quote: Original post by Landfish

Somebody misinterpreted what I was saying. What I meant was, have a system where you can experiment with spells and deal with gross and powerful consequences, BUT Tomes of knowledge or teachers could help you to do this in ways that won''t kill you. That way you fear experimentation until you find an authority.

The player would actually read something like: "the water rune deos not mix well with the Air rune... be surte you are very practiced before undertaking such a transmutation." If the player ignores that advice he risks the consequences. Follow?

Yes, I see what you mean. And I think it sounds good.

But all I''m saying is that maybe you shouldn''t let the player fear experimenting so much that you kill the players desire and motivation to explore the game.

I think it could be fun to be able to do something along the line of the following: "Hmmm, I know that the Air rune together with the Water rune produces heavy rain. Now, I combine the Air rune and the Fire rune, it will probaly rain meteors!"

The example is pretty far fetched (and far too simple), but I hope you get the point. It would be great to be able to combine existing knowlegde about how the magic system works into new effects. Of course there should be some combinations which are fatal to discourage random guessing but please don''t make it so fatal that the user do not dare to try out his new combination without first having read a book that say it''s OK to do so.

Regards

nicba

quote: Original post by Landfish

Somebody misinterpreted what I was saying. What I meant was, have a system where you can experiment with spells and deal with gross and powerful consequences, BUT Tomes of knowledge or teachers could help you to do this in ways that won''t kill you. That way you fear experimentation until you find an authority.

The player would actually read something like: "the water rune deos not mix well with the Air rune... be surte you are very practiced before undertaking such a transmutation." If the player ignores that advice he risks the consequences. Follow?

I think the success or failure of such a system depends largely on your target audience. I also said this for your summoning idea, so they go hand in hand.

Niche market: people who play your game will understand and appreciate what you are trying to do. Others may play and leave, but you don''t mind as you value the quality of your players rather than quantity.

Mass market: people play your game expecting to be entertained. Disclaimers on the box about ''frivolous gods'' or ''unpredictable magics'' mean nothing to the player who spent a lot of time (and money?) building up a character that nuked himself with his first home-grown fireball. Or when a lesser demon rushes onscreen from someone else''s summoning and chews him up. They may resent having to rely on other players to learn magic. They may even have problems with it: language barrier, for instance?

People pay to be in control Even if your game is free, most Europeans pay by the minute for their internet access, so if they are part of your target audience don''t underestimate the cost. Also, time spent on your game is time they can''t spend elsewhere, so it ''costs'' them something. They like to see that, when they do well,or try hard, they are rewarded. The only thing more frustrating than to do well and still be ''punished'' for it, is to have invested time and/or money into it as well