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- Jan 28, 2011
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Tags: Copper Dreams; Whalenought Studios
Joe and Hannah of Whalenought have at long last published a new Copper Dreams Kickstarter update, the first in almost six months. Like the previous update, it's a massive development report summarizing those months of work, and it reveals a game that has changed a great deal from the fairly conventional pixel art RPG we Kickstarted last year. With features such as a background point pool with advantages and disadvantages, realistic line of sight and hearing range calculation, and a variety of wounds that inflict specific status effects, Copper Dreams has embraced a GURPS-inspired simulationist vision the likes of which I don't think we've ever seen in a game of this type. This change of approach is most clearly visualized in the game's combat system, which now allows you to aim and attack anywhere.
We finished off combat iterations the past few months by enhancing the way players target and roll-to-hit with it, which ultimately led to an overhaul of the ruleset. You can now aim anywhere and roll under your skill with the item to determine how successful you were to getting to your target. All item or skill usages use that model now. Allowing you to aim for things in the environment that we don't outright tell you can make for more interesting puzzles or interactivity. Lights for example can all be shot out now.
With a 3d world, thrown objects that bounce around, it seemed fitting to give the player some agency on where they are actually shooting. You no longer only attack targets, but can also attack anywhere you want, including where you expect targets to be as they are moving. If you do attack targets you can select which body part you’d like to try to shoot, and you’d track that body part until you fire or it’s no longer visible. Aiming for anything allows you to lead targets on the move or temporarily unseen (and thus unable to be targeted), or precise location to lay down cover fire for more than one target that might end up down the middle of a hallway or something.
Distance modifiers are no longer just static distance markers as with the original Challenge Target, but influenced by reference points around the projected line starting with nearest to the character attacking. This is all in-code in the game, but that sight-line checks for any nearby objects starting at the character and moves down to the actual target. So the idea for this is if you you have a reference for a target really far away, you can get visual bearings by aligning your shot with any nearby objects. For example aiming a burst fire into a clearing near the side of a building you hear an enemy running into would have that building act as the distance check, not the potentially infinite space behind it.
The crosshair for melee path for slash/thrust or your projectile line is your ideal hit location, and you roll to attempt to hit that location, regardless of or if you have a target in mind. Success means you hit that target precisely (in 3d space), and failure means you deviate it from a variable amount, so it’s considered a potential failure in most cases.
Whalenought now describe Copper Dreams as a "Cyberpunk Horror Roleplaying Campaign", but what exactly that means isn't clear from this update. It may be clarified soon however, as they've promised to publish weekly updates from now until the game's alpha is released, which is planned for next month. The next update will focus on dialogue and storytelling, and will also include another look at combat.
Joe and Hannah of Whalenought have at long last published a new Copper Dreams Kickstarter update, the first in almost six months. Like the previous update, it's a massive development report summarizing those months of work, and it reveals a game that has changed a great deal from the fairly conventional pixel art RPG we Kickstarted last year. With features such as a background point pool with advantages and disadvantages, realistic line of sight and hearing range calculation, and a variety of wounds that inflict specific status effects, Copper Dreams has embraced a GURPS-inspired simulationist vision the likes of which I don't think we've ever seen in a game of this type. This change of approach is most clearly visualized in the game's combat system, which now allows you to aim and attack anywhere.
We finished off combat iterations the past few months by enhancing the way players target and roll-to-hit with it, which ultimately led to an overhaul of the ruleset. You can now aim anywhere and roll under your skill with the item to determine how successful you were to getting to your target. All item or skill usages use that model now. Allowing you to aim for things in the environment that we don't outright tell you can make for more interesting puzzles or interactivity. Lights for example can all be shot out now.
With a 3d world, thrown objects that bounce around, it seemed fitting to give the player some agency on where they are actually shooting. You no longer only attack targets, but can also attack anywhere you want, including where you expect targets to be as they are moving. If you do attack targets you can select which body part you’d like to try to shoot, and you’d track that body part until you fire or it’s no longer visible. Aiming for anything allows you to lead targets on the move or temporarily unseen (and thus unable to be targeted), or precise location to lay down cover fire for more than one target that might end up down the middle of a hallway or something.
Distance modifiers are no longer just static distance markers as with the original Challenge Target, but influenced by reference points around the projected line starting with nearest to the character attacking. This is all in-code in the game, but that sight-line checks for any nearby objects starting at the character and moves down to the actual target. So the idea for this is if you you have a reference for a target really far away, you can get visual bearings by aligning your shot with any nearby objects. For example aiming a burst fire into a clearing near the side of a building you hear an enemy running into would have that building act as the distance check, not the potentially infinite space behind it.
The crosshair for melee path for slash/thrust or your projectile line is your ideal hit location, and you roll to attempt to hit that location, regardless of or if you have a target in mind. Success means you hit that target precisely (in 3d space), and failure means you deviate it from a variable amount, so it’s considered a potential failure in most cases.
