Game News Age of Decadence September Update

[Commissar Draco]

Add Meat shields Companions in Charisma/2 number VD.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Realistically, keeping in mind what kind of criticism Vince was open to and which not my money is on adding controllable companions or mercs (which would eliminate the need for extensive banter dialogue):
- Battles become tactically more interesting.
- As a side effect the complaints about combat being too hard / impossible for certain non combat focused builds are easily fixed, thus giving even diplomat chars more options to tackle quests.

No. AoD is a single-character game for story-related reasons. The next game will have a proper party.

 

[Emily]

VD now that you quited your job, will you be focusing more on financial success of the game or did you quit it temporarily?
Also Happy birthday!

 

[Vault Dweller]

Not sure I understand the question. What does 'focusing on financial success" mean? We'll make the best game we can and we'll do our best to generate enough awareness and put it in front of many people. Future sales were never a factor when we were designing the game and they will never be a factor (i.e. we won't make decision based on what sells and what doesn't and won't try to make the game more appealing to a larger audience).

As for my job, I quit it for good (I don't think it works any other way around). If AoD (and the planned party-based dungeon crawler) sell well-enough to keep us working full-time, we'll make more games. If not, I'll find something else for me to do.

 

[EG]

You heard him.

We're now entirely responsible for his financial well-being.

 

[suejak]

Yeah, the demo had way too much teleporting, an extreme instance of the worst thing in modern CRPGs -- taking control away from the player. I don't know why any self-respecting CRPG-maker would choose to force the player from A to B through fade-out sequences.

 

[EG]

Yeah, the demo had way too much teleporting, an extreme instance of the worst thing in modern CRPGs -- taking control away from the player. I don't know why any self-respecting CRPG-maker would choose to force the player from A to B through fade-out sequences.

Free will is boring.

 

[Tolknaz]

I want to spend the next 6 months (or so, it's not a deadline) being focused on nothing but the game and thoroughly enjoying each day. Yes, I'm well aware that the game probably won't sell a lot.

It's better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim at the gutter and hit.

 

[Fryjar]

One last try from me on the teleportation matter VD:
Just why don't you consider making teleporting entirely optional? Considering that you said previously, that switching to optional teleporting wouldn't take too long to implement, you would easily eliminate one of the most heavily critized elements of the game.

 

[Infinitron]

One last try from me on the teleportation matter VD:
Just why don't you consider making teleporting entirely optional? Considering that you said previously, that switching to optional teleporting wouldn't take too long to implement, you would easily eliminate one of the most heavily critized elements of the game.

We've already had many discussions about this. Basically, as it is right now, it would screw up the quest design by allowing you to talk to NPCs and do other things you're not supposed to be able to do mid-quest.

 

[kaizoku]

Good luck with everything VD

It's better to try it and fail than to keep wondering for the rest of your life... etc... etc...

What can change the nature of a man?
RPG development.

Yeah, gotta say one thing that struck me is how there's a skill for every type of weapon... but none for Armour. No Heavy Armour skill? No Light Armour skill? Or perhaps "Plate Armour" and "Chain Armour" skills.

I'd turn "Block" into a "Shield" skill so that, much like weapons, it becomes a specific tool with its own training required. I like the idea of DR on shields, so Higher Shield skill improves the DR and means you get that Shield into a blocking position much, much quicker - and so have a higher chance of blocking more attacks and when they do hit, your skill means they hit for less. It also allows you to vary enemies then. As big bad mothers with Heavy Armour & a big shield could be given a poor "Shield" skill to balance them out a bit - without affecting their armour.

Now replace "Block" for armour with a specific "Armour" skill that takes care of all the skill bonuses for Armour. You could go one further - and again, keeping in line with the specific weapon skills - split Armour up into Light, Medium and Heavy Armour. Rate each Armour accordingly so that only the appropriate skill is taken into consideration for that particular piece of armour. It'd mean a bit more work adding in a few more pieces of armour so the spread across tier levels was tolerable, and it narrows player choice considerably (no more "pick the best armour available" if you're the armour type, you'd have to think about your skills as well) but allows some more variation on the defense side of combat. Light Armours would have less negative impacts to movement as you increase your use in them, while Heavy Armours might give bonus defense instead as you get more skilled. Again, allowing you to adjust the enemies a bit more to get the balance right.

You can now have Heavy Armour guys with good Heavy Armour skills but poor Shield Skills - or very good Shield Skills but piss-poor Armour skills, adding for a bit of variety. Or guys with poor quality Heavy Armour but very good Heavy Armour skills giving them a big advantage. Imagine meeting one enemy and figuring out that it's his high Shield Skill that's the problem, and as soon as you get through that Shield, you can take him down easily because of his poor Armour skill, despite his high quality Armour.

Having a Shield skill makes all sense.
I don't recall if there is a Two Handed Weapons skill as well, but it would work as the Shield skill counterpart for those who prefer a 2-handed weapons fighting style.

I do disagree with a Armor skill. It's a passive thing, it doesn't require any skill to wear one.
And there are already disadvantages into wearing an heavy armor: less max AP and more weight to carry.

 

[Vault Dweller]

We're now entirely responsible for his financial well-being.

Oh shit...

Yeah, the demo had way too much teleporting, an extreme instance of the worst thing in modern CRPGs -- taking control away from the player. I don't know why any self-respecting CRPG-maker would choose to force the player from A to B through fade-out sequences.

Because walking from A to B to A is the most boring and uninspiring "activity" in RPGs that adds absolutely nothing to gameplay unless one's a LARPing faggot? Control? You decide where to go, what to do, and how to go about it. If that's not control, I don't know what is. Certainly not waiting patiently until your character crosses the screen.

Free will is boring.

One last try from me on the teleportation matter VD:
Just why don't you consider making teleporting entirely optional? Considering that you said previously, that switching to optional teleporting wouldn't take too long to implement, you would easily eliminate one of the most heavily critized elements of the game.

Well, that's just mean. What would people bitch about then?

 

[Infinitron]

Vault Dweller
You need to convince Chris Avellone to draw a troll for every Codexer who donates $250 to you.

 

[suejak]

How fuck am I the one deciding what to do if you ferry me into a palace and to the foot of the king? What if I wanted to buy something first, talk to other people first, kill somebody first?

The reason you can't turn teleporting off is because the quest structure assumes you wouldn't talk to anyone in meantime, right? That implies that there is significant freedom to being able to move your own character, something you seem (bizarrely) to deny. This significant freedom would break your game. In other words, you have to railroad us along your choose-your-own-adventure path or your game would break.

I don't know why you pretend that this design decision makes your game a better RPG. You are just taking out the parts that make CRPGs actual games.

This guy must LOVE cutscenes.

 

[Infinitron]

suejak I think the reasoning is that by making quests self-contained, it's much easier to make each individual quest more powerful in terms of the effect your choices in the quest have on the rest of the game.

 

[EG]

How fuck am I the one deciding what to do if you ferry me into a palace and to the foot of the king? What if I wanted to buy something first, talk to other people first, kill somebody first?

There is nothing to decide.

You must.

 

[suejak]

suejak I think the reasoning is that by making quests more self-contained, it's easier to make each individual quest far more powerful in terms of the effect your choices in the quest have on the rest of the game.

Yeah, that's a time/effort/programming/scripting argument that I might be convinced by.

I'm just gonna be insulted if he keeps saying that the game is a better RPG because you don't have to walk. It's like he thinks he can just program in all possible options and we should have no reason to complain. I play games to make my own path, not have one handed to me through dialogue options.

 

[Vault Dweller]

How fuck am I the one deciding what to do if you ferry me into a palace and to the foot of the king? What if I wanted to buy something first, talk to other people first, kill somebody first?

No idea what you're talking about here.

The reason you can't turn teleporting off is because the quest structure assumes you wouldn't talk to anyone in meantime, right? That implies that there is significant freedom to being able to move your own character, something you seem (bizarrely) to deny. This significant freedom would break your game. In other words, you have to railroad us along your choose-your-own-adventure path or your game would break.

I don't think you understand how scripts work. In other words, no, there is nothing to break. The characters would have either nothing to say or what they have to say won't affect your current quest(s). The mine is fairly complex and you can go back and forth and do other quests in between, which, again, shows that there is nothing to break.

I don't know why you pretend that this design decision makes your game a better RPG.

I don't. The game reflects my own preferences, nothing more. It's not a statement on what RPGs should be like.

You are just taking out the parts that make CRPGs actual games.

Right. The best parts.

 

[suejak]

How fuck am I the one deciding what to do if you ferry me into a palace and to the foot of the king? What if I wanted to buy something first, talk to other people first, kill somebody first?

No idea what you're talking about here.

In the demo, I was literally teleported to the king's palace from, I think, the alchemist or loremaster's hut. This was very jarring and frustrating, and I honestly thought it was just a debug thing for the alpha version to accelerate testing.

 

[Infinitron]

The characters would have either nothing to say or what they have to say won't affect your current quest(s).

But that's precisely the point, isn't it? They would have nothing to say even if they logically should have something to say, because of things you've already done mid-quest!

 

[Vault Dweller]

I play games to make my own path, not have one handed to me through dialogue options.

 

[suejak]

I play games to make my own path, not have one handed to me through dialogue options.

So you're going to script in everything I could ever want to do?

 

[Vault Dweller]

In the demo, I was literally teleported to the king's palace from, I think, the alchemist or loremaster's hut.

I don't think so.

This was very jarring and frustrating...

What? Where am I? What's happening to me?

 

[Vault Dweller]

I play games to make my own path, not have one handed to me through dialogue options.

So you're going to script in everything I could ever want to do?

No, we're not going to script every retarded fucking thing.

 

[suejak]

x

I play games to make my own path, not have one handed to me through dialogue options.

So you're going to script in everything I could ever want to do?

No, we're not going to script every retarded fucking thing.

Just everything that occurs to you?