=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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║ @user-192 │
║ │
║ The game designers are fully in charge of when and where the items get placed │
║ into the player's inventory. Surely they should have spent some time balancing │
║ that? No? They were too busy tuning the multiplayer combat mechanics within an │
║ inch of a marginal percentage point? Ah well competition's no fun if someone │
║ loses right? Not like there's gotta be a loser in every fight anyway... │
║ │
║ ... anyway inventory limits are useful in games like, Oregon Trail, where │
║ you're explicitly provisioning BEFORE a journey. If you need to make some hard │
║ decisions ON the journey, that takes you out of the action (like you said). │
║ │
║ I've played a few games where anything you pick up before venturing into the │
║ untamed wild dark of a dungeon or whatever is "packed" and can't be adjusted │
║ after setting out. Meanwhile the loot, the stuff from the adventure, that all │
║ weighs different amounts and you can pick and choose what to carry with you. │
║ Of course, if you find a health potion, you can drink it, or a sword can be │
║ wielded, but │
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===
--- #1 notes/symbeline-design-the-guild ---
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design the guild, design the capital, then design their path through mordaunts.
easy peasy.
design the guild like a museum. Each spot there's an exhibit which teaches the
randomly generated rolled statistics hero something new. Maybe it teaches them
how to use certain weaponry, maybe it teaches them how to use a bow. Whatever
the spell might be, they can learn it, and use their randomly rolled statistics
to cast spells that scale differently depending on how their character has been
built.
design the capital like a flow diagram, if horses need feed and forged steel
(for their shoes) then send the outputs of a blacksmith and the outputs of the
farmers to the inputs of the stables. Everything has to go somewhere, but the
streets are only so wide. You'll have to coordinate the traffic diagram if you
want it to go anywhere useful.
design the path through the mordaunts. Fighting skeletons teaches you about
perseverence and the ability to crush bones, while goblins teach you to always
be wary of attack. The sacred grove held blessed berries, and now that the land
is liberated from the evil bandits preying on villagers those berries can be
carted into town and used to make an antidote which heals death poison caused
by the scorpions in the desert (and city rats)
design the ruler's schedule like a calendar where each event gives them a bonus
on all the ones that come later. Just make sure that they don't get knifed in
the posterier or driven mad by the whispers of the orb... or perhaps just the
stress of running a kingdom.
(how do you simulate that? you can't! you can't simulate humans!)
ha I bet I can. They're not so different, you and I, so if given a team I
will...
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--- #2 fediverse/3063 ---
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@user-570
true. the "massively multiplayer" aspect of WoW is about as important to the
game as the "A" is in "ARPG".
I can't help but feel like the "impromptu groups" functionality feels a bit
better than matchmaker instancing... though anything worth running a group for
in WoW after TBC was instanced >.>
Honestly I think there's just too many games these days for people to really
get "into" MMORPGs, unless they're sufficiently unique in their mechanics
(like EVE or Runescape)
any ARPG MMOs are dead on launch, as you said. That design space is tapped
out, at least for now, until someone comes along and makes it a deckbuilding
roguelike or whatever. cough cough
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--- #3 fediverse/5277 ---
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║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
║ │ CW: ~dnd │ │
║ └──────────────────────┘ │
║ │
║ │
║ @user-1788 │
║ │
║ if a dragon on a pile cannot claim what it yearns for, it can throw piles of │
║ minerals at the ape warriors made of steel and then it's fate will appear. │
║ what trifles does all else seem to compare! you should give me your whole │
║ hoard because I dazzled you with my charisma score -..- │
║ │
║ ha, like I'd fall for that again twice. oh? I already did? and this is the │
║ second twice? well, then no-more of that behavior, I say, with my elven │
║ tongue, "beware! for dragons blood runs silver when unicorned." │
║ │
║ the bigger the hoard, the bigger the dragon. if you want me to come along, │
║ you'll need to hire at least 3 other men to carry my ballista. In addition, │
║ I'll need seven weeks worth of supplies. If all else comes to ruin, me and my │
║ boys will have that dragon-sized-spider impaled on it's own fate threadwheel │
║ before... well... y'know it might take more than seven weeks, we just... can't │
║ find the dragon. We've been wandering all through the blasted peaks, and │
║ there's nothin'! Maybe it requires climbing gear? │
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--- #4 notes/dungeon-looting-methods ---
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the reason dungeon masters should give the gold value of the items distributed
is because the number represents what it eventually sells for. and the players
will try and appraise and haggle at the market and such but that all happens
off screen between sessions. so anyway during the adventure, the dm will say
"you find some precious gemstones" or "there's some high quality silk here" or
"these bears are renowned for having magic livers" or "the mold growing on the
walls can be scraped into a vial and sold to an alchemist"
then the dm will say "this treasure is worth 50gp" or "this treasure is worth
25gp" and players can "buy" the items from the other players. so player 1 has
50gp, the item costs 20gp, so in a party of 5 he gives every other player 5gp
this way, the relative treasure hordes of the players stays the same.
then, when the players find treasure, it can be evenly split - it's only fair.
when in town, players will feel more impulse to buy things if they can sell
them too. like "here's an enchanted axe that does some mundane thing like
never dulls" well, that's probably going to be very valuable to a small village
or "an enchanted quill that writes down everything you tell it to" could
increase the education level of the area ever so slightly. Then, after several
generations of adventurers, the surrounding area will be ripe with magical loot
the players distributed from the dungeons and such. it can trade with neighbors
and so over time the markets will have better and better goods for sale - for
example, maybe after trading with the swamp people, now there's a supply of
healing potions that runs out both over time (to represent other adventuring
parties buying the supply) and when the players buy some (to represent
consumption in their minds). Trade with the dwarves? Now you can buy +1 swords
for a while. village attacked? the militia can be armed with the holy relics
plundered from the evil priest-lich. boom development!
the players should also have choices about large scale effects. for example,
the heart of the forest could be a) preserved, b) burnt down, or c) studied by
the local wizards. each choice would have different effects on the populace,
and so the world would change to adapt to the player's choices.
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--- #5 notes/running-with-rifles ---
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this game is what we are missing
thank goodness for that
for if this is missing in our timeline
we'll be better off at last
we can have games, stories, and practice wars
but none of them are precious
precious implies worth
they are worth nothing but entertainment
no problem solving utility
nothing of value
save for perhaps the spatial awareness and strategization that comes
from being a part of such a deadly ba-lance.
anyway game time teehee just for me, don't worry about it I'll show
you why it's a HORRID THING
that won't be coming to our shores, no siree
bye
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--- #6 notes/star-realms-balancing-tradeoff=2 ---
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what if I use equal signs instead of dashes, so prevent people from assuming
they're duplicates?
hmm okay.
right so anyway the star realms balancing tradeoff between combat and authority
is measured against the duration of a hand (does it fit balanced between other
cards of it's playcost) instead of balancing it for the duration of the game
(how long does the player want the game to go on for) one of which is just
inverse combat damage / healing, and the other of which is an enablement of
different strategems.
put this in symbeline-gen-realms please
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--- #7 fediverse/2030 ---
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Building community without structure is kinda like being a quest-giving
non-player character in World of Warcraft.
I don't mean that you stand around waiting for a player to wander nearby
before shouting at them to do what you want. Not like that.
Building community without structure is more like meeting someone randomly,
knowing them for longer than a bus ride or a baseball game, and once you've
decided that they're cool saying "hey there's someone you might like to meet."
If they're into it, then talk to the other person, and see if they want to
make a new friend. Try not to recommend someone who has a lot on their mind.
If they hit it off, great!
If not, oh well!
Worst case scenario the coffee shop only sells two drinks.
If you're gregarious enough, after a while you might even have enough people
for a potluck. Just don't forget to keep adding, and eventually it'll start to
feel more communal.
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--- #8 fediverse/3302 ---
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"this game is too hard" she whined, as she played on the hardest difficulty
setting
"this game is too long" she pleaded, as she failed to get absorbed by the
story and characters
"this game is too fast" she avoided, as life comes at ya once and then it's
gone
"I'll never get another chance to be who I am right now" she remarked, as she
considered how society is designed not to have the best life, but to extract
labor from us. That's not what our ideal should be, she thinks to me, and I'm
like... bro figure your shit out you're harshing my mellow
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--- #9 notes/symbeline-superheros ---
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imagine low level characters in CoH/V
playing a game of symbeline
and you as the ruler
can slot enhancements and dole out inspirations
as they sweep the streets like you play CoX
instead of a MMO
it's a deckbuilding strategy
with a slice of zachtronics for the economy
wiring up machines in ever expanding deseagns
like automating factorio's gameplay loop
boxes within boxes
of intrinsic delight
like making a CPUter
or designing a computer program
while playing a video game ^_^
and the games that you make
can be shared and played when unique
so go for it and make that you're dreaming!
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the goal of each "level" is to solve a particular problem - like how do I make
a
2 bit register - or something like that. When accomplished, it unlocks
something
for your heroes to acquire. And each playthrough will require a repeat until
you
have it memorized at which point you can unlock "perma-badges" that make it
always unlocked at the start of the game. Like learning Kanji, you need spaced
repetition. BUT ANYWAYS it'll be in magical terms like "unlock essence-stones"
or "learn the ritual of desire" or whatever. And each of those terms roughly
corresponds to a pattern in electrical engineering (designing CPUs and such)
And you can learn advanced versions of what you already know by uncovering
"lost
secrets" (which is a reward your heros can find) - Basically it'd be like a
"clue" that shows you a ghost version of something you haven't figured out yet
-
and it'd be a slow process because you need to slow down the learning process
or
else you'll forget. Basically teasing it out of the player when they seem to be
stuck. Asking probing questions and whatnot, and eventually culminating in the
final question, assuming the quest is succeeding. Because if you think about it
all ancient quests were simply journeys for reason - searching for the answer
to
some ancient riddle or bastardized retelling. Looking for answers in an
unknowing world. So ANYWAY as your heros discover things you as the ruler get
answers to the economic puzzle - how to design transistors and whatnot. But
they
would be in theme appropriate terms, of course. You don't even have to know a
lot about mechanical electrical design, because ChatGPT knows. All you need to
do is build the basic building blocks, and BAM you got a great place to
integrate chatgpt. Just prime it such that it's giving hints one by one each
slightly more revealing until eventually after X amount of clues the solution
is
automatically shown (like a blueprint) and the player can remember it or not
but
each playthrough they'll have to build it again from scratch (reinforcement
learning) so eventually they'll be able to do it real quick. Essentially,
"Abstraction - The Game"
great so you got your economic simulation, pretty easy too just some UI work
and for the heroes you're playing an ARPG sorta (supcom anyone?)
Think Bannerlord for the scaling on the map
then think of 5+ different "themes" like fantasy or superhero or pirates
each "theme" will correspond to like a faction in Mount and Blade
and all you have to do is generate pictures using Midjourney
and text descriptions a'la the magic scroll
shown as "bubble pop-ups" on the map that the player can click
never overwhelming, but descripting what's happening
and also some more UI work because you gotta display all that to the player
Maybe it could be a rolling story, news ticker style - like slowly scrolling
lines of text about what's happening in the world
and the player could have it open in one window and something else in the other
and whenever they're waiting on something (say, a processing intensive AI task
on their computer) they could just glance over and read what's going on in
their
fantasy world
okay okay but also they could play as a hero
it could be an ARPG experience except instead of clicking to fight you play a
little automatic Star Realms game and depending on your deck choices you'd have
a different playthrough. Again, not a game that requires much thought, but one
you can have in the background.
Also there'd be pictures, like a slowly evolving storyline of events - think of
it like the artists of the time drawing paintings about what's going on in the
story - major events would be highlighted and kept in the painting until even-
-tually they get replaced - sorta like the Smash Bros scrolling painting (oh
it's so good)
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it doesn't have to be an expansionist game
maybe you guys just live in your little valley
and the world turns around you
maybe it's called "symbeline" because the people are of the forest
and they live like elves in society
monsters could wander in, and heros could tackle them
but most of the time would be spent looking for trouble
going on patrol
you know, breaking skeleton bones and being superheros
okay okay you know that superhero faction? What if they had MEDIEVAL TECHNOLOGY
but MODERN DAY SUPERPOWERS at a cost - the society was beset by hordes of
monst-
-ers. Those few who escaped are now superpowered and they live as friendly and
nomadic wanderers through their own territory. Always adventuring, and always
searching for their life, finding whatever the road may carry them to. It's a
great life, and life seems to flourish in their footsteps - they are like part
dryad/druid and part wolf. Because sometimes there's evil threats, and they
must
be defeated by an equally strong good power. That's how it goes, and that's how
it be.
For imagery I'm thinking a mix of the tribes from Dominions (deer, wolf, bear,
etc) but they're like, 1.5x as big as regular people and quite strong. The
outsiders call them "giants" or "goliaths" but really they're just infused with
the lifeforce of their people. They are radical individualists, but they all
unite for a common cause. They know their bond is the strongest thing there is,
and they use it to great effect when the time comes. AHHH THEY'RE SO COOL I
LOVE
THEM okay okay what about the other factions? PIRATES? Oh think about it like
it's st patricks day WHAT IF THEY WERE IRISH PIRATES omg omg omg that sounds so
cool I'm DIGGING this okay what about the other factions? You need 5+ you said
hmmmmmmmmm good question I have 3 now so that's 2 more.
yep...
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okay dude check this what if they were a nation of wizards that focused on the
power of animation - what if they generated constructs, sorta like in Supreme
Commander so they were EVEN MORE individualist - haha no they'd have a normal
population it's just a few of them who would be wizards - because their output
wasn't measured by manpower, but rather by brainpower. Whoever could design the
greatest machine was exemplared, and eventually they became the best and
brightest among us. They were put in charge of the golem creation factories,
and
they used them instead of heros. SO BASICALLY YOUR HEROS NEVER DIE they just
have successes and failures JUST LIKE IN SUPREME COMMANDER okay the plot of
this
game is "what if all my favorite games were the essence of life and death in a
fantasy game" like OMG KEEP EM COMIN'
so. who is the player? THE PLAYER is the one who's overseeing it all. They have
dominion over the entire kingdom, and they guide their people toward a bright
future. They are vulnerable in their castle, but their people have their back.
Together they fight for the future. They slot enhancements and dole out
inspirations and solve the economic puzzle in the background. They also make
decisions about what kind of equipment production to prioritize - because each
game they have to invent everything from scratch. All their production is made
with endless abstraction, and whatever you prioritize is what's magnified in
your kingdom. You choose a style and it plays as well as it's guile,
I dunno this seems like a lot, what would you need to make this a reality?
hmmmm let's break it down:
first you need to implement the star realms gameplay
then you need to hook it up to a square grid and have multiple occurences at
once.
then you need UI for the character sheets
and you need logic to open separate windows for each output type
you need... a lot of things
okay let's talk more broadly - what do you need from other people and what can
you do on your own?
hmmm good question. I can do the star realms gameplay, and the simulation for
the wiring systems - because I have the VM. Make that into the gameplay somehow
okay good idea like okay authoring vm package routing deliveries between the
various nodes that you set up in the economic system -
side note, the peril of Spore was that it took to little time to develop a
species. it should have lasted as long as WoW takes to get to max level. That
would have given them time to reiterate the gameplay loops to make sure they
worked correctly. ANYWAY
okay authoring VM package routing. The player could set up delivery patterns
based on A MAZE OMG your kingdom is like a maze and you need to get deliveries
out, or else how would anything function? SO you act as a trailblazer, finding
ways through the labyrinth and "piloting" a car sorta like that game at Disney
quest with the cars under the floor - except you can see both the top view of
the maze and you're trying to guide the car in real time as it travels through
the maze - the faster you can get to the end the better ofc. like talking to
the
delivery driver through the movement
do I like that idea more or less than the first one? First idea being the idea
that you're making lists of commands for a VM to execute. I don't think they'd
be a good idea to mix. So which one gets it? The VM of course has the edge
because that's what the technology is based on. But will it translate to good
gameplay? Idk. This second idea is certainly better gameplay, but is it
engaging? Idk! Idk. I'm not a miracle worker. But I do have good ideas, and I
need to be told that sometimes I guess.
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--- #10 messages/846 ---
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Blizzard should make more than one animation style for swinging your weapon -
as you level up, the style "tweens" between however many combat palettes you
made.
So, like, maybe they swing their sword +/-15 degrees each time to simulate the
pseudo random nature of combat.
Or maybe they start occasionally stepping into a maneuver
Which the player doesn't consciously control.
Instinct, if you will. The body reacting to its [sensory organs, but
pronounced "surveyor"]
Anyway i think by adjusting the monster characters in WoW should wander around
and gather within sight of a player. Seeking you out, waiting for a critical
threshold of their peers. Then, when you allowed or slowed down to examine a
bit of "this-or-here", (quests) they would gang up on you and ambush! Bwaha
just watch out for the mob
(kinda like that scene in the second book of The Book of Malazan series where
they're wandering through a desert storm and meeting all sorts of strange
sorts of people)
Anyway in seeking to improve the player's view-time, i decided it would feel
the most impactful to do the design related things related to things like
making the gameplay the most visceral.
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--- #11 messages/894 ---
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Game designers should reward players for playing multiplayer games, not for
being good at playing multiplayer games.
They should still have a ranking, and matchmake against similarly skilled
foes, while also putting high level players amongst low level players
occasionally (and fairly, so maybe one on each team "smurf" style) in order to
both teach the low level players and let the high level player have catharsis.
When players are rewarded for being good, they stop playing the game to enjoy
it. That's fine, but both pickup games and NBA can exist at once and its not
due to the logistics of organizing a large group of skilled basketball
players. It's not always about skill.
By rewarding players for the number and quality of games they play, (so, no
afk-ing or throwing outside of being drunk or whatever) not only can you
increase engagement but also you encourage low-level and low-skill players to
compete just as much. Especially if you tell them "hey, we'll match you up
with people who have similar gameplay habits to you. Give it a bit though
because the system needs to be calibrated to your particular spirit"
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--- #12 fediverse/4897 ---
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what if we asked chatGPT to generate a list of every personality archetype
that humans have. Like... really get super specific and fill out the whole
list of character sheets.
then we give each fraction of it that fraction of dollars and if some people
aren't fully represented (because they have greater needs) then we both
increase production of resources and take a penalty on our own supply, in
order to meet the needs of our allies.
simplest thing. how could it work? who can say. maybe it won't. maybe it's
just... arcane. /shrug that's game design for ya you can't tell how it'll go
until it's in the hands of your players. too bad we don't do too many
play-things.
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--- #13 notes/game-design-2 ---
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the method of game design is identification of playstyles and the balancing of
success rates of each of those playstyles. then, giving the player as many
different possible methods of playing the game. the more different they are,
the
better, and they should be unique enough that the decisions taken to play that
playstyle feel impactful. meaning, a player could play offensively or
defensively, for example, or a WoW player might play a melee or ranged
character. in addition, they might use the pieces available to them in a unique
way that aligns with their personality - everyone should be able to express
themselves as much as possible while also keeping the game fair, balanced, and
rewarding. It should incentivize the development of skill - and gently guide
the player through various mistakes. It should
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--- #14 notes/symbeline-aspects ---
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7-24-22
There are three aspects to this game. Broadly, they are military, economics,
and diplomacy. More specifically, they are lateral problem solving and lane
management, logistic traffic management, and a worker-placement bluffing game.
These three aspects can be toggled on and off at will, essentially designating
one or more as "AI controlled" and will require no input from the player. They
will time their progression to be about at the same rate as the player, thus
creating a balanced feel to the game. They also provide alerts and
notifications to the player, for example if military is AI controlled and it
needs a certain type of hero to progress, it'll ask for it specifically.
Each aspect will develop and progress at it's own rate, and the difficulty
increases as each milestone is achieved. This is to allow the player to create
their own difficulty curve, mediated primarily by their drive to proceed.
An analogy would be in Factorio, the game doesn't increase in difficulty unless
the player builds pollution spawning factories - in the same way, in Symbeline
the difficulty doesn't increase unless the player solves lane challenges in the
military aspect, develops new trade routes / traffic paths in the economic
aspect, or creates new treaties in the diplomatic aspect.
In order to properly explain each aspect, a brief overview will be necessary.
In Symbeline, the game plays as a factory might operate. The economic aspect
produces heroes, items, and other deliverables that are consumed by the
military and diplomatic aspects. There are various problems that need to be
solved far from the capital, such as a particular type of monster that is weak
or immune to various damage types which necessitates particular heroes or
items in order to progress on the military aspect. All of the resources in the
game operate on an "income based" system, where output is not measured in total
amounts but rather in terms of how much is produced versus consumed. If the
input cannot meet the demand, the output is slowed. If input exceeds demand it
can be converted into gold which can be used to hire guards and heroes.
Resources can be produced inside and outside of the city, depending on their
type. But they need to be moved around to various shops for various processing
and productive purposes, so pathways must be constructed to deliver those
goods. In addition, each building must be supported by several houses for the
workers to live in, and the closer they are to the building the better. The
denizens of the kingdom don't mind being shuffled about, so they'll organize
themselves according to what's most efficient. However they will not organize
the paths they take to get places, which is the primary gameplay for the
player - designing routes for each building and ensuring they don't overlap or
cross too many times, causing traffic and disruptions to your income.
Each choice the player makes is immediately reflected in the income
calculation, thus allowing for the visual aspect of the game to be wholely
separate from the economic side - in fact this is a common thread throughout
all three aspects. Computation power is the ultimate enemy of scale, and this
game flourishes with a massive scale.
The gameplay for the military aspect consists of manipulating "lanes" that
designate where each hero will adventure. These lanes are scalable to the
player / AI's whims, with a careful balance required - too thin, and the heroes
might not encounter enough monsters to level up. Too thick, and they may find
themselves patrolling a vast wilderness full of dark and evil monsters. At the
end of every lane is a "frontline", where progress has essentially been halted.
These frontlines can develop as a result of meeting a foreign kingdoms front
or finding a monster type or puzzle that is particularily difficult for your
heroes to overcome. The lane / frontline can be scaled not just laterally, but
linearly as well such that heroes will be a certain level when they reach the
end - think scrolling on a mousewheel translating into deepening level zones.
In addition, each monster zone can be set to a certain "security level" meaning
how many monsters are there for your heroes to defeat. It's important that they
have ample targets for training, however it's always more effective to train on
monsters near their level so you have to be careful not to wipe out the native
skeleton / goblin / troll population.
Each monster zone can have a relationship with the kingdom, on a 2x2 matrix -
cultivating / desecrating the land, and fostering / exterminating the monsters.
The land produces monsters and treasures, while the monsters provide experience
and danger to the heroes and kingdom denizens who live there. However by
desecrating the land, farms may be built and by exterminating the monsters,
those farms may be safe and require fewer guards. As ruler, you must balance
the development of unique magical and alchemical productions with the need for
food and other mundane requirements.
Diplomacy is a careful balance of internal and external matters, played out
through feasts, tournaments, and faires. Each of these events will require
input from the economic side and military side, and will involve "courting"
other nobles from neighboring kingdoms to sway them to supporting your edicts.
When hosting an event, you may pick a particular topic of conversation for your
nobles to discuss with their guests. You may also assign your nobles to
attempt to engage with a particular foreign noble. Each member of your court
has a differing personality (including you, the Majesty) and depending on how
you assign them you may experience better or worse results - such as assigning
someone who's kind to talk with someone who's cruel would impart a malus to
their conversation. Unless the kind person has the trusting trait, in which
case they'd succeed in this encounter but fall sway to them in future
conversations... Complex interactions that all boil down to a single pair of
d12 dice - one for your noble, one for the enemy. This represents the charisma
of the two conversants on that particular day, and whoever wins the roll sways
the other to supporting their edict. Speaking of edicts, they may include trade
agreements, non-aggression pacts (lasting for a short time), and other
regulations - perhaps your greatest rival utilizes necromancy, so it would
behoove you to attempt to regulate the practice and limit it's effect. By
swaying the nobles of their kingdom, you may be able to enact a mutual
agreement to limit the usage of dark magics, essentially hamstringing their
progress. But in order to learn of their necromantic usage, you'll need
espionage... Which brings us to spies.
Spies are similar to nobles in that they can be assigned to various roles,
however they take a more passive role, acting in the background. The
information they gather is compiled into a report that is presented at
pertinent parts of the game, such as when preparing for a feast or inspecting
an enemy frontline. These reports are considered the diplomatic deliverables,
giving information and mechanical bonuses to many different parts of the game.
They may be given three possible roles - information, defence, or offense.
Offense involves placing cursed artifacts (creating through economy) in enemy
lands, which debuff their heroes when used and bind themselves to them
preventing their removal except through extraordinary means. Defence is
essentially countering that in your own kingdom, and uncovering disloyalty in
your nobles.
These three aspects fit together like interlocking puzzle pieces, but each is
able to be utilized or ignored depending on the preferences of the player.
It is important that the game doesn't progress unless input is received. The
simulation plays in the background, but each stage of development must be
considered "stable" such that nothing changes. There are three different
exceptions to this rule, one for each aspect:
The military side encounters raids from enemy kingdoms and the dark lord.
The economic side encounters raids from ratmen and moss trolls and bandits.
The diplomatic side has a rolling schedule of events that must be attended.
These three "exceptions" are recurrent events that require attention, but they
don't *increase* in difficulty unless the player takes an action that causes
it. Meaning, if the player overcomes the rock golems, then they are displaced
from their home and join the dark lord in his conquests. If a new district is
built new sewer connections must be built as well, creating a larger attack
surface for ratmen to exploit. As time goes by, various foreign events must be
attended, as absence causes your future events to attract fewer foreign nobles.
By addressing these threats, your kingdom may grow and eventually overcome the
dark lord at the center of the island.
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--- #15 fediverse/6334 ---
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║ a D&D rulebook can double as tarot if you need it. place one hand/bookmark │
║ at the start of a chapter, and the other at the end. flip to a page randomly, │
║ or randomly gain a percentage value from physical objects and then use that │
║ value to determine roughly where in the chapter you jump to. then, read words │
║ randomly, jumping back and forth, or try and divine some meaning from the │
║ words that are printed there. with D&D it's easy because you can say "ah I │
║ landed on the rogue section, that means this guy is probably pretty suave" │
║ (confirming your expectations) "hmmm, here's the rules for fatigue and │
║ drowning. maybe I need to take a break." (validating your unconscious │
║ decisionmaking) "oh neat, treasure!" (needs to explanation) but with other │
║ kinds of books it's usually better to pick the next-best word from the things │
║ your subconscious eyes can take in and process multi-laterally (you lost your │
║ audience, circle back) oh uh so if you wanna randomize it just put the words │
║ in the page in an array and pick one random. │
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--- #16 fediverse/221 ---
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│ CW: re: existential; cognitohazard? cognitohelper? │
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@user-95 these kinds of problems are why witches should stay away from demon
summoning - it's far too easy to be super turned on and accidentally sell your
soul to a succubus or whatever. luckily that kind of contract is not made
easily, and has to be something you work toward. but unless you relocate
yourself so they can't find you their whispers can be... incessant.
one of the perks of air and naval travel is that it's essentially impossible
for them to follow your scent, as they're simply projections upon the earth's
surface. Unless they happen to follow someone else, perhaps someone close to
you, who wanders a bit too close to land. Or maybe someone who is easily
persuaded to let them come along... OR even still, if someone (even yourself)
intentionally calls to the same one. This is why it's usually a good idea to
forgo hearing their name, if you can, or to have a bad memory like me so you
forget it immediately teehee
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--- #17 notes/symbeline-battlefields ---
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in Symbeline, there are moments where large armies of enemies gather to face a
mighty challenge. These calls are often answered by other evil parties, but at
times the burden must fall upon the shoulders of the good. Light battles dark,
and in a climactic finale the justice of the world is laid bare. These
encounters comprise more than both an adventuring party and a horde party. They
are represented on the map as a circular icon the majesty can click on and open
a screen that gives them command over a single battle. Essentially adding a
tactics minigame. The battles take place in real time, with the majesty
directing and giving orders. There'll be a system for expression in the orders
each player gives - there can only be 6 total (3 for before
what if the grand canyon was the seat of native american power and it crumbled
and that great calamity shook the very society to the core. the only reason
that
europeans could get as far as they did was because there who two calamities in
a
row. Disaster was afoot, and everything felt like it was burning. A calamitous
event.
what I mean to say is um do you ever feel like everything is burning? Like the
world is on fire and nobody seems to care. Like, literally on fire. Like it'll
catch like a tinderbox and go "crack". Nobody survives that, it'd be the end of
the world. That's not something to fucking play around with you pieces of shit
and by that I mean well not only is a lifetime so sheltered, from all that was
weathered, by the past unbeknownsted to our selves.
I'm proud of how far I came. I feel like a statue in the garden, a spirit
inhabiting the house. I feel like an interpretive dance, like a statement of
being on our behalf. swirling and chaotic, yet never amnioxitc, alight and
aloft
to our pleasures.
for {bool shouldGameEnd = False; !shouldGameEnd();} {
// game code
}
okay anyways back to symbeline - the commands issued before a battle are things
like "have more spearmen here" or "hold and attack the rear" and stuff like
what you'd give in Dominions, except with fantasy armies.
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--- #18 fediverse/4685 ---
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│ CW: video-games-mentioned │
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In games, the one who takes the initiative often wins. Because games are
designed to be symmetrical, in order to be fair.
In more complex games, Paradox games for example, games where you look at maps
or otherwise have unequal starting conditions simply due to the unique nature
of each team, the initiative, while an advantage, is not necessarily the
driving force that determines who wins.
But it is an advantage, and they say that sometimes weeks happen in months and
years happen in days or whatever.
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--- #19 messages/442 ---
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In symbeline, they aren't monsters. They're "Mordaunts" and they need your
help.
When slain, their essence flows back to the villain who remakes them in a new
form. As time passes the villain gets more and more essence, as heroes are
slain.
They have taken several ancient guardians (many types, randomized at the start
of the game) and they protect their sanctum in the center of the island. The
heroes need to level up to defeat them and slay the villain, but the villain
gets stronger as well.
If too many heroes die, the villain wins. And the villain can focus their
efforts on one area or another, while your heroes fight with the kingdom next
door.
Brigands arrive on ships as well. If you implement the law saying only
approved members may travel on boats, they'll arrive in little dingies on the
coast, meaning less trouble in the city but same amount of trouble.
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--- #20 fediverse/5177 ---
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│ CW: capitalism-mentioned-four-times │
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when they say "capitalism is a competitive game" what they mean is "capitalism
is a game where everyone wins when someone else loses" and what we hear is
"capitalism is a game of trying to screw you out of as much money as possible"
and the truth is "capitalism is a game that you can't play" because 95% of the
people who will read this toot are not stock-owners.
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