I've always been a fan of hunting that changes with conditions. One example is the barghests near Haven which become a more difficult variation at night. I would like to see more hunting areas that change depending on conditions such as time of day, time of year, and weather conditions. In the game Chrono Trigger (which I'm sure many of you are familiar with), there's a hunting preserve, where a rare enemy called a Nu can spawn only when it rains. I always thought that was a cool idea.

How about hunting grounds with rare spawn critters that appear under certain conditions? Give them a hide or skin that is very useful for crafting and suddenly it becomes an exciting hunt.

And more critters that flex with certain conditions... day/night is just one example, I'm sure that there are many other creative ways that this could be done.

And while I'm here, my grand idea that I've had for many years: How about a hunting area, some sort of wilderness, that changes drastically with the seasons? Like, in the winter, a waterfall freezes solid and can be climbed to access a different area with critters, and when the waterfall thaws in the spring, you can access a cave behind it that contains other critters. The glacial runoff in the spring raises the water level of the river, which fills with eels or some kinda critter, but later in summer, the riverbed goes dry and is inhabited by... evil raccoons or something. You know?

I just think it would be very interesting and atmospheric to do something like that. And if there were unique critters there with rare skins that you could only find during one season of the year, that would have interesting economic effects. Same if there were unique forageables that could only be found in certain seasons there.

When I joined staff I was thinking about stuff like you're suggesting and wondering "Why people don't do this more? I bet I could build the tools to let us do cool stuff like that!" And it turns out in many cases the tools exist (Not always with great documentation, but that's more the rule than the exception in development land) but are rarely or never used. And I think there's two reasons for that, mostly because it increases the amount of work for a release by x2-4, but also because while players say they like areas that change, eventually players tend to not like areas that change. They don't want to wait for a certain season to make an enchantment, they don't want to have the perfect level creature for them to hunt to only be around sometimes.

This is not to say I don't like the idea (and I've been musing over some similar themes in some of my future releases), but just explaining why we don't see it much.

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

by the way thanks kindly for the open discussion of this. that is basically what i was thinking about the critters with a decent range of skills ect.

Tangentially related -- this is also why you don't see seasonal room text. It turns out the mechanics to do it already exist, but no one wants to write x4 as much room text that most people don't bother to read.

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

I think it's awesome that it seasonal room descriptions exist, I'd suggest for Crossing, if any place to have it.

But if it doesn't get it, well I understand the whole not wanting to write x4.

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Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

Avoiding the need to make Automapper more intelligent is not a design concern :)

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

Back in the day I used to create Unreal Tournament mods, and I've occasionally dipped into mods for Halo 3 and stuff like LittleBigPlanet. My modding experience with official feedback is somewhat limited, but the consensus I got was that players don't like gimmicks.

If they're furiously shooting at each other in team deathmatch, they don't want a big critter in the middle of the arena that eats anyone who comes close, even though that adds a level of strategic positioning, in theory. The same holds true for DR hunting grounds I guess, as critters with interesting group mechanics or area mechanics or special attacks tend to be largely avoided in favor of ones that can easily be farmed and scripted.

Though please keep in mind that there are a silent minority who actually don't mind mixed/seasonal bags, or actively like them even, that just don't speak up. Possibly because they'll just end up being shouted down.
On the other hand, numbers don't lie. Much.

Seasonal critters would be cool, even if it was just cosmetic (a snow goblin, a spring goblin, etc., maybe not that lame, but you catch my meaning). Back to the x4 writing, but with smaller strings of text.

<<I think it's awesome that it seasonal room descriptions exist, I'd suggest for Crossing, if any place to have it.>>
There are some in the Crossing area. Off the top of my head, the bathing pool in the Temple changes descriptions based on it being winter or not.
A tiny rivulet of crystal-blue water babbles through the area, arcing outward from the pond to the south. Independent of the miniature stream, a luxurious marble bath has been placed amidst a garden of fresh sirese blooms, flanked with ivory statues carved in the shape of graceful swans. Several large stone pots stand beside the statues, placed conveniently to replenish the waters of the bathing pool when the sun's rays cause it to thirst.

A thin rivulet of frozen water streaks through the area, arcing outward from the pond to the south. Independent of the frigidly stagnant stream, a marble bath lies empty amidst a patch of barren ground, the sirese blooms absent in the winter frost. Ivory statues carved into the shape of swans take on a quality of despair, their usually graceful forms covered with a burdensome layer of snow, icicles hanging from their beaks and wings. Several stone pots stand in a lonely row, full of freshly fallen snow.

<<Avoiding the need to make Automapper more intelligent is not a design concern :)>>

Changing/multiple room descriptions is a minor annoyance that's easily fixed. Avoiding the creation of rooms that can change exits like the Gondola and the rings in Maelshyve's Fortress would be appreciated since those are a lot more complicated to work around :p

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Tachid smugly exclaims, "Die midget!"

>>Though please keep in mind that there are a silent minority who

>Ah, the infamous 'silent majority'.

>>Though please keep in mind that there are a silent minority who

Also the part where I said 'otoh numbers don't lie.' I was just trying to give voice to the minority. I know most people don't like those hunting grounds, and I by no means recommend devoting development time on something the majority won't use. But some of us still appreciate and use the development that has occurred.

Open automapper. Turn on Record.

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TG, TG, GL, et al.

"Disagreement with the fundamental plan at this point is akin to supporting Richard III vs the Tudors."
-Raesh

I only really see that when I'm in a maze (those sometimes have to be done by hand), or "Allow Duplicate Nodes" is enabled.

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TG, TG, GL, et al.

"Disagreement with the fundamental plan at this point is akin to supporting Richard III vs the Tudors."
-Raesh

<<Mind explaining, in this thread if it's quick or elsewhere if it's not? I got some Fang Cove places to update!>>
Make sure Allow Duplicate Nodes option is turned off. Make sure you're using the same movement command that the mapper expects. Don't use the Automapper script to do the movement. Not sure why using the script occasionally causes mapping function to go wonky, but I've seen it a few times.
May want to double check that the room directions are correct, although it's rare for new directions to be added.

If it still refuses to auto-add the new description, copy the room description from the game window and then open the Edit Panel. At the end of the Description(s) already entered, insert a "|" followed by the new description. For a room that has descriptions "This is nighttime" and "This is daytime" depending on time, the Description field would look like This is nighttime|This is daytime.

If that doesn't work, should probably start a post in Genie's automapper forum and we can take a closer look.

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Tachid smugly exclaims, "Die midget!"

I would like to see areas like this that arent that great for the regular grind but they have the potential to drop some really useful loot such as magic wands that do various things, rare gems and items, or 1 out of every so many is a special variety that has a unique pelt or antler etc that could be use in crafting. Make it a survival challenge to get there, put em on faraway islands or way out in hib in a cave up on some icy mountainside and maybe limit the items per character or item generation/time to be sure that they stay rare.

I don't know about magic challenges since that would completely exclude a few guilds. Combat challenges, sure.

And like I said the drops could be limited per character/account if need be. And don't think of it in the context of a regular DR hunting area this would be more open ended so it could be coded in whatever way is needed to eliminate farming for the items.

>>Depends on what the check is. When 3.0 is released, no guild will completely be cut out from the Magic skill set.

Keep in mind that all guilds using the magic skillset doesn't mean they all know "magic" ICly.

That said, I think it would be totally reasonable for some kind of enchantment craft to let NMUs pass those kinds of checks based on their inner magic stuff/arcana/etc.

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"You always have to be a know-it-all. And you don't. Know. It. All." - GERSTEINJ2

I thought it was going to get called Meta or metaphysical or something of that nature.

_____________________________________
Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

>> Ya. Lets give guilds who already have great skillset placements more incentive to use them.
>> Make it a lore/magic challenge.

It sounds like you took what he said as if he was were inferring that Survival primaries had something to do with what he said. ??? Huh?

I think he meant that it would be dangerous to 'beat' it. Like a mini-quest, almost.

>> I would like to see areas like this that arent that great for the regular grind but they have the potential to drop some really useful loot such as magic wands that do various things, rare gems and items, or 1 out of every so many is a special variety that has a unique pelt or antler etc that could be use in crafting. Make it a survival challenge to get there, put em on faraway islands or way out in hib in a cave up on some icy mountainside and maybe limit the items per character or item generation/time to be sure that they stay rare.

Sounds like a cool idea - DR doesn't have enough 'good' rare loot from drops. In fact, it's sorely lacking in this department - treasure maps are meh, you don't get good stuff on a consistent basis; I've found 5 maps and out of those, only 1 unique item(a chess board). Everything else was just recycled fest garbage. Nothing really useful.

And BTW - the plats/gems in the boxes from the maps are terrible - srsly, normal boxes can outdo 'em easily.

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IM: Dannyboy00001111

"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."

>>And BTW - the plats/gems in the boxes from the maps are terrible - srsly, normal boxes can outdo 'em easily.

Yea, don't know what boxes you are opening out in dillos, but it takes me ~5 splitter boxes to get the amount of money one treasure map box contains. Assassin and Intercessor boxes might be a bit better, but I haven't heard of them containing 10+ plat a piece on average.

>>The last treasure map I found, discounting the item, had almost 10 plat in coins and another 6 in gems. A super box that drops rarely might match that, but even intercessor boxes don't have that much in there.

That may be true but I can find and pop 20 boxes probably before you find your map hiding spot! Har!

Codiax.
Forged Weapons:
http://www.elanthipedia.org/wiki/User:Codiax#Codiax-Forged-Weapons