Episode 53: Streamlining Gameplay

I have been slowly picking up the the pace again for module two as I rewrite some old scripts and conversations that were originally found in module one. I admit that this is not completely new material, in that the concepts are from the first module, but these are, however, new renditions of aspects of play that I hope will work better for players moving forward.For more information on what I am talking about, and other news, read on ...

The Sepia Images

I mentioned a few months back that I am starting to introduce the "sepia" image artwork into my modules as a DM information point, or, as I have now, a gaming aspect. Two such gameplay aspects that have now received this treatment (ignoring the informative area load screens), are the "Repair Bench" and the "Bookcase". Previously, players had to interact through some long-winded conversations and make some potentially confusing choices. Now, with the new artwork to support the actions taking place, I hope the player will be able to more easily accomplish what they are trying to do.

A) The Repair Bench

In the Althéa Campaign, some weapons are called "dead" weapons (as opposed to "living" ones), and can degrade over time. However, a PC with the correct skills can repair their weapons at one of these benches either for themselves or other party members. The beauty of the new interface is that managing this task is made much simpler. The moment a valid weapon is placed on the bench, the player is presented the new interface and options are simple. A repaired weapon in a matter of only a few clicks and a little cost in gold.

B) The Bookcase

Another gaming aspect to see a big improvement with ease of play is the bookcase. In the Althéa Campaign, a bookcase can often hide a valuable piece of written text for those who know what to look for. In the previous method to play this, a player had to switch between their PCs trying to work out which had the best chance of finding the text. Now, the player simply clicks through the shorter conversation lines and allows the game to put forward the PC most likely to find the treasure.

The bottom line is, these two conversations have been replaced with the new sepia image types, an immediate indication to the player on what to expect in play. Take a look at the two images I am going to use for these two gaming aspects below. Hopefully, as I add more gaming aspects, I will continue to apply this approach to any other gaming aspects where this will work. Furthermore, these new images and aspects of gameplay will be made backward focussed with v1.50E of module one too!

The Repair Bench Sepia Image Upon Usage

The Bookcase Sepia Image Upon Usage

Area Redesigns

As in previous weeks, I have continued to spend some time redesigning areas to work better with multi-player gaming. With my latest understanding of area load times, I have been able to reduce many of the loading times to around 10-20 seconds for module one, with only around 3-4 ranging up to a minute. Module two is probably the hardest for me to streamline, as it has some larger, more involved areas that cannot be broken down without losing the atmosphere and strengths their current designs use. However, even these I have reduced (when applying the latest knowledge), and I am hoping that the largest will not be any more than 60 seconds, much like the largest areas in module one. Furthermore, these areas are designed in such a way that when you are within them, there is a lot to do anyway. A reminder: these load times only affect MP games.

On the back of streamlining these load times, I also added a load screen timer to keep the players informed on the time remaining until loaded. It sits just below the hint comment and keeps the players updated with every second remaining, helping to alleviate the "what's happening" feeling. Check out the screenshot below .... This is from one of the largest load time areas and the seconds colour changes as it gets closer to finishing.

The New Style Load screen v1.50E With MP Area Load Timer

Module One v1.50E News

Multi-player testing has helped me find a number of minor issues with some areas of the code. They are mostly (if not all) "minor", but are a significant number to make a difference. And while quite a few are MP related only, some also address SP issues, such as a trigger not clearing down if a player approaches an area from a certain direction. It keeps forcing a conversation, which while not game-breaking is frustrating. Also, I have spent a lot of time reworking the conversations, including adding lip-flappers and animations. I had to rework them for the SP/MP shift anyway, and while I was at it, I fixed a number of typos and some logical flow. All this is being tested before the next release. As another example of a minor fix, I noticed an item in inventory would not be "compared" with a shop item if it had not yet been looked at itself. It was an extremely rare event, but did happen to me as I had equipped a sling and was now trying to compare at a store. Now, a warning comes in to say click on the shop item again and it updates. As far as any release date for this, it all depends upon how well the MP testing proceeds .. and then some more SP testing. Hopefully, I will have some more information in my next blog.

Module Two Specific

As far as module two specifically, I have continued to work on some large areas (on the back of the area redesigns), where some of the later quests take place. My next step is to redress all the module two conversations that require the SP/MP fix. I had hoped to have this done by now, but some of these conversations are very large (due to the number of quest variations) and I need to be at my most focussed when doing them. Hopefully, now I have experienced doing them for module one (which as only two left to do - and need doing prior v1.50E release), I will be more confident to manage the larger conversations of module two. I have also seen a couple of new puzzle designs that I like the look of, and am toying with including. However, they will involve XML coding, and I have to be in the right frame of mind for that too!