Improving "Walk It Off"

We could have the action going on while the player character is stitching himself up (with a different button for actually pausing the game, of course). The obstructive menu could be handwaved as the self-surgery requiring full concentration (which it logically would).

If an enemy actually spots you in the recovery pose they might signal their comrades to zerg your position.

That could work, but only in games with a teammate to keep them off of your back. Otherwise enemies will probably use the break in fire to move up and overrun/flank your position.

Against all tyrants.

Give your character the power to summon zombies and skeletons to hold off the enemy while you stich yourself back together?...................................................................COOL!

Make an FPS where you're a half-zombified necromancer who collects enemy body parts to augment himself with! And his one fire arm will be a black pistol made of bones that fires flaming skulls, the rest of his attacks will be spells which the player must cast by drawing runes with his/her mouse.

And Regenerating Health will finally be justified since the character isn't any normal human.

edited 16th Jun '11 5:51:56 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

That would make for a more challenging game as it would require the player to avoid healing up until the room is really clear. Throw an AI partner in and we're back to the current-gen situation because the enemy will still sit under their own cover until you're back up.

In that case, you're still fighting when you need to heal up now. Perhaps Medkits, instead of healing you outright, can instead give you a temporary health boost long enough to let you finish the fight and then heal up properly?

Against all tyrants.

For spot-healing we could throw in adrenalin jabs or some other infusion that would give a decent chunk of health which gradually wears off over time even when you aren't getting hit- think TF 2 overheals but usable below max HP. The rate of decrease stacks with each subsequent shot unless the extra HP from the previous shot is depleted before a new one is applied.

I actually quite like that idea: if you get badly wounded in battle, you jab yourself with a medkit or adrenaline or something to keep you going, then once the battle is over you sit down and stop yourself from dying now that the medkit has worn off.

Against all tyrants.

Shooter, made around the premise of Squishy Mage.

Your Health bar is actually your Shield Bar; if that bar empties, th next shot will kill you.

Medkits would hardly work in such a game. Not near as justifiable as regenerating health, anyway.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

That's called Halo 2. I think 3 followed the same idea.

Though, admittedly, it does take a few more shots after your shield depletes to take out the Master Chief.

edited 17th Jun '11 12:19:38 AM by Legionnaire

Against all tyrants.

Whereas, in this one, there is no health bar. Just a Shield Bar that depletes after hits.

It might also regenerate slower if you're shooting, thus encouraging tactical retreats if you take too much damage.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

That's Halo 2. You don't have Health, just a Shield Bar. Once it depletes, you can take one, maybe two or three shots and then you're gone. Takes a few seconds for it to start recharging as well, not that it matters on Legendary.

Considering how popular Halo is these days, I'm surprised more games haven't caught on to using it.

edited 17th Jun '11 1:22:23 AM by Legionnaire

Against all tyrants.

That's absolutely brilliant. Now that I think about it, this is what many RPGs (Diablo leaps to mind) have always done to balance the player's ability to run away and buff out their injuries.

Speaking of which, this is something auto-regen RPGs (both health and mana, plus ammo in many cases!) suck out of the genre's experience for me, that feeling where you're in a dungeon, and you're faced with the choice of pressing forward, attempting to hole up for rest, or retreating, as both your party and supplies are exhausted by its trials, saving up for the inevitable big encounters. It makes dungeons really feel like a hostile, alien place that you don't belong in compared with towns or the overworld.

Eric,

Maybe, but by and large, that methodology tends to get abused by game designers. Dying and having to redo an hour long dungeon, not because you can't beat the boss, but because the million underground monkeys wore you down first? Not fun.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

& : One possibility I thought of would be to have your health/mana regenerate outside of combat as normal (possibly up to a certain percentage of your max), but doing so will gradually fill up an "exhaustion" meter that can only be emptied at a friendly town and/or Recovery Spring/Save Point, or with a rare, unpurchasable, and generally Too Awesome to Use item. Naturally, you'd still have the potions, ethers, and what have you for when you need more HP or MP right the frig now.

Anyway, I'm sure that this isn't as good of an idea as I thought it was, so I'll just shut up now :p

Everything else - awesome. This? No. Nonononononono. With a touchpad, that would work, but with a mouse it's a major pain in the ass. I've played some Hidden Object Games with mini-game parts like this, and I inevitably have to redo them a half dozen times.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

Oh, I don't mean the oldschool JRPG thing with super linear dungeons you're just supposed to grind through once, I mean something like Ultima or Might & Magic, where they're more like multilayer hives, and it's often intended to be tackled in multiple expeditions.

Eric,

I reckon Perfect Dark Zero has the right idea on Walk It Off. Some damage is.permanent ans some is 'shock damage' which works like traditional Walk It Off. It's geared differently for every weapon- the sniper rifle I prefer will take 3/4 from the health of an armored target (OHK on unarmored targets or headshots), but bring you to above half if you avoid the second shot but if someone gets to you with a Viblade (sword) there is no shock damage at all, so even if you somehow survive yer fucked. Falling damage is all shock unless it kills you.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

...but that is exactly the reason why they exist! And the strategy comes from how well you can conserve your health and mana while preparing yourself for the upcoming boss fight (if not, then flee and come back when better equipped).

That's the basic purpose behind dungeon crawling.

Their job is to hamper your way and weaken/kill you. And being forced to redo the hour long dungeon is supposed to be the punishment for dying. No dungeon crawling fan likes Death Is a Slap on the Wrist.

When it comes to this issue, it's not a matter of "''whats fun for me is not fun for you''" it's a matter of playing the game right/playing how it's designed to be played.

---

PS-as for improving walk it off.............make it a limited consumable item that heals a certain amount. And if you ever get hit while under the effect, it ends.

Allow you to carry the consumable item.

Basic idea...only use it after battle to patch up your wound. If you're stuck in an Unwinnable position...that's never happened before, but if it does happen, start again or play easy mode.

edited 17th Jun '11 7:18:54 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Just because the mechanic is intentional does not mean it is good or enjoyable.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

If an intentional mechanic isn't something the player enjoys...that means it's simply not the game the player should play. Especially if that mechanic is designed to be the core of that game. Much like how macro management is the core to Star Craft, or how rhymic tapping of the screen is the core of Elite Beat Agents.

Sounds harsh, but it's the truth. If a game depends on a specific mechanic to be fun, like say...traps/monsters killing/weakening you in a dungeon, and if the player doesn't like that mechanic, it just isn't meant to be.

It's like me with games like Elite Beat Agents and Osu Tatakae Ouendan...they LOOK fun...but I will never ever ever play them because the mechanic the game relies on is not something I'll enjoy.

...plus the fact that I understood the lyrics of the english songs about as much as I understood the lyrics of the japanese songs(aka:DIDN'T GET THE SONGS AT ALL)...and both versions did not click with me musically.

edited 17th Jun '11 7:29:30 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

@Reflextion: You might be interested in Labyrinth of Touhou which use something akin to the system you described...here's the system description...

Also, Chaos Rings does have health regen outside combat, but not mana regen...so either return to town or use recovery item...

edited 17th Jun '11 7:35:16 PM by onyhow

Give me cute or give me...something?

If non-boss enemies aren't meant to have any chance to kill you, you might as well remove them all and have a proper Boss Game. But personally, I really enjoy those scary moments in Diablo when a pack of archers or charging skeletons forces me to retreat and reassess the situation after overextending myself. Ditto Deus Ex - on Realistic, even the weakest enemies in the game posed a serious threat if you came at them without a strategy and complementary preparations.

Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.

But then people complain about this, because a large portion of the market shifts away from this, resulting in the developers shifting their focus away from that genre.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

-googles Labyrinth Of Touhou-

WAIT...WHOA...you mean these pictures I found in Gelbooru aren't just mere crossover fanarts?! They're screenshots of an actual game?!

Lemme check to see if there's an english version...

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

^ English Patch's on the wiki, just look on the main game page on the wiki...

edited 17th Jun '11 7:41:08 PM by onyhow

Give me cute or give me...something?