Disappearing Corpses

[necromate]

 

Also, as much as the idea of breakable walls rocks (it really does), that would present some problems in the rest of the game. If you could break whatever wall you wanted, what would stop you from waltzing around town, exploding the palace/castle walls? Or, what if you used explosive spells in combat, with only the intention of felling foes, but you caused the entire room to collapse? (which, again, would actually be pretty cool, but could prevent you from completing integral story content) And if it doesn't collapse, then that's not very realistic. So, if you limit it, and you can only explode CERTAIN walls, or your corridors can only SOMETIMES collapse, so as to keep them from blocking you off from the core content completion, then what's the point in your half-realism at that point? You're getting all of the cons, and hardly any of the benefit.

 

Stuff like that... it just has to be heavily considered, is all, before deciding. It's not out of the question or anything. But you don't want to create a new problem with a solution to an existing one. Just takes some hashing out and tweaking. 8P

I'm pretty sure it would not take any time at all to make quest related rooms/corridors indestructible xD

 

would be cool though to be able to rampage across a dungeon, blowing walls into the faces of orcs xD

[Hassat Hunter]

Basing this of BG and the like.

 

P:E will be mapbased. So shouldn't be too hard to make sure no corpses are removed unless you atleast get to another map. Gradual decline and remove on time-limit sounds good too.

 

To appease the member saying it would add extra variables to each area; Why? Have each area-type pre-defined with a corpse exploration date, done. You have to give each area a type anyway for the random banter, what spells can be cast (indoor? No death from above, even if other games allow that these days) etc.

[oneda]

 

If not all dead monsters can stay on the screen then let some explode because you did too much damage to them like in icewind dale. If some do have to disappear at some point do anything you want but don't make something like in doom 3 where the monsters just vanish in an absolutely uncool way. That sparkling effect was supposed to look like theyr burning up or what not, no idea, but it totally sucked. Hated it every single time. Well, the entire game sucked.

 

Good way is super fast decomposition (like in warcraft 3?). At least it is better than monsters just disappearing.

Oh I love in icewind dale how the monsters explode and their corpse's pieces fly away in 360deg, and the sound effect :D perfect...

 

would be boring though if all corpses did same...

 

how about vultures swooping down or giant rats eating on the bodies in open areas, worms/bugs pulling them under in caves, disintegrated by lightning enchantments in wizard towers, piranhas attacking them in the waters, tree trunks in the cursed forest, undead pulling them under near cemeteries,  rabid dogs in the slums, guards taking them away on city streets, enchanted floor eats them up in one giant bite in a magical castle...

oh, oh, and how about valkyrie like hot babes coming for the good NPC-s, while demons take down the wicked ones? :D

 

That, sir, is a good idea with cool effects. It simply shows what would happen to corpses condensed into a few seconds or half a minute. I really like your idea.

 

In the movie the mummy 2 there is one scene where the evil guy's soul gets taken back to the underworld by some sort of horse-drawn carriage. Like the grim reaper getting those of evil allignment like you mentioned.

 

Good stuff. It doesnt have to be spectacular effects but something like shadoy carriage flying through the screen or a skeleton fist pushing through the ground, grabbing the corpse. Or as you said a swarm of birds or wolfes.

 

Mi like it a lot. it owns disappearing corpses.

[Lephys]

I'm pretty sure it would not take any time at all to make quest related rooms/corridors indestructible xD

 

It wouldn't, but it would force you to confront blatant the-opposite-of-realism/verisimilitude, which would partially defeat the purpose of insisting on destructible walls in the first place. Not to mention that if destructible walls were your only solution to coincidental door-blocking corpses, then you'd have to ALSO fix corpses around quest-related rooms/corridors.

 

It's kind of like when games do that thing where they say "Check it out! You can totally burn away this debris to get through this debris-blocked area, because it's simple wooden debris!". But, then, there are only like 5 piles of that seemingly-special debris throughout the game, and there are even other places where you could've easily burned a pile of wooden crap with your incredibly fiery spells and abilities (or even simple torches, etc.), but you can't, because it would interfere with game mechanics and the like.

 

I don't know what's less immersive: being unable to burn through any debris ever, or being able to burn through debris in only about 5% of the game.

 

would be cool though to be able to rampage across a dungeon, blowing walls into the faces of orcs xD

 

It would be, but then that would have to either have to be part of the level design, or you'd just have to sacrifice all the effects of level design (i.e. "Man, that maze sure was tricky. I had to blow up like 15 walls just to waltz straight through to the exit!"). And, again, the more you say "this maze is magically resistance to wall-esploding," the more blatantly external design decisions stick out within the game world like huge, sore thumbs.

 

 

Also... as for corpses disappearing, it can be assumed that the vast majority of this is going to occur "offstage", so-to-speak. So, all you really need are little details here and there to convey that things are going on with the corpses whilst you're not standing there watching them for weeks in a row. Maybe if you come back to a cave a day later, you see few remains of the corpses of fallen creature-people you slew, and you come upon a wolf gnawing on a hand. Maybe he runs off with it (presumably back to his pack/lair) as you approach. So, even though you didn't WATCH all the corpses get eaten by wolves, you could easily deduce "Oh, 90% of the corpses are gone, and there are simply bloodstains and remnants of bone and tissue here and there, and I just saw a wolf run off with a body part in its mouth, so I'm GUESSING that wolves live nearby, smelled all these wonderful meals, and 'cleaned up' around here while I was gone."

 

So, if you came back a week later, you wouldn't even see any remnants of corpses or evidence that they had been there at all. Maybe longer than a week, *shrug*. It really depends. If you're 1 mile outside the town, on a main trade road, then I would assume the town and/or people patrolling the road would discover these corpses quite quickly and, at the very least, relocate them, if not bury them. Maybe bandits got to them, picked 'em clean, then dumped them in a river, or the woods, to make sure no one tied anything to the bandits? Or, the town authorities had a wagon brought out, identified and reported the bodies, and buried them, or burned them if they were just goblins or bandits or something.

 

The point being that, you don't really have to see a lot of evidence of any of this. A wolf here, a vulture there. Maybe OCCASIONALLY you come upon a wagon team, clearing corpses from a road. Etc.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Lephys

[oneda]

Yeah, well...anything but not just disappearing corpses or really really bad effects like in doom 3.

 

Actually in the infinity engine games, iirc, the corpses would stay for quite a while. And at some later point, after you left and returned, they were gone. That would be acceptable to me.

 

Throw in a few ravens or wolves here and there occasionally. Just protect the immersion level. If corpses do have to disappear due to hundres of monsters you hopefully have to slay and computers will fold eventually then they have to be taken away by the grim reaper or some angels or evil spirits.

Edited April 8, 2013 by oneda

[Karkarov]

I am all for disappearing corpses.  Sure let them stay there while I am in the immediate area and or just took them out.  However... if I leave and come back like 1-2 in game days later... I am going to find it odd if there are 15 bandit corpses right outside the town gates.  Do the people in this town just not care about the smell?  Where are the scavengers like wolves or crows?  What about the other bandits, or am I supposed to believe these are the only 15 bandits anywhere near here?

 

It just isn't logical for corpses to hang around past a certain point.

[Ningaubel]

I say: Give me dead bodies until i leave the area. No more no less....

[Bradr]

Maybe a lot of work, but how-about corpse-states on a timer. 1-3 days: fresh 4-7 days bloated, ugly messes, carrion flies droning and making you miserable, oh and the smell!

2nd week, half-disembowelled by predators (provided in the wild) or gone (urban or other non-isolated environment)

3rd week, skeletal remains (isolated or wild) or gone (public)

 

Would be great.  Even add to this by having random encounter scavenger tables for each area.  In a forest wilderness, maybe a couple of wolves would spawn at the corpse site, with likelihood based on the number of corpses.  In a dungeon a "carrion crawler" or two.  In a city,  a detective could be at the site collecting evidence.  After a few days in the forest, bones, and then nothing.  In the city, the next day the corpse would be gone.

 

It should be logical on how the bodies disappear.

 

If enemies respawn there, the bodies should disappear some time after you leave (once enemies respawn). Partially because you could potentially end up with infinite corpses, partially because the enemies themselves would clean up the bodies.

 

If the enemies die in a place trafficked by people, they should be cleaned up after some time even if enemies don't respawn there.

 

If enemies die in a place that there is no respawn and no one would logically go by there (except you), then they should just stay there for a long time. Maybe after like a week or two in game passes you could say critters get to them and despawn them then. Or if they're out of reach of critters, the corpse could turn into a rotting corpse, and after a long time, a skeleton. That'd be cool too.

 

 

 

Yep, exactly.  See above 

 

I wouldn't mind if engaged in stealthy behaviour we had to stash corpses/the unconscious in darkened or secure areas, add another level to the stealth mechanic. Then again I suppose that if you're engaging in scouting being caught dragging a corpse might be a dangerous situation, especially if you're an Orlan or a skinny elf for whom a couple of hundred pounds of human is a real dead weight.

 

Might add an air of danger and desperation if the bodies of slain guards were always in danger of discovery, and your infiltration had to be conducted in a quick, and dirty fashion. Or mayhap one could use tools such as dust of disappearance, a Ciphers illusions or a bottle of potent alchemists acid to hide/get rid of the evidence. Druids summoning a horde of vermin to devour the bodies, wizards transmuting them into another form.

 

Perhaps even a cannibalistic companion or devouring pet, maybe thieves can call on shadow soul powers to enwrap their victims as they rot/slumber?

 

 

 

Interesting.  Lots of fun ideas for sure.  I'm pretty sure I've read about guard schedules and patrols.  If so, this mechanic would be great for stealthy parties.

 

On the other hand, I don't want to get into a Deus Ex type situation where every corpse needs to be hidden to effectively navigate the level.

 

[motorizer]

I'm currently replaying jagged alliance 2 (the current kickstarter rekindled my interest)

 

still the game that handled this the best...decomposition, complete with vultures and disgusted comments from characters when they see them...

[GreatUser]

Thread Ressurection!  ( My necromantic powers grows stronger and stronger )

   It's almost 2016, white march part 2 is coming soon and probably patch 3.0. And corpses are still disappearing. I'm disappointed .
It is so annoying when I kill some tough monsters and after few minutes I have to reload and then I go back to monsters nest and there is no bodies,

no twisted corpses, just nothing. Like nothing happend in here, no glorius vicory. No fruits of my hard labor.
It kills the immersion of the game.

Is it difficult to make corpses disappear after few days or after leaving the main area?

[haveahappy]

Thread Ressurection!  ( My necromantic powers grows stronger and stronger )

 

   It's almost 2016, white march part 2 is coming soon and probably patch 3.0. And corpses are still disappearing. I'm disappointed .

It is so annoying when I kill some tough monsters and after few minutes I have to reload and then I go back to monsters nest and there is no bodies,

no twisted corpses, just nothing. Like nothing happend in here, no glorius vicory. No fruits of my hard labor.

It kills the immersion of the game.

 

Is it difficult to make corpses disappear after few days or after leaving the main area?

 

Xaurips ate them.

[Abel]

You already killed the xaurips :D. Need to find something else