21 réponses à ce sujet

[raulraul12345678]

I have always found the scanning gameplay sequences a bit tedious, well nothing against them but is a diversive a bit boring.

Time for a new approach.

I think that adding gameplay mechanics  that do not focus solely on combat is a smart idea as it  brings a breeze of welcome variety.

My idea is continuing with this approach of scouting for resources as materials, items and stuff but with a different mechanic.

 

Imagine the underground of planets and asteroids made  by procedurals technology where tunnels and huge caves are created every time differently.

The player could decide to scan a planet and decide to send a small team of diggers to retrieve some artefacts deep inside the belly of a planet or, if the scanner reveals huge quantities of minerals, sending a huge drill to dig the planet and retrieve the precious metals, or even water...why not. Of course this drill has to be a sort of huge  spacecraft (I imagine it as huge cylinder) that penetrates the planet and store the minerals, water or even a huge artifact.

I think it could be an interesting idea as exploration is Always enjoyable because of the mystery involved.

also this idea could be a source of numerous missions, like protecting the driller squads or protecting the spacecraft\driller

or just be the drilling squad so to explore this huge caves or narrow underground path, using the drills to reach other unreachable parts...

imagine getting down a long hole just drilled to find a enormous cave, maybe full of water, or lava, or ordes of disgusting creatures....

 

What do you think?

[The Elcor Spectre]

I have always found the scanning gameplay sequences a bit tedious, well nothing against them but is a diversive a bit boring.

Time for a new approach.

I think that adding gameplay mechanics  that do not focus solely on combat is a smart idea as it  brings a breeze of welcome variety.

My idea is continuing with this approach of scouting for resources as materials, items and stuff but with a different mechanic.

 

Imagine the underground of planets and asteroids made  by procedurals technology where tunnels and huge caves are created every time differently.

The player could decide to scan a planet and decide to send a small team of diggers to retrieve some artefacts deep inside the belly of a planet or, if the scanner reveals huge quantities of minerals, sending a huge drill to dig the planet and retrieve the precious metals, or even water...why not. Of course this drill has to be a sort of huge  spacecraft (I imagine it as huge cylinder) that penetrates the planet and store the minerals, water or even a huge artifact.

I think it could be an interesting idea as exploration is Always enjoyable because of the mystery involved.

also this idea could be a source of numerous missions, like protecting the driller squads or protecting the spacecraft\driller

or just be the drilling squad so to explore this huge caves or narrow underground path, using the drills to reach other unreachable parts...

imagine getting down a long hole just drilled to find a enormous cave, maybe full of water, or lava, or ordes of disgusting creatures....

 

What do you think?

 

But... isn't that still just scanning planets? Just not sending probes?

[Guanxii]

Procedural map generation of caves, mines and prefabs would be fantastic. Mineral collectables though should just be one aspect of procedural maps not the entire point. I'd be more excited about the potential for legendary creatures (e.g. Thresher Maws) and random enemy/loot spawns within these dungeons (essentially) with random mineral spawns being optional crafting materials you find in crates like in me2 and have them be required for unique items & upgrades.

 

They would have to mix the procedurally generated dungeon zones/areas with some unique dungeon designs with their own unique geographic features such as lava, ice caverns, etc. to vary the visuals and build in some potential for unique platforming/light puzzles in these areas to keep exploration interesting. 

 

Speaking of mining i'm not entirely sure I'd like a full blown mining mini-game unless you had to use the Mako to extract heavy minerals/metals - it would make sense to give the Mako more uses. Perhaps the heavy mineral/metals are required for ship upgrades. Using the Mako in underground caves would be cool too.

[capn233]

The game should focus on combat.

 

People complained that planet scanning took too long in ME2 when it didn't really even take much time, so it is unlikely that adding complexity will make very many people happy.

[Monk]

I have always found the scanning gameplay sequences a bit tedious,…

Spoiler

well nothing against them but is a diversive a bit boring.

Time for a new approach.

I think that adding gameplay mechanics  that do not focus solely on combat is a smart idea as it  brings a breeze of welcome variety.

My idea is continuing with this approach of scouting for resources as materials, items and stuff but with a different mechanic.

 

Imagine the underground of planets and asteroids made  by procedurals technology where tunnels and huge caves are created every time differently.

The player could decide to scan a planet and decide to send a small team of diggers to retrieve some artefacts deep inside the belly of a planet or, if the scanner reveals huge quantities of minerals, sending a huge drill to dig the planet and retrieve the precious metals, or even water...why not. Of course this drill has to be a sort of huge  spacecraft (I imagine it as huge cylinder) that penetrates the planet and store the minerals, water or even a huge artifact.

I think it could be an interesting idea as exploration is Always enjoyable because of the mystery involved.

also this idea could be a source of numerous missions, like protecting the driller squads or protecting the spacecraft\driller

or just be the drilling squad so to explore this huge caves or narrow underground path, using the drills to reach other unreachable parts...

imagine getting down a long hole just drilled to find a enormous cave, maybe full of water, or lava, or ordes of disgusting creatures....

 

What do you think?

 

We are the pathfinder. We find paths and stuff. And peoples, who we deal with them. When not blowing them up into tiny, tiny chunks.

 

 

But... isn't that still just scanning planets? Just not sending probes?

 

I actually kinda consider this punishment for not liking the scanning enough.

 

 

Spoiler

Procedural map generation of caves, mines and prefabs would be fantastic. Mineral collectables though should just be one aspect of procedural maps not the entire point. I'd be more excited about the potential for legendary creatures (e.g. Thresher Maws) and random enemy/loot spawns within these dungeons (essentially) with random mineral spawns being optional crafting materials you find in crates like in me2 and have them be required for unique items & upgrades.

 

They would have to mix the procedurally generated dungeon zones/areas with some unique dungeon designs with their own unique geographic features such as lava, ice caverns, etc. to vary the visuals and build in some potential for unique platforming/light puzzles in these areas to keep exploration interesting.

…

 

Speaking of mining i'm not entirely sure I'd like a full blown mining mini-game unless you had to use the Mako to extract heavy minerals/metals - it would make sense to give the Mako more uses. Perhaps the heavy mineral/metals are required for ship upgrades. Using the Mako in underground caves would be cool too.

 

Huh. Would make for an interesting mini-game if they could keep it interesting. Though, not sure they'd include the Mako. It's all shiny and fast-looking now, unless of course, there were racing moments during the mentioned mini-games.

 

 

The game should focus on combat.

 

People complained that planet scanning took too long in ME2 when it didn't really even take much time, so it is unlikely that adding complexity will make very many people happy.

 

This is an RPG though so complaints about a mini-game will likely just lead to refinements in said mini-game. They really do like they're scanning so maybe if you're lucky, there'll be pyjaks to shoot while doing the "get resources" mini-game.

 

 … i wouldn't mind shooting at pyjaks for Iridium.

[AlanC9]

This is an RPG though so complaints about a mini-game will likely just lead to refinements in said mini-game.

We can always hope that the same thing that happened to decryption and hacking in ME3 happens to scanning in ME:A.

[General TSAR]

I have always found the scanning gameplay sequences a bit tedious, well nothing against them but is a diversive a bit boring.

Correct.

 

 

Time for a new approach.

And here we go.....

 

 

I think that adding gameplay mechanics  that do not focus solely on combat is a smart idea as it  brings a breeze of welcome variety.

My idea is continuing with this approach of scouting for resources as materials, items and stuff but with a different mechanic. Imagine the underground of planets and asteroids made  by procedurals technology where tunnels and huge caves are created every time differently.

The player could decide to scan a planet and decide to send a small team of diggers to retrieve some artefacts deep inside the belly of a planet or, if the scanner reveals huge quantities of minerals, sending a huge drill to dig the planet and retrieve the precious metals, or even water...why not. Of course this drill has to be a sort of huge  spacecraft (I imagine it as huge cylinder) that penetrates the planet and store the minerals, water or even a huge artifact.

I think it could be an interesting idea as exploration is Always enjoyable because of the mystery involved.

also this idea could be a source of numerous missions, like protecting the driller squads or protecting the spacecraft\driller

or just be the drilling squad so to explore this huge caves or narrow underground path, using the drills to reach other unreachable parts...

imagine getting down a long hole just drilled to find a enormous cave, maybe full of water, or lava, or ordes of disgusting creatures....

 

What do you think?

Mass Effect is a space opera action RPG, not a space mining simulator. There's already a game where you can as a space miner battling other space miners.

[raulraul12345678]

Procedural techniques would make the game unique at every play and a different experience as the underground caverns, crevasses and tunnels would be different all the times and completely imprevedible, of course mitigated with hand written content, like buildings  structures, enemies positioning and scripted events...

I won't see this idea as a mini game but a full blown new activity to do in Andromeda.

Mining is just a small part of what could be done inside a planet.

I think this setting could be a formidable source of new ideas and missions.

 

Cheers! 

[Guanxii]

Strong character driven writing and voice acting is BioWare's USP so the core of any BioWare experience will always be scripted but outside of the campaign I think we are going to see increasingly more procedural questing and exploration content from BioWare over time imo. In the future the idea of exploration in game design without heavy emphasis on dynamic/procedural content will become rather quaint.

 

It would be exciting to see BioWare start experimenting and building on the procedural exploration and questing elements in successive games to the point where we one day have endless exploration and questing with procedural-ly generated terrain, plants, fauna, hubs/stores, and a huge variety of fully fleshed radiant quests, etc. There's so much potential for procedural locations - not just caves, mines and generic prefabs but maybe eventually small settlements and spaceships/stations and beyond.

 

Crazy talk at the moment but No Man's Sky is a harbinger of the future of game design. Any developer serious about exploration should take notice. Once BioWare have solid foundations laid down in MEA from which to build upon with an engine which can scale to future hardware I wouldn't be surprised if we see BioWare and the rest of the industry slowly transition away from reliance upon static content to dynamic content generation in a big way in the next decade. If they don't they are going to be left behind.

[General TSAR]

Procedural techniques would make the game unique at every play and a different experience as the underground caverns, crevasses and tunnels would be different all the times and completely imprevedible, of course mitigated with hand written content, like buildings  structures, enemies positioning and scripted events...

I won't see this idea as a mini game but a full blown new activity to do in Andromeda.

Mining is just a small part of what could be done inside a planet.

I think this setting could be a formidable source of new ideas and missions.

 

Cheers! 

And what about the actual plot and gameplay of Andromeda?

[ArcadiaGrey]

Let Mass Effect be Mass Effect.  Not Skyrim, not Fallout 4, not The Witcher, not Minecraft, just Mass Effect.

 

Strong storylines, missions, plots, characters and an immersive world.  Not driving around a planet looking for a hole to dig in ffs.

[Draining Dragon]

The game should focus on combat.
 
People complained that planet scanning took too long in ME2 when it didn't really even take much time, so it is unlikely that adding complexity will make very many people happy.

Agreed.

Planet scanning is all drama. Just put something out and focus on the combat.

[AlanC9]

Crazy talk at the moment but this is definitely the future of game design.

Sounds awful, but that might be just my ME1 and Skyrim experience talking.

Hey, does anyone else think it's hilarious that the guy who was complaining about the lost art of psychological level design is now asking for more procedural levels?

[Guanxii]

Planet scanning has become a staple and should remain to some extent but planet scanning for minerals was the most tedious gameplay in the entire series - i've fallen asleep doing it several times. They could improve resource gathering imo by having you scan a planet to give you a general picture of the element content of the planet ahead of time and through planet scanning you uncover a description of the climate, it's environmental hazards and current dynamic weather patterns and it's various areas/regions of interest which remain highlighted on your map. These points of interest could also be quick travel locations.

 

Planet scanning on the Tempest should be rather imprecise: These points of interest could be zonal rather than directional to encourage exploration. Only nearby landmarks, resources and quests within range should be highlighted on your mako scanner as icons on a directional compass like Fallout. The effectiveness of your mako scanner could be upgradable in various ways. Locations are stored to your map after you explore them and additionally the mini-map for a planet could have a fog-of-war effect which you clear as you explore more so you have an idea of where you've been and what's left to see.

[RoboticWater]

Strong character driven writing and voice acting is BioWare's USP so the core of any BioWare experience will always be scripted but outside of the campaign we are going to see increasingly more procedural questing and exploration content over time imo.  In the future the idea of exploration in game design without heavy emphasis on dynamic/procedural content will become quaint.

I think that depends on when and where the procedural generation happens. Right now many devs use procedural generation all the time during development creating landscapes and even the skeletons of towns. They go in and touch things up after the fact, but it's great for making foundations.

 

Eventually, once the algorithms get good enough to make well designed content, I hope the gaming space will become more about better design rather than more. It'll still take a while before computers can consistently generate engaging levels and encounters without the need for a dev to do add some touches and a far longer while before those levels and encounters can have artistic significance comparable to a human.

 

In this case, I don't think we're far enough yet to randomly generate perfectly enjoyable TPS levels. Certainly not ones that evoke a deep psychological effect in the player. The most we could do is maybe patchwork procedural generation (devs make rooms with entrances and exits that get randomly snapped together), but you'd probably be able to tell when you're in the same room over and over.

[raulraul12345678]

Reply to Alan C9:

 

both concepts can coexist without being hilarious, actually I would say they enhance each other as well thought game design levels become more striking compared to a more natural and unthought procedural creations.

Also they can share the same space, a whole underground planet generated by alghoritms can be filled with human level designs adding structures, and artifacts.

The fact that the underground of a whole planet can be explored it gives a sense of enormity, much more than an empty galaxy...the fact that every exploration will be unique with surprises added  inside by skillful game designers  is thrilling...

Cheers!

[raulraul12345678]

Reply to General TSAR:

 

the forum is full of Andromeda's plot ideas.

I'm not interested in that as I don't know what at BW are up to, so I prefer concentrate with game ideas that can be implemented  indipendently.

I'm not saying that I want my ideas to be implemented; instead, I just want to give seminal ideas that can be elaborated and even transformated completely..

Elaborating a plot when we don't know anything about the game is not interesting for me, but is good that other people think about that, I Always read with pleasure their story ideas  about Andromeda.

 

Reply to ArcadiaGrey:

 

Yes, I totally agree with you, stories, charachters and interesting missions...I just supply the ground..or better the underground :-P for this important aspects...or you prefer the mission to be set on the same colonies and cities settings?...is very important to create new grounds and different settings...after the missions and stories will be more interesting...

 

Chhers!

[Arcian]

Imagine the underground of planets and asteroids made  by procedurals technology where tunnels and huge caves are created every time differently.

The player could decide to scan a planet and decide to send a small team of diggers to retrieve some artefacts deep inside the belly of a planet

The "belly" of any planet is usually a gigantic, churning geomagnetic engine of molten rock. If they've buried artifacts anywhere, it would be in the skin of the planet, where the heat and pressure doesn't instantly destroy things.

[10K]

I don't want this to become ME: Collecting Elfroot. Story, atmosphere, lore, and combat, thats all that should be focused on.

[ZipZap2000]

Ok.

What if, we get rid of planet scanning and add missions on planets. Where you can, if you decide to do them, earn extra resources. Maybe give the mission a story to follow, one like the ME2 scanning missions. But better.

[Mdizzletr0n]

If we can explore the cores of planets, I'd like it to come with a solid side quest or a few along with it.

[General TSAR]

Reply to General TSAR:

 

the forum is full of Andromeda's plot ideas.

I'm not interested in that as I don't know what at BW are up to, so I prefer concentrate with game ideas that can be ]implemented  indipendently.

I'm not saying that I want my ideas to be implemented; instead, I just want to give seminal ideas that can be elaborated and even transformated completely..

Elaborating a plot when we don't know anything about the game is not interesting for me, but is good that other people think about that, I Always read with pleasure their story ideas  about Andromeda.

So you want ideas that might completely kill Mass Effect's core gameplay and plot?

 

 

 

Reply to ArcadiaGrey:Yes, I totally agree with you, stories, charachters and interesting missions...I just supply the ground..or better the underground :-P for this important aspects...or you prefer the mission to be set on the same colonies and cities settings?...is very important to create new grounds and different settings...after the missions and stories will be more interesting...Chhers!

 

And this is the issue, different for the sake of being different without actually thinking it if makes sense in context or storywise.