Upcoming features and wish list

For to fix what's broke, and improve what ain't. Or something thereabouts.

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Ryme
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Upcoming features and wish list

Post by Ryme »

Here's the things that are very high on my list of priorities, in roughly the order of priority, though I make no guarantees about that.

Always:
* Check/respond to/investigate/fix bug reports as appropriate
* come up with and test Items of the Month
* Keep an eye on multi-abusers and warn/punish/delete as appropriate

1) Roll out more high-level content (coming very soon)
2) Level 10 quest
3) a few more merit badges
4) Leagues (or clans/guilds or whatever you want to call them)
5) PvP improvements (mechanics, strategy, leaderboard options)
6) coming up with a couple more one-day events (like Captain Buzzkill)
7) Add more security features to character creation - require a confirmation email, etc.
8) Add a password-recovery feature to the game
9) More recipes




Other stuff that's up there but maybe not quite so pressing:

*level 11 quest
* ascension/retcon/whatever development
* more hideout choices/functionality
* more hit/miss messages for foes
* some non-auction mall-like alternative
* filling in missing skills and balancing existing ones
* Add /ignore to chat; create a contacts/friends list
* Possibly a system for upgrading/differentiating skills/classes
Last edited by Ryme on Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:17 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Post by Ryme »

See, that's the kind of stuff I want to hear. Now I just need about a thousand more people per month who feel the same way, and I can retire! Woo hoo!
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IcyFreak
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Post by IcyFreak »

Sadly, I can't donate. Don't have Paypal or anything. So, yeah, consider my support behind all that stuff, except in a non-corporeal sort of way.
Have a nice day.
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Post by neocamp22 »

I would definitely donate (although amazon would be a better choice for me. I don't have paypal.)
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Post by Ryme »

Devant wrote: that a fair amount of sophistication has been put to realtive to waht advantages such an option would offer...
That's a little garbled, so I'm not sure if you're referring to the donation items/rewards themselves, or the means by which I take donations. Could you clarify?
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Post by Cristiona »

Also probably want to find a use for the workbench.
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Post by Ryme »

Devant wrote: Displaying more stats. Chance to hit, dodge, damage reduction, initiative, resistances, and whatever may be hidden unless it could spoil the game.
Damage reduction makes sense: I'm happy to show that. And resistances I'd always planned to show. There's no elemental damage right now, though, so resistance isn't all that useful. But I can easily show it.

You've guessed correctly that hit, dodge, and initiative are mostly meaningless except in conjunction with a foe's stats. However, while it's simple for a non-web-based game like Diablo to track huge amounts of data about your character and recently fought opponents, in a game like this it would be a contributor to lag, both from the server and the database, as those things would be calculated and stored with every single combat.

I don't think that's worth the tradeoff for knowing a couple of stats. Particularly when that info can also serve as a minor mystery for the spades to sort out. Also, displaying those stats would tend to quickly give away opponent stats, something else that I'd rather not spoil and would rather leave as an exercise to the spades.

I think the reason those numbers are so readily visible in a pen-and-paper RPG is because you're actually making the die rolls and need to know if you've failed or succeeded. In an electronic game, where it does the rolls for you, not seeing the numbers makes for a more realistic experience. In the early discussion of this game with my brother and some friends, we actually toyed with the idea of not showing HP and PP at all. Including not showing how much damage you were doing to the opponent. We thought the realism of "you hit him, and he looks really hurt" or "you hit, but it's just a scratch" was far more realistic than "you hit for 8 damage". But ultimately we decided in those cases that the impreciseness would drive people crazy more than the realism would appeal to them.
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Post by Ryme »

Currently, other than what's been talked about (initiative, hit, dodge, and the publicly visible stuff), I think everything else is what you would expect. For example, item find is the same for all classes and all levels, other than where skills and item bonuses affect it.
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Post by Ryme »

Just wanted to note that the list at the top of the thread has been updated to reflect recent changes, and expanded to cover other things people ask about often.
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Post by IcyFreak »

And just what do you not understand about "wait"? It's an endgame teaser, apparently. (Ross already reworded that bit to make it clearer)
Have a nice day.
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Post by IcyFreak »

The mango mochi ball has a wonderful description indeed.

This is the wish list thread, right?
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Post by Ryme »

Smidge wrote: It's hard to explain exactly what I'm thinking of here, primarily since the best example I know of a game with this sorta thing is apparently broken, the game forgotten and replaced by sequels (damn you internet circa. 1995!). So suppose a text based adventure but without any text commands (links instead) - you go north, south, east, west through the villain's lair, finding switches (like 'you see a switch, flick it?' - link), fighting guards (1 time thing, so it doesn't get abused by people 'choosing' their adventure).
It sounds like you're saying it would be cool to have a maze/puzzle to sort through, as opposed to waiting for the RNG to simply give you what you want. And, honestly, I couldn't agree more that would be an awesome thing to have. The tradeoff is they're much more tricky to program, which is why I don't have anything like that yet.

I have toyed with a couple of different types of ideas along that line. One, like you mention, would require a series of switches. Initially they're halve 1 and half 0. To "win" they all need to be at 0, and if any are at 1 you can't get through. If it's a small number, you could just guess randomly for a while until you get it, but that might not be super satisfying. Or I could program in a system of subtle hints, but then I'd have to figure out *how* to give a useful hint, and how to write code that can actually run the logic and tell you the right thing.

Another option is a chain of multiple choices. Say you've got 3 warehouses with 3 storage bins with 3 sections each, meaning 27 total options. You would know that 1 held the "solution" and others had a range of good and bad options, with at least one being particularly bad. Again you could guess randomly, spending up to 27 turns on it. Or, again, there'd have to be a system of hints. (The prize is in the second door of one of the containers. Nasty sounds are coming from the first warehouse ... something bad must be in there somewhere.) I think I've got a slightly better grasp on how to do those hints, but it's still a complicated programming task.

So yeah, ultimately I agree with you that these things would be really good to have in the game: brain power over sheer luck is almost always satisfying. As long as it's not so complicated that some people get turned away, and it's something that I can actually figure out how to do.
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Post by Ryme »

I also do agree that the color coding could be a little clearer, but I don't want to make it too rainbow-y, and I've still probably got to add a couple more types of damage (had a few good ideas just recently -- acid damage and sonic damage).
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Post by Ryme »

Ask again in, say, a year or two and I'll give it some thought. Right now things like that fall more into the "saves players time and energy because they don't need to take notes" category, which I do recognize as valuable, but not nearly so valuable as things like filling in the gaps in skills and quests, adding more new items, and getting something like ascension working.

As soon as this thing goes beta and the player base starts growing, I'm pretty sure spoiler sites will be close behind to start taking note of this stuff for you, which will help a little.
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Post by Cristiona »

My Wish:

Higher drop rates on titanium plating...
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Post by Ryme »

Don't worry, penalties will be coming. I just haven't bothered thus far because I figured I'd be nice during alpha testing. By beta, you'll have some disadvantage. Not sure what it is, yet, but it'll happen.
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Post by neocamp22 »

frost_maze wrote:Not trying to make this game uber-hard or anything, but losing to an enemy doesn't penalize you. You don't have the incentive to run away before getting beaten up any more... And even if you do get beaten up, you might even get some experience! Maybe you should give at least a small penalty to losing to a monster...

This would make hardcore harder... if there was one. :P

(Oh, and I wish that psions wouldn't be so useless in the Renegade Robot Hive)
Yeah, I noticed this too. I assumed Ross would do something about it eventually...
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Post by IcyFreak »

Hey, awesome ideas.

Of course, they'd be troublesome to work with, but at level 22 I don't much care.
Have a nice day.
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Post by Ryme »

Those are some good ideas, Devant.

I might not tie results to specific zones/foes (though occasionally that might make a lot of sense). But I do like that a variety of things can happen.

As mentioned, going a different tactic than KoL is a good idea: not only for originality, but also because their stat reduction system wouldn't be much of a penalty here.

Ones I'm likely to use:

* I like the "bandaged" effect, but I think I'd probably call it "needs stitches", implying that you're still bleeding until you either have it looked after or use certain medkits that will take care of it. Honestly, I'd like to call it "still bleeding" but I think that might disturb some people.

* Internal injuries: another effect. Not sure what it would do that's different than "needs stitches" but it's got a realistic sound to it. Maybe an MP drain?

* I do like the one where you'd lose some/all of your MP.

* I'd also probably throw one in there that causes you to just lose 1 turn, as part of lying there dazed and confused. (1 turn = whatever your current average turn duration would be -- 5 minutes for new players, 4.5 minutes if you've earned the Heroic Efficiency skill, etc.)

* There's already one beaten up message where it says the foe picks your pocket ... probably that will be updated to actually take as much money from you as the foe would normally give you.

* Likewise I want one where you lose XP, again roughly proportionally to what the foe would give you.

* Oh, and there has to be a "concussion" effect, where you're a little addled and dizzy. This would probably penalize your to--hit and dodge chances.

* And then I'll probably keep one that's funny but not particularly harmful--every once in a while you get a break.
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Post by Ryme »

frost_maze wrote:Just a thought, but maybe you could put the equipment in the 'Wear things' section in the order they appear?

So helmets would come first, then mainhand, shirts, gloves, pants, boots, offhand, accessories, then lastly talismans.
Yeah, that's been on my list for a while. I agree it would be useful. I end up putting off stuff like this when the only solution I can come up with is awkward (in terms of coding/organization). I keep hoping I'll think up something smarter. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I don't think I'm going to here.
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