DriftWurld Traders: Lot's of escape, no surrendering to 'Players always win fights'

I'm working on this game with the premise that the monsters are really tough and there's just no way you can afford the weaponry that can get through their toughness.

So it's a matter of when encountering them, running away to an escape point!

On top of this you can build up your armour over time. It's an armour that takes damage, but you can also repair it over time as well. So you're trying to have this bulk of armour.

And I'm surprised but I'm REALLY jiving on it!

In retrospect, with the traditional model you HAD to provide the players the capacity to BEAT the enemy. JUST to continue playing!

I mean, it's basically forced - the monsters often can run faster than you and there are no real rules for escape hatches, let alone them existing in dungeons, let alone the capacity to craft them.

Never mind that a supposedly random system of rolling a D20 multiple times essentially isn't random - it comes down to a hard average after awhile. Either your average is high enough to beat monsters, and obviously so (so you can predict the fights conclusions in advance) or it isn't and you'll never get to the end.

And when the odds are stacked with you, how is that really a fight rather than just plain old butchery?

Alot of times I tried to dress that butchery up to try and make it more than that by making it HARD - making complex challenge mechanics for players.

But even then - I'm sick of constant killing just to advance a game!

Of course, I was really just hooked around the notion of 'no escape, fight to the death!'

While in this game, I started coding it all around escape (not deliberately, sadly!). And it works so much better! You can get better at escaping (ie, gain more armour so as to be able survive longer whilst getting to an escape point). You don't have to be able to kill every enemy, just to keep playing. And I really like it! It's just so much less a stretch of suspension of disbelief! So much less a stretch of morality (ie, the idea you're a, but you pick on things you stack the odds against). So much less a contradiction of scaryness (oh, monsters are scary - yet you HAVE to have the ability to beat them, and once you beat them it shows you shouldn't have been scared. Therefore monsters aren't scary and none of this is terribly compelling)

I actually feel excited about this concept, rather than the sort of picking my way through the tropes of combat trying to find something exciting to get at. Here I'm already at something exciting to work with, and am looking forward to more exciting ways to implement it!

Driftwurld: Ostrosaurus's!

I'm not even sure if they are called Ostrosaurus's anymore!

Implimenting things on the Driftwurld map isn't as straight forward as making single pages before. Because I have to intigrate things and put in one thing at a time without actually getting to the fun part. I mean, making a monster attack you. Making you be able to detect them around your map position. Making them form from one side of the map and slowly migrate across the map. The fun bit is tip toeing around them like they are a minefield on the play map. But that's a long way away!

I suppose I'll draw them into the map manually first, and I kind of know how to do the detection coding. So that'll get the minefield part going - it will just be a static minefield. Ideally in future they will move around once a week. And in future you will be able to fight and kill them - and then one a week there's a chance (maybe 50%) another will spawn at the far side of the map (hatched from an egg) and move in!

Driftwurld: Wurld Shaping

I'm plotting out the open world part of Driftwurld. It's one of those things where alot of technical fiddling imposes itself on actually putting in gameplay. Just being able to move around AND have some sort of movement point allowance for the day - fiddley. Indeed since I have the code for moving around, I think I'll skip the movement points allowance even, to begin with. Just get it online, perhaps with some nodes where if a player passes over it, they find an artifact (eg, gain cash).

Driftwurld: Even farmier...

I like some of the modifications I've made to the farming stage of Driftwurld.

What happens now is that every single person who has registered has a chance each day of generating goods on their farm, since they went and made the difference of registering. The bigger their farm, the higher the chance each day. Over time their farms can collect up to $30 worth of goods.

And new players can claim such goods if the other player has not visited their farm in the last ten days. Just new players though - once you aquire a crawler transport, this option isn't available anymore. You've moved on and other farmers lay claim to the goods.

This means new players can rapidly collect goods, but NOT because I just made the collecting faster, but because of the effects of other players (ie, their choice to register and to an extent how much they build their farm). This also means people who register but don't continue to play are, with their original choice in terms of registering, still part players in the lands of Driftwurld!

Also I've set a cap on how much you can harvest from your own farm per day. When you don't have a crawler, it's $2500 worth of goods. Once you own a crawler, it's a big drop down to $100 per day. This basically represents how prior to owning a crawler transport, you had spent most of your early preteen to teen life farming and so could have collected quite alot of goods. But once you get into the fast lane...crawling (?!), then you don't have that much time to spend on the farm.

I guess some people could just play the game by staying farmers and never advancing to owning their own crawler transporter. This way they could earn $2500 worth of goods each day, but what would they use it on? Aquiring hard wood logs? Once they own 200 or more of those, other players can buy from them. Which is a way of making game money directly, but not really the fastest. Though hey, maybe you only aspire to be a farmer, and it works out in a way?

In the end, I like how it's not just me, the designer, waving a wand and making things faster. It's a direct result of people signing up for the game. The code I put in wouldn't make any difference if people hadn't done that!

Driftwurld: Down on the Farm

Well, I added farming to Driftwurld, but one player expressed concerns you could just keep earning farm goods all day long. In a way I wanted it to be that way - I wanted it that on the first day the player could earn enough goods to trade for enough logs to (bear with me) trade for a crawler transporter.

I'm not sure how I want to do it? Put a cap on the first day that's high enough for the crawler trade, then a lower cap every following day?

The fact is, I'm not even sure alot of players will play it enough to earn enough to go to the next step. Perhaps I'm missing a social element - I'd banked on the ability to raid other farms as being that. Speaking of that, I set each raid on another farm as a skill roll - but I'm wondering now whether a failed roll at the start means another registered player who ceases playing? Certainly I heard that world of warcraft stats showed that if a player died when first trying the game/failed, they often ceased playing.

Anyway, might lower the requirement for a crawler transport. Though it seems players just like to latch onto the first part of the game they come across, rather than complete the first section they come across and migrate to a newer section. Certainly other browser games roughly work that way - the first section you come across, you'll be there in five hours time (with higher stats, but it'll still be the same).

On the other hand, perhaps I'm expecting too much uptake? It'd be interesting to look at the stats of urban dead and see how many players just don't continue after a few clicks. Certainly that's a game where you click about 30 times and miss the zombie pretty much most of them.

That's it, I'll put in the cliche of the moment - zombies! Have to kill some around your farm! And co-incidentally, they have cash on their rotting corpses! Hehe!

Driftwurld

Driftwuld: Armour Hunter progress update

Plugging along on the next module of Driftwurld, pretty much done except for playtesting it.

The idea in it is that armour repairs are expensive, but you can hunt supernatural creatures called Rage Beetles, who have armour scaled bodies. If you kill one, you can take the scales and use them for armour repair. But it involved owning an ATV and racing along, firing at the Rage Beetle with a rail gun as you race ahead of it's snapping jaws (they can move fast and they live in areas where there isn't alot of open ground to get away from them).

With this module, the player has just scrapped his way out of being a dirt farmer and now actually has a fair bit of power and the capacity to start doing his own thing in life without the costs of it being prohibative.

The next module, I think, will be slaying drift monsters for cash, then after that maybe a world map where you can start investing that money in things or explore around for cash.

Must code in the Drift Kings attacks at some point, though. He's the main antagonist, after all!



First posted this here, then realised I should have posted on my blog first! :)

Driftwurld: Hail to the King

This wouldn't be the hell king - more like one of his underling. Even a grunt. That's how powerful the hell king is!

You know, I've really got to code in the threat of the HellDrift King for my browser game, Driftwurld, into the raptor slayage code.

See, it's about time he showed up as a threat. Before, you were so living on the fringes it's like the roaches living inside the walls of your house, you just don't notice them. But once the roaches build a little fort...

The idea was I add a variable to the database to indicate the HellKing's notice, which also gives a message when you log in. Each day there is a chance of it going up (or...down...maybe!). Once it gets to a certain point, he simply sends a minor force to wipe out your fortification.

It's supposed to annoy you - it makes him a bad guy who actually affects the world. Unlike those in warcraft, who only affect anything once your in a raid with them.

Besides, you can buy a basic new fort for $1500, which is a sting but not the worst...

Driftwurld: Teaming with possibilities!

At the moment I'm working on a method of forming a party in Driftwurld.

The idea is that you work as a team by each of you dealing with a random scenario that you face. You then have a number of options you can choose from as a response, one of which is the right response (which you discover either by experimentation (or paying!) then need to remember it (it's a small memory game).

The response you give is actually sent to another player as a signal. When they log in, they see the signal you gave as to what action to take and they have a number of options shown to them. Their part in the team play is to follow the direction you gave them and hit that option.

If they do and you gave the right signal to begin with, you get tactical strength points, which make the battle a hell of alot easier (read: less horrifically expensive) to fight.

And likewise, they will be getting a random scenario and then sending a signal to you to respond to as they direct as well. It's like everyones giving each other commands - so everyones the leader for a moment, telling others what to do, then it switches around equally and you follow their directions. Do it all right and you grow strong as a team!

Driftwurld - Next Stage: Raptor Slayage - Online!

Pepper Box Pistol. Imagine firing that off in a burst.

The next stage of Driftwurld has been completed! I know alot of traditional browser games and mmorpgs have you tip top equiped to fight fiendish monsters right from the start. But it's not exactly hero's journey. It's especially not 'regular guy makes it big', because you start out irregular (or whatever you call 'not regular').

In Driftwurld I think it's really interesting to genuinely have a rags to riches story, where you claw your way up to even having the most basic equipment. And with this stage, you can finally turn all the pieces of equipment you sweated to get - the explosive bullets in the makeshift pepperbox pistols, the frag grenades, the Omega blades, the Omega Polymer armour! Finally, instead of being utterly vulnerable, instead of treating each breath like it may be the last, you can turn on the most lowly monster, who was so powerful over you till now, and fight back!

But it's bigger than that - things bigger than dinosaurs roam out there - Drift Demons! And their evil overlord, the King of the Hell Drift is out there, watching for any upstarts trying to live anything but a life dedicated to eking out a meagre existence until his minions come to take it all!

So what do you do? Well, if you can slay enough raptors, the local peoples will start to flourish, which gains access to weapons like the laser pistol, and following that, the more expensive Heavy Ion Blaster! With these weapons you start to tower over the raptors...and earn a slim chance at surviving the horde of Drift Demons!

Driftwurld Raptor Slaying: A nice little fort to call my own...

So, I found this public domain image of a fort - I think it'll be the one used in the next stage of Driftwurld, where your character builds a wooden fort deep in the raptor infested lands (man, I must have a hate on for raptors - but just wait, there's worse around the corner...). Once aquired It'll replace the base shack you start with. From there you can take the war to the monsters, even hiring NPC's to guard you base (which is a reference to the raptor hunting stage of Driftwurld - that's exactly what you did as a player in that stage - guard someone elses fort!)

Found the image at this site: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=5368&picture=old-colonial-fort

Driftwurld: Gunnage!

Basically, while the first step in Driftwurld raptor slaying is to get a laser pistol, the peak of raptor slaying is acquiring the WG-57 Heavy Ion Blaster Pistol! Then you utterly dominate raptor fights!

The thing about killing raptors is that it makes trading much easier, increasing the money you make from each successful trip.

However, is there a greater threat than raptors that looms? Will you dominate the raptors only just in time to start arming yourself against an even greater threat!?

Anyway, right now I'm working on the code to let your guy atleast take a shot with his pepperbox pistol (loaded with 20 explosive rounds!). Next, initiative - he who goes first has that tiny bit of advantage...

Driftwurld: Raptor Encounters

Basically in Driftwurld, either you find raptors, or they find you!

There will be three basic encounter type. The first is from long distance. Without a laser pistol you can't do much, so there will be a 50/50 chance either the encounter doesn't happen (as it takes more time to try and creep up on the raptor) or the raptor detects you and charges toward you, fangs slavering! Given that gaining a laser pistol isn't easy, this is what a new slayer will experience quite a bit to begin with!

The second is that you find the raptor while it is unaware. Sneak attack! In fact if you have a HE grenade, you can throw it - perhaps killing the raptor in a single attack!

The third is actually, the raptor was hunting YOU! You can perhaps fire off a quick burst with a pepperbox pistol, or a couple of shots with a laser pistol if you have one.

Then it comes down to melee! You have a shield made from hardwood, to hopefully parry one attack (it's destroyed on the first successful parry of the raptors jaws!). Also to protect your very expensive to repair omega hit point armour, you have a layer of normal metal - useful for getting in the way of melee attacks.

Driftwurld: Raptor Slayer

I'm figuring out the next stage of my browser game, Driftwurld.

Basically the premise is slaying raptors for power! You attempt to slay raptors to improve the conditions of the local community...which means you can make more money from them! lol! AND better weaponry starts to become available for purchase, if you kill enough raptors. With the eventual aim of aquiring the WG-57 Heavy Ion Blaster Pistol! Because raptors are actually at the bottom of the heap of lethal monsters and you need some severe firepower to break out and actually face the far nastier drift monsters that infest Driftwurld!

Coming soon - an article breaking down the ways you can encounter a raptor - whether that means ambushing, or being ambushed!

Driftwurld addition: The Greased Pig Inn!

It's faint so I can post readable text across the top of it in game

Added a new part to Driftwurld, my browser game! Basically the first chat room I've coded! I'll be expanding it latter to have a community prosperity level. All players contribute to this level and each player has an individual reptutation they work upon in it. The higher the community prosperity, the higher your reputation can be and the better weapons you can get!

But right now it's a chat with a button for your character to pick up jobs while they hang out in the greased pig inn, chatting with other players! Though it's hard to get there - you have to earn $8000 to buy some body armour, before it's safe enough to travel to and work jobs around the Greased Pig.

PS: 'Greased Pig' is a bit of a oblique reference to the warhammer quest board game...

Grunt Box

I'm working on a preset shoutbox system for driftwurld, to help give a sense of other players being 'out there' in it. So far you clash your stats against theirs, but don't talk as yet.

But I want it preset shouts and preset replies. For a start it avoids security concerns of clensing incoming data. But more importantly I just am disinterested in yet another gutter talk chat environment! Where the cultural habit of spewing out the most half baked, lowest denominator thoughts is seen as a must. I mean, may as well have a system where you can only communicate in pre set grunts! That's what it comes down to, so why not just be honest about the arrangement instead of trying to dress up the grunts with text that vaguely resembles words?

I'm going to have a chat room latter where you can type what you want. But in the meantime a shoutbox system is what I'm going for.

WIP image - walk through the forest

Little image from a WIP I'm considering for drift world. It does give a sense of dimension that text doesn't, and it sort of has other players showing up (though they are automated). Your the little guy at the bottom with your back to the camera (jeez, how many hours have we spent in a mmorpg with a digital characters back to us?). You wander up the little paths of the forest.

Not sure if I'll use it or not. What do you think?

Driftwurld - current stuff in development - escape forts and automaton attacks, oh my!

I've been working on a world map sort of thing. Using a string in each grid entry to hold a series of data, then the explode function to extract them for individual use.

Just on the test server (my computer! heh) at the moment I've got it that goblins send out magically animated wooden automatons, to steal from and even try to kill villagers - and you have a choice of fighting it directly, or trying to keep safe and just help villagers get past it without sticking your neck out (though the villagers will get hurt...). Which ever you choose, it records your game name along with the result.

Also I've made it that you can build escape fortifications - these are for escaping from raptors and drift monsters, who can bite or claw through a car engine block in one swipe, so you seriously don't have the armour to stand there (let alone hit points, you'd just be cut in half). You can choose to do a quickie job or really put in some effort make a safe set up. Again it records who built the escape fortification.

Latter I'm hoping to impliment a way your character can gather the ingrediants for thermite, then when a raptor or drift monster assaults the escape fortification trying to get at the player to eat them, they can attack back to some degree (the creatures skins are, through mystical enhancement, steel tough)

Still haven't implemented Jacks suggestion of climbing a tree! LOL. Will get to that, as it'll let you see if there are escape fortifications in neighbouring grid positions (ie, a safe route to take), and a chance to see any raptors or drift monsters.

Driftwurld - latest update

 Yay! I've added the next stage, which is harvesting crops so you can trade the food to a shady mercenary, for your first real firepower - omega frag grenades!

But the reason that power is needed is because of the raptors sneaking around!

Once you have 30 tactical skill (the skill aquisition is accelerated to this point) you can harvest.

I like what I've done with the harvest game - it combines the 'spot that your in trouble' keep your eyes peeled game I did with tactical combat along with a memory game, as the raptors north/south position is flashed ever so often and when the time comes to move, you have to remember it so you can go the other way!

I'm enjoying how I'm fitting in somewhat challening obstacles in my game (which is better than I've seen on a professionally laid out vampire game on facebook)

http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/login.php

I think this is a little bit of fun to play in itself, AND your building up your account in the game. There seem to be alot of browser games out there with many players, but the game play just seems to be clicking and not fun. I hope I can draw some people who want game play that's a bit of fun.

I've also made an no log in version if you want to try it out. Of course it's not going to record your results in the database, is it!

http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/tactics/reapol.php

And congrats to is (screen name: iz) for getting top brawl skill and top tactical skill! If you play the tactical game you can see his victories showing up on the event field!

Thanks for reading!

To Z or not to Z

Almost there with the zombie patrol game! I'm just wondering if I'll pass on having weapons in it (or pass for now and maybe do it latter, with a fair chance of never). What do you think? Essentially with what I have in mind everyone who works their way through all the weapons will end up with the same one at the end. I could do that differently, but I definately don't want to for this project.

What do you think? Zombie fighting weapons? A must have?

http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/login.php 

Developing: Zombie to the grindstone

Few, you get your PHP code to a certain size and it's STILL not done.

I've got it to the point where you can, on my offline version, fight a zombie along with a couple of other players. Faked players for now AND even in the full version it's just pulling their name and stats from the database, not a syncronous play.

Indeed that's one of the extra things to do. That I don't really wanna.

But yeah, I get to the point where the game is pretty much fun as a game and I strictly don't have any reason to make fun funner since it's already fun. Yet the extra stuff like pullling other players in, showing a highscore, accumulating favour points and possibly the big one, gathering zombie crafting gear...well, I guess I kind of envisioned because that seems to be the online game template of success. But honestly, while it does add some more fun - my game is already a kind of fun. It'd feel like making a chocolate cake - then sweating alot to whisk milk into cream to pile onto the chocolate cake - it seems a bit much AND alot more work, now I'm at this point.

I'd like to get it out there - I intended to put an offline version on my site first. I may put a barebones version on first. Though it was supposed to be a teaser for registering, so it'll be a teaser for nothing. I dunno.

Anyway, here's a link to my game, incidentally (standard plug)
http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/login.php