InfestedRL - testing the Codex for pacifists and cowards

[soggie]

Alright guys, after failing my 7DRL horribly, it's time to recover my dignity.

I'm now making an effort to move it towards an alpha, and I need suggestions.

The aim of the game is to be the roadrunner, running away from monstrous coyotes. There are 4 monsters planned for the game, each using a certain sensory organ to find the player:

- Moaners (Scent)
Monsters that have look like normal humans, except that they have an impossibly long nose and no hands. They smell the player out by following the player's scent (basically, they will log onto uncovered fog of war and track the player down)

- Chompers (Sound)
Chompers have large mouths filled with sharp teeth, and locate the player by sound (radial sense). Sound can be blocked by the walls, so the monsters utilize a 360 FOV algorithm to find the player.

- Brute (Sight)
Brutes are hulk-like humans that walk around detecting the player through sight. They cannot see in the dark, or through walls (unless there's a window there), and utilizes a fan-shaped (90 degrees) FOV algorithm

- Popamoles (None)
Popamoles hide in closets and behind (fake) doors, popping out and hurting the player if he fails to check the door/closet/chest before opening it for tell-tale signs of a popamole: specks of green slimes and blood

Now here're the ways you can defeat the monsters:

1. Closing doors
2. Building barricades with the construction kits
3. Moving pass them using the charge command (which drains energy)
4. Use desperation feats (which drains sanity)
5. Use buzzer to distract Chompers
6. Use veils (transparent raincoats) to walk past Moaners
7. Switch off lights or switch them on to blind (and stun) Brutes
8. Examine doors/chests/lockers to check for Popamoles
9. Break down cracked walls with a sledge to create new passageways

What other survival techniques could the player employ, logically, to escape from the labyrinth?

 

[BethesdaLove]

- Popamoles (None)
Popamoles hide in closets and behind (fake) doors, popping out and hurting the player if he fails to check the door/closet/chest before opening it for tell-tale signs of a popamole: specks of green slimes and blood

"Fails to check" or "fails the check" ?
If the former, tedious, do not want.

 

[soggie]

Fails to check. Press "x" to examine, and then press on door to see description. I think that adds suspense, which is what the RL is meant to convey.

 

[Lord Rocket]

No, it's tedious. Sorry bro.

If there are warning signs that a monster might be around before you encounter the popamole's door, then it might be OK as you'd only be checking doors when the monster might be present. Otherwise it's x, arrow key, arrow key, enter, every time you see a door. Can you feel the suspense?!

Actually, it might work if you were running away from something else. Do you waste an action checking or just run through and hope for the best?

 

[soggie]

You are running away from everything the entire game.

Check this for an alternative: You explore the maze, and have a total of 10HP. You open a door, get bitten by a popamole, and 9 popamoles later you're down to 1HP. Is that better than the examination method?

Or is there any better ways of making this work? The idea is to always provide a method for the player to prevent getting hurt. Getting hurt because of your own stupidity is fun gameplay. Getting hurt because of random and unavoidable factors is just plain frustrating, don't you think?

 

[denizsi]

He means to have passive automated checks, which I disagree with, unless there will be a thousand doors in a level.

BUT, what's better is to have both. Passive checks against adjacent tiles at every tile. Some doors will be reported as suspicious but it will be up to the player to do a manual observation for that door. If the player is on the run from other types of shit, he can risk being popamoled by not making an active observation or risk being cornered/caught up with by the chasing monsters by making sure he is going through a safe door.

 

[soggie]

Passive checks eh? Good thing to tie that to the character system.

Okay, here's more of the character system. There are 4 stats and 8 desperation feats to choose from:

Stats
- Perception = detect things easier
- Dodge = dodge attacks
- Strength = breaks barriers faster
- Stamina = energy regeneration (allows you to do more things)

Each stat range from 1-5

Perception:
1 - 2 tile fov range, 10% of detecting popamoles
2 - 3 tile fov range, 20% of detecting popamoles
3 - 4 tile fov range, 30% of detecting popamoles
4 - 5 tile fov range, 40% of detecting popamoles
5 - 6 tile fov range, 50% of detecting popamoles

Dodge:
1 - 10% dodge attacks
2 - 20% dodge attacks
3 - 30% dodge attacks
4 - 40% dodge attacks
5 - 50% dodge attacks

Strength:
1 - 8 turns to break doors and statues, 5 turns to break crates
2 - 7 turns to break doors and statues, 4 turns to break crates
3 - 6 turns to break doors and statues, 3 turns to break crates
4 - 5 turns to break doors and statues, 2 turns to break crates
5 - 4 turns to break doors and statues, 1 turn to break crates

Stamina:
1 - 0.20 energy refreshed per turn
2 - 0.40 energy refreshed per turn
3 - 0.60 energy refreshed per turn
4 - 0.80 energy refreshed per turn
5 - 1.00 energy refreshed per turn

==============

Desperation Feats

Using a desperation feat takes out 1 sanity point from the character. Each character only gets 10 SP per session. Once all sanities are used up, the character turns into a monster. The fun thing is, each feat consumes a random amount of sanity points. It's always risky to use one.

1) Banshee Shrill
Effect: Stuns all monsters in a 5-tile radius
SP: 1D3

2) Swap
Effect: Swaps places with a monster and gives an extra move
SP: 1D2

3) Burst of Energy
Effect: Gives 3 extra moves
SP: 1D2

4) Regeneration Factor
Effect: Regenerates Hit Points every turn until full (max 10)
SP: 1D2

5) Lucky Streak
Effect: Immune to the next 5 attacks
SP: 1D3

6) Uncanny Sense
Effect: Removes fog of war and shows all monsters on screen for 10 turns
SP: 1D4

7) Adrenaline Surge
Effect: Breaks barriers in one turn
SP: 1D3

8) Quest Compass
Effect: Shows a directional arrow pointing to the nearest exit
SP: 2D3

 

[denizsi]

Sounds good, I like it.

4) Regeneration Factor
Effect: Regenerates Hit Points every turn until full (max 10)
SP: 1D2

LOLWUT

Might as well put god mode. 1D2 is a goddamn freepass. It should at least be the same as Quest Compass, 2D3.

 

[soggie]

Until full. Oh wait, you can abuse it, by keeping a monster on your tail and keep letting it bite you.

Alright, tone it down. Insta heals 5HP. Simplifies my code work too.

 

[Unradscorpion]

Weren't there some that detected tremors or something?
The popamoles like bad design

 

[Zed]

I wanna beta test.