Darechom

Looks nice for a first iteration.

You mentioned survival.

Is that with or without interaction of NPCs and will you be able to build makeshift shelters anywhere in the world.

Something like digging a small trench and covering it with branches/leaves , looting+ placing a tent + campfire, etc ?

Seems like you might have a food/energy meter which determines how far along a progress bar you get doing any activity.

Example: you catch and eat a trout (700 cal). You dig a trench and roof it with brush; meanwhile you take breaks to piss, check traps, and work on a fence. You spend 10 minutes tending your fire. You hear a bloodcurdling howl from about 3 miles away; it could be wolves, or it could be cultists.

- If you climb up your sentry tree, you spend the rest of your energy and can't finish the trench and shelter. You will spend a wakeful night hearing howls and snaps of twigs in the forest and start the next day with a huge energy deficit.

- If you ignore it and finish your shelter, you may be killed.

"

crunkatog wrote:

Re: the equipment system

Are those icons saved gear presets? Like, if you are a man of all seasons, having 3 or 4 different saved loadouts for different conditions that you can swap at a button or configure and save...much preferred to having to bring up an inventory screen during a raid or winter hazard, and swap pieces of gear one at a time.

yes I plan switch button to load different saved loadouts

"

gandhar0 wrote:

Looks nice for a first iteration.

You mentioned survival.

Is that with or without interaction of NPCs and will you be able to build makeshift shelters anywhere in the world.

Something like digging a small trench and covering it with branches/leaves , looting+ placing a tent + campfire, etc ?

Survival yes, with interaction of NPCs I plan to make ruined castle place where all will be friendly and sometimes randomly I will launch event like in GOT Winter is comming you should deffend this castle with players and NPCs from 500 + zombies


campfire yes, not sure about tent

"

crunkatog wrote:

Seems like you might have a food/energy meter which determines how far along a progress bar you get doing any activity.

Example: you catch and eat a trout (700 cal). You dig a trench and roof it with brush; meanwhile you take breaks to piss, check traps, and work on a fence. You spend 10 minutes tending your fire. You hear a bloodcurdling howl from about 3 miles away; it could be wolves, or it could be cultists.

- If you climb up your sentry tree, you spend the rest of your energy and can't finish the trench and shelter. You will spend a wakeful night hearing howls and snaps of twigs in the forest and start the next day with a huge energy deficit.

- If you ignore it and finish your shelter, you may be killed.

yes nice idea, need to finish gameplay and make first tests, I plan to make shortsession games with save load, so maybe I will remove survival part

Proof of concept: the game triggers and quest progression work as intended, loot and itemization makes sense for the player, and each setting or module in the game has different ways to "win" for different play styles.

Then add in the survival aspect.

In skyrim, "realistic" survival mods range from "it's snowing wear a coat" to very micro-managing intensive total immersion with no time skips, shortcuts, macros, or HUD indicators. You simply have to eat, drink, sleep, seek shelter, cut firewood, etc. ALL THE TIME and many players find that level of intrusive micro-managing basic vital stats, really bad gameplay.

Most players will see "survival" in the game description and expect something somewhere between the simplicity of Minecraft "food and sleep" and say, Ark's "food, sleep, shelter, defences" level of involvement.

Anything more than that might drive away players looking for an ARPG or small skirmish RTS, which probably number far more than those players looking for "7 Days to Die but with fantastic looking scenery and weapons".

Some game missions might revolve around a particular hazard: escort an important person or item across a frozen tundra while avoiding patrols; flee a prairie fire before nightfall or the festering ghouls will block your passage over the river; that each such module can add in one "health meter" or "sunlight meter" that isn't normally there, to add tension and set time limits to completion.

https://youtu.be/lCK29OKUnI8

check this, last wip in this year, I have some news in the next year, maybe I will try to use UE 5 or sandbox will see, thans for notes

Code faster, I am so burnt out on PoE :( I need a fresh new game

"

crunkatog wrote:

...
Then add in the survival aspect.

In skyrim, "realistic" survival mods range from "it's snowing wear a coat" to very micro-managing intensive total immersion with no time skips, shortcuts, macros, or HUD indicators. You simply have to eat, drink, sleep, seek shelter, cut firewood, etc. ALL THE TIME and many players find that level of intrusive micro-managing basic vital stats, really bad gameplay.

Most players will see "survival" in the game description and expect something somewhere between the simplicity of Minecraft "food and sleep" and say, Ark's "food, sleep, shelter, defences" level of involvement.

Anything more than that might drive away players looking for an ARPG or small skirmish RTS, which probably number far more than those players looking for "7 Days to Die but with fantastic looking scenery and weapons".

Some game missions might revolve around a particular hazard: escort an important person or item across a frozen tundra while avoiding patrols; flee a prairie fire before nightfall or the festering ghouls will block your passage over the river; that each such module can add in one "health meter" or "sunlight meter" that isn't normally there, to add tension and set time limits to completion.

I want to emphasize and also add to this excellent post. :)

There are plenty of things I could add, but I don't want to clog up the thread too much... (I've rewritten this post several times, already.)

Questions:

What dynamic randomization features can you implement or are you planning on implementing? (Randomized map/dungeon/mob spawns/npc things)

Will items/gear have randomized attributes, affixes, or qualities?

Will you be instancing areas like Dungeons?

Will areas continue to be repopulated throughout the course of the game or is it more like a game that is much more "on rails" or structured around a progressing storyline with "levels?"

Is there "money?" If so, what can be purchased by characters?

How independent is the player-character from interactions with NPCs? (IOW, how necessary or important are such interactions for both regular needs as well as "story" or "quest" gameplay?)


(I know you may not be able to or might not wish to answer any or all of these questions. :))


I've been looking for a good ARPG Survival game that has well-done in-depth mechanics. And, that also has a decent look about it...

I have been looking for a "perfect survival stuffs and things" game for years. :(

Of all that I have actually played, "Ark:Survival Evolved" has the best combinations in that it looks the best, has decent play features, fairly decent survival mechanics (Except overheating), good building and crafting features, but everything else in the game is garbage. (It's a badly done game, with some good elements. It also becomes somewhat of a "lonely" single-player game.)

Minecraft is, surprisingly, a great example of a well done survival/builder/exploration game with RPG and action elements. But, it has its limitations in all those areas, too. It's very "basic" with the exception of its building elements. (Great game, not deep enough. Gets boring.)

A decent example of the style of game yours appears to be is "Balrum."

https://store.steampowered.com/app/424250/Balrum/

I haven't played it yet, but plan on doing so soon. I've examined it a bit, though, through Let's Plays. It's a more interactive "towny" kind of game than I think you're making, but it's got a lot of nice variety to it. It'd probably be a good ARPG-Survival game port.

One of the most respected "survival" games out there that is close to what you seem to be going for is, of course, "Unreal World."

https://store.steampowered.com/app/351700/UnReal_World/

^-- This game is outstanding. But, it looks like @$$... Because of that presentation, it's hard to really get engaged and attached to a character, IMO. There's... "something missing" because of that when one would compare it to today's titles. It's also very much a "Roguelike" kind of game. (It's got everything. There's a free version, too. But, it looks likes @$$...:))

I don't even look at zombie-survival games - IMO, the various "Zombie Survival ZOMGZ" fall into the same realm as "Ark." Looks good, may have some good survival features, but are full of hot garbage play. (I'm not a Zombie-Hunter-Game fan.) They also rarely have any randomized/dynamic features at all, since it's hard to balance that against the constant infestation of hordes of zombies. Most also have no "building" features, which I consider to be necessary for a good survival game.

A temporary summation:

The most important think I can say is that you most definitely NEED deep survival elements in the game. Why? There aren't any games out there that do that with your game's presentation and isometric ARPG elements. They don't exist.* So, you... have to make one. If you want a game that does well among fans and in the market, you can't make a Diablo-clone with shallow survival elements. (For an experiment or skill demo if you're looking to get hired by someone, sure. For a "game" to be played/sold? No, too much competition that are going to be better games than yours.)

What I'd like to see will be reserved for another post. :)

* There are some games that have features like that, but their presentation and gameplay is very different.

Thank you for reply, project is paused and moved to Source 2 S&box Engine

https://youtu.be/98KaAZslkX0

Time to time I will upload some changes, it will be huge

my twitter https://twitter.com/markmocherad