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Topics - SpaceEatingTrex

#1
General Discussion / Issue Tracking
October 17, 2013, 04:24:47 PM
Tynan has been doing a great job updating the game with new builds and bug fixes, but as RimWorld grows the issue tracking will become more complex. It might be helpful to have software that helps handle that sort of thing.

Two systems I know are good are Fogbugz and JIRA, but I believe there's no free version available for those. Wikipedia has a comparison page for them and many others, and there are a number of free resources listed there. Can anyone vouch for any free system?

Tynan if you catch this: do you already use an issue tracking tool of some sort? If not, would you be interested in using a good one for free?
#2
Ideas / Ideas for Different Storytellers
October 14, 2013, 03:59:12 PM
One interesting element of RimWorld is instead of a traditional difficulty system, the game uses different storytellers to affect the level gameplay challenge. Since this isn't just a linear increase in difficultly, there are a lot more possibilities for different settings than just easy->medium->hard.

Right now there are 3 different Storytellers (quotes from the Kickstarter):

Quote
  • Cassandra Classic aims to create a rising curve of tension over the course of the game. Early on, the most dangerous thing she'll do is send a psychotic squirrel after you. Later on, bands of scavengers will arrive. In the late game, look forward to combined-arms attacks from mercenaries mixed with lightning storms and crop blights. If you want a traditional tension and difficulty curve, go with Cassandra.

  • Phoebe Friendly is for the player who just wants to build and watch a colony grow. She'll occasionally create minor disasters, but nothing that would threaten the existence of the colony. If you want a more relaxing game about growth and success, choose Phoebe.

  • Randy Random follows no rules. He may give you some amazing stroke of luck, like a trader selling an advanced weapon for a low price or a group of helpful immigrants, followed by a near-unbeatable pirate attack combined with an electrical fire. If you think losing is fun, you might want to try Randy.

What other kind of storytellers do you want to see?

One of the common ideas on the forums is a challenging storyteller, the opposite of Phoebe Friendly ("Tynan Tyrannical?"). I think this would be a good addition for experienced players. A challenge with implementing this is that being too difficult could make it impossible to survive the first day, but not being difficult enough would defeat the purpose. I believe a good way to address this would be giving the play consistent challenges of increasing difficulty rather than game-ending events. In other words, the difficulty curve starting higher than Cassandra Classic and increasing a bit more sharply, but still being a curve instead of a wall.

Another storyteller could be non-raider focused ("Diane Disaster?"), providing challenge to players primarily through the environment and events. This storyteller becomes more viable as more animals and plants and other environmental events are added. Rather than being directly more or less challenging than the other storytellers, this is focused on providing a unique experience like Randy Random.

Finally, as more potential enemies are added we could include certain storytellers that focused on a specific type or types of enemies. The feasibility of that depends a lot on the specifics of the enemies though, so I don't think we could get more in-depth with this idea until some time in the future.

Those are just a few ideas though, I'm sure there are many more. What ideas do you think would make a good storyteller?
#3
Ideas / Blueprints: Keyboard Macro Equivalent
October 12, 2013, 09:46:06 PM
One of the fun elements of games like RimWorld is being able to design your own base. However, mostly every game is going to require you to build certain things, like bedrooms and power sources + batteries and etc. The 42nd time you make a bedroom with a door and a bed and a light and maybe carpet might not be as fun as the first.

Games like Dwarf Fortress have internal support for keyboard macros to help with these kind of tasks. A macro lets you program building a whole room (or even more!), so you can do it with one keypress instead of dozens. I think RimWorld could benefit from a similar idea. Since RimWorld is more user-friendly and graphically oriented though, it would be good to have a GUI interface.

Here's an example of how it could be implemented:



First you'd need a menu option to make a new Blueprint or open an old one. That would give you a blank blue area and all the Architect tools to build whatever you want, as if you had infinite money and resources with no obstructions in the way. Then in-game you would have a Blueprints option that would let you see all the Blueprints you've made and choose one to build. Players would be able to name blueprints and write a description for easy identification. Ideally Blueprints would be saved as separate files so that players could share them.

I think this would help players a lot by removing the tedium of repetitious designations so that they could focus on the story and other elements of the game. What do you think? Would you use a system that let you build multiple things at once?