replayability and a greater role for procedural content

Post ideas & suggestions you have pertaining to the game here.
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namer4
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I was recently playing with CC, and the chimera missions led me to think about how one might make them more fun to replay.

As it stands, the new missions are fun and well-constructed, but I find that on the second or third go, I know what to expect and spend a fair amount of time gearing up for them without wondering what might be in store. It seems that these missions would be a great place to play with stochastic ship and weapon configurations, given that the chimeras might plausibly use a hodgepodge of weaponry. Such a setup could lead to the player finding cool new weapons that are unique to a particular play-through, thereby making the game more replayable.

To take the idea a step further, it might be fun to apply George's idea of having risk/reward tradeoffs by allowing the player to find an infected ROM that can mutate items in potentially cool ways -- but with a certain probability of ending the game in a grisly chimeral way. If one wanted to push it further still, such a death could be worse than a typical one because it would create a dangerous new enemy for players with insurance.
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Song
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namer4 wrote:I was recently playing with CC, and the chimera missions led me to think about how one might make them more fun to replay.

As it stands, the new missions are fun and well-constructed, but I find that on the second or third go, I know what to expect and spend a fair amount of time gearing up for them without wondering what might be in store. It seems that these missions would be a great place to play with stochastic ship and weapon configurations, given that the chimeras might plausibly use a hodgepodge of weaponry. Such a setup could lead to the player finding cool new weapons that are unique to a particular play-through, thereby making the game more replayable.

To take the idea a step further, it might be fun to apply George's idea of having risk/reward tradeoffs by allowing the player to find an infected ROM that can mutate items in potentially cool ways -- but with a certain probability of ending the game in a grisly chimeral way. If one wanted to push it further still, such a death could be worse than a typical one because it would create a dangerous new enemy for players with insurance.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Also having chimera do the Luminous thing and adapt to the weapons being used against them would be neat.
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SpongeJr
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To take the idea a step further, it might be fun to apply George's idea of having risk/reward tradeoffs by allowing the player to find an infected ROM that can mutate items in potentially cool ways -- but with a certain
I love mixed blessing/tradeoff items! And even downright cursed ones. I've always liked that part of roguelike and similar games. Even when I'm cursing about the cursed item I can't unequip/uninstall, I like the game mechanic. Having a slight chance of something going wrong can greatly influence one's decisions as far as what items to use or equip, and thus even a single mixed blessing or cursed item can make a significant change in gameplay. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I've always liked these.
but with a certain probability of ending the game in a grisly chimeral way. If one wanted to push it further still, such a death could be worse than a typical one because it would create a dangerous new enemy for players with insurance.
Instadeath, on the other hand, I'm not as much of a fan of. A roll of the dice should never flat out end my game. Inconvenience me, cripple me, take my stuff... but don't make me stop playing =(

However, the idea of a dangerous new enemy for players with insurance (or future games, a la' NetHack ghosts/graveyards) is great! That seems like a great way to implement graveyard/ghost/bones like roguelikes and still maintain believability in the Transcendence universe.
I'm working on new sounds for Transcendence. Check out what I have so far: http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=825
(still a work in progress, but it does work!)
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There's no +1 on this site, so here's mine!
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FAD
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Making the Chimera like a box of chocolates would do wonders for replayability.
I would absolutely love this!
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