Qui
03-11-2008, 11:59 PM
I'd like to share some thoughts about artifacts, their properties, and how would I like to see them in JADE.
Guaranteed artifacts:
In general I am against guaranteed artifacts, unless they are absolutely crucial to the storyline or something. Why? They lessen the replayability value. In ADoM for example there is that rune-covered trident thing. Very nice weapon, not particularly hard to get, especially with a certain star-sign, and it's always there. So a player can just train polearms from the very beginning and a certainty that if he goes far enough, he'll have a nice weapon he's already trained for. Of course, the player can deliberately not do this, but that's not the point.
The same applies, though with lesser extent, to mummy wrapping, ankh, big punch, elemental gauntlets... not the most awesome equipment (although mummy wrapping happens to be very useful), but it's decent. It's indestructible. And most importantly, it's always there. So the player doesn't need to really worry about finding a decent <item type>, which is a good part of the roguelike experience.
So my opinion is: none, or very little, 100% guaranteed artifacts. If a certain artifact is a reward for a certain quest, that's ok, if the quest isn't guaranteed ;). Just that the player doesn't know what he'll get too far in advance.
Semi-random artifacts
An idea of mine, combining the idea of totally random artifacts and ADoM-like predefined pool of artifacts. Basically, it would be a pool of artifacts with defined properties... and defined likelihood of each property being granted to that artifact in each game.
Example (please don't comment on the quality of the example, it's only to illustrate the idea ;)):
elemental gauntlets
fire resistance - 100% chance
cold resistance - 100% chance
shock resistance - 50% chance
poison resistance - 50% chance
stun resistance - 10% chance
death ray resistance - 5% chance
So, those gauntlets will surely have 2 resistances, and possibly as many as 6... but the player won't know until he finds them and greater identifies them. That would add more variety to the game, as well as make SoGI an important item regardless of how many times that player played the game before or if he's using some guidebook or not. And I think it isn't very difficult to code. Also possible would be making some properties mutually exclusive to prevent the artifact from being too powerful.
Random artifacts
These are already being discussed in another thread, but I think they more belong with other artifacts than with auto travel ;).
Anyway, I think that random artifacts are a good idea, although definitely should not replace those hand-made by the Creator. In my opinion if they are implemented, they should be very rare, due to following factors:
-potentially unbalancing - too many random artifacts could create powerful combinations and alter game balance.
-possibly lots of useless ones - the other side of the issue, if there are too many, the player can find himself with a backpack full of artifact junk.
-boring - "Oh, another one, just the same like all others but a bit different numbers."
On the other hand, if their generation rate will be low, they could be quite a treat. By "low" I mean maybe one per a finished game on average or so. This way it would take a long time for one player to discover what properties can be generated, especially if some of them happen extremely rarely, so each and every random artifact found would be a source of excitement. Even if a silly properties' combination gets generated ;).
Guaranteed artifacts:
In general I am against guaranteed artifacts, unless they are absolutely crucial to the storyline or something. Why? They lessen the replayability value. In ADoM for example there is that rune-covered trident thing. Very nice weapon, not particularly hard to get, especially with a certain star-sign, and it's always there. So a player can just train polearms from the very beginning and a certainty that if he goes far enough, he'll have a nice weapon he's already trained for. Of course, the player can deliberately not do this, but that's not the point.
The same applies, though with lesser extent, to mummy wrapping, ankh, big punch, elemental gauntlets... not the most awesome equipment (although mummy wrapping happens to be very useful), but it's decent. It's indestructible. And most importantly, it's always there. So the player doesn't need to really worry about finding a decent <item type>, which is a good part of the roguelike experience.
So my opinion is: none, or very little, 100% guaranteed artifacts. If a certain artifact is a reward for a certain quest, that's ok, if the quest isn't guaranteed ;). Just that the player doesn't know what he'll get too far in advance.
Semi-random artifacts
An idea of mine, combining the idea of totally random artifacts and ADoM-like predefined pool of artifacts. Basically, it would be a pool of artifacts with defined properties... and defined likelihood of each property being granted to that artifact in each game.
Example (please don't comment on the quality of the example, it's only to illustrate the idea ;)):
elemental gauntlets
fire resistance - 100% chance
cold resistance - 100% chance
shock resistance - 50% chance
poison resistance - 50% chance
stun resistance - 10% chance
death ray resistance - 5% chance
So, those gauntlets will surely have 2 resistances, and possibly as many as 6... but the player won't know until he finds them and greater identifies them. That would add more variety to the game, as well as make SoGI an important item regardless of how many times that player played the game before or if he's using some guidebook or not. And I think it isn't very difficult to code. Also possible would be making some properties mutually exclusive to prevent the artifact from being too powerful.
Random artifacts
These are already being discussed in another thread, but I think they more belong with other artifacts than with auto travel ;).
Anyway, I think that random artifacts are a good idea, although definitely should not replace those hand-made by the Creator. In my opinion if they are implemented, they should be very rare, due to following factors:
-potentially unbalancing - too many random artifacts could create powerful combinations and alter game balance.
-possibly lots of useless ones - the other side of the issue, if there are too many, the player can find himself with a backpack full of artifact junk.
-boring - "Oh, another one, just the same like all others but a bit different numbers."
On the other hand, if their generation rate will be low, they could be quite a treat. By "low" I mean maybe one per a finished game on average or so. This way it would take a long time for one player to discover what properties can be generated, especially if some of them happen extremely rarely, so each and every random artifact found would be a source of excitement. Even if a silly properties' combination gets generated ;).