29 réponses à ce sujet

[Galactus_the_Devourer]

I'm not particularly bothered about linear design per se. What I want is different ways of approaching a problem and creating an encounter.

Take good ol' BG2 as an example: There literally was nothing but hallways and the occasional open space in that game. (although they managed to cram in a surprising amount of diversity in terms of environment, some areas, especially in BG1, were obviously recycled, but there was a surprisingly large amount of unique statuary for example, a boon of the Infinity Engine and it's 2D maps I guess) one of my favourites bits in BG2 is the orcs you encounter in Firkraag's lair: It's just a couple of orc archers.... Except they're firing through arrow slits behind locked doors. The encounter is still fairly easy, but it shows that even minor encounter like that someone sat down and thought about. There are quite a few gems like that in the BG series, and it's something I think has been becoming less and less visible in later games: There's still a couple instances in DAO (some of the ambushes are fairly interestingly setup) but it's much more rare.

Ideally every encounter should have it's own little design session with discussions on why it should be there and what it should accomplish.

[deuce985]

Galactus_the_Devourer wrote...

I'm not particularly bothered about linear design per se. What I want is different ways of approaching a problem and creating an encounter.

Take good ol' BG2 as an example: There literally was nothing but hallways and the occasional open space in that game. (although they managed to cram in a surprising amount of diversity in terms of environment, some areas, especially in BG1, were obviously recycled, but there was a surprisingly large amount of unique statuary for example, a boon of the Infinity Engine and it's 2D maps I guess) one of my favourites bits in BG2 is the orcs you encounter in Firkraag's lair: It's just a couple of orc archers.... Except they're firing through arrow slits behind locked doors. The encounter is still fairly easy, but it shows that even minor encounter like that someone sat down and thought about. There are quite a few gems like that in the BG series, and it's something I think has been becoming less and less visible in later games: There's still a couple instances in DAO (some of the ambushes are fairly interestingly setup) but it's much more rare.

Ideally every encounter should have it's own little design session with discussions on why it should be there and what it should accomplish.

I think this is why they moved to Frostbite too. If you've played the BF games, you'll know that elevation plays a big part into the gameplay. Bioware mentioned a teaser about the combat being more strategic and tactical. It will rely on things like elevation, preparation, positioning, and chokepoints. I think this means they're going back to what DAO did where you can see the enemies before you attack. By opening the levels up more, you can plan your attacks better. Perhaps giving you multiple ways to approach? I'm interested to see what they do.

Modifié par deuce985, 07 octobre 2012 - 12:41 .

[Leoroc]

There was elevation in DA2. That secret boss in legacy most notably.

[KiwiQuiche]

Lol yeah the layouts in DA2 were pretty fail, especially when I noticed Gamlen's house was everywhere; even Sister Petrice was hanging out there.

[Vandicus]

Wulfram wrote...

If you don't do linear level designs, then people will tend to just end up going down all the paths to avoid missing out on XP and items. Which ends up being basically the same as a linear level, but more tedious.

Of course you could design a system that didn't encourage that sort of thing, and I'd love it if they did, but it would require going up against some pretty major RPG sacred cows. And in the name of spending resources on something that portions of your audience will skip, thus creating a shorter game.

Yeah that's pretty much what I do. To make matters worse in DA:O lots of the powerful stuff is gotten that way. Happens in DA2 to some degree, but not as badly. Unfortunately(imo) sounds like they're going back to "rewarding exploration", meaning more powerful loot hidden in long branching paths.