Lyncor Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Greetings, mod maker who is more skilled than me! Looking for an interesting project that would change the way that people play the game? Looking for something reasonably simple in design, but might be quite interesting to implement? Good at scripting, but stuck for ideas? Look no further! I have an idea that you might just love: Essentially, this mod would serve as a one-stop-shop for the purposes of handling the player's death in whatever way the player desires. It could be built slowly in iterations, adding more functionality / fixing bugs with each version. Requirements: Fully configurable through the use of a well-commented .ini file Handles the player's death, allowing the player to carry on without needing to load the game. Death carries penalties, at the full discretion of the player and specified in the .ini file. Has options for different "respawn" scenarios, selectable by the player through the .ini file. What this would look like: You're running through a dungeon, looking around, making sure you take in the threats. Your sword is out, your magic ready, your eyes peeled for danger. You walk into a room, where to your dismay you find a clan of powerful Vampires. You do your best, but they utterly destroy you - leaving your limp body falling to the ground. Your life begins to fade... At this point, the player would normally just go "Oh, darn" and proceed to reload the latest saved game. That saved game is probably just before they entered the room. Player proceeds to fight the same group of Vampires again and again, until by sheer luck or repetition they are victorious. Player loots them, goes to next room, repeats process. Either that, or they simply leave the dungeon and go find something easier to kill. Kind of boring. Having no consequence for death other than "Rewind and try again" encourages the player to either abuse game saving power or... well, abuse game saving power. There isn't much of an alternative to be honest! Now, imagine the following possibilities. The story continues: Respawn option: Fame vs Infamy Fame > Infamy Your life begins to fade... but marked by a special destiny, the Nine Divines see you in your plight and whisks you away to the nearest Chapel. The clergy begin to nurse you back to health. After an amount of time passes, you recover - though the ordeal has left you weakened..." Infamy > Fame Your life begins to fade... but marked by a special destiny, the Daedric Lord with the nearest shrine sees your potential as a follower and whisks you away - bringing you back from the brink of death. There you rest, cared for by the patrons of that shrine. After an amount of time passes, you recover - though the ordeal has left you weakened..." And so forth. If the mod maker gets time, there would be other options for "respawn" - possibly waking up at the nearest friendly guild hall, having been rescued by your guild mates and nursed back to health? Waking up at the Cloud Ruler Temple, having been rescued by the Blades and given treatment? There are all sorts of options. Ideally, the player using the mod would be able to select one of these options using the .ini file. For an extra scripting challenge, the player could potentially choose a number of options and the script could decide (either randomly or by some other means such as proximity, rank, etc) which of them to choose for each death! On to the next part... Penalties Of course, being pulled from whatever you're doing and forced to go back later to finish the job isn't always ideal. The very use of a system like this would, in many situations, inherently deter the player from allowing their character to die. But that isn't always the case. With no penalty for death, players could just suicide themselves for the convenience of getting back to civilisation! Pah! As such, there would ideally be a few options to choose from - configurable in the .ini file, of course! Skill penalties Serving time in jail causes you to lose some of your skills. It makes sense that recovering from a near-death experience could do something similar! There are several ways in which this could be implemented. The key here is to make it configurable, so that the player can specify their own penalties in the .ini file. Here are some possibilities: Permanent global percentage-based skill loss: This option essentially means that the character loses a percentage of their current skills, the default of which could be something like 5-10%. Of course, the player can opt to have it 1% or even 100% if they so choose. This option is especially attractive when used with mods such as Realistic Levelling, in which a player's level and attributes are derived from their skills. Permanent global numeric-based skill loss: This option is like percentage-based skill loss, but instead of a percentage of current skills, the player loses a specified number of skill points from all skills. The default could be anywhere from 1 to 10, possibly 3. Again, this works well with levelling mods which derive level and attributes from skills in a dynamic fashion. Temporary skill loss: As above, but applied as temporary Drain effects which require the player to do something in order to have them return - be it simply wait, undergo a pilgrimage / complete a daedric shrine, advance in guild rank... whatever you can be bothered implementing! As a choice for the player, of course. Combat skill loss: As above, but more specific. You died in combat, so perhaps it is your combat prowess which must take a hit. Non-combat skills such as Mercantile, Security and Speechcraft could be excluded from taking penalties. Completely configurable skill loss: The ideal option. Players can interface with a list of all skills in the .ini file and toggle them on / off for whether they can be lost as death penalties. Furthermore they can choose between percent / numeric based losses, temporary / permanent skill losses, how temporary skill losses can be undone (time/quest/condition)... what the player wants, the player gets. The most difficult option to implement, but go on... you can do it! ;) Gold penalties This could be explained in all sorts of ways. Perhaps the chapel / daedric followers / guild that nursed you back to health (Assuming this option for a moment) charge a fee for their efforts? Perhaps the gold loss is used to account for equipment assumed having been looted, without forcing players to actually lose their gear? However it happens, it's a very viable and potentially effective way to punish a player for dying. Again, the player can choose whether to have this happen or not. Ideally, players can also choose between a numeric amount or a percentage amount, a combination of both, perhaps even some multiple of their level. The sky's the limit! Well, apart from the balance of the character's purse! Fame / Infamy penalties So the word gets out. The high and mighty <insert hero/villain name here> fell in battle, and spend the last week being nursed back to health by <insert benevolent faction here>. Suddenly, people are questioning whether <insert hero/villain name here> is really so great/terrifying of a hero/villain! This could be implemented as either a numeric, or percentage and/or level based penalty - similar to gold. Ideally, it would be able to apply the penalty to both Fame -and- Infamy, not just either or... but also be able to apply it to either/or if the player chooses. The lovely addition to the functionality of the gold penalty is that this could also potentially be scripted as a permanent OR temporary change, requiring the character to fulfil some sort of condition(s) in order to 'regain' their status. The .ini file is the boss! Time penalties Possibly the least substantial type of penalty, but significant nonetheless depending upon the implementation. An amount of time, specified in the .ini file, could pass while the character returns to health. For the even more masochistic player, the game could potentially force said player to sit and watch as the hours tick by - being forced to "wait" for the duration and watch the hours tick past on the wait-o-meter. A combination of the above Obviously, the best option is for the player to be allowed to choose a combination of any/all of these options. For example, they might want to force their character to wait 3 days while their character is nursed back to health when they are whisked away to a nearby guildhall / daedric shrine / chapel, and then be forced to pay 100 + 50 x Level + 10% of their gold as a fee for the medical treatment... and THEN be forced to take a permanent penalty of 1 point + 10% to all their skills, followed by a further 2 points + 15% as a temporary drain to their stats until they make a wayshrine pilgrimage / attain a new guild rank (if not already at the top) / complete a daedric shrine quest (unless all complete) / murder an innocent / donate to the church / etc in order to restore their honour / dreadfulness. Just imagine the possibilities! I think you probably get the idea! The whole point of this system is that it would allow the player to create a potentially immersive, customised, tailor-made death recovery experience for their game. If implemented well, I think that this system would trump every other death handling system out there. The reason I propose it in the first place is because I have been unable to find one that allows me to personally choose to some degree the manner in which my character is penalised for dying - instead being at the mod-maker's mercy, even if it does not integrate well with my particular setup. I'm sure there are many other players in the same boat. SO! Any takers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyncor Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Gosh, this forum moves quickly. Bumping as the thread was buried overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyncor Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bump again :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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