Before anything goes into the public beta tree it has to go into the private beta tree. And before it goes into the private beta tree it has to get played with in the prototyping tree.
The protyping tree is where all the experiments happen. That’s where we will try out some interesting idea that looks good on paper but discover it’s not “fun” when put to the test.
Sometimes an idea will make it all the way to the public tree and then get demoted back into the protyping tree to get more experimentation on later.
Other times an idea will look good but take too long to test or balance and stay in the protyping tree for a long time.
Today, I’m playing around with creatures.
I’ve always wanted to see whether I could just have monsters spawn out there occasionally out in the woods to keep the world lively and dangerous.
Each monster has its own intelligence level so I could, for instance, divide up the handling of monsters by intelligence. Intelligence <2, for instance would be basically just an animal that won’t likely bother you unless you attack it or get too close. At higher levels, they could get more cunning.
I don’t know if this prototype stuff will make it into the shipping game or some future update, but it’s the kind of experimentation that often leads to new ideas on how to make games more fun.
Your work ethic never ceases to amaze me!
Great idea and thanks for sharing it with the community!
First post, I've been watching this game evolve for over a year now and all I can say is bravo on so many levels.
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Idea on a living world-
Random creature spawn such as "Deer, Treant, Bandit, ect"
Maybe by hunting the deer it's just another bonus source of "?Farm?/Meat"
Adv- Herd of Deer ++ Meat
by defeating treants it's just another bonus source of "?Material?-Wood"
by defeating bandits it's just another bonsus source of "Gold"
The random occurance also reminds me of Masters of Orion 1-2 where Space Crystals, Space Amoeba, Space Dragons, Space Eel and Antares would come about. Which could make for some EPIC battles and some very high rewards or the opposite. This I always loved about that game... Random FUN events and sometimes "Scarey" and unpredictable events.
(Also diffrent sized/leveled Space Crystals where alot of fun... you had more of an idea of what you could or couldnt handle... Tiny Space Crystal, "bring it on!" - Massive Space Crystal, "Mommy")
Also liked the Global Network News, made me feel like there is more out there than just what I'm doing.. I wonder if you guys could implement something that makes you feel like not just the King but also a resident of the world/galaxy.
MNN? Magic Network News
Oops I shoulda just stopped at the first 2 sentences! Sorry!
Great Job Frogboy I like what I see!!!
X Myth-
Mark-
The game is beyond my wildest expectations so far... Hoping to get to Tactical Combat soon and see how it is done.
The idea of animals and monsters spawning, joining each other, fighting each other... Truly amazing features...
Really, really eager to put my hands on 3A...
Keep the good work Stardock, you guys are really changing the way TBS is done...
of course the monsters should band together, you can't have swarm spiders unless they create a SWARM.
How about some kind of tiles (e.g., spiders nest) that spawns rampaging monsters (E.g., spiders) periodically until it is invaded and conquered. It would be a challenging battle, but players have an incentive so as to secure their territory...
One idea would be to have an NPC go feral, and start leading animals as a druid hero or something.
Are there random events in this game like galciv, master of orion, etc? Those where always fun, especially the epic ones. Would be cool to force the kingdoms to band together to fight a titan off or something.
I've been looking for aspects of this game for a long time. From development philosophy to the mod tools and numerous things in between. Elemental fills the bill +. It's already more than I would've hoped for. Release day is just a beginning.
Thanks Frogboy for giving up some off time to tune the game further. Sounds like you had a good days work fun.
Awesome! I just can't wait to see how all of this is going to come together. Thanks for the updates, they are great.
Yeah Elemental at this point is already a dream-concept for me too...
Beautiful. This spurred me to post a spell over in the request thread. Basically you create a rift/portal between two squares you control anywhere on the map, and every turn there is a cumulative chance the rifts spawn a random monster, something sufficiently powerful that you should think twice before keeping it running for an extended period of time. It is here if anyone is interested.
That made me want shadow walk from the illusion school in D&D.
It would be nice if there were more spider drone sized monsters at the beginning for new NPC's to get their teeth into before they start hitting larger creatures/monsters. Maybe some rats or something for them to fight
I just wanted to post to add to the number of users saying that you are doing a great job Frogboy! As others have already mentioned we really appreciate the effort (and love) you, and your team, are putting into the project.
Nice piece of code.. I still hate pointers even though they are a necessary evil..
Monsters having different actions/plans based on Intelligence = WIN
Different types of Monsters attacking each other = WIN
Flavorful spawning locations = WIN
Different Monsters being able to "team up" as a hoard/ army = WIN
all that is left, I feel, is some way for spawning locations to randomly generate (be added) as others are destroyed, so as to not initiate boredom. AKA no way to simply kill off all monsters and spawning locations.
Sure, this would be cool... It would be a living and "regenerating" world...
I rather like the idea that each creature has a cycle of reproduction. Small creatures produce several offspring (spiders, etc.) medium size produce less (wolves, etc.) and large ones even less (ogres, etc.)
Once the young grow up and overwhelm the local area/tile, they wander and can settle in the right terrain and make new "homes" and repeat the process.
Mostly I am thinking of the old orcs, goblins, etc. of many a story. Alone they are a piece of cake, let them grow to massive communities and next thing you know you have a big PIA.
having competing monsters in a ecosystem would be great. Balancing it to where you don't wind up with bone ogres and dragons only when all is said and done might not be as easy as one thinks.
Of course, the idea of a dragon going around the world looking for a mate and killing everything around it in frustration could make like interesting!
// ThelastCommentOnTheCode = false
//BradDoesntSuckAsAProgrammer = true
Hey Brad,
You've really hit upon the head what needs to happen to increase the "Fun" of the game.
One thing I've kept thinking about through this beta so far as is that, "Where Are the Random Monsters"?
And the idea to have them spawning from areas out there like the forests or swamps, or coast lines, is just great. Genuinely. And I'm liking the fact you want to make them dynamic, having them group up at times.
Wouldn't it be cool though if after a certain number of rounds, as a monster party, maybe they'll more likely also get a big bad boss monster to come join them, to take control of the mobs.
This way if you don't keep your lands clear of monsters (Constantly) and the areas near them, they'll become a dangerous haven, for monsters. What could be cool is if we also got villagers reports about these roaming monsters.
And the idea of dungeons restocking with monsters is a great idea.. just cause you cleared a ruin or two out doesn't mean that something else doesn't move in... and then you may have to defeat a certain number of them to essentially quell the darkness for a while.
That's what I was thinking would be neat.
Respawning monsters... I dunno.
I've played AoW a lot and some mapmakers like to spawn monsters behind your back. You have a beautiful kingdom, and suddenly a single spider can run around and take control of your resources... I hate it.
Having to deal with random monsters in your kingdom is not my idea of fun. But sure, if it is an option I can turn off then fine, the more features the merrier.
Good idea, in other case the world would be a bit empty after the "cleaning" made by the differences factions heroes, killing stuff to level up.
I really like the idea of monsters banding together for a mutual purpose, but not at the cost of immersion. Some monsters will look silly if they band with others.. like natural enemies.
Very basic examples.
Dog meets Cat, cat submits to dog because dog has higher int.
Id rathe see...
Dog meets Cat, cat flees from dog but fails to escape. Bye.
Anyway, I'm sure you've thought of this [natural enemies]
Again poor example, my dog gets along with my cat great. But in the wild things arn't so tame. =-)
Lizards Hate Insects - Like Fish - Fear Undead
Insects Hate Fish - Like Undead - Fear Lizards
Undead Hate Mammals - Like Insect - Fear Plants
Plants Hate Lizard - Like Mammals - Fear Fish
Mammas Hate Undead - Like Magical - Fear Insects
Fish Hate Insects - Like Lizards - Mammals
Deamons Hate Angelic - Like Evil - Fear Nothing/Dragons
Angelic Hate Deamons - Like Good - Fear Nothing/Dragons
Dragons Hate All - Like None - Fears Nothing/Brad
Likes, Hates, Fears, Likes ++, Hates ++, Neutral 50%
Hates ++ = Engages enemy and ignores anything it hates/likes less than ++
Likes++ Engages for attach and ignores anyting it hates/likes less than ++
Fear overides all and books.
Neutral either fights or attaches
Indeed!
Monsters attacking each other? Sounds awesome, but isn't this "way too RPGish" for a strategy game? Personally I would like to see little -yet fun!- features like this, but maybe I am in the minority.
*edit* Now that I think about it...what would be the point in neutral monsters attacking eachother from a gameplay perspective?
Having monsters that gains levels and are deadlier if you don't control them, perharps, or having a world that feels dangerous.
If you are building a city in the savannah, the lions will not constantly try to attack you: you aren't their primary source of food But they can if nobody is here to defend the city.
Looks cool.
The only problem I see is this is being done via c++ code. Which implies if a modder wanted to change the placement algorithm or monster selection process they'd be SOL? Or does the code get translated into a scripting language version when moved out of the prototype tree?
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