This is an iffy idea. Opinions appreciated. The Game: A 3D isometric SF RPG where the player adventures in space w/ a starship. The Idea: Players can use different ship systems to affect the game world The Details: I''m struggling to make this cool, but not overly complex. I''m wondering if it should be done at all. If you''ve ever seen any of the Star Trek shows you''ll know that their smart heros are constantly getting out of jams by "reconfiguring" this and "rerouting" that. I''m debating whether or not to make this a kind of gameplay, or if this sort of thing should only be the result of a special module (like a cloaking device) the player owns. Here''s how it''d work: You have different systems, like Comms, Sensors, and Jump Drive. Normally, they just set the limits for what your ship can do (comm range, sensor detection level, jump range, etc). What if you could abstractly change the ship systems to create effects on the game map? If you had a smart enough hero character, they''d be able to "reconfigure" your systems in a pinch to get you past some challenge. For example: The Sensor Pulse. A capable Science Officer would be able to direct sensor energy to create an effect at a certain point. Effects would be things like enhanced sight, or a energy shockwave, or temporary sensor blindness. Another example: The Drive Field. A good Engineer could "reconfigure" your Jump Drive Field so that it could deflect certain types of weapons fire, or collapse a patch of space, or slow ships down. Each effect would be the special ability that good personnel bring as crew. Each effect would cost time and energy, and have a certain chance of failure-- with side effects. The better the crewman, the more correct info you get about his ability. If two departments (say Science and Engineering) worked together, they could combine the effects. "Rerouting the Jump Drive output through the Sensor Array" could give you the power to create a shockwave the blinds ships and slows them down, for example. The player could use these types of things to get out of "spacial anomolies" that have weird or deadly effects. Or they could use it in combat or stealth. Thoughts? -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

I think it''s a great idea. I always liked in Star Trek how they would use their ship''s abilities in unconventional ways. It made the crew seem like they were smarter than just people who push buttons. I think the player will feel smarter too



"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
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A definitive YES.

It''s interesting as it would create a sense of "special moves", which is something always appreciated (The scientific expression is a gratification mechanism, I believe).
Taking care of your people, and bothering having skilled people would be rewarded by having them learn "new tricks", that wouldnt be totally fixed, and would/could work like a tech tree.

Imagine, for instance, than instead of having your officer reaching a certain level of competence and suddenly discovering a new skill "HEy look, I can suddenly and for no particular reason cast a stronger spell that I had never heard about before", you would have something like : by increasing different stats, and generally acquiring experience, your Heroes could, *depending on the context*, learn special competence/tricks.
For instance, an engineer, after he has spend such a long time in a ship, has got some experience with the ship. One day, you get attacked, and your shields start dangerously dropping. *Suddenly* your engineer would figure out a way to modify the shields so that they become more effective against the attacking weapons.
The "level special skill" kinda thing, but it would be more in context, and the nature of the skill would depend entirely on the situation in which it is needed.
Make sense ?

As well, to allow the tinkering of the interface, well, I still think some sort of LEGO interface would be great. A simple energy allocation thing would be a good start. If you started going a bit deeper, you could have parts, what they produce, and what their product is assigned to (another part, a location, etc).
For instance, PLasma core generates Energy for the Life Supports, and Life support generates oxygen, regulates temperatures, and other products that are assigned to the varius sections of a ship.
If you needed Energy badly, you would redirect the Energy used by some of the Life Support to another system. (How classic ...)

Mmmmh, I think this need a bit more thought. It''s really an interface problem rather than an idea problem, isnt it ?

youpla :-P

Just 2 quick questions.

If I can temporarilly boost one of my ship''s system''s performace, then why can''t I do it permamently?

If I can come up with a special defense tactic in an emergency when I have 3.2 seconds to think, why can''t I come up with one when I have 3.2 months?

Wav,
I was thinking, instead of allowing the crew members to attain a skill that allows them to adjust settings to complete unusual circumstances (I think that''s what you''re saying), what about allowing the player to use their creativity & intellect to complete goals.

I know this gets into the old seperation of player & character thing, but I tend to like allowing the player to use creativity instead of the character''s attributes hindering or helping the player''s creativity.



"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

quote: Original post by kseh

Just 2 quick questions.

If I can temporarilly boost one of my ship''s system''s performace, then why can''t I do it permamently?

If I can come up with a special defense tactic in an emergency when I have 3.2 seconds to think, why can''t I come up with one when I have 3.2 months?

Question one: This probably puts a lot of extra strain on the equipment. For example, your sensor array was not made to handle having your drive field run through it. This may be a either a desperation tactic, or something that can be done occasionally, but doing it constantly would fry the equipment.
Perhaps they could be permenant, but increase maintenance costs. I think equipment failure would work in the place of "spell point/mana/whatever" - basically "sure you can do this, but we may be flying home blind"

Question 2: Stress is a great motivator. Your engineer might have a theory that a certain effect is possible (if he is skilled enough), but may not be willing to try it under normal circumstances - but when everyone''s life is on the line a blown sensor array/drive may not be so bad... After performing a feat like this, he may be more willing to do it again, but there would still be a risk involved.

quote: Original post by ahw

It''s interesting as it would create a sense of "special moves", which is something always appreciated (The scientific expression is a gratification mechanism, I believe).
Taking care of your people, and bothering having skilled people would be rewarded by having them learn "new tricks", that wouldnt be totally fixed, and would/could work like a tech tree.

Thanks for pointing this out. The more of this sort of thing I can get, the better because it encourages the player to identify with his ship (hopefully the way, say, Picard would identify with his beloved Enterprise )

quote:
*Suddenly* your engineer would figure out a way to modify the shields so that they become more effective against the attacking weapons.
The "level special skill" kinda thing, but it would be more in context, and the nature of the skill would depend entirely on the situation in which it is needed.
Make sense ?

Yes. Do you think that these should become available as a library of options, though? Say you figure out how to defend better against a certain effect. You should be able to do this later, as well. So it wouldn''t just be context, you''d be able to use this "special move" in completely unrelated circumstances.

If there''s some way to select the character, or their duty station, then maybe the "Boomerang Jumpspace Manuever" or "Phased Radiation Defense" would be an option the player could select.

Hmmm... my design compass doesn''t seem to be functioning well with this idea...

quote:
As well, to allow the tinkering of the interface, well, I still think some sort of LEGO interface would be great. A simple energy allocation thing would be a good start. If you started going a bit deeper, you could have parts, what they produce, and what their product is assigned to (another part, a location, etc).

I thought carefully about this one (it was my first choice). But it''s really a pain in the a$$ to go in and move around components, and would be hard to do under stress.

More importantly, YOU are the Captain. Tweaking components, unless I can figure out how to make it fun, is the job of your officers. (I make huge exceptions, of course, like firing weapons and adjusting power settings because it seems to be fun).

I do like the idea, I just can''t see how to make it work w/o altering the focus of the game.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by kseh

If I can temporarilly boost one of my ship''s system''s performace, then why can''t I do it permamently?

This is where negative side effects come in. (In fact, going with pwd''s response beefs this up alot.) Blowing systems, temporarily disabling them, damaging crew via radiation & electromagnetic effects, etc.

But I think to have the best of both worlds, the risks should run a continuum: Light risk could give light advantages (like hotroding ships, or running slightly components outside their limits).

It''s the drastic stuff that should have huge bonuses and huge rewards... like destroying your shield generator to get out of a spacial anomaly, or risking irradiating your crew to kill a deadly enemy.

I just need to figure out how to fit this into a complete idea.

quote:
If I can come up with a special defense tactic in an emergency when I have 3.2 seconds to think, why can''t I come up with one when I have 3.2 months?

An excellent point. This definitely seems to be calling for some kind of experimentation and a library of "special moves" you can reuse later. There really should be no reason why you can''t come up with a solution in a vacuum.

W/o this, it becomes especially weird when you face the same challenge later but are again completely unprepaired.

*sigh* this is a tough one!


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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by Nazrix

Wav,
I was thinking, instead of allowing the crew members to attain a skill that allows them to adjust settings to complete unusual circumstances (I think that''s what you''re saying), what about allowing the player to use their creativity & intellect to complete goals.

I know this gets into the old seperation of player & character thing, but I tend to like allowing the player to use creativity instead of the character''s attributes hindering or helping the player''s creativity.

Naz, you''re right. Since you''re the Captain then your skill & creativity should be prime. The seperation of ability becomes a matter of your officers and your ship''s capabilities.

The only way to allow the player to use their own creativity may be to, as ahw was talking about, have a lego-like system of parts; but that focus isn''t quite right.

Maybe one solution would be the lego-system where you can move parts around, but smart officers already know preconfigured "settings" for these parts.

Would this be both easy and allow the player to use their own creativity????



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Just waiting for the mothership...

Wav, yes I think that''s a good compromise.



"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.