El_Cid
Recruit
This game is great, but lacks complexity in my opinion. Here are some thoughts:
Idea no 1. Improved walking animation
The animation when you start to walk simply SUCKS - you practically hover over the ground until the legs start moving. I mean in Gothic, TES, almost any other game out there - the animation is way better. Not to hard to implement, but a must I think.
Idea no 2. Stamina Bar and Sprint feature
(this probably has already been propoused but here goes). Many times you get knocked down from the horse and surrounded by enemies. A SPRINT feature would BE AWESOME. I bet its really easy to implement.
Its realistically that you are able to RUN faster than someone who is swinging a sword trying to decapitate you, wouldn't you say
New attribute: Stamina - the Stamina is a new attribute that you can invest points in. (like INT, CHA, STR and Agility). As you invest points in it, you have more stamina to use for sprinting, so you can sprint for longer periods of time.
New skill: Sprint - At first level, you can sprint with a small speed bonus. It gradually increases in speed bonus. At a high level, lets say 5 - you get a bonus feature: Sprint Attack. You can swing, shoot etc. while sprinting.
Idea no 3. Improved Melee Fighting
The melee fighting needs more complexity. First of all, the npcs are too good at melee fighting - they have the same skill no matter their type. Ranged units types have different skill... some miss a lot - others hit you very often. All melee units hit non-stop until they break the shield and kill you, they have speed, and they hit MUCH faster then you can. A swing should take stamina, so you can't just swing non-stop like a madman on steroids. I mean, come on, who the hell can swing that huge sword without taking a breath in?
So Stamina is not only usefull for sprinting, but for swinging too.
So these npcs need to have different stamina levels, so a noob river pirate can swing with enough power to do some real damage only 3 times. A dark knight can bash you 15 times lets say. A river pirate can miss, a dark knight hits you all the time. A river pirate has DELAY between the hits, the dark knight hits you like a madman. As it stands right now - its pretty frustrating to fight in melee - no comment on fighting with more than one unit.
Other improvements to the melee could be combos - that would take more stamina. Also the river pirate has no combo, the dark knight uses combos. I will think about combos and return later with some specific ways to implement them.
Idea no 4. WILD LIFE - my personal fav
The M&B universe is pretty empty. I would suggest WILD ANIMALS to be in, so this world would seem MUCH MUCH more alive. On the world view - you will be able to see something like 20 wolves running, attacking everything in their path, or deers running from a cheetah.
So this idea about the wild animals its pretty cool if you stay and think about it.
Here is a list:
a.
Name= Deers
Reaction= they run away from everything they spot
Spotting radius= small
Speed= low -mostly stationary
Habitat= near rivers, and forest areas
Numbers= they live in small packs (<5).
Notes=When you engage in "combat" you can go on and hunt them down. You can stop at any time.
Loot= Meat for all the deers killed. (so it stacks as it is now at 50). So you can hunt for food for your men at arm.
b.
Name= Wolves
Reaction= they attack parties randomly. If they see deers or caravans, they attack all the time
Spotting radius= very big
Speed= high speed
Habitat= rocky areas and forests
Numbers= they live in large packs (10 at least).
Loot= You engage them and get wolf skins, furs etc only if you have skinning skill (check Idea no 5.) learned.
c.
Name= White bears
Reaction= they attack small groups of people, and all the caravans (because of the smell)
Spotting radius= big
Speed= medium speed
Habitat= Snow areas
Numbers= only one or two.
Loot = Bear fur only if you have skinning skill (check Idea no 5.) learned.
d.
Name= Horses (more than one type - all types)
Reaction= they run away when they spot anything except deers etc.
Spotting radius= small
Speed= depends on the type of horse (but rather high)
Habitat= depends on the type of horse (steppe horse, silvosteppe horse, some huge Siberian type horses, small types etc)
Numbers= large packs (over 30).
Loot= you can go on and hunt them for horse meat - or you can tame them. (this will be pretty hard to implement but i have some ideas). - check Idea no 5.
These 4 types are pretty much basic, you can go on and implement as many wild animals as you can, because it would be both realistically and fun.
Idea no 5. Hunter SKILLS
New skill: Skinning Skill - its pretty much self explanatory. What is not so obvious though is how investing in Hunting helps you at level2,3,4 ... etc
Also the skinning process can go wrong and you can screw the fur So this screwed fur is 1/3 of the price of a normal fur.
level 1: you can take meat from deers, sheep, horses etc
level 2: you can skin deers, sheep for wool, wolves for furs etc (40% chance to screw the fur)
level 3: you can skin bears for fur (30% chance to screw the fur)
level 4: you can skin cheetah for fur. (20% chance to screw the fur)
level 4+ - you can skin more dangerous animals (less chance to screw the fur)
New skill: Tame - ok this is a pretty cool skill to have as you will see. Lets see the list.
Some notes about taming: only able to tame once a day, if you fail the tame, you have to wait a day. (balance purpose)
level 1: you can tame low level horses (50% that taming succeeds)
level 2: you can tame low level horses (100% that taming succeeds)
level 3: you can tame medium level horses - and low level wolves (50% that taming succeeds)
level 4: you can tame medium level horses - and low level wolves (100% that taming succeeds)
level 5: you can tame any horse - and bears (50% that taming succeeds)
level 6: you can tame any horse - and bears (100% that taming succeeds)
Ok so you can see why this is so cool now? You can get your own horses and you can have bears in your army - pretty cool. The taming should use some leash, which you would have to catch the animal and hold it still for 30 seconds.
Idea no 6. Housing
Ok so this idea is cool too, because this will help make the world more complex and alive. This house are pretty much anywhere, you can get quests from the npcs that live in them. You can go on a rampage and kill some peasants... This would mean that a new group would have to be there. The farmers clan They have their own high level units that guard rich houses...
Small ideas:
- to be able to buy a house - this will grant you the protection of the farmers clan, patrolling horseman with attack dogs will help your guards fight the attackers all the time.
- kill people and steal a house - farmer clan will try to take the house back
- to be able to have item stash at the house
- to be able to keep horses there
- to grow food
- thieves can come and steal all
- you can leave guard there that fight the attacker automatically
- wild animals attack the farm
- houses vary from small cheap ones - to huge and beautiful ones, like small castles - more space etc
Idea no. 7 Adventurers
Another neat idea that belongs to the "Ideas to make the world more alive" group is this one. In all games you are the only one that moves, that grows, that fights, that cares, that changes, that evolves. How cool would it be to see other leaders who start in the arena and grow to be famous knights with huge armies and wealth? This needs to be scripted I guess, but nothing impossible I think
So you can form alliances with this dudes and help them when they are in trouble, or they will help you when in need. How will this work? From time to time, you will be called by a scout to come and help the fellow ally in a tough battle. On the other hand when you see that the odds are against you in a battle of your own, you can send a man to go call them and help you. You can't call them all the time for balance issues, but its still a nice idea i think.
Also - this dudes don't die when you destroy their army. They run away, and start all over again, with revenge in their heads. These (lets call them heroes), have pretty random behavior. Some are bandits and attack you, other come and try to form an alliance. Other are arrogant and ask you for money others are more friendly. You get the point. All have some background, that you can learn about from people that stay in the taverns. Information can perhaps help you some way, for more diplomacy. Maybe you can learn something about that arrogant hero that asks you for tribute once a week, and you can blackmail him for money - how the wheel turns
The idea is that in the end - the world will be a fight between these heroes... a fight over land, over wealth, over honor.
Idea no 8. Honor status and Relations window
Ok, so you have clans, groups, nations, heroes. There must me something like relations between them. The relation thing is already implemented. You are neutral to X and Y, X is in war with Y, you ally with X, you are at war with Y. Ok so this must appear in this relation window.
Honor - killing the innocent will drop this honor status. What is honor good at? Well 2 honorable heroes, can battle eachother 1 on 1 - instead their whole armies clashing if they both agree. Winner takes all.
Ok this is all for now - I hope you enjoy at least some of my ideas. I await your criticism, opinions and other ideas. Maybe you like something, but with another implementation. Lets hear it
Idea no 1. Improved walking animation
The animation when you start to walk simply SUCKS - you practically hover over the ground until the legs start moving. I mean in Gothic, TES, almost any other game out there - the animation is way better. Not to hard to implement, but a must I think.
Idea no 2. Stamina Bar and Sprint feature
(this probably has already been propoused but here goes). Many times you get knocked down from the horse and surrounded by enemies. A SPRINT feature would BE AWESOME. I bet its really easy to implement.
Its realistically that you are able to RUN faster than someone who is swinging a sword trying to decapitate you, wouldn't you say
New attribute: Stamina - the Stamina is a new attribute that you can invest points in. (like INT, CHA, STR and Agility). As you invest points in it, you have more stamina to use for sprinting, so you can sprint for longer periods of time.
New skill: Sprint - At first level, you can sprint with a small speed bonus. It gradually increases in speed bonus. At a high level, lets say 5 - you get a bonus feature: Sprint Attack. You can swing, shoot etc. while sprinting.
Idea no 3. Improved Melee Fighting
The melee fighting needs more complexity. First of all, the npcs are too good at melee fighting - they have the same skill no matter their type. Ranged units types have different skill... some miss a lot - others hit you very often. All melee units hit non-stop until they break the shield and kill you, they have speed, and they hit MUCH faster then you can. A swing should take stamina, so you can't just swing non-stop like a madman on steroids. I mean, come on, who the hell can swing that huge sword without taking a breath in?
So Stamina is not only usefull for sprinting, but for swinging too.
So these npcs need to have different stamina levels, so a noob river pirate can swing with enough power to do some real damage only 3 times. A dark knight can bash you 15 times lets say. A river pirate can miss, a dark knight hits you all the time. A river pirate has DELAY between the hits, the dark knight hits you like a madman. As it stands right now - its pretty frustrating to fight in melee - no comment on fighting with more than one unit.
Other improvements to the melee could be combos - that would take more stamina. Also the river pirate has no combo, the dark knight uses combos. I will think about combos and return later with some specific ways to implement them.
Idea no 4. WILD LIFE - my personal fav
The M&B universe is pretty empty. I would suggest WILD ANIMALS to be in, so this world would seem MUCH MUCH more alive. On the world view - you will be able to see something like 20 wolves running, attacking everything in their path, or deers running from a cheetah.
So this idea about the wild animals its pretty cool if you stay and think about it.
Here is a list:
a.
Name= Deers
Reaction= they run away from everything they spot
Spotting radius= small
Speed= low -mostly stationary
Habitat= near rivers, and forest areas
Numbers= they live in small packs (<5).
Notes=When you engage in "combat" you can go on and hunt them down. You can stop at any time.
Loot= Meat for all the deers killed. (so it stacks as it is now at 50). So you can hunt for food for your men at arm.
b.
Name= Wolves
Reaction= they attack parties randomly. If they see deers or caravans, they attack all the time
Spotting radius= very big
Speed= high speed
Habitat= rocky areas and forests
Numbers= they live in large packs (10 at least).
Loot= You engage them and get wolf skins, furs etc only if you have skinning skill (check Idea no 5.) learned.
c.
Name= White bears
Reaction= they attack small groups of people, and all the caravans (because of the smell
)Spotting radius= big
Speed= medium speed
Habitat= Snow areas
Numbers= only one or two.
Loot = Bear fur only if you have skinning skill (check Idea no 5.) learned.
d.
Name= Horses (more than one type - all types)
Reaction= they run away when they spot anything except deers etc.
Spotting radius= small
Speed= depends on the type of horse (but rather high)
Habitat= depends on the type of horse (steppe horse, silvosteppe horse, some huge Siberian type horses, small types etc)
Numbers= large packs (over 30).
Loot= you can go on and hunt them for horse meat - or you can tame them. (this will be pretty hard to implement but i have some ideas). - check Idea no 5.
These 4 types are pretty much basic, you can go on and implement as many wild animals as you can, because it would be both realistically and fun.
Idea no 5. Hunter SKILLS
New skill: Skinning Skill - its pretty much self explanatory. What is not so obvious though is how investing in Hunting helps you at level2,3,4 ... etc
Also the skinning process can go wrong and you can screw the fur
So this screwed fur is 1/3 of the price of a normal fur.level 1: you can take meat from deers, sheep, horses etc
level 2: you can skin deers, sheep for wool, wolves for furs etc (40% chance to screw the fur)
level 3: you can skin bears for fur (30% chance to screw the fur)
level 4: you can skin cheetah for fur. (20% chance to screw the fur)
level 4+ - you can skin more dangerous animals (less chance to screw the fur)
New skill: Tame - ok this is a pretty cool skill to have as you will see. Lets see the list.
Some notes about taming: only able to tame once a day, if you fail the tame, you have to wait a day. (balance purpose)
level 1: you can tame low level horses (50% that taming succeeds)
level 2: you can tame low level horses (100% that taming succeeds)
level 3: you can tame medium level horses - and low level wolves
(50% that taming succeeds)level 4: you can tame medium level horses - and low level wolves (100% that taming succeeds)
level 5: you can tame any horse - and bears (50% that taming succeeds)
level 6: you can tame any horse - and bears (100% that taming succeeds)
Ok so you can see why this is so cool now? You can get your own horses and you can have bears in your army - pretty cool. The taming should use some leash, which you would have to catch the animal and hold it still for 30 seconds.
Idea no 6. Housing
Ok so this idea is cool too, because this will help make the world more complex and alive. This house are pretty much anywhere, you can get quests from the npcs that live in them. You can go on a rampage and kill some peasants... This would mean that a new group would have to be there. The farmers clan
They have their own high level units that guard rich houses...Small ideas:
- to be able to buy a house - this will grant you the protection of the farmers clan, patrolling horseman with attack dogs will help your guards fight the attackers all the time.
- kill people and steal a house - farmer clan will try to take the house back
- to be able to have item stash at the house
- to be able to keep horses there
- to grow food
- thieves can come and steal all
- you can leave guard there that fight the attacker automatically
- wild animals attack the farm
- houses vary from small cheap ones - to huge and beautiful ones, like small castles
- more space etcIdea no. 7 Adventurers
Another neat idea that belongs to the "Ideas to make the world more alive" group is this one. In all games you are the only one that moves, that grows, that fights, that cares, that changes, that evolves. How cool would it be to see other leaders who start in the arena and grow to be famous knights with huge armies and wealth? This needs to be scripted I guess, but nothing impossible I think
So you can form alliances with this dudes and help them when they are in trouble, or they will help you when in need. How will this work? From time to time, you will be called by a scout to come and help the fellow ally in a tough battle. On the other hand when you see that the odds are against you in a battle of your own, you can send a man to go call them and help you. You can't call them all the time for balance issues, but its still a nice idea i think.
Also - this dudes don't die when you destroy their army. They run away, and start all over again, with revenge in their heads. These (lets call them heroes), have pretty random behavior. Some are bandits and attack you, other come and try to form an alliance. Other are arrogant and ask you for money others are more friendly. You get the point. All have some background, that you can learn about from people that stay in the taverns. Information can perhaps help you some way, for more diplomacy. Maybe you can learn something about that arrogant hero that asks you for tribute once a week, and you can blackmail him for money - how the wheel turns
The idea is that in the end - the world will be a fight between these heroes... a fight over land, over wealth, over honor.
Idea no 8. Honor status and Relations window
Ok, so you have clans, groups, nations, heroes. There must me something like relations between them. The relation thing is already implemented. You are neutral to X and Y, X is in war with Y, you ally with X, you are at war with Y. Ok so this must appear in this relation window.
Honor - killing the innocent will drop this honor status. What is honor good at? Well 2 honorable heroes, can battle eachother 1 on 1 - instead their whole armies clashing if they both agree. Winner takes all.
Ok this is all for now - I hope you enjoy at least some of my ideas. I await your criticism, opinions and other ideas. Maybe you like something, but with another implementation. Lets hear it
