amazonian loincloth are all everyday attire in different parts of the world, even with all of the globalization we have undergone. It would actually be more unrealistic if the cultural styles in a pre-globalization world was less diverse than it is now. It depends mostly on where you are located in the world. Usually, the era style (not clothing preferences) within a particular region is pretty much uniform. Of course there will always be hybrid and out of contexts styles (that's where adventurers come in right ? ). I suggest you take a look at different era styles across the world, while there will always be backward cultures that still wear only loin clothes (even if we believe that mostly because of discovery channel) you would be surprise to see how similar the fabric and ''cut'' looks like. Technology does that, not culture. I can say from personal experience that, at least outside of the first world, culture plays a very large role in the styles of attire. I grew up in a small African country where, despite a relatively even level of technology, economics, and climate, different parts of the nation have very different styles of clothing. In the north, men wear "batakari", which is basically a foot length embroided silk robe. In the center men wear colorful light-textile or kente "jumpers" or thick woven blouses with regular western trousers. In the south, most men walk around in jeans and soccer jerseys (seriously). This is not even accounting for the insane diversity in female clothing styles. I am not saying that technology plays no role, but rather, that culture plays as large a role. I by no means argue you about the fact that culture play a huge role in the clothing style. Only saying that the concepts are way too similar to real world styles that are reminding of eras rather than cultures. If we look at the real world, we could clearly (most of the time) identify clothing that would come from Africa or America that belongs to the years 2000 and those from the 18th century.
  15. J. Trudel
    Ha ! I misread the term, I guess I should have seen the '':'' and not an ''i''. However, I still think that every cultural ''styles'' looks like to be coming from a different era. It would be fitting to have one more ''advanced'' culture, but now it's somewhat feels like there is no current era in the game which will make the world a bit less immersive. Let us not forget that we live in a current world where Prada suits, biker gang leather chic, African kente cloth, and Amazonian loincloth are all everyday attire in different parts of the world, even with all of the globalization we have undergone. It would actually be more unrealistic if the cultural styles in a pre-globalization world was less diverse than it is now. It depends mostly on where you are located in the world. Usually, the era style (not clothing preferences) within a particular region is pretty much uniform. Of course there will always be hybrid and out of contexts styles (that's where adventurers come in right ? ). I suggest you take a look at different era styles across the world, while there will always be backward cultures that still wear only loin clothes (even if we believe that mostly because of discovery channel) you would be surprise to see how similar the fabric and ''cut'' looks like. Technology does that, not culture.
  16. J. Trudel
    Ha ! I misread the term, I guess I should have seen the '':'' and not an ''i''. However, I still think that every cultural ''styles'' looks like to be coming from a different era. It would be fitting to have one more ''advanced'' culture, but now it's somewhat feels like there is no current era in the game which will make the world a bit less immersive.
  17. J. Trudel
    Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by PiE's ?
  18. J. Trudel
    About the culture concept, I can't decide if I like them or not. On one side I believe it is important to feel that cultures have different style. However, what I think isn't quite there is the fact that the different cultures doesn't seem to come from the same era. Some characters feels like they come from antiquity, other from medieval times and other from the renaissance era. In my humble opinions, the game would be better with styles coming from the same era, for example : Medieval northern Europe, Arabia, and Asia. All have very different style but all looks like they come of the same era (which is no surprise considering the fact that they actually did ). Regarding the Monk, this character concept is amazing ! From what I read this character seems to be a high maintenance one, are there any options which can make him a bit lower maintenance ?
  19. J. Trudel
    I prefer admiring the artwork while coming to a new place, but a spell like clairvoyance could still be useful to reveal the creatures if only the creature shows instead of a black fog of war. Since opinions are different, and all opinions are good, a better design choice would be to implement different fog of wars options. The priorities would be the original intended fog of war and the option to turn it off completely. After that a few neat options could be fun like the creatures that pup up etc etc. I can also think of a ''Assassin's Creed'' type of viewpoint that would reveal the entire layout once you get there.
  20. J. Trudel
    I know that the discovery part is a part of the fun, by I prefer discovering a new area full of colors, visual effects and eye candy stuff. With a fog of war, everything is covered in black, or in a translucent gray which in my humble opinion ruin the magic feel of a fantasy game. Okay, ruin might be a bit harsh term, but the idea of having enemy fade in while they are withing view range is a better option for people like me who prefer to ''see'' the world. About discovering, you are correct, but no fog of war doesn't mean you will not have this discovery feeling, On the contrary, you might better appreciate new areas in shining splendor instead of walking all over to uncover the black edges
  21. J. Trudel
    The feature that I would like to learn the most about is the fog of war. While it does make sense to have this feature for gameplay purpose. It usually deal a severe blow to the artwork, will there be any way to turn it off ? Or at least is there any ideas you guys had to have a fog of war that will not ruin the beautiful artwork ? Shading the world in a gray fog would be really sad... Here's a couple of ideas that could make this feature not as artwork obtrusive than in other games. Only the creatures can't be seen because of the FoW, they kind of disappear when they are out of sight. This option make sense gameplay wise and it leave the world for us to see and appreciate in it's full splendor. Making it only optional, this option can alter the gameplay but many players would appreciate the fact that they can make the game like they want. Another option would be to restrict the scrolling of the screen, so that the player can look around, but not to far from the party. More difficult to implement especially when the party split up, but it could be done by switching the viewpoint between characters.
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