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< General Board ~ Game Play Direction: Survival Sim or Arcade H'n'S? |
| Ben |
 Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 7:11 am |
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Zombie Overlord
Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 53
Location: Afghanistan
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Now that many of the primary game systems for the MUD have been implemented and are coming to a close I am beginning to draw up long-term game play plans. One thing I have begun to become increasingly interested in is a shift from the MUD's current hack'n'slash style game play to a slower, more deliberate survival simulation where "killing zombies" ad nauseam is not necessarily the only purpose of playing, but also keeping your character alive and healthy on a regular basis:
1. There MAY be a "death penalty" to deter people from wanting to die. I am typically strongly against this because players can not always control the circumstances leading to their deaths, such as if their computer crashes or they have a power/internet outage, high latency, etc. Permadeath will NEVER be considered.
2. Player characters will need to adhere to a sleep cycle or succumb to exhaustion and pass out. "Time" during the sleep cycle will be accelerated so players don't have to spend too much real-time during sleep cycle, but normally characters will not be able to wake up until their sleep cycle is complete. An example of an exception to this will be if the player sets up a jingle trap to wake them up if a zombie comes too close while they are sleeping.
3. A weather system can be implemented so that players will be battling not only zombies but also mother nature. Players would have a "core temperature" to balance their activity against. For instance during a blizzard their body temp will steadily decline. If wearing warm clothing their body temp will decline more slowly until hypothermia sets in and they die from exposure. Wood will have to be collected to start a fire using matches or flints and will raise core temperature to regular levels. Conversely, during the heat of the day running around will gradually raise core temperature until a player passes out from heat exhaustion and possibly dies. Players can find shade or rest to lower core temperature.
4. Camping will be a more interactive experience. Players will be able to prepare meals to eat and restore their HP. There will be no spammy "hunger/thirst" system, with character hunger and thirst instead tied into character fatigue, which will replace MV and will encompass character tiredness from sleep deprivation, hunger and thirst, and exhaustion from physical activity. Players will be able to sleep at campsites to restore fatigue to playable levels and also warm themselves up by the campfire. Wounds can also be mended at camp sites.
5. Weaponry will receive slight overhauls. Firearms will be more powerful but ammunition will become increasingly rare. Melee and throwing weapons will receive nominal strength boosts and become the main weapons of attack. I am considering dividing weapons into "primary" and "secondary" and allowing players to use one primary and up to two secondary weapons at the same time. Armor will stay much the same except that weight from body armor will have a negative cumulative effect on player fatigue if it is too cumbersome.
6. Instead of survival kit items just giving passive bonuses in your survival pack many of them will be made into actual usable objects, such as matches and iodine tablets. Would it be neat to start a fire with wood and matches to boil your water and add an iodine tablet to sterilize it?
7. New survivalist skills can be implemented such as those dealing with botany or homeopathic remedy if medical supplies are not available. Classes will stay pretty much the same but their bonuses and class skills may be slightly altered to reflect the new game play style.
These are just some of the ideas I have gathered over the last several months. There are still a few loose ends to finish coding for the current game system such as the new NPC system. If I do decide to go the survival-sim route these changes will not be implemented one-at-a-time like the current changes are, but instead in bulk which will make the transition to the new game play style jarring but ultimately more seamless because I will not be stitching together the two styles but replacing one with the other.
I am very interested in hearing what players have to think of this direction because I have intentionally crafted the game in one direction and now may take it in the completely opposite direction, although many of the ideas and suggestions I get by word-of-mouth suggest that people would like to play a game that is more survival-sim oriented. I know many people would like to have a better environment for roleplaying which survival-sim would provide, although I do not officially condone nor will be implementing anything to intentionally facilitate roleplaying.
So if you have any concerns, thoughts, or suggestions, now is the time to air them. I have set nothing in stone and won't do so for quite a while as I plan the MUD's future.
Ben |
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| Charles |
| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:25 pm |
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Survivor
Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Posts: 16
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| Honestly that would be the optimal direction for the MUD for the kind of thing I'm looking for, loading up a bug out bag and heading out into the game world and looting/killing zombies/surviving, but I see flaws in the plan and taking the game away from the direction it's going in now would take a phenomenal amount of work. Not to mention I don't want to level again. |
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| Ben |
| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:11 am |
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Zombie Overlord
Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 53
Location: Afghanistan
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Charles wrote: Honestly that would be the optimal direction for the MUD for the kind of thing I'm looking for, loading up a bug out bag and heading out into the game world and looting/killing zombies/surviving, but I see flaws in the plan and taking the game away from the direction it's going in now would take a phenomenal amount of work. Not to mention I don't want to level again.
I admit it will take a bit of work, but I'm not sure about a phenomenal amount, at least not by comparison to what I've done so far. And for as much work as there is to do I have just as much time to do it right now. The biggest chunk of new work to do will be on a weather over time system and integrating it into different facets of game play.
You won't have to level again; nothing planned will result in a pwipe as I will just patch player cores as features come or go. |
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| Charles |
| Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:52 am |
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Survivor
Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Posts: 16
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| Well a lot of the points you mentioned would be nice to see, there's only so much I can grind. |
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