Please don't implement scrolls of Identify - unless you do it in an interesting way. In Diablo games Identify is pointless past the early game (and completely obsolete in Diablo2). It's just a tax on new items, and marginally low.
If you insist on keeping Identify, here are a few ideas:
- only have it for rare items
- don't tie Identify to gold, but to something else. For example you get 2 Identify per character level.
A fairly simple feature that Diablo (and Nox) should be ashamed not to have: sort backpack contents. POWDER is a graphical roguelike, with paper doll style equipping interface and diablo-like backpack (except that items are always 1x1). In POWDER, sorting is not done automatically - but you can issue a single command to sort your backpack. Items are sorted first by class (potion, wand, scroll) then by type (healing, blindness, acid, poison...).
Add a button "sort backpack" and people will be telling you "I wish Diablo had this !". Bonus points for a stable algorithm.
I hope you won't settle for "one size fits all" solution. While consistency is nice in code, in gameplay it can lead to boredom. Variety is fun ! Jeff Lait, the developer of Powder (the roguelike game) has said he tries to only implement spells which require new code. And I think it shows !
Another way to make minotaurs resistant to excessive kiting is giving them health regeneration proportional to max health. This would make them hard or impossible to kill on low levels, but wouldn't make them more lethal or harder to run away from. A high-level character wouldn't be bothered as much by health regeneration.
More on the solution Clint proposed (reacting to player behavior): If you want to be really mean, you can have minotaurs continue advancing but from another side. So if player is swinging his weapon east, minotaur (attacking from east) goes *north*west and the attack will not hit him. But I think a less strict AI will be more fun. Let monsters make mistakes at least once in a while. It's not just that perfect AI (perfect is possible in simple situations) could be frustratingly hard. It just limits options available to player. Succubi in Diablo1 (Hell levels) were very frustrating for Warrior players, and their run away AI was by no means perfect.
I don't think being able to run away safely is an useless power in melee ! Or when you face 2 dangerous enemies, immobilize one to pull him away and hit a couple of times before the other monster catches up. Or heal. And when collision detection is implemented, it would be possible to block choke points with immobilized mosters. Not to mention what happens if weapon ranges are implemented.
In any case, it would be good to print a message saying why my skill doesn't work (because it needs a ranged weapon).
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Channel is a strange power - it's available to anyone, but it requires a magical weapon. All of these seem to be level 3 or higher (you start with 2 points). So in theory Channel requires 2 Mental, but you can't use it before you have 3.
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I find the current interface insufficient for melee combat. To fight effectively, I have to keep looking at 3 places on the screen that are far away from each other:
- my hit points, in upper left corner
- monster's hit points, on the top
(I need to compare the 2 above to know if I should keep attacking, run away, or heal. FLARE combat seems faster than Diablo's, it's not a big deal for ranged combat because you don' take as much damage)
- my character and enemies surrounding him, to make sure I'm actually hitting them
I have an idea how it could be improved: cursor color could be used to display your HP (for warrior types) or MP (for caster types). The choice could be made based on the skill bound to first mouse button. If it's a melee skill, display HP, otherwise display MP. This would free me from glancing over upper left corner of the screen.
I know the minotaur can be killed early with enough [i]patience[/i], but it's extremely boring. I've found hit&run tactics to be most effective in melee. Because attack animation takes time, it's best to swing the weapon before enemy is in range. The enemy will walk into your swing, often be stunned for a while, and you can safely run back. So, in a way, you can overcome stat deficiency with finger dexterity. But a single misstep can cost you life. Sometimes the minotaur will hit you, sometimes not. Sometimes he'll stun you, sometimes not. When he hits, there's a chance you will never recover.
For those of you who've played Diablo1 recently - can you perform the same sort of cheesy run&attack tactics ? I mean does Diablo1 allow you to attack *in melee* before target is in range ? I think it worked only if enemy was very close, but I may be mistaken. I know you could force ranged attacks with shift, so perhaps the same could be done with melee ? If yes, then perhaps a sorceror could kill the Butcher in melee without taking any damage ?
[b]revision 306[/b]
I can't make [i]Immobilize[/i] skill work. I have Physical 3, Offense 2. I've bound the skill to mouse2. Nothing happens when I press mouse2. I tried clicking from up close and from afar, holding it down. My weapon is a rusty dagger.
I'm facing my first minotaur at character level 2. I chose Defense, I have leather armor, Heal spell and fists. The creature feels like the Butcher. It doesn't belong there unless you want players to run away... ?
When I try to walk into an impassable obstacle like a wall or pit, and I hit it at 45% angle, my character will slide slowly, while moving his legs much faster. Worse, my character doesn't even face his movement direction. This looks odd, breaks immersion and reminds me it's just a game. Some solutions:
- just make him stop completely instead of sliding. Perhaps not the most playable solution, but I don't think pressing 2 keys simultaneously is hard
- make the character face movement direction when sliding. This won't fix the "legs move much faster" issue.
On "Powers" screen, descriptions of powers are a bit misleading. For example Shock: "Requires Mental Offense 3". Initially I assumed it requires [b]both[/b]. In reality, either will do. So how about changing the descriptions to "Requires Mental/Offense 3" or "Requires Mental or Offense 3" ?
Anonymous:
Try Notrium - http://www.instantkingdom.com/notrium/ . It's free, although you may need wine if you're on linux.
Please don't implement scrolls of Identify - unless you do it in an interesting way. In Diablo games Identify is pointless past the early game (and completely obsolete in Diablo2). It's just a tax on new items, and marginally low.
If you insist on keeping Identify, here are a few ideas:
- only have it for rare items
- don't tie Identify to gold, but to something else. For example you get 2 Identify per character level.
A fairly simple feature that Diablo (and Nox) should be ashamed not to have: sort backpack contents. POWDER is a graphical roguelike, with paper doll style equipping interface and diablo-like backpack (except that items are always 1x1). In POWDER, sorting is not done automatically - but you can issue a single command to sort your backpack. Items are sorted first by class (potion, wand, scroll) then by type (healing, blindness, acid, poison...).
Add a button "sort backpack" and people will be telling you "I wish Diablo had this !". Bonus points for a stable algorithm.
I hope you won't settle for "one size fits all" solution. While consistency is nice in code, in gameplay it can lead to boredom. Variety is fun ! Jeff Lait, the developer of Powder (the roguelike game) has said he tries to only implement spells which require new code. And I think it shows !
Another way to make minotaurs resistant to excessive kiting is giving them health regeneration proportional to max health. This would make them hard or impossible to kill on low levels, but wouldn't make them more lethal or harder to run away from. A high-level character wouldn't be bothered as much by health regeneration.
More on the solution Clint proposed (reacting to player behavior): If you want to be really mean, you can have minotaurs continue advancing but from another side. So if player is swinging his weapon east, minotaur (attacking from east) goes *north*west and the attack will not hit him. But I think a less strict AI will be more fun. Let monsters make mistakes at least once in a while. It's not just that perfect AI (perfect is possible in simple situations) could be frustratingly hard. It just limits options available to player. Succubi in Diablo1 (Hell levels) were very frustrating for Warrior players, and their run away AI was by no means perfect.
pennomi:
I don't think being able to run away safely is an useless power in melee ! Or when you face 2 dangerous enemies, immobilize one to pull him away and hit a couple of times before the other monster catches up. Or heal. And when collision detection is implemented, it would be possible to block choke points with immobilized mosters. Not to mention what happens if weapon ranges are implemented.
In any case, it would be good to print a message saying why my skill doesn't work (because it needs a ranged weapon).
----------
Channel is a strange power - it's available to anyone, but it requires a magical weapon. All of these seem to be level 3 or higher (you start with 2 points). So in theory Channel requires 2 Mental, but you can't use it before you have 3.
----------
I find the current interface insufficient for melee combat. To fight effectively, I have to keep looking at 3 places on the screen that are far away from each other:
- my hit points, in upper left corner
- monster's hit points, on the top
(I need to compare the 2 above to know if I should keep attacking, run away, or heal. FLARE combat seems faster than Diablo's, it's not a big deal for ranged combat because you don' take as much damage)
- my character and enemies surrounding him, to make sure I'm actually hitting them
I have an idea how it could be improved: cursor color could be used to display your HP (for warrior types) or MP (for caster types). The choice could be made based on the skill bound to first mouse button. If it's a melee skill, display HP, otherwise display MP. This would free me from glancing over upper left corner of the screen.
I know the minotaur can be killed early with enough [i]patience[/i], but it's extremely boring. I've found hit&run tactics to be most effective in melee. Because attack animation takes time, it's best to swing the weapon before enemy is in range. The enemy will walk into your swing, often be stunned for a while, and you can safely run back. So, in a way, you can overcome stat deficiency with finger dexterity. But a single misstep can cost you life. Sometimes the minotaur will hit you, sometimes not. Sometimes he'll stun you, sometimes not. When he hits, there's a chance you will never recover.
For those of you who've played Diablo1 recently - can you perform the same sort of cheesy run&attack tactics ? I mean does Diablo1 allow you to attack *in melee* before target is in range ? I think it worked only if enemy was very close, but I may be mistaken. I know you could force ranged attacks with shift, so perhaps the same could be done with melee ? If yes, then perhaps a sorceror could kill the Butcher in melee without taking any damage ?
[b]revision 306[/b]
I can't make [i]Immobilize[/i] skill work. I have Physical 3, Offense 2. I've bound the skill to mouse2. Nothing happens when I press mouse2. I tried clicking from up close and from afar, holding it down. My weapon is a rusty dagger.
Yes, but in the meantime are playtesters supposed to run past tough monsters to be able to level up and test more stuff ? Or grind on initial level ?
Revision 306.
I'm facing my first minotaur at character level 2. I chose Defense, I have leather armor, Heal spell and fists. The creature feels like the Butcher. It doesn't belong there unless you want players to run away... ?
[b]Feedback from revision 306:[/b]
When I try to walk into an impassable obstacle like a wall or pit, and I hit it at 45% angle, my character will slide slowly, while moving his legs much faster. Worse, my character doesn't even face his movement direction. This looks odd, breaks immersion and reminds me it's just a game. Some solutions:
- just make him stop completely instead of sliding. Perhaps not the most playable solution, but I don't think pressing 2 keys simultaneously is hard
- make the character face movement direction when sliding. This won't fix the "legs move much faster" issue.
On "Powers" screen, descriptions of powers are a bit misleading. For example Shock: "Requires Mental Offense 3". Initially I assumed it requires [b]both[/b]. In reality, either will do. So how about changing the descriptions to "Requires Mental/Offense 3" or "Requires Mental or Offense 3" ?
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