Darkwind - Viewing Topic: Uncrystallized Ideas

Bolt Thrower
Quantum Symphony
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This will be a bit long and disjointed. I haven't gotten to fully crystallize my thoughts. I really like this game. These are just some ideas, I guess, gleaned from playing other games or reading other sources like:

Rosewater
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b
https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr258

Bartles papers.
http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
http://mud.co.uk/richard/selfware.htm (interesting view on gamer evolution)
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/bartles-taxonomy-of-player-types-and-why-it-doesnt-apply-to-everything--gamedev-4173
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6474/personality_and_play_styles_a_.php?print=1

Issues with game: Setting is at odds with itself.
Based on my perusal of early forum entries, the game was intended to be very hard and very dark and has evolved into a less harsh experience due to the loss of players over some aspects of the game. The most notable example being the rad sickness/gun jamming update that didn't appear to be generally known about and created some backlash.
But camps also seem to be anomolous to the game given that we know there are corporations but player run camps make the best items. This has led to an economy out of balance where players appear to drive everything and there are no real game controls to bring it back in balance.
The faction system is also anomolous. A unified merchant faction in a post apocalyptic setting makes transport too easy. Much as most of the towns being merchant aligned.
Lasers. While cool, it makes no sense.

Skill system is too simple. It is a little too easy to get gangers good in every skill once a gang has matured. There is no reason for a gang to do niche or specialty functions. Some specialisms too broadly improve everything.

Scav has too many breakpoints. Mechanic ability should be stepped more along the lines of how camp production is so that it is a little more playable.

......................... vet wv northernsummer1,91,1
Posted Apr 20, 2014, 12:29 am

Bolt Thrower
Quantum Symphony
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Based on what I think the original intent of the game was :

Design of the game:
Super harsh, dark model where the game is about survival (what I think was the original design) and the apocalypse is resulting in the collapse of society and thus technology.

The problem with this type of game is that it is not good for long term play. Like Goat said in a recent post (paraphrasing), it is hard to find the will to go on after the game kicks you again and again. (Especially since scav is not populated, so he is not really competing with anyone.

I think this type of game does better with a restart model. Examples are O-game, Starfleet Commander or the league system in Path of Exile. These are short term settings that get a restart after a certain amount of time. In Starfleet Commander, the old universe persists, but a new one starts up, usually with different modifiers or ships. In POE, the old settings ends and is dumped into a legacy league, and the new league starts up with new modifiers that are tweaked in a sort of Beta testing mode. The modifiers find their way into the legacy league at the end of their run.

Possible set-up:
General conditions: All car chassis, weapons, ammunition (maybe), car parts, tyres, gas and human and mutant populations are randomly pre-determined within developer determined range. Even better if car parts are specific to a car or weapon and cause permanent damage when fitted to the wrong thing.

When a car gets scrapped, that is one less car in the game. Gas is not a renewable resource. Biodiesel might be, but requires engine refit (permanent damage).

Create a birth rate for humans and mutants, meaning it can become harder to recruit if population is too low.

Small chance for loot to spawn in maps like junk piles. Like the Sunrise in the cave in the Gazette story about the scorpions.

Probably sped up time with each week equals 3 months. Every four weeks is a year and gear has a chance to take perma damage based on highest mechanic rating maintaining it.

Probably no races or arena combats.

Start-up Conditions:
Solar Apocalyse: Gangs start with 3 people, [(5 raccoons, 5 MG's) account bound to avoid abuse] and "money" for food/water. Darkwinds cause rad sickness and electronics to jam.

or
Zombie Apocalypse: Start with 3 gangers with shotgun, pistol, reloads. Have to go loot a car with a footsquad (would need some into the ruins maps). Combat with zombies has chance to infect gang member.

Imagine a game where Wurzels, Semi-Trucks and Alphas are great cars because they are all that is left. The game mechanics can be adjusted to test new stuff out, because they are not permanent leagues. If the harsh conditions are stated up front, people tend to get less excited. If the conditions are unplayable, they can be toned down a little.

Pay model:
Make all cars white. Sell paint jobs/car for $0.10 or so. Needed for each car. Dies with car.
Sell Character Models for $0.10 or so: Especially ones with missing limbs, eyes, etc for character evolution. Dies with character.
Sell some of the pregenerated cars or wepons (controversial): Make it globally limited (probably no more than 5% of the pre-generated population). Make a limit per account. Adjust cost based on untility. Raccoon or MG might be one or two dollars. BPU or ATG would be more.
Sell training vouchers (controversial): since there wouldn't be an SCL.

......................... vet wv northernsummer1,91,1
Posted Apr 20, 2014, 12:30 am

Bolt Thrower
Quantum Symphony
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Stuff I would like to see but would probably require a design team.

Design of the Game:
A persistent sandbox world that can be played long-term.

This is basically what the game is now, but there are some things I think could be improved to make the game more viable to a larger player population long-term.

The factions, camps, leagues and economy need a more populated setting to be believable.
Setting - Something like a cyberpunk setting where there is a class that lives in corporate arcologies that are inaccessible to the playerbase. These would make the city center. Surrounding the arcologies would be more civilized areas that extend out so many miles and function like the normal game and uses money. Out past these areas would be more uncivilized lands that function more like Scav on a barter system. There would be border areas with both barter and money. The markets should be a lot sparser as you move away from civilization.
Economy - The economy should be modifiable by player actions, but only within some bounds between where NPC's would find it profitable versus unprofitable to manufacture. Like camps, NPC's should have a cost structure based on acquiring raw materials, transport, and manufacture. If cost is less than sell price, NPC's would ramp manufacture. Inventory should also be a factor. High Piracy ups costs, low piracy reduces costs. Having an NPC price control, could keep cost on a more sane level. Especially for selling loot. At some point, it might be impossible to give away certain chassis. Also, the game should have a closed system economy where there is only so much money based on playerbase size.
Factions - Should not be monolithic. The current setup is a good beginning, but cities should be competing. We know there are businesses in DW, but while they sponsor people, there is no interaction. Merchants and Privateers should be splintered for sure. There should be certain privateers allied with certain merchants and these relationships should alter over time so players do not become complacent.
Leagues - Current setup is pretty good. Cash prizes in the civilized areas and scav prizes in the uncivilized areas. Add FL gadiator fights in the civilized areas for lawbreakers.
PVP - Like in EVE online, there should be varying zones of safety. Closer to city center means quicker police force shows up with stronger vehicle. Out near border areas, it takes longer. In the wild areas, PVP is fully open with no repercussions. PVP in civilized areas could results in bounties and/or criminal records for gangers or gangs.
Camps - For the most part, the current camp structure would work. They are analogous to corporations in EVE. Camps in safer zones should face more PVE threats. This would be based on what the camp is producing, and what NPC's manufacturers think they could steal from their competition. Camps further out in the wilderness would be open for PVP along with the usual raider attacks. The one thing that might be considered are mines where people would turn raw materials into components. Kind of like a camp lite.

Other features I would be interested in:
Expanded skill list: For example
At 20, handguns branches to pistol, rifle, shotgun etc.
At 20, mechanic branches to engine, body work, weapon repair.
Add in research skills and allow the improvement of cars, guns, etc organically over time.

While very small, even 100% weapons should have a chance to jam.
Add in milestones based on time where tech improves. Like cybernetics 10-20 years into game time.
Tiled map system - Lets say Outback of Nowhere has 4-6 maps with attachment anchors. That way the map has a more random element to it.

No training past 80. Anything past 80 has to be experience based gains.

Arena areas - Not instanced. Constant 10-20 second turn length all day. At well-traveled crossroads close to a to town. Full PVP. Can be bypassed with chance of extra encounter.

Gems in wilderness to add flavor. Like 6 shot pistol that does heavier damage like rifle. A tank with 50% perma damage. Status symbols that don't unbalance things.

Trailers for the Tractor Trucks.

NPC gangs go through a life cycle. Some disappear and new ones randomly generate.

......................... vet wv northernsummer1,91,1
Posted Apr 20, 2014, 12:33 am

Bolt Thrower
Quantum Symphony
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How DW2 would tie into DW:
Like in the movie "The Blood of Heroes", DW2 could be the professional leagues owned by the ivory tower City center corporations.

The current league settings in DW should be a good model for DW2. It should have races, deathraces, arena combats. Possibly ped/glad events.

I was thinking there would be 24 leagues, one for each hour of the day. Each league has sub-leagues based on driver skill which determines which cars you drive. Slow cars first, working to fast ones with higher skill. Every player is tied to a corporations and is owned by them.

Would like to see weather effects added, like rain in an outdoor arena.

This is a little heretical, but a driver should get like 50-100 clones (think original autoduel, I mean, like there are lasers). Maybe with a slight loss of skills. On their last life, they get a choice: Die on the track or live and become part of DW (can only happen once). If they become part of DW, they can promote there corporation or cut ties. Determines whether they start in normal or scav area (or alternately, how much starting money they get). Sort of like Squadron 42 appears like it will feed into Star Citizen.

The outcomes for each corporation during a race season would determine its general welfare in DW.

......................... vet wv northernsummer1,91,1
Posted Apr 20, 2014, 12:34 am

Grimm Sykes
Sand xbzyas
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Um, are you aware that all gas powered cars can run on alcohol just by changing the air/fuel mixture... and that electric cars were more popular then combustion engines, and are simpler technology. Problem with theming something with the collapse of technology, is it would take a lot longer then 50 years for people to stop passing the knowledge and stop writing books. If messages are being posted in the tavern, then writing is possible, how exactly is technology being lost? If resources dried up, garage tinkerers are always coming up with alternatives. On top of that hemp makes a very good fuel and is unaffected by radiation, cures cancer, and prevents cancer, so the medical community would already have it around. This was discovered in 1970's and has been tested and reaffirmed to show it is fact.

I never really got into the RP aspect, just cause I didn't like the back story, I liked the back story with car wars better.

......................... vet wv pvp5 pvp4
Posted Apr 20, 2014, 12:51 am	Last edited Apr 20, 2014, 12:53 am by Grimm Sykes