CryoFall

Started by Swiur_Yngwi, August 29, 2018, 01:11:01 PM

Swiur_Yngwi

Because I read it like this for the first time.

In advance, sorry for any mistakes, English is not my mother tounge.

Since a week passed with my new adventure ΓÇô CryoFall, I would like to share some of my experiences and give some suggestions.
All of these are my personal thoughts and opinions based on the game with which you dont have to agree. Numbers and names are just the examples to explain the ideas.

First of all, the strategy ΓÇ₧give all the players a gun and let them kill each otherΓÇ¥ was a bad choice. My experiences from EU server proved, that killing for ΓÇ₧lootΓÇ¥ was a minute to minute action (and I was the victim here, not an attacker). And executing other players (often being offline) just for fun and ΓÇ₧I just canΓÇ¥ did a lot of damage to the game at this stage of development. In my opinion many players lost their attention forever after few sudden deaths without opportunity and patience of checking the game content, specially T3 and T4 (technology tiers). And game has a great potential already and I feel (well i know, found in trading station) there will be much more. And I guess there will be 10 tiers in tech tree.
But for the time being ΓÇô the damage has been done, for the future ΓÇô twice the effort to bring them back.

Punishment

Therefore I hardly recomend introducing system of punishments for killing other players. Let it be a skill of ΓÇ₧negative influenceΓÇ¥ for killing others, based on the level of the player (tech tree). Now, for every player executed,  u get some X negative skill points, counted for example like this
Agressor ΓÇô Victim (opposite the same way)
T4 vs T4 ΓÇô X points
T4 vs T3 ΓÇô 120% X points
T4 vs T2 ΓÇô 150% X points
T4 vs T1 ΓÇô 200% X points
When a killer gets enough X points, then a game  will choose him randomly a ΓÇ₧mental disorderΓÇ¥ that will affect his gameplay till the end. My proposals:
ΓÇ₧SelfdestructionΓÇ¥ ΓÇô feeling quilty for his bad behaviour player wants to hurt himself or even commit a suicide -  reduction by 90% 3 most advanced skills
ΓÇ₧Addiction to alcoholΓÇ¥ ΓÇô simple, u dont drink regularly, u loose hp faster than u can heal it with meds
ΓÇ₧Aversion to bloodΓÇ¥ ΓÇô u hate the smell and view of blood. From now on u cannot equip weapons and hunt for animals.
And more.
Then the X counter resets and all starts all over again. So, imagine a player who likes to eliminate others and does it stubbornly ΓÇô triple selfdestruction and aversion to blood combined with alco bottle. Nice combo?
Addictionally, when attacker kills a player he will loose his LP points  - lets say 50 LP per death.
And when an offline player is killed ΓÇô he keeps his inventory. No acccess to the attacker.

Loot

Back to the magical influence (boost) of loot and its ΓÇ₧happy birthdayΓÇ¥ effect.  When u get super things in loot, mostly like armor and weapons (with ammo), there should be relationship with the ability of using that weapon/armor and your characters skills. Let me explain it on the example of T4 sniper rifle. Now, if you somehow manage to get it, you can use it with no negative effects.  My suggestion is:
T4 sniper rifle. Weapon effectiveness is 100% when your conventional weapon skill is min.10, survival skill is min. 10, and hunting skill is min.10. When you meet only two out of three conditions, weapon effectiveness drops by 30% and destruction time speeds up by 15%. When u meet only one out of three, effectiveness drops by 60% and destruction time speeds up by 30%. When u dont meet any out of three, effectiveness drops by 90% and destruction time speeds up by 45%. Simple to argument: you donΓÇÖt know how to use it so you use it the wrong way and that causes less damage/protecction and faster breakdown.
Accordingly T3 weapon or armor ΓÇô two conditions. T2 ΓÇô one condition
This way the magic effect of loot will be neglected for unexperienced or unwilling to develop players.

Combat

There is no combat system in the game right now. And it is very unfair in relation to more developed vs less developed players. The actions I have experienced on EU server prove, that when two players meet on the screen and one (more developed - > better armored and protected) wants to attack the other one (less developed), there is no fight. Because in fight both opponents have a chance  to make their actions. In this situation it is an execution. Like in animal world ΓÇô stronger eats weaker.
It hurts esspecialy when a player is almost ready to advance the new tech level and suddenly dies in a stupid way with 243 LP points (T2->T3). Just because while chopping down a tree he got three shots from a by passing player ΓÇô just because he can shoot you for no reason and with no consequences. And even didnt stop to see/take the loot. Just to kill.
My suggestion: combat system like in Fallout 2. When an agressor wants to attack another player he must walk into his ΓÇ₧personal areaΓÇ¥ of  2 squares (like 2 blocks of wall).  No shooting on distance, attacking from SW to NE (by the way ΓÇô u know why?  - because chat is blocking the view on the screen) or N-S line (because monitors are rectangles, not squares), no sudden deaths while checking the map.  You walk  into 2 squares = you want to fight. And then the fight begins like in fallout 2. In turns (3 seconds for each ΓÇô move, shoot, hide), alternately,  but with weapons and armors from the game and with use of all environmental features as in place (like trees blocking the line of sight, ores lying on the ground and giving some cover, etc.) And with use of players skills (like boost to cover when survival skill is high, or attack boost when conventional weapon skill is high or damage boost when melee or mining are high). Then the combat is a fight ΓÇô because both players have a chance to make their actions with weapons of their choice and their abillities. Even run/flee.

Run/flee option

Again, like in Fallout 2 combat mode ΓÇô a player should have an opportunity to run away (to escape zone on the edges). Of course after paying ΓÇ₧the costΓÇ¥ of such escape. For example ΓÇô 20% of inventory and loose of 10 LP (gained by the winner) . Sometimes maybe the attacker will be running away ΓÇô that might be the cost of bad choice. And when the fight ends with death ΓÇô read above.
This will force players to think and calculate before pulling the trigger (clicking the mouse buton) while unexpected meeting on the screen. No ΓÇ₧first shoot then talkΓÇ¥ strategy, but ΓÇ₧lets talk and maybe tradeΓÇ¥ strategy.
After the fight resolves by escape, both of the players will not be able to attack each other for sometime (like 2-3 minutes). Otherwise the escape would be non-effective.


Team work

I donΓÇÖt know what is the main goal for the game set by its developers, but if it is a cooperation and team work then the ΓÇ₧to doΓÇ¥ list is long.
First of all, there should be an opportunity of making/ joining  some sort of community (like guild or tribe) with bonuses dealing from it.
Theoretically in every community, sooner or later, people start to specialize in their actions and professions. Someone is a farmer, other is a smith, warrior, etc. A new skill ΓÇ₧BrotherhoodΓÇ¥ should be introduced. And all guild members should receive experience points for every action every guild member will do. Because their single actions have an influence on all other guild members actions and alltogether they create a system. Bonusses, for example: level 5 ΓÇô all members gain +5 hp, level 10 ΓÇô mining, woodcutting, farming, crafting, etc speed increase by 2%, level 15 ΓÇô something, level 20 ΓÇô something.
And/Or
A community can have a bonus from its complexity. The more professions (skill exp points of its members by types in comparison to a ΓÇ₧ideal community indexΓÇ¥) in a community the better rewards.
Message board and local chat for guild members. Chat is obvious, message board ΓÇô to leave notes to other members (for example request for resources, ΓÇ₧to doΓÇ¥ list) that are offline in particular moment to be read and edited in the future by the others. Wooden signs are to small ΓÇô checked.

I see a huge potential on the ΓÇ₧building communityΓÇ¥ field, with local trade, judgement, crime and justice, and even urban planning instruments. But players need to feel save to move from one place to another. Guild can possibly guarantee that.

Trading

Well, almost no experiences on that field, because trading doesn;t exist in the game at the moment. And I mean buying and selling goods for coins. Because barter is doing quite fine.
As for the moment the biggest issue for other players is to travel to my trading station through the whole map and buy/sell nothing. Mostly because they donΓÇÖt know in advance what i want to buy or sell. They get that info while on place and that is too late (u dont bring your whole inventory of stuff for a trip in which u can die every three seconds and lose all). Therefore i suggest adding a new building ΓÇô trading info point ΓÇô in which u will be able to check buying/selling lists of all active offers and the name of the trader. To be build by the players itself. Then everyone will be able to find and compare the buying/selling offers and make a choice or even reservation.

The same with jobs. Like: need 200 coal. Time to do:24 hours. Payment: 20 steel ingots. Payment locked in advence in the machine. When another player chooses offer it will lock for him. When done: payment + LP bonus. When failed - LP substraction and offer is active again till cancelled by the "caller". Can be done the same way as trading + info points build by players itself.

Traveling

I often read on chat ΓÇô oh man, that walking is so long and boring. Why it cannot be faster.
Well, it is truth. It is long and can be boring, unless u do some other actions while travelling (like chopping down rubber trees, collecting berries, hunting for people ΓÇô not on US server !!!).
Therefore i dont think a vehicle is needed. But for sure will be welcomed. At least a bicycle.
For me the only inconvinience is wild life ΓÇô avoiding wild agressive animals (if u dont want to kill them). Therefore i suggest to add an ultra high sounds whistler to the top armors, that will ΓÇ₧scareΓÇ¥ the animals and stop them from attacking us.
So every bear can act like chicken;D 8)

Uff, done for now.

Lurler

This is quite a lot, thank you!

I think it would have been better to create each suggestion in a separate topic, so we can focus on each specifically, but oh, well :)

So, first about PVP, marking of PK, consequences, etc. It may seem like a trivial task, but in reality it is something that cannot really be solved :)
Please read this article: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaphKoster/20180627/320893/A_brief_history_of_murder_in_Ultima_Online.php
It will give a good overview of why this is much more complex thing than it appears initially.

As for the rest - sorry that I can't answer each point individually, there is just too much, but I did read everything and put some notes for us.
Some of the ideas are quite interesting, while others wouldn't suit the game very well.
Well, I can at least say that we are committed to make the game better and we will continue working on it bringing large updates roughly every month! :)

Swiur_Yngwi

#2
Quote from: Lurler on August 29, 2018, 09:19:59 PM
This is quite a lot, thank you!

I think it would have been better to create each suggestion in a separate topic, so we can focus on each specifically, but oh, well :)


You name it, you have it:

Punishment - http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1075.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1075.new#new)

Loot - http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1076.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1076.new#new)

Combat - http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1077.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1077.new#new)

Run/flee option
- http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1078.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1078.new#new)

Teamwork - http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1079.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1079.new#new)

Trading - http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1080.new#new (http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1080.new#new)

Please leave your comments and thoughts in dedicated topics.

Will preciate it a lot.