2013-05-05, 02:49 AM
One thing I've been working on is design documents for a harness system, since KF is traditionally a lone adventurer game. A lot of thought must go into an everyman modular utility belt/outfit to allow for any kind of equipment scenario.
I only mention it because it occurred to me one day that a literal harness would be pretty neat. Not that it must always be worn, though it could be. The bottom can just be kept tucked away with the rest of your inventory. In other words you'd be equipped for literal rock climbing, spelunking, tree climbing, what have you, with just a length a rope to drag along.
And I only mention this. Because one thing I've not been crazy about is just how accessible KF's secret compartments are. It lends itself to blazing along walls banging on the open up button. As nostalgic as that may be. It's really not cool, and it doesn't fit the mood. Plus if you find every secret in a game you are bound to be overpowered, its just too easy to do, and too geared toward the OCD kind of player whose mental illness really shouldn't be taken advantage of by video games.
So what I thought would be cooler is a system where you push up against the wall and move your hands over it looking for a hollow sound and then an open up mechanism. Which may or may not be nearby, and is probably hand sized. This way you won't go looking for a secret panel or door unless you have a good hunch. Plus the secret revealing items would be more valuable.
Now I only mention this, because it occurred to me that this is very much like rock climbing... so we are back at that harness. So the basic idea is you can scale a sheer cliff by looking for handholds like secret door mechanisms. It sounds kind of tedious, but don't forget that SOM has a tile based philosophy. So if you learn where the handholds are on a tile, then if you can recognize the tile, and memorize the pattern, then you already know how to get up it. Plus there could be hints built into the tiles. And hammering spikes too.
Anything can be climbable this way, so you can really deliver a sense of go anywhere freedom to the player. And reward them for thinking in terms of tiles. The message here is tiles are a strength not a weakness, and can even be integrated into game play. Throughout your career you can learn to recognize tiles from games you've already played, and even be rewarded for accepting that games can share common elements, and that can be a good thing. Somehow anyway, we have to get people over this idea that every game must reinvent everything from the atom up. Games are stories. Not showcases of insanity (if a movie needs a motorcycle they don't design and build a motorcycle and every component from scratch, that's insanity... and we enjoy recognizing familiar things like old friends. Why not reward players for being good friends I say
)
I only mention it because it occurred to me one day that a literal harness would be pretty neat. Not that it must always be worn, though it could be. The bottom can just be kept tucked away with the rest of your inventory. In other words you'd be equipped for literal rock climbing, spelunking, tree climbing, what have you, with just a length a rope to drag along.
And I only mention this. Because one thing I've not been crazy about is just how accessible KF's secret compartments are. It lends itself to blazing along walls banging on the open up button. As nostalgic as that may be. It's really not cool, and it doesn't fit the mood. Plus if you find every secret in a game you are bound to be overpowered, its just too easy to do, and too geared toward the OCD kind of player whose mental illness really shouldn't be taken advantage of by video games.
So what I thought would be cooler is a system where you push up against the wall and move your hands over it looking for a hollow sound and then an open up mechanism. Which may or may not be nearby, and is probably hand sized. This way you won't go looking for a secret panel or door unless you have a good hunch. Plus the secret revealing items would be more valuable.
Now I only mention this, because it occurred to me that this is very much like rock climbing... so we are back at that harness. So the basic idea is you can scale a sheer cliff by looking for handholds like secret door mechanisms. It sounds kind of tedious, but don't forget that SOM has a tile based philosophy. So if you learn where the handholds are on a tile, then if you can recognize the tile, and memorize the pattern, then you already know how to get up it. Plus there could be hints built into the tiles. And hammering spikes too.
Anything can be climbable this way, so you can really deliver a sense of go anywhere freedom to the player. And reward them for thinking in terms of tiles. The message here is tiles are a strength not a weakness, and can even be integrated into game play. Throughout your career you can learn to recognize tiles from games you've already played, and even be rewarded for accepting that games can share common elements, and that can be a good thing. Somehow anyway, we have to get people over this idea that every game must reinvent everything from the atom up. Games are stories. Not showcases of insanity (if a movie needs a motorcycle they don't design and build a motorcycle and every component from scratch, that's insanity... and we enjoy recognizing familiar things like old friends. Why not reward players for being good friends I say
)