Re: Design Goals.

At 25 Jan 2009 18:33:30 +0100, Jürgen Lerch wrote:

Hm, ok. But, say, a vampire that steps back from garlic.
Although garlic smells, I don't think it's not obvious to
someone who never heard that mythology.
But I think the solution might be to give such information
somewhere in the game, in a book about undead you can find
or an old sage you could visit or some such.

I think that there are two important things to remember when designing
such special mechanics:
1. That the player is guaranteed to try it sooner or later.
2. That the effect is visible and its cause obvious.

The first point can be realised in many ways. It can be the "obvious"
thing to do, like reading a scroll. It can be something that you do by
accident sooner or later, like reading a scroll of enchant armor while
confused. It may be something that you just have to try because of an
obvious association, like throwing gummiberries at gummibear monsters.
Lastly, it may be just some gaping hole, some corner case that just has
to be tried out by an inquisitive mind, like drinking a potion of healing
while at full health. Careful with that last one, because what is obvious
hole for the game designer might not be as obvious for the players.

One way to sidestep the problem of obscure mitologies is to provide
additional hints about the association: call the "garlic" item something
like "vampire garlic", and you can be certain that the players will try
to use it on vampires. You can be as blunt as necessary. Just avoid false
clues -- they can really spoil the fun and make players stop trusting you.

--
Radomir Dopieralski, http://sheep.art.pl
.

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