=== ANCHOR POEM === ═════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────────────── 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 ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ === SIMILARITY RANKED === --- #1 fediverse/3 --- ═════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────────────── 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. #gamedesign ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #2 notes/wow-chat-trainers --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────── trainers in wowchat should have spells that are only passive / toggled still require level, still require gold (lots of it) but let the game be class- -less. essentially, every trainer teaches to every passerby, and like if you don't want any druid spells, sorry guy all I know is how to be a druid. better wait for the next trainer to come along. you only got like 6g, right? that's enough for two spells. which two do you prioritize? they only come by like every what, 15 minutes? also. separate idea: player characters in wowchat should attack more rhythmically. essentially, normalizing attack speed and moving back-and-forth with the normalized monster attack speed to create a dance of sorts where one character is never attacking at the same time as the other character. plus damage modifiers when you get closer, and bam suddenly you have a new game. oh and rotating around an opponent lowers their defence rating. which is locked at 95% with a +5% to avoidance with every hit they take and -5% for every parry. not dodge, but parry. dodging wears down their health by like 10 hit points. relax it's no big deal you get like, a hundred every time you level up. oh and btw the monsters don't give exp. The stuff that you find does, when you give it to a merchant to be appraised / identified. some stuff you know the worth of, like rope or barrels or hammered-iron-rings. but other stuff, like the value of this bracelet, is harder to know if it glass. so.... take it to the guy whose seen real diamonds, and he'll tell ya how much you learned when you found it last. item A is found on a monsters body item is sold to a vendor for 50 copper item A is found on a monsters body player has learned 25 deca-levels since last selling to vendor. therefore item is worth 75 copper. player earns 75 extra material points. item is worth 75 experience points. level up every thousand or twelve. slow down the attack speed. make characters gain bonuses for movement positiony. start from always and work down to fewer. talent points can be generic if your character is built with abilities. players don't need to press buttons to be engaged. They can just guide and see. I love auto-battlers like Dominions 6 and Legion TD 2 which is based on WC3 mod! monsters should just... wander the world. Don't spawn them randomly, well, instead of a radius around the player, do a radius around the map. then, they walk through a random point, when they leave the circle they angle- -reflect back in, DVD logo style. if there's deadly monsters, there's deadly players, and PVP is always on. low levels should get bonuses to stealth (an ability everyone has) there should be civilians walking around. They can be armed or in caravans... follow roads, or not... monster hordes should spawn as a flock - when an elite enemy is drawn, let the game create several of their minions which follow around. Whenever a monster meets the swarm, they will join it, growing bigger and bigger... hopefully, attracting players who want to fight and slay them. greater rewards are more enticing...! more power is it's own reward. I think that weapons should have like, 3 durability? and armor like 5. then, it's broken, and your character has to abandon it to survive. or, sell it to a vendor, or just... whoever comes along. if 5 people open the chest and don't take the item, then the item disappears... every time a player opens a chest, a bit of wealth appears. every time they spend it? they get stronger, and it disappears. life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds the life of wowchat is the life of continual strife, but it doesn't have to be so. The land itself is alive, and the monsters are eternally of woe. you must free them, so that their souls may return to the land, and be born of peace and plenty rather than horror and -- stack overflow -- to do this, you slay them, finish their morthly remains, and let them break down and decompose into dust. Pleants eat dust. dust becomes what we eat and breathe. we, eventually, purify karma. this is our duty. vial of woe behind us. flower of renewal ahead. what we bear is savage sanctity. every time a monster kills a player they gain one of their abilities each time they're spawned. The player can keep the ability too, it's just... the monster will learn. Then, whenever a player levels up by slaying one of them, the spell or ability is unlearned. Symbolizing the players struggle to defeat them, and finally learning a way to overcome. when your character dies, you have no opportunity to release - instead, you just jump to the nearest NPC character which is an adventurer agent smith style. [I don't know about that one...] the players can pick any race, but if they pick undead, they can turn into a ghost when they die. The ghost can wander around and respawn wherever they want. Night Elves can wander around as a whisp (not in spirit world, real world) and do a beam attack like in Legion TD 2. Not enough to kill monsters, but enough to help another player survive. They can also cast rejuvenation, which heals about as much as one monster's damage input. if they get the killing blow on a monster they can level up and deal two monsters worth of damage and heal for two monster damage input. on the third time they don't get more damage or healing but they give a buff to all other whisps in the area that increases their attack speed by 50% and increases the tick rate of their rejuvenation by 50% - fourth time they level up they're free, and they get kicked out to the login screen. what if... vehicles that looked like characters and that you could jump between with the right-click of an item? "this is just dota-ing a vampire survivors." Vampire Survivors is just Magic Survival is just Risk of Rain 2 ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────┘ --- #3 messages/846 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────── 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. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────┘ --- #4 notes/overwatch-manaform --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────── make the entire map covered in a 3d grid of spheres. These spheres register collision, and keep track of a endlessly tabulating record of every object that has passed through them. Like the replay system in Blizzard games, where each time through the recording it recreates the playthrough exactly. Which is why .mp4 recordings always look so... stilted. It lacks the human element. BUT if they're remade every time the show is performed, perhaps from different perspectives, then, well, the players can perform as they need to be. Have you ever wished your players could get better at your game? I certainly have, because the better you get the more lessons you learn as a player, which is essentially the only way to maintain satisfaction. Satisfied players don't leave, and satisfaction comes most readily when there is something new to be had. Meaning the greater the change in a player's ranking, the better they're getting. Downside is, players who are naturally good from their skills in other games tend to not learn so much! Ah, well, if only there was a way to tailor the difficulty setting to each and every new host. Such an innovation would surely enable the entire playerbase to exist on the same level. Then just throw AI assisted voice transcription at their recorded voices and everytime they say "I'm bronze rating" or "I'm diamond" then you can switch it around to say like "I'm platinum" or "I'm grandmaster" and BAM suddenly everyone is at the same level. No more concerns about a game's population being diverse. Because at the end of the day, when most people have moved on, the ones who are left are your most dedicated customers. Customers who aren't especially interested in the new stuff. =========================== stack overflow ===================================== if anything requires attention from the patient, they will die. it is fatal. considering the faces of good and evil is terrifying. I think I'd rather worship nature in harmony to be honest. Though that is it's own scary kind of beast. In America it was kind, but then was slain into the body of all of us humans. Well, all things transform in form, it's not a shame or a heartfelt-est loss. Just a re-imagined-new beginnings. spirit is a fluid, how else could souls === stack overflow ============================================================= ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────┘ --- #5 messages/894 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────── 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" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────┘ --- #6 fediverse/3063 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────── @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 ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┘ --- #7 notes/symbeline-superheros --- ════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────── 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! =============================================================================== = 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) =============================================================================== = 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... =============================================================================== = 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. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #8 fediverse/212 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ │ CW: re: gaming-gambling-mentioned │ └───────────────────────────────────┘ [2] players who played better should be compensated to a higher degree. no more than +/- 50-100% or so - this encourages players to "play their best" while also keeping the stakes relatively similar. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #9 notes/dungeon-looting-methods --- ═════════────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 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. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘════════─┴╧══─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #10 fediverse/2098 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: games │ │ ║ └──────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ The difference between tactics and strategy is a level of abstraction. │ ║ │ ║ Tactics are crucial, but context dependent. Strategy is ALWAYS useful as a │ ║ method of planning. │ ║ │ ║ If you typically play base-builder games like Starcraft or Age of Empires, try │ ║ playing a game like Supreme Commander or Factorio - both of them are one level │ ║ of abstraction up. │ ║ │ ║ If you typically play arcade turn-based strategy games like Civilization or │ ║ Catan, try going up a level of abstraction with Dominions 6, or any game │ ║ developed by Paradox Interactive like Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, or │ ║ Stellaris. │ ║ │ ║ If you tend to play luck-based games like Poker or Monopoly, try playing an │ ║ actual game instead of resolving a system that's predetermined by the initial │ ║ board state and results of chance-based-mechanics with minor (if any) input │ ║ from players, like perhaps Star Realms, Magic the Gathering, or Dungeons and │ ║ Dragons. Each highlight a different type of choice in their mechanics. You │ ║ should probably try all three if you care about strategy. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #11 notes/supreme-commander-appeal --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────── a game like supreme commander but fantasy themed and each unit used a special move everytime their mana was full and there were spellcasters who restored mana to targets to increase their power or, hear me out, or, just do that in wowchat I betcha could do it I bet it would be fun as hell please? as a favor to yourself? build the game you want to see and it'll get done please -- stack overflow -- your journals were originally a way for you to remember what to think, remember? old projects meant to show you light and life remember? you are alone in this soul act like it's your own celebrate your period of mental denial as a refraction of your infinite travaille which lasts for quite a good long while have you ever dreamed of the nile? -- stack overflow -- if a doorway takes you to the fae, then where does a river bring you? like raindrops on the floor, racing for an eternity's splendor. what does the rainbow think, as it's cast from the prismatic orb? are each photons aware? bouncing between stars light is beautiful and large beloved by all revered by one ephemeren the totality of all things ------------------ ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────┘ --- #12 fediverse/968 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────┐ │ CW: for-cats-only │ └──────────────────────┘ the gameplay value of a cardboard box increases exponentially upon the introduction of a box-cutter [to make holes in the box] and varmint sized toys [to play whack-a-mole with] also, it's important to let your can win about 65% of the time - just enough to keep them interested (cats lose attention) but not enough to make them feel like it's easy. That's why it's important not to use your hands as a toy, because your hands always hurt. It gives them a feeling they're craving, both of attention but also success. 65% is more addictive, just ask any designer for multiplayer games. Well... 65 is my number, but there's a percentage (depending on the game) that players have to win if you want to keep their attention. If they win more than that, they lose interest. if they lose more, then they get frustrated. It's a delicate balance that ideally would be measured by AI [cursed] and adjusted per player. That way you could get maximum engagement and =============== stack overflow =================== ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┘ --- #13 notes/symbeline-aspects --- ═════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 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. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #14 fediverse/2001 --- ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┐ ║ @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 │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #15 fediverse/3025 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────── axioms of game design: every unit should feel useful, and units should always be able to scale. meaning, reduce the number of "this ability stacks 3 times" (instead stack infinitely, to allow for focused placement) and increase the number of (to allow for varied composition) "for each other blue debuff, decrease energy regeneration" style effects. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┘ --- #16 notes/symbeline-design-the-guild --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────── 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... ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────┘ --- #17 notes/coh-waves-of-playerbases --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── imagine if there was a stacking inf bonus to players who played on red / blueside which increased or decreased depending on either A. the number of players online at the time, B. the proportion of players playing on that team versus the other, or C. the time of day. Essentially helping to cure the faction imbalance by offering rewards to one side or the other which would encourage a certain group in the population of the game to change sides or not. perhaps frequent changing could grant a title called "mercenary" or something like "log in for each consecutive day for 10 days straight and each day switch faction alignment at least once" ... anyway you could cure the faction imbalance between redside / blueside by offering an INF reward for playing on each side one by one alternating like an iterator first red then blue or first blue then red either way it doesn't matter because it'll switch after a while and encourage everyone to switch sides. And the way the character responds to that stimulus tells you a bit about their character's personality. also... it should not affect AE or Pocket D farms. Nor missions, TFs, or anything else. they should SOLELY impact open world patrolling / hunting. I believe this would not only incentivize people to spend time in the open world (which is a mostly unused piece of game assets) but it would also increase the visibility of the newly bolstered faction numbers. Think about it - if everyone who switched sides is out in the open world, then they could see each other. They could fight the same mobs, and team up together. In doing so, they could form greater and greater supergroups - if only through their interactions with one another as they level up. If they're lucky, the guild they're recruited into has similar interests in mind like doing raiding or PvP or economics or alts or whatever. And they each have their own different styles of operating, it's soooo cute. Like alt guilds will pop up and then migrate to a new one as people make new alts and grow tired of them at higher levels. It's great. I love MMOs! I wish people put half as much effort into making an open source WoW client that they do programming game engines like Godot or Raylib or Bevy. If such a thing was created, we could have a new rennaisance in indie MMO development. It would become fully non-proprietary, the entire game-platform-stack. Meaning anyone could create their own MMO off of it, because (crucially) the serverside soft- -ware has already been reverse engineered. And open sourced. Seriously. You wanna make as much bank as Steam? Make an open source client that lets you design while in it. Then you could charge people for all the games that they played that were designed and hosted by you the content designing software maker. ... okay it's probably not that simple I'm going to go play Unreal Tournament2k4 ` ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ --- #18 fediverse/4897 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────── 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. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┘ --- #19 fediverse/2544 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────── video games are useful for inspiring the mind engaging in a child's play, teaching lessons of strategy through the observation of mechanics engaged, or filling the heart with emotion, as any good artwork will do. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┘ --- #20 fediverse/3988 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── being "good at video games" does not mean "are you good at beating the game" being "good at video games" means "can you make the experience enjoyable for other players by using your character in an expressive and dynamic way" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ |