Game Suggestions

[Saxon]

Nice wordplay on the Quest for Fire title!

I half expected a response to mod the game and appreciate that it is an option. However, as I only have the demo, I can not mod. Also, I must admit that I am a loath to pay for a game which I know I am going to have to “fix” to enjoy. I know others see the option to mod everything as a huge attraction, but I am one of those guys who takes his car to the mechanic rather than fiddling with it myself. I guess my temperament is not for this game.

I love the idea of RPG lite and think you are on to something good here. I wish you the best with this project.

[S.R. Krol]

Saxon said:
I half expected a response to mod the game and appreciate that it is an option. However, as I only have the demo, I can not mod. Also, I must admit that I am a loath to pay for a game which I know I am going to have to “fix” to enjoy.

Actually you can mod that in the demo. There's a whole lot you can tinker with in the demo, where it cuts off is you can't download someone else's mod and apply it. There may be something else, but Scott Wakeling would have to discuss it since it's his demo.

Before tinkering with the .cfg files just rename the one you're going to modify first. I just usually add 'OLD' to the end. Then open it up in Notepad, modify, and 'Save As'. When you do that make sure you save it as the original name, and make sure that you also add .cfg to the end (don't save it as a .txt file, but as any file). Restart the demo and your modification will be in place.

Try it and see how it is then. If the fuel management ish was your only complaint hopefully you'll find it more enjoyable. Another suggestion is check back in a couple of months and see what other people have done with it. Maybe then you'll see a mod or two that intrigues you, and you won't have to worry about tinkering with it since someone has already done it for you.

While we're of course sorry to hear that it may not be the game you're looking for, thanks for checking out the demo! That's why we put them out. A lot better than forcing people to blindly purchase a game to find out whether they like it or not.

[Gandalf Parker]

I would think that a game where everyone can mod their own preferences and "fixes" is a better thing than hunting around for one that is already all the way that you want it to be. Some of my absolute favorite games are only still my favorite games because of player mods.

[NTJedi]

scott_wakeling said:
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!?).

Future game development should allow multiple ways to provide the player light. Other items of light could be torches, magic spells, special food providing darkvision, and perhaps some items which once used permanently light a specific area. This would allow the fantasy to seem more real.

[darkentrees]

Arrrgghhh!!! What a disappointment! I shared the URL for the demo of Scallywag with friends and all have same response - Great game - stupid design that you die on the bleeding edge of failing the oil managment sim!

Our views echo many here - why such a bad design decision? Especially for the demo! Who other than gamer geeks such as myself is going to navigate forums and edit config files to get the game experience people should be getting in the first place: A fun little game where your lantern is something you keep an eye on - not something that becomes the sole focus of the game to sprint from flask to flask while you try to stay alive, and forget about even taking your eye off that goal for a single second to enjoy any other aspect of the program.

You should re-release the demo with a more sane oil consumption rate, and maybe less people will be arguing heatedly over how stupid a dent that hammer puts in an otherwise fantastic little game.

The previous poster had a good idea about allowing multiple ways to provide better light - and another would be just to make the consumption rate adjustable on the options screen.

Scallywag = Great game gimped by stupid lantern

[PvK]

Heh. Well, darkentrees, I'm not ready to say that everyone won't enjoy the lantern oil management.

Case in point, the review which lists as a strong point: "oil is a neat resource to deal with" (http://jaguarusf.blogspot.com/2007/1...sa-review.html)

However, ya, that was my reaction to the demo, too. I like much of the overall design, but don't enjoy the oil aspect, which seemed like the most challenging part, in a way I don't enjoy. I don't really like being rushed through things on fear of running out of oil which must be found in the dark unknown.

Nethack is a common reference point which shows how lighting can be an interesting element without an overshadowing one:
* Many areas are lit by things other than the player. (In the Scallywag demo I didn't encounter any light sources except my own lamp, which didn't seem to make much sense.)
* Being in the dark can be dangerous, inconvenient, frustrating, but it just has certain logical effects, not insta-death.
* There are many ways to acquire light sources, and players can make decisions with tradeoffs to focus on lighting or not.

And personally even in Nethack, I find the lighting and food resource requirements overly steep and sometimes frustrating.

I also wish combat were more tactically interesting and less of a hitpoint exchange contest. Also I was really not looking forward to gathering rocks and using a sling for improved ability to fight flying monsters - seemed like a pain and not logical - it seems like it'd be obviously much easier to hit a bat with a stick than by trying to use a sling in the dark, unless it's stationary.

But, my conclusion was that this looks like it'd probably be a fun game for players who are more casual gamers and aren't FRPG grognards like myself.

PvK

[jab2565]

Maybe one solution for larger maps would be to have other light sources, (torches on walls, magic lamp posts,etc) That when your in their light your lantern stops draining oil for the time being.

[S.R. Krol]

Pfreak, that's a cool idea.

I must admit I've been rather surprised at the negative reaction the lantern has gotten by some. Personally I haven't run into a situation in the game where I felt hosed because of the oil, but that's just me.

One thing that I feel may be being overlooked is what I've mentioned earlier in response to Saxon, and that's changing the oil burn rate takes 10 seconds to do and you don't have to worry about it anymore. Chronic Reality designed the game from the get-go for easy modability, and fooling around with the lantern is a great way to get a feel for how easy it is. Don't look at Scallywag as simply a single adventure, but a toolkit for endless adventures.

The demo allows you to play around with a great many variables. Just look in your directory at the .CFG files.

[jab2565]

I hope the mod community takes off for this game. If I can mod the game (altered the enemy damage rate during beta) then anyone can mod this.

[kilmorr]

I'm sorry to see so many people bugging out about the oil problem, a minor fixable issue.

Here are a couple lines in the core.cfg that should improve the demo(for those who don't like the oil burning rate).
It makes the oil burn much slower, so running out of oil isn't much of an issue. It also makes you faster and able to see further. Just open <gamedir\Media\Config\Core.cfg and replace the entry [Rapuis] with this:

[Rapius]
Type=HumanoidPlayer
Text=Rapius
HasLantern=1
OilBurnRate=0.050000
Speed=400
MaxVisDist=12

There is so much more that can be done, try adding a line
Special=Strength(4),Armour(4)
to give the player better starting stats.[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Lightning.gif[/img]

Hope the community picks up a bit. Seems like its been quite in here for awhile.