04-30-2003, 12:42 AM
Hi,
Yep. As kandrathe says, I've been advocating something along those lines since before D2 was even announced as a future product. Those ideas went back to the old Buzzard Suggestion forum for D1.
No real need to make supplies (arrows, bolts, keys, pots) perishable since they get used up in time anyway. I think that would add a level of complexity without impacting game play. The idea of keys having a chance to work is nice. However, your math is off :) Ten keys each with a 10% probability of working would only give you a 65% chance of working. Right now keys are just a PITA. It would be nice if keys and chests were related, so that only one key would open a given chest and that key would not open any other chest. Then they begin to influence gameplay ("Do I keep a second stack of keys or do I risk not being able to open the chest?", "Do I go back and try the keys that I just found in the chest I couldn't open?"). Of course, to make that work you need to make chests more important. Say a guaranteed item of reasonable level for the area with increased odds of green, yellow or gold items.
There are lots of things that can be done
Indeed there are, like making day/night mean something (perhaps more Undead monsters at night, more animals during the day?) Making weather mean something (maybe lowered effectiveness with ranged weapons (wet bowstrings, you know?))
But as long as game design is dominated by the marketing and the fx departments, the best we can look forward to is games like D1 and D2 -- good games that miss being great.
--Pete
Yep. As kandrathe says, I've been advocating something along those lines since before D2 was even announced as a future product. Those ideas went back to the old Buzzard Suggestion forum for D1.
No real need to make supplies (arrows, bolts, keys, pots) perishable since they get used up in time anyway. I think that would add a level of complexity without impacting game play. The idea of keys having a chance to work is nice. However, your math is off :) Ten keys each with a 10% probability of working would only give you a 65% chance of working. Right now keys are just a PITA. It would be nice if keys and chests were related, so that only one key would open a given chest and that key would not open any other chest. Then they begin to influence gameplay ("Do I keep a second stack of keys or do I risk not being able to open the chest?", "Do I go back and try the keys that I just found in the chest I couldn't open?"). Of course, to make that work you need to make chests more important. Say a guaranteed item of reasonable level for the area with increased odds of green, yellow or gold items.
There are lots of things that can be done
Indeed there are, like making day/night mean something (perhaps more Undead monsters at night, more animals during the day?) Making weather mean something (maybe lowered effectiveness with ranged weapons (wet bowstrings, you know?))
But as long as game design is dominated by the marketing and the fx departments, the best we can look forward to is games like D1 and D2 -- good games that miss being great.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?