General EDO Game mechanics foundation PVP - PVE

[lysan]

I'm sure FDEV already have the game design book written for EDO.
However we also know that things change during development, and not always for the good of the game and gameplay.

When ED started back in the day, we saw a lot of ideas regarding development of ED, the backers was even a part of this process and there was a lot
of good ideas from players and the DEVS. Some ideas looks really good on paper however when implemented they just didn't work as intended.

Lesson learned

The most import part of any game is the foundation, this is what will keep the game alive even when you played for many hours, in a single player game like GTA
you follow the storyline and when it's done there is only the foundation left, the game world around you and how it reacts to the actions the player do in this world.

There are many lessons we could learn from in ED regarding gameplay and the enjoyability of the game in the long run.

Some examples of game mechanics that was great on paper however in game it didn’t established the gameplay they aimed for.

1. Power play, great on paper, in game not so much.
2. CQC, made as an isolated game, not a part of the ED universe hence DOA.
3. Multicrew, very very raw and need a redesign a great post was made regarding this game mechanic.

Crime & Punishment

In a game like ED, GTA or even CP2077 C & P is one of the most important foundations of the game, if you don't have a good AI for this mechanic the game
will fall flat on it's belly and all the exiting and funny interactions the player could experience will not even be possible.
In CP2077 the Cops spawn right beside you, and as soon as you're out of sight they don't care.

This is not the way to do it, there need to be a deeper mechanic for this, one of the games I enjoyed was in RDR2.
Whilst you are wanted by the law in Red Dead Redemption 2, a WANTED text will appear in the top right of your screen.
While wanted, you can lose your pursuers by escaping the region, killing all nearby lawmen, or hiding and staying out of sight until they call off the search.
The red circle on the radar will indicate the direction of where the law is currently looking. If you are spotted by law enforcement you will become fully wanted again.

If you commit more crimes while the law is chasing you, more and more vicious law officers will show up to pursue you. If you have committed serious crimes before you have lost the local constabulary, they will hire a posse to chase after you across the wilderness. Commit enough murders and the local lawmen will call for the big guns - the US Marshals - to hunt you down.

When law officers approach you, you have the opportunity to surrender to them. You must be on foot, and have your weapon holstered, to surrender.
If you injure an officer of the law, or shake out of an arrest attempt, then the law will no longer attempt to capture you alive - they will shoot to kill.
The next time you commit a crime, your state Bounty will include all crimes you have previously committed in that state. Lawmen and bounty hunters will attempt to track you down unless you find a telegraph operator at a post office and pay your debt to society.

As you commit more crimes in a region, lawmen and civilians become more vigilant, eventually placing the region on Lockdown. This turns the region map red and prevents use of local shops and events until enough time passes or your bounty is paid.

In EDO something like this could be implemented, and even follow you across the galaxy as you move around, it will also help the players when people are in open as those who do the crime will be hunted more.

AI Coppers - Rescue

I don't know if EDO will have a rescue first responders in the game, in my opinion they should be there because it will make the game more fun and also keep the gameplay rolling as the player moves through the game world, side quests e.g.

We do know that there will be a police force and it will be on foot and ships as we have now, however the AI for the NPCs on foot need to be good, because this will be one of the most important foundations in EDO.

Should not make a difference if you play in Open or private groups/solo.

 

[lysan]

So after I watched the EDO gameplay, and listen to the DEVS there was some good takeaways and some where we need more information.

yes there is the same C&P system as with the ships, only natural as it should follow the commander and actually not the ship.
However the punishment for murder is just too low, I'm not talking about the money or credit you need to pay, I'm talking about how the law will hunt you.

lets say you are on a assassin mission and you are given a target, and it's only that target you should take out, but you get into a fight and take out more before you get to you target, the what? the law should hunt you everywhere in that system and paying off a fine should not let you off the hook that easy. In AC Origin you will be hunted by the "bounty" hunters that is searching for you and something similar could be done here, the problem is that most DEVS take the easy way and just spawn in a bounty hunter close to where you are, we even see that now, and something more intelligent should replace that mechanic.

Being on the run is fun gameplay, however if the hunters just will spawn in close to you it's not fun it's very annoying.

 

[lysan]

added take on the AI in the EDO gameplay video.

So I've watched it a few more times and there are some question regarding the behavior of the NPCS.

The ship lands normally, and the players get of of the ship, now as they walk into the base, and try to sneak around none of the guards seams to care.
most likely they could just walk normally in and do what they wanted until they trigger a hostel situation.

1.What would happen if you just walked up to a guard and was kind of in his face? probably they would scan you and if nothing comes up nothing happens.
2.NPCS does not try to evade, only when they are hit a few times TTK looks to be dialed down a lot.
3.None of the drones react when the fight starts? and if you look at the NPCS they kind of run in all directions even if they clearly could see where the shooting was coming from.
4.Are the NPCS on rails when in guard mode? or do they have a patrol pattern they need to follow but everything else is controlled by the AI coding?
5.The workers in the power station didn't see or hear anything? they should at least react on shots being fired as the first one was taken down.
6.We see a security ship patrolling however as the players leave they are not attacked by it?

The AI seem to be on a very low setting, going to be interesting to see if this is the norm or we can have more alert NPCS.

 

[lysan]

One more entry;

Death and respawn point

when you die you’re respawned in your ship placed in orbit around the planet or in a starport. So far so good, however from a gameplay POW this is not going to work for the majority of the players, instead of dumbing it down and let people spawn close to the AO (mission objective) we could add a new special function.

The medic

if you are the medic in your team you can revive/heal your team mates, if a player is hit so bad that he is down, the medic should have the option to heal the player back to life.

Now of course there need to be a game mechanic to set a timer on this and a bleed out function could be useful here.

when a player is hit so the health bar is at zero, he will enter a bleed out timer and if he is not healed within the time he will respawn at the starport or in the ship.

From a game play point of view this will encourage team play and also give each player a function in the team, it will also give people who like some short action a possibility to play the game and enjoy it even if they are hit and went into the bleed out stage.

It’s all about fun, that’s why we play, it’s also about getting more players into the game and this would be a good way to keep the game “realistic” and fun.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

One more entry;

Death and respawn point

when you die you’re respawned in your ship placed in orbit around the planet or in a starport. So far so good, however from a gameplay POW this is not going to work for the majority of the players, instead of dumbing it down and let people spawn close to the AO (mission objective) we could add a new special function.

The medic

if you are the medic in your team you can revive/heal your team mates, if a player is hit so bad that he is down, the medic should have the option to heal the player back to life.

Now of course there need to be a game mechanic to set a timer on this and a bleed out function could be useful here.

when a player is hit so the health bar is at zero, he will enter a bleed out timer and if he is not healed within the time he will respawn at the starport or in the ship.

From a game play point of view this will encourage team play and also give each player a function in the team, it will also give people who like some short action a possibility to play the game and enjoy it even if they are hit and went into the bleed out stage.

It’s all about fun, that’s why we play, it’s also about getting more players into the game and this would be a good way to keep the game “realistic” and fun.

Personally, I think when a person dies while on foot, I think they should appear at the nearest station having to pay for medical fees and towage of your ship, if you have one, and having to pay your fines and bounties off too.

There needs to be consequences to death, otherwise it becomes meaningless and nobody will care about dying.

 

[lysan]

Personally, I think when a person dies while on foot, I think they should appear at the nearest station having to pay for medical fees and towage of your ship, if you have one, and having to pay your fines and bounties off too.

There needs to be consequences to death, otherwise it becomes meaningless and nobody will care about dying.

That’s fine, but I still believe a medic function would be a good way of keeping players engaged, even the most hardcore ArmA mods use this to keep players in a play session.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

That’s fine, but I still believe a medic function would be a good way of keeping players engaged, even the most hardcore ArmA mods use this to keep players in a a play session.

Yup, that would be fine. If your in a wing, it would be nice to get a drag your wing mate to the ship mechanic to get him patched up in the ship. I was more thinking of when your on your own.

 

[lysan]

Yup, that would be fine. If your in a wing, it would be nice to get a drag your wing mate to the ship mechanic to get him patched up in the ship. I was more thinking of when your on your own.

Sure there should be a reason to team up.