Game Mechanics » History » Revision 3
Revision 2 (quintus, 03/19/2021 05:51 PM) → Revision 3/4 (quintus, 03/28/2021 03:21 PM)
# Game Mechanics This document outlines the game mechanics. ## 2-player system The game can be played with either one or two players on a single computer (no network computing; this would be too complex to implement). Each player receives its own view of the world, but the make progress they have to work together. Below, specificalities of 2-player mode are mentioned where appropriate. ## Camera The camera will be hooked up above and behind the player. By pressing a button, the player can switch to first-person view. ### 2-player mode In two-player mode, each player receives its own camera and window. If a machine has two monitors, it should be possible increase both windows to full size, each on one monitor. Each player's camera-related actions only relate to his own window. Cinematic scenes are always shown on both windows. If text is shown in such scenes, both players have to press the "accept" button for it to vanish, which is indicated with colours at the bottom of each text box. ## Steering The game is to be played with a game pad. In single-player mode, the player can choose which character to play (Freya or Benjamin) and change at any time. The other one is taken over by a very simple algorithm which works as follows. On switch, the player chooses one of two options: standstill (1) or follow (2). In standstill mode, the character simply stands still. If a monster approaches, it will defend with a simple algorithm, but the player is alerted in some way so he can switch back; normally, monsters should ignore the standing character. In follow mode, the character follows the player's character simply by going the closest way towards him. If the distance between the two characters gets too high, the algorithmically steered character shouts and switches to standstill mode. If the player climbs up platform or does similar difficult things, the other character immediately enters standstill mode. Switching characters should come with some nice animation and sound. Both characters always have to be on the same map (except where divided for story reasons). To leave a map, in single-player mode it is sufficient if the only player moves to a teleportation point; the other character is warped right behind the camera and then also moves through the teleportation point. ### 2-player mode In 2-player mode, each player simply plays one character. To leave a map, both characters need to enter the same teleportation point. ## World Navigation There is no world map. All areas are connected directly as only this generates the necessary feeling for the covered distances in the world. Without this, there would be no use for the Mail system. The typical overworld area should be rather small, so that a feeling of many and different areas arises (contrast this with the quite boring central Hyrule Field in Zelda's OoT). The world is not to be constructed in a star form (again, see OoT, where everyhing emerges from Hyrule Field), but in a more organic mannor with multiple possibilities to go to places (within story bounds). In a 2D world, implementing this is easy because one can easily make a screen identical with a map. This is more complicated in a 3D world, because the player may at any time enter first-person view and look into the distance horizontally, which makes it impossible to use camera bounds for map bounds. Instead, different concepts need to be used. The basic idea should be to load adjascent maps once the player approaches a teleportation point, but keep the map freezed until it is actually entered. That should make it possible to implement a reasonably smooth switch between overworld maps. Combined with distance fog it should be possible convey an impression of an organic world. As for the actual map design there should be plenty of inspiration available in real-world places. ## Time system The game has its own time flow which is decoupled from the PC clock. A day in the game world lasts significantly shorter than in real time. For comparison, OoT's days lasted 2:30 minutes (nights 1:30 minutes), MM's days and nights were each 10 minutes long. about 5 minutes. That is probably too short, but it should be bearable for the player to wait until night approaches during a single playing. The time's velocity should be chosen in such a way that travelling between the larger cities takes several days. On day/night switch on the overworld a standstill picture of the sun is shown while some sound is played; for morning dawn the new day's date can be shown as well. This little trick allows to exchange NPCs and other elements on a map without he the burden of having to animate their coming and going. In areas where this is not important (most notably dungeons) a simple message can be printed onto the screen on day/night switch. ## Inventory and Equipment ### Restrictions on equipment carrying; Mail system It is not possible to always carry around all equipment items. The player has to plan forward, namely for dungeons. Equipment can be left in taverns or similar places, where it can later be retrieved to exchange the inventory. Since the world has a certain size, it is annoying to travel large distances just to retrieve equipment left in an entirely different place. Maybe one even forgot where it was stored! The Mail system comes to the rescue. In any Mail Office one can request the items to be send here. Thanks to a well-engineered horse relay station system, all ordered equipment will always be available at the post office on the next day to retrieve. ## NPCs ### 2-player mode TODO: Define how text-based talking works in 2-player mode. Maybe display other user's text at the edge of the window?