A doubt or three... - by Ubik
Ubik on 22/5/2002 at 14:49
Ah! Forget to tell you I only intend to drop skills and stats by poison/disease if those skills/stats are higher than a certain level...
BattleMage on 22/5/2002 at 16:09
I see we're thinking along the same lines. :)
I let stats decrease each day by ( (Stat^X) / Y )
Dividing by Y means a skill decreases faster when it is higher.
First raising the stat to the power of X (*laugh* sorry, I am not familiar with math in english) makes high skills decrease even faster then low skills. This causes somewhat the same effect as your idea. It protects skills from going too low, although eventually they will reach zero. But if you occasionally use the skill it should never go low. I just don't like hardcoded limits.
But this is hardly working so far. Most importantly I don't understand how to reliably time global scripts, so I attached the script to beds. Unfortunately you don't need a bed to sleep, and in fact you don't need to sleep at all. Just drink a lot of potions...
I have to add though that I haven't really tried much, am too busy playing. :p So maybe it's really easy.
Well, diseases are spread by contact with diseased creatures or by magic attacks. So melee fighters get diseased much more than archers or casters. And if you avoid combat at all (thieves, merchants) the risk goes down even more. I didn't even think about immunities, they would certainly be troublesome.
It would really help if you played the game first so you understand about the quests and factions. :)
Ubik on 22/5/2002 at 18:45
Ok, I will not bother you anymore with questions about factions! ;)
Soon I will have the game and then we can exchange more ideas.
Now, your solution for the decrease of stats/skills is much more refined than mine. It's the best solution although for my taste I would prefer to put a lower cap in order to prevent stats/skills going to zero. There is always something we remember even decades after learning it in the first place. Just an opinion... :)
I was coming home from work and was thinking about the way the information is stored... Can we define global variables? Can we have arrays? Can you attach scripts to the PC?
Other aspect for me that needs to be addressed (from the ALL the comments I hear), is the game balance. I think there are too many powerfull items being given in the game. I will tone down the items, that's for sure. I will probably take a look at which spells can be easily abused and make them cost more mana/gold. And while I will be at it, I will significantly raise the cost of fines...
Anyway, thanks for your answers!
BattleMage on 22/5/2002 at 20:31
Heh, sounds like you already formed a pretty firm opinion about the game without having seen it :)
You make a good point about never letting a skill reach zero. What about this:
( ( Stat - MaxStat * Z ) ^ X ) / Y
Where MaxStat is the highest the stat has ever been. When you choose Z = 0.33 for example the stat will never go lower than one third of what your all time high.
Yes, you can have global variables. No arrays as far as I know. You can't attach a script to the PC. It's either global (always running) or attached to an object and activated when the PC interacts with it. You can't interact with yourself, lol.
The balance is indeed horrible. It looks as if they didn't even try to balance it. If you ever played Everquest you will probably know what true balancing is, nitpicking over every tiny detail :) It's good that there's an editor to balance it, but unfortunately you have to play it once to know what is unbalanced, and then most of it is already spoiled. :(
I tried to find something usefull to mail to you, but most modding is done in the editor using dialog windows, changing values from pull down menus etc. Seperate script pieces simply don't mean anything and I'm a bit too lazy to go through it all to find something usefull today. :p
Ubik on 23/5/2002 at 01:05
Well, I usually form an accurate picture of various aspects of game design just by reading some reviews. Sometimes just a sentence from a reviewer can make or kill a game for me. Also, this game has lots of influence from daggerfall and Arena, thus making it much more easier for me to get a good "view" of it. About the formula you wrote, I was thinking along the same lines, only didn't know it was possible to have global variables in the game. I think thats really the best approach to the problem. :thumb:
Nice to know about global variables! Pity about the arrays ( could be quite useful to store relations between factions, for instance). I asked you about attaching a script to the PC as a "creative" ;) way of trying to define global behaviours in the case global variables were not available (you know, if you were always playing with the PC, you were always running certain scripts... .:cheeky: )
About the game balance, and from what I already read, I think it was left clearly on the easy side because thats the way the game can be easily tested for the full game engine to show during an accelerated beta testing. It's important to note Bethesda needed to push the game out because of the 2nd quarter results...
Of course this is just a conjecture, but I am entitled to my opinions... :cool:
I am a bit radical about game balance and I will start tinkering with it just some hours after start playing... I already have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done.
Yes, I did play Everquest. Fantastic world, very good game balance but poor game mechanics in my own opinion. I don't like level based RPG... I really go for skill based ones. That's why I prefer Asheron's Call, even considering that horrible world populated with silly creatures to Everquest. In terms of comunity, of being able to roleplay, the best online game so far is Ultima Online, because of the multitude of "trade skills" and the ingame support to develop them. The problem is that was the only good thing going for it. The world was not inspired (for me at least!) and the game mechanics were quite abusable.
About the code snipet I asked you, don't worry, I already found some code and I think it's really easy once you know the reserved words.
Hummm... remembering another doubt... once a quest is completed by the player do the quest reset and can it be given again?
Regards,
BattleMage on 23/5/2002 at 11:52
Each faction does have a list of factions and the base disposition of these factions towards them.. but these are constants, I don't know if you could change or even acces them during the game.
Quests in the unmodded Morrowind game don't reset. But you can make a step of a quest repeat if you want (bringing back the firebeetle eye and bonechip quests :D). And with scripting you could make quest that completely reset to begin from scratch.
Ubik on 23/5/2002 at 14:23
Hey! Surprise in the mailbox today! I have the game now! Intalling it at work of course! ;)
I think it's time we switch to talking using our mails, ok? I have quite some things to discuss with you concerning spell effects costs, enchantation limits and quests, for instance... :)
Ubik on 23/5/2002 at 15:50
A doubt about the editor...
What does really mean the option to make something "persistent" or "blocked"?
