Skree
Recruit
Greetings,
I do realize that, being in an advanced beta status, the modifications you could do are few... very few, so i'll try to bear this in mind, and try to write only suggestions that i think you can actually make work of.
1)Character generation could gain from a description to each "starting class", such as Hunter, Court Lady, and so on. Describing what the class "is", what are its skills and starting bonuses.
2)The game as a whole could gain from a background story. I mean... the player knows there is a war going on, but he doesn't know why, what the ideals of the two factions are, the background history, and most importantly: what they are fighting for. This could come easily as an NPC who tells the player what happened when the game starts... leaving him/her the possibility to jump the history lesson althogheter if they are interested only in the fighting.
3)The Fighting engine is great, the orders a bit less. It happens that a single enemy on a horse armed with a bow keep an entire army occupied while they try to catch him, at least until he finishes his arrows... it could be good to give soldiers some more "intelligence". Making them try to flank or encircle the enemy without the player imput. I mean, it is not a RTS game, our companions are men with their own brain, if they are smart (and the enemy, of course) it could only make the game better. As of now, i must order my men to charge, while i myself flank the enemy alone. Not really a pretty situation.
4)Cities: the textual interface is good. It reminds me of Darklands, wich is the biggest praise i could come up with (i hope you know the game in question, so you can understand just how big it is). Expanding the city interface could be good. Perhaps adding a church, a town crier, a library, just for the sake of a credible world.
5)Contemplating good and evil should be an option. Just think about the horrors wich come in every war... violence, kidnaps, slaughters and worse... and slavery, of course. It should be possible for the player to be evil, if he so wants, and above all it should be possible for him to fight evil: hunting slavers, avenging the death of a girl for her father, and so on. This is not only for credibility, but also for immersiveness: it would make the player feel part of the world, his action affecting and changing it, even drastically.
6)I don't actually know if this is possible... but a random quest generator would help longevity. Putting an NPC in every town wich comes up with simple quests like: "Bandits have occupied a farm near the town, go there and free it" or "the Count's daughter wants to visit her aunt wich lives in the town of XYZ, escort her safely". Things like this, with random values/places. It should be relatively easy to do, and would be quite a boon for longevity.
This said, i like this game. It is simple, but not banal, wich is rare nowadays. It is ambitious, but not excessively so as many contemporary production. As i said, i like this game. I hope i can see it getting even better with the suggestion everyone has made so far. I also hope i will have the possibility to post here a little sign of appreciation... i write for a magazine of the future network, the very same one wich publishes PCGamer in England... and i think even games made by only two people deserve attention from the press, if they are good enough. This one is, and could get even better.
I wish you good luck... and good work.
I do realize that, being in an advanced beta status, the modifications you could do are few... very few, so i'll try to bear this in mind, and try to write only suggestions that i think you can actually make work of.
1)Character generation could gain from a description to each "starting class", such as Hunter, Court Lady, and so on. Describing what the class "is", what are its skills and starting bonuses.
2)The game as a whole could gain from a background story. I mean... the player knows there is a war going on, but he doesn't know why, what the ideals of the two factions are, the background history, and most importantly: what they are fighting for. This could come easily as an NPC who tells the player what happened when the game starts... leaving him/her the possibility to jump the history lesson althogheter if they are interested only in the fighting.
3)The Fighting engine is great, the orders a bit less. It happens that a single enemy on a horse armed with a bow keep an entire army occupied while they try to catch him, at least until he finishes his arrows... it could be good to give soldiers some more "intelligence". Making them try to flank or encircle the enemy without the player imput. I mean, it is not a RTS game, our companions are men with their own brain, if they are smart (and the enemy, of course) it could only make the game better. As of now, i must order my men to charge, while i myself flank the enemy alone. Not really a pretty situation.
4)Cities: the textual interface is good. It reminds me of Darklands, wich is the biggest praise i could come up with (i hope you know the game in question, so you can understand just how big it is). Expanding the city interface could be good. Perhaps adding a church, a town crier, a library, just for the sake of a credible world.
5)Contemplating good and evil should be an option. Just think about the horrors wich come in every war... violence, kidnaps, slaughters and worse... and slavery, of course. It should be possible for the player to be evil, if he so wants, and above all it should be possible for him to fight evil: hunting slavers, avenging the death of a girl for her father, and so on. This is not only for credibility, but also for immersiveness: it would make the player feel part of the world, his action affecting and changing it, even drastically.
6)I don't actually know if this is possible... but a random quest generator would help longevity. Putting an NPC in every town wich comes up with simple quests like: "Bandits have occupied a farm near the town, go there and free it" or "the Count's daughter wants to visit her aunt wich lives in the town of XYZ, escort her safely". Things like this, with random values/places. It should be relatively easy to do, and would be quite a boon for longevity.
This said, i like this game. It is simple, but not banal, wich is rare nowadays. It is ambitious, but not excessively so as many contemporary production. As i said, i like this game. I hope i can see it getting even better with the suggestion everyone has made so far. I also hope i will have the possibility to post here a little sign of appreciation... i write for a magazine of the future network, the very same one wich publishes PCGamer in England... and i think even games made by only two people deserve attention from the press, if they are good enough. This one is, and could get even better.
I wish you good luck... and good work.
