time mechanic in robbery missions

A fantasy otome RPG about three young thieves with special skills https://www.winterwolves.com/queenofthieves.htm
Post Reply
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by jack1974 »

As you know I resumed coding the "robbery missions" of this game.
It will be similar to the dungeon exploration, with a view of the house room on the left, and some stats on the right:
Image
currently I'm considering this mechanic: there's an alarm/noise level, and even if Joanne will use her noise reducing spells, triggering traps or fighting will still cause some noise. So every time the alarm value increases, if reaches the maximum you'll be forced to abort the mission and retreat.
I thought that could be possible to just "Wait" (and hide using Joanne's invisibility) and lower the alarm value, but at the cost of some time.
It's a pretty standard mechanic in stealth games, but since basically everyone hated the "days to next plot mission" feature of SOTW (except the few enthusiast people in forums :lol:) I am wondering if to do it this way or not?

I can just remove the wait button and only have the alarm level, or even remove that thing too, and just have exploration+battles like in the dungeons. For some early houses probably wouldn't even make sense, since there will be only a few rooms so will be hard to increase the alarm :)

Lastly remember: the potential targets are unlimited (randomly generated). So even if you're forced to escape, it's not like you are stuck. I can also imagine people could save at beginning of the mission. Because of this I don't think should be a major issue, but never hurt to ask!
User avatar
Franka
Elder Druid
Posts: 1562
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:07 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by Franka »

The main issue is how to balance it. If it's too lenient, it's pointless. If simple bad luck means you auto fail, it's annoying. You're not aiming to make this a rogue like, I assume. With random generation, good balancing is super hard.
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by jack1974 »

Yes some good points. However you can fail unlimited times since there isn't a real gameover in this game (is much more casual than SOTW!).
For now I have added a setting in option screen to turn it on/off, so worse case if during testing it's apparent that is pointless, I can just turn it off and done with it :)
User avatar
yayswords
Elder Druid
Posts: 1436
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:34 am

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by yayswords »

If simple bad luck means you auto fail, it's annoying.
I share this concern. Don't make it Riley's flashback.
If at first try it doesn't explode, it ain't Jack who wrote the code.
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by jack1974 »

After some attempts I removed it. The issue was also that the house you rob don't have 50 locations :lol: so to make it work it was getting dangerous to what you described "bad luck=auto fail". If the noise added was low, then was pointless. If was higher, then a streak of bad luck could have you escape. The only way it might have worked was with bigger "map" or tilesets, but since I'm not using that, better remove it completely :)
User avatar
Franka
Elder Druid
Posts: 1562
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:07 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by Franka »

If there was skil involved in it, it might be different, but if it's just roll the dice to see if you succeed, it's better not to have it. In my opinion.
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by jack1974 »

Nah I tested and really couldn't work at all, no matter if there was a skill or not. Too few locations :)
Besides, I must stop to add features and just finish this game. It's already going to be 200,000 words long, with a (not originally planned!) RPG part, so I think I've already doing more than needed. This year, I'll stop being a feature creep and just finish games like the old times :mrgreen:
User avatar
Franka
Elder Druid
Posts: 1562
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:07 pm

Re: time mechanic in robbery missions

Post by Franka »

Sounds reasonable.

(I meant if it was a skill based mini game, like an arcade game of some sort, it could work. But that's big feature creep!)
Post Reply