Game Suggestions

[NTJedi]

I haven't beta tested or played the game, but here are some suggestions which will increase replay value. The greater the replay value the more likely gamers will purchase sequels and expansions. These might already be included and some might have to wait for a sequel.

1) Random Game Generator = Hooray! This is already within the game and very valuable. Hopefully the random generator will also generate new quests, new NPCs, new enemy bosses, new shops, and different crafting mixtures for each game.

2) Game Engine/Editor = Excellent this is also available. I have found some game editors to be very complex hopefully this game will have friendly functionality. Any complex sections will hopefully have manuals.

3) It appears the gamer plays a character named Rapius... for gamers to feel more attached to the character most game developers allow players to name their own characters. Also character customization creates more of a personal attachment to the character.

4) Multiplayer = A great feature to add which would increase the games community, the games replay value and word of mouth for game sales.

5) Variety of Death Difficulty Settings = Have the gamer choose his death difficulty setting since so many different opinions exist regarding this topic. Here are some examples:
A) Easy Death Setting: Respawn at rebirth location
B) Moderate Death Setting: Same as previous above yet loss of gold and experience
C) Advanced Death Setting: Same as above death setting yet loss of 1 point from a random skill
D) Expert Death Setting: Same as above death setting yet loss of 1 point from a random skill and random statistic.
E) HardCore Death Setting: Death is Permanent... no way out.

6) Randomly Generated Unique Beings/Monsters = Every once in a blue moon the player should encounter some unique special being/monster to fight which was randomly created. For Example = Once in a blue moon combined with the normal 4 skelletons there should also be one which is unique thus a two headed skelleton or a giant skelleton. These features can be combined as well thus creating a giant two headed skelleton. This variable should exist for any beings/monsters on the map. This will help allow for something to come out of the shadows which scares even the best skilled characters.

7) Random Item Formula = Allows items within the game to be more unique and thus increases replay value.
Examples = Variables A, B and C are randomly selected from separate lists.
Kings(A) Poisonous(B) Axe(item) of Death(C)
Ice(B) Knife(item)
Dukes(A) Helm(item) of Minds(C)
Fire(B) Boots(item) of Speed(C)

Using a random item formula means each new game will have new unique items! Hope these ideas help.

[GeorgiaBoy]

I second everything NTJedi said. I also have one question. Is there a limit as to the number of items (different swords,armor,wands,etc.) as well as monsters Scallywag can support in a mod?

GB

P.S. LOVE the graphics...

[scott_wakeling]

There is absolutely no limit to the number of modifications you can make. edit: there is no limit in the full version. the demo is capped at 15 levels, and is missing a lot of the mutators that are used for special abilities and magical effects. the demo version is also unable to run MODs from the main menu, or load plug-ins.

[GeorgiaBoy]

A question...Are all rooms in the dungeon diamond-shaped, or is this just the demo?

GB

[scott_wakeling]

Caverns are diamond shaped and rooms are square (rooms are not encountered in the demo). Some areas are a combination of overlapping room types for unusually shaped domains - plus for those writing native plugins, new map generators can be plugged in.

[DarkStar]

I have played and enjoyed the demo. Here are a few ideas:

- If you are at max health don't consume health items and food. Currently it will consume the item even if you are at full health - wasting it.

- Display full stats when you mouse over items on the ground (just like inventory mouse over).

- Add or allow for attack animations

- Display name and full stats when you mouse over items on the mini-map icons.

- Color floor squares another color when that 'area' has been fully explored. This will help to find areas of the map that are unexplored.

- Display all the names of all items on the ground when you hold down a key (ALT - like Diablo?)

- Allow the user to change the camera height and rotation to allow them to see the maze from 'top down' if they wish. Might not be able to do since the sprites are 2d.

- Add the concept of 'gold' and the random chance of a store creation to sell (buy?) extra items. I love collecting and selling items in games.

- Allow the user to select which stats to increase on level-ups - this makes each character not the same and add some character building options.

- Add a score based on the character stats and things in the inventory.

- Ability to change the character's name (suggested before I think)

- Add a top-ten list of characters and the deepest level seen and a score (see idea above)

[Saxon]

The game idea is good and the graphics are reasonable, when you can see them. The problem is a game design choice. Recognizing that dungeons are supposed to be dark and unknown, there is the variable lamp with a fuel supply. When you turn it down, you save fuel, but can not see as far.

In the games I played last night, I died several times due to fuel shortages. So I turned down the lamp and found that I was not able to see much. All working as designed. The problem is that it is not much fun. I run around looking at the minimap, turn the lamp up and down quickly and am always watching the fuel level. I am not hacking and slashing, I am playing a fuel management simulator.

Truly. There are twice as many controls for the lamp as there are for combat. Fuel is more dangerous than the enemies, because you can at least run away from enemies. Your stats don’t really matter, but the number next to the fuel level is critical. I learned where that was before I learned where my health bar was. The focus of the game is oil.

To make it worse, the better you manage your fuel, the less you see. Instead of rewarding good play, it punishes it with less visual stimulation. The reward structure of the game needs to be looked at. I would not go so far as to say gold is needed, as another poster has, but gold is a popular reward. Look at Diablo. You don’t need the gold and eventually it is just a scoring system, but everyone still picks it up and likes it. You get something for doing well. Here, you lose something (visuals) for doing well. I know the concept is fairly integral to the game, but I feel it needs to be reviewed.

[S.R. Krol]

Saxon said:
Your stats don’t really matter, but the number next to the fuel level is critical. I learned where that was before I learned where my health bar was. The focus of the game is oil.

Sorry to hear that you feel the quest for fire overpowers the rest of the game. The beauty of Scallywag though is that with a few keystrokes you can change that.

If you look at the Scallywag directory there is a subdirectory called config (should be Game\Media\Config). There are several files in there that you can open with notepad. For oil you could change how it burns in the 'Core' file (look for OilBurnRate at the bottom) and make it burn much, much slower. Or you can change how often you come across it by modifying the 'Items' file. You'll find a rarity line for oil.

For complete modding instructions check out:
http://www.chronicreality.co.uk/mods.html

Hope this helps!

[scott_wakeling]

If you watch any player of more than a couple hours' experience, they just roll around the dungeon sliding their lantern up and down as they need without really thinking about it much - the emphasis turns to looting, mapping, and playing with objects.

It's a fair point though Saxon, I don't dismiss what you're saying, but as Mr Krol pointed out - the config files are right there, so feel free to have some fun with that.

As an aside, what do people think of the oil/lantern feature with regards to further developments? For example, Moria makes good use of needing fuel to light your way, with the final punishment being just a black-out (which I actually find more annoying than just dying, flailing around in the dark getting picked on is just so annoying!?).

[jab2565]

I was one of the beta testers for the game just FYI, and I don't know if I'm just lucky but not once during my time with the game did I ever run out of oil. I just kept the oil level at 2 or 3 and I never had a problem. I like to keep a stock of 20 oil in my inventory at all times which seemed to work fine.