Post by Damian on Nov 5, 2015 10:37:38 GMT 10
It has also been bothering me that the game environment feels a little static. I really want the environment to feel alive and like the player can have real impact on the world.
So I have added some dynamic props in the world that the player can walk into, push over and move around. The first round of dynamic items include the obvious items like barrels and crates, but it's surprising how much this adds to the gameplay experience.
The very next thing I did was setup a scene with some carefully arranged barrels in a familiar triangle configuration. I then placed an enemy on one side of the barrels and the player on the opposite side.
Then all I had to do was command my zombie to attack the enemy and watch as he crashed through the barrels and knocked them aside as he charged towards the enemy.
I call it Zom-Bowling
I know it's lame, but I laughed my butt off for about 20 minutes trying to get a strike before I got back to doing serious work.
The other thing that has been bothering me is the only real commands you can give your minions is "Kill that guy!" and "Stop killing that guy and come back to me".
Inspired by Zom-Bowling, it occurred to me to create some dynamic items in the environment that the minions can interact with. It had to provide some variety of commands and add further value to the carefully crafted undead minion class system.
Enter Destrcutible Items.
I have create 3 types of items that can be attacked and trigger an event upon destruction or simply remove a physical barrier.
There are 2 rules:
Physical Items
These items can only attacked by minions with Melee weapons e.g. Skeleton Footman. This includes items that block your path like piles of rock at a mountain pass or a barricade at the gates of a city.
There are other items you will have to destroy like a magic pillar that prevents necromancers from using death magic.
Ranged Items
These items can only be attacked by minions that have ranged weapons like bows and crossbows e.g. Skeleton Archer. This includes mechanical items like pulleys and other machinery to lower drawbridges and disable traps.
Magic Items
These items can be only be attacked by minions with magic weapons e.g. Skeleton Sorcerer. This includes magical barriers and the like.
If you do not have a minion of an appropriate class you cannot destroy the item. This adds some interesting gameplay implications.
Maybe you need to come back later to access that magically protected cave to complete a side quest. Maybe you horde consists of the a different mix of classes than before and changes the difficulty and outcome of combat within the cave.
I can forsee the need to dismiss minions in order to reanimate the required undead minion class. That will take some tweaking and balancing, but you get the idea.
So now we can issue the new command "Kill that THING...if you can".
So I have added some dynamic props in the world that the player can walk into, push over and move around. The first round of dynamic items include the obvious items like barrels and crates, but it's surprising how much this adds to the gameplay experience.
The very next thing I did was setup a scene with some carefully arranged barrels in a familiar triangle configuration. I then placed an enemy on one side of the barrels and the player on the opposite side.
Then all I had to do was command my zombie to attack the enemy and watch as he crashed through the barrels and knocked them aside as he charged towards the enemy.
I call it Zom-Bowling
I know it's lame, but I laughed my butt off for about 20 minutes trying to get a strike before I got back to doing serious work.The other thing that has been bothering me is the only real commands you can give your minions is "Kill that guy!" and "Stop killing that guy and come back to me".
Inspired by Zom-Bowling, it occurred to me to create some dynamic items in the environment that the minions can interact with. It had to provide some variety of commands and add further value to the carefully crafted undead minion class system.
Enter Destrcutible Items.
I have create 3 types of items that can be attacked and trigger an event upon destruction or simply remove a physical barrier.
There are 2 rules:
- The minions cannot automatically attack these items and must be issued a command
- The destructible item can only be affected by certain weapon types
Physical Items
These items can only attacked by minions with Melee weapons e.g. Skeleton Footman. This includes items that block your path like piles of rock at a mountain pass or a barricade at the gates of a city.
There are other items you will have to destroy like a magic pillar that prevents necromancers from using death magic.
Ranged Items
These items can only be attacked by minions that have ranged weapons like bows and crossbows e.g. Skeleton Archer. This includes mechanical items like pulleys and other machinery to lower drawbridges and disable traps.
Magic Items
These items can be only be attacked by minions with magic weapons e.g. Skeleton Sorcerer. This includes magical barriers and the like.
If you do not have a minion of an appropriate class you cannot destroy the item. This adds some interesting gameplay implications.
Maybe you need to come back later to access that magically protected cave to complete a side quest. Maybe you horde consists of the a different mix of classes than before and changes the difficulty and outcome of combat within the cave.
I can forsee the need to dismiss minions in order to reanimate the required undead minion class. That will take some tweaking and balancing, but you get the idea.
So now we can issue the new command "Kill that THING...if you can".