Post by Damian on Nov 23, 2015 12:01:12 GMT 10
Lately I've been toying with the idea of undead animals as minions and just how they will work in the game.
You may have heard us talk about the Hell Hound minion in the past and undead animals are a frequently requested feature.
I have already completed adding living animals along with AI, animation, combat, dynamic foot placement, etc.
I am happy with the results so far and it wasn't hard to replicate these in undead version of the animals.
I'm still working out some balancing issues, but here is what we have in the first pass.
Classes
We're currently playing with 2 classes of undead animals.
Cost
Most animals are smaller than humans so it stands to reason that they require fewer souls to reanimate.
This means that If the player is running low on souls they can still reanimate a horde and continue in the game without getting stuck or having to go back the nearest village to harvest souls.
Strength
Since animals are smaller and cost less to reanimate it also makes sense that they deal less damage and have less health.
Availability
Undead animal minions can be reanimated from any corpse. While it does not make sense to reanimate an Undead Dire Wolf from a human corpse it would be really annoying to have to find a specific corpse type.
Strategic Advantage
I'll admit I am having some trouble dreaming up unique advantages for reanimating undead animals other than the small soul cost.
It occurred to me that that the Undead Dire Wolf could fit through holes in walls and small caves to fetch treasure or attack enemies that are protected behind a portcullis.
Still plenty of work to be done and you can probably already tell there are some game balancing issues and player value concerns.
I'm anxious to hear what you think about undead animal minions. Do you want them? Are they even necessary? What strategic value do they add?
Comment below or share your thoughts on the Game Ideas thread here
You may have heard us talk about the Hell Hound minion in the past and undead animals are a frequently requested feature.
I have already completed adding living animals along with AI, animation, combat, dynamic foot placement, etc.
I am happy with the results so far and it wasn't hard to replicate these in undead version of the animals.
I'm still working out some balancing issues, but here is what we have in the first pass.
Classes
We're currently playing with 2 classes of undead animals.
| Name | Weapon | Skill/Effect | Magic Resistance | Physical Resistance | Range Resistance | Damage | Movement Speed | Attack Speed | Health | Range | Soul Cost |
| Undead Dire Wolf | Teeth | Maul (ragdoll enemy by ankle) | N/A | Low | N/A | Low | Fast | Fast | Low | 1m | 1 |
| Undead Bear | Claws | Roar (Stun) | N/A | Medium | N/A | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | 1m | 2 |
Cost
Most animals are smaller than humans so it stands to reason that they require fewer souls to reanimate.
This means that If the player is running low on souls they can still reanimate a horde and continue in the game without getting stuck or having to go back the nearest village to harvest souls.
Strength
Since animals are smaller and cost less to reanimate it also makes sense that they deal less damage and have less health.
Availability
Undead animal minions can be reanimated from any corpse. While it does not make sense to reanimate an Undead Dire Wolf from a human corpse it would be really annoying to have to find a specific corpse type.
Strategic Advantage
I'll admit I am having some trouble dreaming up unique advantages for reanimating undead animals other than the small soul cost.
It occurred to me that that the Undead Dire Wolf could fit through holes in walls and small caves to fetch treasure or attack enemies that are protected behind a portcullis.
Still plenty of work to be done and you can probably already tell there are some game balancing issues and player value concerns.
I'm anxious to hear what you think about undead animal minions. Do you want them? Are they even necessary? What strategic value do they add?
Comment below or share your thoughts on the Game Ideas thread here