Game News Pete Hines responds some more

[Saint_Proverbius]

The radiation can be explained by the logs that tell of leaking coolant and such in Engineering. Which, given interstellar travel, implies fusion or something like that (I only remember FTL travel from the intro), which would have dangerously unclean parts of their system if someone were exposed to it. I don't remember how the leak came about but maybe someone was trying to sabotage the ship to prevent the infection from spreading, or it might have been through the rest of the damage to the ship.

You've been on ships in the navy. Do you remember any of them having a maze for an engineering section?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Come on, Saint, we are talking about the future here. In the future, mazes would become integrated parts of all space ships and military bases.

 

[Volourn]

"You've been on ships in the navy. Do you remember any of them having a maze for an engineering section?"

Have you been to LA? Last I checked, it doesn't have deathclaws hiding in the slums.

 

[Fez]

Mazes are shit. I've never seen one yet I can say I have enjoyed. It is a shameless time sink and poorly implemented. If the best puzzle or design idea you have is "a maze, wow!" then you should just resign. The deathclaws were mutant monsters in a sci fi post apocalyptic setting, it at least fits in to the given story.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Have you been to LA? Last I checked, it doesn't have deathclaws hiding in the slums.

There's scarier things in the slums of LA.

 

[Spazmo]

Like Herve?

 

[errorcode]

<shudder> man, i'd rather encounter a deathclaw...i can't imagine what kind of creature Herve has become in his madness now.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Mazes are stupid. They don't belong in games, ever.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

What about Pac Man?

I don't really mind a maze as long as it's VISIBLY MAPPABLE maze and there's no constant damage. It should also be justifible. However, there's very few locations in most settings where a maze is justified. Even if you make a dungeon, being an evil super mage or something, you're not going to make a straight up maze. You're going to make it functional. Rooms that serve some sort of purpose rather than twisting and turning dead ends of wasted space.

 

[Volourn]

LOL I should have expected those responses.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I don't like mazes either. I couldn't find my way out of one even if you paid me.

Well, maybe if you payed me a lot... :razz:

 

[Surlent]

Mazez that don't randomly generate or differ any way the next time you play sucks, because after first time you are through, you remember the route.

No replayability. :wink:

 

[Section8]

Come on, the radiation maze wasn't that bad. I only remember two leaks that couldn't be bypassed, and the automapping in chunks made it fairly painless to navigate.

I agree on the suspension of disbelief with spawning monsters and the like, but the important thing for me is that within the game system itself, there aren't too many incidences of bending the rules. ie, It doesn't have NPCs that are invincible for no apparent reason other than the faact that they are "plot critical"

As far as immersion goes, the biggest factors in my opinion are the sound production and painless integration of audio logs into general play, the fact that a decent set of binds lets you play the game without ever having to shift anything more than your fingers in the real world, and the fact that for the most part, play is seamless, and loading and saving is a rarity. Very simple things that keep you staring at the screen and forgetting there's a real world out there.