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For me formalized meta-progression is an artifact. I use the unlocks, like the new ships in FTL or the new classes in Trials of Fire, but in general I ignore the feature as good as I can. It somehow changes the nature of the game.
Having to learn what items, fetches, characters, skills, their combination in events can do is meta-progression as well. It's just much more elegant, an integral part of the game. Plus figuring out the different ways to win the game is incentive enough. So you could have just five achievements, the five winning conditions. What would further build on this are ending slides that show what you have achieved in the game, particularly the amount of chaos you wrought and how much faith you inspired, to judge your achievement yourself.
I do like roguelikes, because each run has the potential to be unique (sometimes it is as simple as having a different map in Shadows of the Forbidden Gods). Unlocks shaking the established meta are yet another reason to replay the game for those who want a fundamentally different experience. But in order for that to work the change shouldn't be "slightly different" - it ought to be a major one. In other words: go big or go home, because you will end up wasting time on something that ain't worth the effort otherwise. You can skip progression and just offer all options right away, then people will simply pick what they want (and that's fine), but having unlocks hidden as rewards for player's in-game accomplishments (rather than something you get after each run by accumulating a set number of XP, for example) is something I could get behind, because it encourages exploration over grinding. Hell, I can easily see - for example - modifying player's class based on his actions (from knight to paladin to fallen paladin/death knight/black knight) as the way to shake the meta in an interesting way mid-run. And one that respects player's choices as well.
Your build is randomly assigned, not selected, which discourages playing the same way every time, especially since the early game depends quite a bit on your build. Mid game is a little less build-varied (though I hope still content-varied). Late game depends on which victory condition you’re seeking, and usually has a bit of pressure that makes it feel distinctive.
For me formalized meta-progression is an artifact. I use the unlocks, like the new ships in FTL or the new classes in Trials of Fire, but in general I ignore the feature as good as I can. It somehow changes the nature of the game.
Having to learn what items, fetches, characters, skills, their combination in events can do is meta-progression as well. It's just much more elegant, an integral part of the game. Plus figuring out the different ways to win the game is incentive enough. So you could have just five achievements, the five winning conditions. What would further build on this are ending slides that show what you have achieved in the game, particularly the amount of chaos you wrought and how much faith you inspired, to judge your achievement yourself.
I just finished reading the manual, it was a great pleasure. It brought me immediately to the feeling of first delving into the Realms of Arkania III instruction manual way back as a teenager. My compliments.
And now for my completely unsolicited advice:
Make the instructions regarding selecting, targeting for, and unselecting/cancelling God Skills its own two-sentence paragraph after the introductory paragraph for the section. Currently they're a parenthetical in the Healing Hands section. I consider something like that to be important enough to highlight separately and seriously enforce Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)-style writing, even if you're not normally inclined to do so. Something like this:
God Skills Section said:
The god’s skills are beneath his portrait on either side of his soul strength counter. Using these
takes at least one soul, and sometimes more. In addition to their generic uses, described here,
god skills can be used in events (at varying soul costs) to achieve spectacular results.
To select and target a skill, click on the skill's icon and then on the target (follower's portrait etc). To cancel skill use, right-click before selecting a target.
Healing Hands can be used ... To use it while exploring, click on the icon and then on
a party member’s portrait (to cancel this or other skill uses described below, right-click). You will
also have the option to use it after events in dungeons.
Give serious consideration to using BLUF for all areas of specific instruction. My impression reading through your writing in general (that is, throughout this site and in your other games) is that's not really your style, and I'm not trying to say you should use it no matter what. But BLUF is very helpful when you're giving specific instructions that must be followed to accomplish a desired result (hence its emphasis in military-style writing such as orders and memoranda of instruction).
Consider being a little more specific about the Wolf's capabilities as a follower, since on a bare reading it appears to entail a very steep opportunity cost (loss of a Follower slot). I don't mean laying out all its stats ("the Wolf has 12 strength, 10 MHP..."), but maybe a comparison with other followers who might normally be expected to take that slot ("the Wolf is slightly stronger then a Fighter (but not as strong as a Berserk), never gets Unhappy, and eats no food/eats 1 food/day," or something along those lines).
One final piece of advice that I find painful to give, considering my personal weakness for it. Look for ways to reduce parentheticals. Try hard to make them read as part of the sentence or paragraph and incorporate them as proper sentences, rather then reading as breakaways from the main point.
I just finished reading the manual, it was a great pleasure. It brought me immediately to the feeling of first delving into the Realms of Arkania III instruction manual way back as a teenager. My compliments.
I consider something like that to be important enough to highlight separately and seriously enforce Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)-style writing, even if you're not normally inclined to do so. Something like this
Yes, I agonized over this as well. It's funny that you say it's not normally my style, because I aggressively enforce it in my legal writing. Perhaps I view this as a vacation from it.
The challenge is that one of the god skills (deathlore) cannot be used in the field, which is why I buried the point. But you're right, it's important and the kind of thing that could infuriate a player.
Give serious consideration to using BLUF for all areas of specific instruction. My impression reading through your writing in general (that is, throughout this site and in your other games) is that's not really your style, and I'm not trying to say you should use it no matter what. But BLUF is very helpful when you're giving specific instructions that must be followed to accomplish a desired result (hence its emphasis in military-style writing such as orders and memoranda of instruction).
Ha, I tell young lawyers that is is always the right style and the only right style -- emails, bills, briefs, oral arguments, etc. So it's funny that I neglected it here. Part of this is probably a product of not having really edited the manual; part of it is that some point build on others so that they most important concept actually depends on certain only semi-relevant background facts. But it's probably mostly just bad writing.
Consider being a little more specific about the Wolf's capabilities as a follower, since on a bare reading it appears to entail a very steep opportunity cost (loss of a Follower slot). I don't mean laying out all its stats ("the Wolf has 12 strength, 10 MHP..."), but maybe a comparison with other followers who might normally be expected to take that slot ("the Wolf is slightly stronger then a Fighter (but not as strong as a Berserk), never gets Unhappy, and eats no food/eats 1 food/day," or something along those lines).
Ha! I actually toned down the opportunity cost point. I will be a little more explicit, though. A wolf is better than a fighter. The opportunity cost is not the lack of a follower (since it will almost never be the case that you will have five followers all of whom are better than a wolf; almost always there would be at least one fighter in the mix). The real opportunity cost is that in the late game, you could have a pretty-much-as-good follower (like a fighter) and a fetch. But in the late game, other fetches' upside declines a bit as well. For instance, the raven is pretty front-loaded with barrow lore, though the HP regen is probably most helpful in the mid-game. The fox is very front loaded, because free retreating is most advantageous when there isn't a morale hit to followers. The eagle is the most consistently strong fetch. But in the early game, the wolf is quite good because your warband is very weak at that point (to get a fighter usually take at least 5 to 10 days, so you can think of a wolf as basically a 5 to 10 day headstart on party strength, and of course a wolf plus a fighter is better than no wolf plus a fighter).
Anyway, bottom line is I'll clarify this.
Look for ways to reduce parentheticals. Try hard to make them read as part of the sentence or paragraph and incorporate them as proper sentences, rather then reading as breakaways from the main point.
There were even more before the game's true heart and soul (my colleague Maciej) deleted about half of them. I have a weakness for parentheticals because I think they are actually the best way to interject a point because they have only that one function. Em-dashes (a lawyer's favorite!) are extremely confusing if you try to carve out two separate points:
A fighter (a good combat unit) and a priest (a good auxiliary unit) make a good combo.
vs.
A fighter--a good combat unit--and a priest--a good auxiliary unit--make a good combo.
Commas have the problem that commas are so multi-functional that you can't always tell if it's a carve out or moving onto a new concept or what.
Probably I should just aim to have shorter sentences or bullet lists or something.
That said, the manual was meant to be a two hour project, became more like an eight hour project, but I don't want it to be a twenty hour project. This isn't the release manual, it's just intended to help introduce testers to the game.
The design goal is agreeable, and many players won't mind (I won't, but I know what I'm buying) but in practice people will be asking for an ability to customize their starting character citing how tiresome it is to repeatedly start a new game to get the skills they like.
I think it is unlikely that I will put in such a feature, as it would put a lot of pressure on balancing builds that I currently don’t have. It would also add a layer of UI and attendant costs.
But ultimately I’m not dogmatic on this point. Lone Wolf let you pick skills and items, and it’s one of FG’s inspirations. If I thought it was killing the game’s reach, I might add some kind of character creation.
To be sure, I think the game as you conceive it would be better off without such an option -- it's just the expectation people will have coming into it.
Chargen being out of the player's hands is actually a draw to me. I have a very hard time avoiding mono-focused play in other games, especially Roguelikes, after finding a build that "works". I'm looking forward to being forced to think through multiple builds :D
And my apologies for the lecturing tone about BLUF, I should have been able to infer from the fact you're a practicing lawyer that you know all about it. One of my great problems nowadays is that I spend a lot of time thinking, pondering, meditating etc, come up with what I think is a brilliant idea or commentary on something or other, and then find out (usually by having a friend gently point it out to me) that not only had someone already come up with my idea, they'd already told everyone else about it!
Kalarion I’ll add that I found your use of BLUF a helpful formalizing of a principle that is often used in technical reports in my field, yet we have many smart phd educated people who sometimes struggle with getting their point across. I expect the formalizing of a simple strategy like BLUF will be beneficial for new hires.
Yeah, BLUF reminded me of Carl Braun's five W's for corporate communication -- tell who what to do when, where and why -- but with even greater clarity.
The first is the lead up, which takes place in an event. Often, you will have the option to invoke a skill (such as: Soulfire—to kill enemies;
Skirmish, during which woodsmen will fire their bows.
How it is decided which party member receives no food if you don't have enough to all? Is it a player decision or game automates it based on loyalty/morality/order of recruitment?
Is there are any bonus for playing the game solo? Higher renown gains, faster god leveling?
Can you sell food with same logic for profits (most profitable to sell in cities, cheapest in villages)? Going with 5 woodsmen and selling surplus is a viable strategy?
Are artifacts unique? Meaning you can only find one copy per game?
Did you think about making Wits a CHA like stats that buffs companions either with damage or morale gains?
Can you only make followers loyal by gifting artifacts or can you also do this by reaching highest amounts of morale and going beyond that?
Did you have another name for Threats skill? I think menace sounds cooler.
They're landvaettir, nature spirits associated with a specific kind of environment. The catch-all is landwight. The specifics are woodwight (fought in forests), cavewight (fought in caves and hills), and bogwights (fought in swamps). There are some subvariants, but that covers it.
Yes, when I rework the manual, I'm going to move the derived stats to a subsection called "Checks" under the "Event" section. A luck check is basically a pure chance roll; it's not rolled against any specific stat.
People killed in those pre-fight stages, do you still get souls from those kills for Soultrap item?
I actually can't remember. I think the answer is yes.
How it is decided which party member receives no food if you don't have enough to all? Is it a player decision or game automates it based on loyalty/morality/order of recruitment?
There is a priority: God eats first; maiden(s) eats next; all other non-churl human followers eat according to highest morale getting to eat first (the logic being that no one likes a whiner); if morale is tied, followers just eat based on member number (i.e., follower 2 eats before follower 3); churls eat next (with same morale ordering rule); wolf always eats last.
Is there are any bonus for playing the game solo? Higher renown gains, faster god leveling?
The god doesn't level. There are a couple items that work better solo -- Wandering Shoes (which double speed as long as you have no followers) and Bearleather (you do more damage when outnumbered) -- but basically you should not solo. The game is more fun/interesting with followers.
Can you sell food with same logic for profits (most profitable to sell in cities, cheapest in villages)? Going with 5 woodsmen and selling surplus is a viable strategy?
Most, but not all. Starsteel Swords, Belts of Might, Ormshird Byrnies, and of course Arm Rings and Hack Silver are all common. I can't remember if there are a couple others.
Did you think about making Wits a CHA like stats that buffs companions either with damage or morale gains?
Some followers join loyal (for instance, if you rescue a maiden from dwergs, who try to kill her and then you heal her, she will join loyal); some are made loyal by specific gifts; others have a chance to become loyal when you give them arm rings or hack silver. I can't remember if they have a chance to become loyal from normal morale gains, but I don't believe so. It would be quite subject to abuse, and loyal followers are less mechanically interesting because you don't suffer the repercussions of choices that irritate followers.
Did you have another name for Threats skill? I think menace sounds cooler.
Almost every word in the game comes from Anglo-Saxon (there are some limited exceptions, such as "beast" because "dyr" no longer means "animals" generically, it just means deer), so "threats" is permitted, "menace" is not. I guess we could say "fearfulness" or something.
By content did you mean like lore and ideas for it basically?
Sort of, in an indirect way, but specifically what I mean are interesting events.
The basic structure of a dungeon is a stack of events. In a dungeon, those events have to: (1) explain why you can't just walk around/walk forward; (2) inflict some form of attrition; (3) be thematic to the dungeon type; (4) be consistent with the game's lore; and (5) offer interesting opportunities to use skills, items, etc. It turns out that there are only so many things that I could come up with to satisfy those criteria.
Just to forestall people's generosity, "here are some ideas!" is really not helpful at this point. Given other demands on my life, an event takes between a week to two weeks to write (when things are going well). And a lot of the challenge isn't like "Ooh, what if there was a quicksand!" or whatever, it's figuring out how to structure the event so that the basic idea generates interesting gameplay opportunities.
If I can finish writing/revising the events that are currently outlined, incomplete, or written in the style of MRY 10 years ago rather than MRY today, then maybe I'll think about adding more. But that's a ways down the road.
***
I'll give a concrete example from caves. One of the first event ideas I had was called "The Maid and the Monster." It was a culminating event where you encountered a wurm. This event was actually written out in the first six months of the game's design.
The first thing that might jump out (given what I wrote above) is that "Monster" is not an Anglo-Saxon word. Right you are! The event is now named "The Woman and the Wurm"; the Anglo-Saxon rigor did not really come into play until about two years into the project.
Here is how the original event was structured (excuse the scripting, I don't have the raw text handy):
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Start
{Actions}
{Text}
White is the woman slumbering before you, white her gown, white her skin, and white the worm coiled ‘round her bier. A brat from Fraener’s foul-born brood, even in sleep it seethes, wreathing the maid in poison mist. No easy foe would the lindworm be, with fangs adder-sharp and skin like leather, but rich is the reward for such worthy work.
{Option1}
Attack!
[doCombat(Lindworm, Victory) Lindworm starts the battle asleep]
{Option2}
Bargain with the beast.
showSlide(Bargain)
{Option3}
Seize the girl by stealth.
checkCunning(hard, Sneak, SneakFail)
{Option4}
[Skaldname or bardname] shall sing the thing to sleep as you steal the girl.
The damned thing is dead, its carcass stewing in the brew of its baleful blood. The maiden scarcely stirred during your struggle, and still she sleeps. To wake her and take her safe and clear would be to let the lindworm rot away, squandering its costly hide. But to flay the thing is a tricky risk that could cause its bane to flood the room.
{Option1}
Save the maiden.
showSlide(Flee)
{Option2}
Flay the beast.
checkCunning(normal, Flay, Explode)
{Option3}
[Ranger or woodsman] shall flay the worm as you carry her free.
[if ranger is used: checkLuck(easy, DelegateRanger, DoomRange); if woodsman: checkLuck(normal, DelegateWoodsman, DoomWoodsman]
[have ranger]
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Flee
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal)
{Text}
Let the creature’s corpse seep down to the depths wherein it spawned: you have no need of its skin when a fairer find is fresh at hand. Gently you lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
You strip the serpent of its skin, from which to make a mighty mantle. The slaughter done, you turn now to your fairer find. Gently you lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Explode
{Actions}
{Text}
As you strive to strip the serpent of its skin, your blade slips and slices too far into festering flesh. At once, out pours poison in a choking cloud. You stagger back, barely seeing as you stumble through the fog until at last, breath burning, you break free. Filled with the lindworm’s bane, the cave ways below now hold naught but death, and the maiden, if somehow still alive, is doomed to linger longer in the dark.
The ranger strips the serpent of its skin, fit for making a mighty mantle. As he does, you turn to your fairer find. Gently you lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
The woodsman strips the serpent of its skin, fit for making a mighty mantle. As he does, you turn to your fairer find. Gently you lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|DoomRanger
{Actions}
[lose the ranger you sent to do the job from the warband; addNewFollower(maiden)]
{Text}
As the ranger strives to strip the serpent of its skin, something goes awry and poison pours forth in a choking cloud, consuming him at once. You grab the maiden and stagger back, barely seeing as you stumble through the fog until at last, breath burning, you break free. Gasping and retching, the girl collapses to the ground; perhaps not as she dreamed her rescue would unfold. All the same, she is grateful, and pledges to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|DoomWoodsman
{Actions}
[lose the ranger you sent to do the job from the warband; addNewFollower(maiden)]
{Text}
As the woodsman strives to strip the serpent of its skin, something goes awry and poison pours forth in a choking cloud, consuming him at once. You grab the maiden and stagger back, barely seeing as you stumble through the fog until at last, breath burning, you break free. Gasping and retching, the girl collapses to the ground; perhaps not as she dreamed her rescue would unfold. All the same, she is grateful, and pledges to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Bargain
{Actions}
{Text}
You awaken the beast with a booming voice then watch worriedly as it unwinds itself from the stone bed. “Sssooo,” the lindworm hisses, “a toothsome treat tumbles into my tunnelsss.” Dealings with dragons are best done quickly.
{Option1}
Offer the maiden’s weight in gold.
showSlide(Gold)
-100 gold
{Option2}
Offer soul-stuff equal to her place in the Song.
showSlide(Soul)
-10 exp
{Option3}
Offer a feast.
showSlide(FeastFail)
-50 food
{Option4}
Offer to spare the lindworm’s life.
checkMight(very hard, Bully, Enrage)
{Option5}
Bluff.
checkCunning(very hard, Bluff, BluffFail)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Gold
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal); subGold(100)
{Text}
The lindworm sinuously stretches itself upon the hundred-weight of gold you have doled out, and regards you with a tithe-taker’s contempt. Paying the beast no heed, you gently lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Soul
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal); subEXP(10)
{Text}
As your soul-stuff fills its frame, the lindworm regards you with a tithe-taker’s contempt. Paying the beast no heed, you gently lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|FeastFail
{Actions}
{Text}
The serpent sneers at your sorry offering: it can feast first upon your flesh and then eat your larder at its leisure. The moment for bargaining has passed, and battle is at hand!
{Option1}
To battle!
doCombat(Lindworm, Victory)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Bully
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal); addEXP(2);
{Text}
The lindworm recoils before your proven prowess and curls itself in a dark corner. Paying the beast no heed, you gently lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Enrage
{Actions}
{Text}
You boastful threat simply enrages the worm, which lunges forward fuming poison. Any hope of bargaining with the beast is long gone.
{Option1}
To battle!
doCombat(Lindworm, Victory)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Bluff
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal); addEXP(2);
{Text}
The boldness of a bluff is its best disguise, and your lie is large indeed: the Ormfolk muster behind you in massed ranks, ready to cleanse the caverns with skyfire if they must. The lindworm hisses its terror and slithers off to live its life lurking in the darkness. Paying the fleeing beast no heed, you lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Dazed and still half-dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|BluffFail
{Actions}
{Text}
The lindworm laughs at your lies and, with a serpent’s sneer, rears up to breathe its deathbane upon you.
{Option1}
To battle!
doCombat(Lindworm, Victory)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|Sneak
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal)
{Text}
Step by silent step you cross the seemingly endless distance to the maiden’s side. As the serpent sleeps, you gently lift the maiden from her bier and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|SneakFail
{Actions}
{Text}
As you seek to skulk across the cavern, you kick a tiny stone, which skitters straight into the lindworm’s leathern skin. You pause and listen to the beast’s breathing. Does it still sleep? A moment later, a yellow eye slowly opens and the huge thing uncoils its bulk from about the stone bed.
{Option1}
To battle!
doCombat(Lindworm, Victory)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|BardSing
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal)
{Text}
As the bard-song calms the sleeping beast, you softly cross the cave to the maiden’s side, gently lift her from the bier, and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|BardFail
{Actions}
{Text}
As the bard-song calms the sleeping beast, you seek to skulk across the cavern. Alas, you kick a tiny stone, which skitters straight into the lindworm’s leathern skin. You pause and listen to the beast’s breathing. Does it still sleep? A moment later, a yellow eye slowly opens and the huge thing uncoils its bulk from about the stone bed.
{Option1}
To battle!
doCombat(Lindworm, Victory)
!====END TEMPLATE=====
!====TEMPLATE======
{ID}
The Maid and the Monster|SkaldSing
{Actions}
addNewFollower(maiden, loyal)
{Text}
As the skald-song calms the sleeping beast, you softly cross the cave to the maiden’s side, gently lift her from the bier, and bear her forth to daylight. Her eyes half-open, still dazed and dreaming, she tells a tale of a thegn’s craving, a wizard’s bane, and a bargain brokered beneath the earth. Her horror is over; her heart is yours; and her hope is now to help you win your own way home.
{Option1}
End.
!====END TEMPLATE=====
Now, this wasn't a terrible event, but it is outmoded stylistically, both in terms of prose and design. Prose-wise, not just in terms of the rampant use of forbidden words, but also in terms of the somewhat "traditional fantasy" style of the prose, rather than the "saga" style of the current prose. For instance, I do still occasionally use inverted structure, but here in the intro you see it twice: "No easy foe would the lindworm be, with fangs adder-sharp and skin like leather, but rich is the reward for such worthy work."
Design-wise is a big problem, too. Note the near complete absence of opportunities to use skills or items; note the way in which too many of the follower options shift the focus away from the god being the active participant in the event. (That's ok, sometimes, but there's too much of it here.)
Anyway, here is the new intro, which hasn't yet under gone editing from my teammate:
-Intro-
Here at the heart of the pit sleeps a great white wurm, wound about a bier that bears a comely slumbering woman. Long has this foul one slithered from hole to hole, living by reaving the lands above. Now he has taken this maiden to make his next meal, his baleful breath keeping her in a sickened swoon while his hunger swells. When the time is right, he’ll do his wrong, then hunt again among the haunted folk who wait with worry for his coming.
God: Many would deem it worthy to slay this wurm.
Skald: My skill might keep the snake asleep.
(spear equipped) Slay the snake! (might, hard)
(~spear) Slay the snake! (surprise round against the wurm, straight to battle)
[~skald, ~OF, ~shoes] Steal her by stealth. (wits, hard, check zerk)
[~skald, OF, ~shoes] Steal her by stealth. (wits, hard, check zerk)
[skald, ~OF, ~shoes] Steal her with [skald]’s help. (wits, medium, check zerk)
[skald, OF, ~shoes] Steal her with [skald]’s help. (wits, medium, check zerk)
Do you see how there's that heap of options from 3-8? All of those are different ways of executing the same idea -- going up and grabbing the girl. But how it plays out depends on whether you have a skald, whether you're wearing Oraekja's Folly (a cursed chainmail shirt that is great defense but causes all kinds of mischief in events), whether you have the Wandering Shoes (in which case you're not sneaking, you're dashing), and whether you have a berserk (who will screw up your sneaking because he's not going to pass up the chance to fight a wurm -- same with if you try to leave).
In practice, there are actually twelve sneak nodes (two variants if you already used a skald to sing snakes to sleep in a bog). While some text overlaps among them, each is hand crafted and takes a while to write, revise, etc.
Even to just attack the wurm has three variants (fatal spear strike, non-fatal spear strike, normal attack).
And waking the wurm has another dozen nodes.
This is in some ways a fairly limited event (for instance, no god skills in play, no fetches, and it actually drops the woodsman options from the original incarnation). But this is how culminating events are: dozens and dozens of nodes, trying to account for different approaches the player might have, always trying to create a "cool moment" -- your cursed chainmail screeching and the wurm's eye opening; Nail sinking into its heart and blood spewing from its maw and nostrils all over the maiden's white dress; haggling with a wurm over his captive; a berserk ruining your well-laid plans; a skald singing a lullaby while a god tiptoes up to a sleeping dragon, etc.
Yeah I know, by leveling I basically meant god power ups, why I mention renown gains. Makes sense for your god to get more famous if he gets things done solo, but ok I get it. You don't want to encourage this type of gameplay (with less content).
Just to forestall people's generosity, "here are some ideas!" is really not helpful at this point. Given other demands on my life, an event takes between a week to two weeks to write (when things are going well). And a lot of the challenge isn't like "Ooh, what if there was a quicksand!" or whatever, it's figuring out how to structure the event so that the basic idea generates interesting gameplay opportunities.
During development, did you contemplate ideas where you get some days back? For example, something like once per campaign event where you find a portal in the end of some particularly hard dungeon. And it transports you five or ten days back in time.
I'm also curious how tight 90 day limit feels in the game.
I toyed very briefly with the idea of being able to pad days through some extraordinary feats (not to go back in time, as that would introduce all manner of mischief), but I think the constraint is best as a hard limit.
How hard it feels depends on the run. A few times it has felt like I exhausted the worthwhile stuff to do, or was in a position to win, with a significant amount of time left. But most of the time, victory comes on the last few days (if it comes at all), with at least some of the map’s content untouched.
(And I’m always cognizant of time while playing. Particularly in the early game it can be disheartening if your growth is coming very slowly and the days are speeding away. “Failure to launch” is what we term that and it’s something we are trying to ameliorate.)
what's the waifu situation like
hire some zoomer with a tablet and make him draw pixelart babes, pay him with xanax, enjoy absurd increase in playerbase
This is the closest we'll get to this man telling the Codex to STFU, bless his heart.
Is there anything -- related to the game -- you're actually looking to receive feedback about? (My guess is no.) It's clear people here are showing a lot interest in seeing what you come up with as a systems designer and chiming in, while the constraint of the narrative aspect -- not usually a bottleneck in roguelites -- limits what can actually be said.
Do you expect every generated run to be winnable (no matter how difficult a prospect it is)? In general, how do you approach balancing?
Please stop brainstorming content ideas. We already have plenty of ideas. Our challenge is budgeting our resources to implement what we already want to do.
