Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Suggestions Interface and Programming Contemplations of a Delusional Mind

Everything in the interface when it comes to inventory management should be user customiseable. A button to sort the items in an inventory is a must. But why stop there? In the options of a game you should be able to choose if you want to auto stack items or not. If you want to sort on date you got an item, alphabetical order, on type of item or most powerful weapon as far as it is known and identified and unidentified/unusuable items. That is not too hard to program methinks.

It pains me that all games have their good points and bad points or rather, limitations. Game developpers make efforts to allow the player freedom. But some bad points can so easily be avoided. These days size of a game is irrelevant. Whether it comes on 3, 4 or more CD's or DVD's, what does it matter? Of course there are production costs but in the end the buyer pays for that anyway. I rather pay more for a game that has optimum fuctionality than a cheaper one that has no such thing.

This flexibility to the player should be a standard issue in game development. But it is hard to achieve that and when it is achieved, when they claim you can do anything in the game, it is defined within specific perimeters, after all, what you do not code in won't be there. So flexibility directly opposes the direction developpers want a game to go.

The only thing to do then is to develop a parallel system, a language that players can utilise to construct the game itself. That can be done through wizards and interfaces in the game options. A set of standard changeables and parameters can be established but beyond that a player should be able to choose things like layout of the toolbars, placement of them, change styles for the frames and some colour schemes.

A system like this would consist of elements, building blokcs if you like that can be combined, added to get a certain effect. Thsi will allow variations so that each player can have his own layout. In principle it can even be used to have many different tables and paramters or stats of the core of a game, that is, the hit points system and magic systems used whether or not they are based on official rulebooks. A player could e.g. then choose what sort of game he wants to play meaning he can choose a table based on an emphasis on strength of body and magic or choose a more sneaky approach where you do much less hitpoints but get a higher experience. That is far beyond chooisng easy, medium or hard which normally just affects how many monsters spawn someplace and if they just have more HP's per creature.

Compare it a bit to the game Civilization. When you start a new game you can choose the size of the world, how old it is, how many AI players there are etc.

Another advantage is that you can choose the storyline. E.g. if the big bad nasty of the game is an evil wizard the player could choose what race he/she is and then the game would choose the appropriate dialogue files. So the whole storyline would be like a sort of html version where keywords can be changed based on the players decision. If you are in a mood to fight an orc wizard, if you e.g. like being an Elf, the game will insert the appropriate words in the text. A bit like, when you choose a name for your character that name will appear in the dialogues.

In effect the game forms itself around the players choices. besides using keywords in text you can have complete alternative dialogues. A different flavour if you like. You could not only choose between archaic dialogues as if they are Shakespearian or normal standard plain common english but also have a game that, base don the players choices, selects an order of events fitting those choices and leave out plots and storylines or add in more appropriate ones for that choice.

It sounds like you are developping many games into one and that you have to do things tripple. But conversations using keywords are very easy to write. I mean, I can write a compelling dialogue in plain english or in archaic english ina matter of minutes.

\The whole thing succeeds or falls with the tables for character advancement, that means, the level up system, how quick/slow that goes, thus the balancing of the game as the player progresses. this is just a matter of having an Excel expert around. Tables is they key. And the required calculus.

In my opinion errors in game requiring patches because spells don't work as they should etcetera is nothing more than balancing problems. In Divinity I read that many skills do not work. That is sloppy and extremely lame. Because the game is ABOUT these skills, they are a central part. The only thing you need is a connection that works properly between the tables and the engine. When that works fine the tables need to be solid as a rock.

I can envision a spreadsheet tha shows graphically in diagrams the effects of proression of player advancement. If the player gets these new skills/spells/abilities/other misc stas, as he advances a level, what will that do to the balance. That means, if he gets those bonuses will be too powerful for his enemies or not in the segment of the game he is playing in, so, in realtion to the available monsters in the current quests he can do.

What developpers only have to do is change a parameter and the spreadsheet will recalculate the effects and display it in a graph. Developpers can add as many checks to see what happens. The spreadsheet will recalculate all the way to the end through all the sections of the game.

I got this idea from neverwinter Nights, that is, a clan where I played and that in the end broke down completely. They could NEVER get the balancing right. The would ad-hoc change the abilities and stats of monsters in maps and then players who could first easily kill the goblin would suddenly find that goblin that spawned there was too powerful for their level. In the end they had to sort to weird measures like implementing new rules. Mages had to pay for certain spells or they would be too powerful.Then server wipes and then skipping levels to make those mages more playable because a rat would kill a mage in the sewers, see? Some areas were off limit to low characters because the monsters were too strong. Some maps were too easy. In the end the guild collapsed. When i suggested my approach they said it could not be done. Then someone else would say sure it can if you do it this or that way. The thing is, they didn't think it over.

If they had used mys system they could have just altered something in the spreadsheet, the tables and have a worlwide effect. And an immediate through the world balancing of all monsters.

Such a system is the core of the game and it will take the longest to create. But once you have such a system in place you can use it over and over again. Because all RPG's are simply based on stats.

What more could a player want then to be able to choose his way of playing. based on their requests to the game spells can appear or not. because simply another table would be chosen and the game would know exactly wich spells are required and which are a no no for that choice. So certain spells would not appear in the game while others would. Certain plots, weapons, same thing. Only the storywriters need to pay attention because when certain quests are not available, they have to link 1 to 3 if 2 won't be availale. In sideplots that is no big deal if they have no impact on the central storyline.

I think people do what they can. And create a challenging innovative game. But they should step outside the normal line of thinking. If you see how long it takes to develop a generic game one wonders what they are doing. I think it is possible to code anything. Programming is no more than telling a basically simple machione what to do. often you hear that the game can't do that or this. Well, that is because the code doesn't allow it. So it can be done if only the coders implemnt it. That's all! And then you need some good playtesters. And those are people who work closely with the team and know the details of the code. Not just asking people come on over and play. They need to be able to put into words exactly what is not cool and what is out of balance and their insight in development allows them to pinpoint where in the table the error is.

I mean, how could the playtesters and developpers for this game ever miss the fact that some skills do not work! And miss tha in the patch too! I believe that they lack a clear oversight on balancing issues. They repair things ad-hoc and sometimes that breaks something else or makes this or that weapon really too powerful. That is simply because they lack a smart system that shows what the effects will be.

I have many more ideas. I am filled with ideas! I wish I had the oppurtunity to select a team and head the develoment of a new era in RPG gaming. I have talked only about interface and basic progress issues for an in game character and how it could work in my vision. I will write more on a totally new magic system that allows players to combine premade spells into new ones based on magical energy. The player will then be free, as he progresses to utilise more of 5 types of energy to combine or use standardised spells that can be bought in shops.

Take care!

Vaipen

PS: Game developpers can always contact me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

nice to have u on board, vaipen. welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

we all have dreams & DD somehow is an incarnation of one. definitely it has faults & weaknesses but the larian team was new & considering the scope & breadth DD has, it is incredible that they managed to pull it off in the first place.

which is why they are working hard to rectify the known weaknesses DD has & make better games. riftrunner is the proof that they do listen to us & our opinions.

thanks for the input. keep them coming.

Hello,

Thank you for thre welcome!

I think all games start with a dream or an idea. And then the problems start <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />
There are usually plenty ideas. just look at any other previous game and make a new one. Try to improve on it. And deciding what to leave out. And so a game takes its shape. And that is why some games are real good and others much less. DD is a good game! I am enjoying it a lot! The art is awesome. Must be the best I ever saw.

But people decide what to do and what not. And that decision is often unsatisfactory to some. Who decides what a strong point is of a previous game? There can be no ultimate game combining all the good stuff and leaving out all the bad stuff.

I wish i could start a team and engineer a game. Perhaps one day...