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HOUSES WITH NOT MUCH IN VS LOCKED HOUSES.
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CloseWhat does RMN think of a town with locked houses.
On the other hand what does it think of a town with houses that are there you can go in but don't have anything in them really and end up being boring.
I myself have been doing the houses but im wondering if I should just make em locked so I can make the houses that I do detailed.
On the other hand what does it think of a town with houses that are there you can go in but don't have anything in them really and end up being boring.
I myself have been doing the houses but im wondering if I should just make em locked so I can make the houses that I do detailed.
Personally, I like to explore in RPGs, so I prefer more places you can walk into. Even so, for something like a large town or city the occasional off-limits building doesn't sound like a problem, just as long as the game doesn't feel too linear.
dethmetal
990
Maybe you should read some of the articles on here about making interesting NPC's.
I used to be really against having locked doors in a town for some reason. In my current game, I made it so that in the big cities, some of the city is inaccessible and you can really only see inside the stores anyway, besides for a few residential houses. This is to represent that the cities are actually much bigger. The game world I'm trying to create is a realistic medieval one, and the game is set in a well developed country, therefore there are a few rather large cities. I prefer that than three house towns scattered everywhere.
For the villages and small towns, however, every house is accessible since they're to tiny to leave anything out anyway.
I used to be really against having locked doors in a town for some reason. In my current game, I made it so that in the big cities, some of the city is inaccessible and you can really only see inside the stores anyway, besides for a few residential houses. This is to represent that the cities are actually much bigger. The game world I'm trying to create is a realistic medieval one, and the game is set in a well developed country, therefore there are a few rather large cities. I prefer that than three house towns scattered everywhere.
For the villages and small towns, however, every house is accessible since they're to tiny to leave anything out anyway.
dethmetal
990
However, in regards to cutting off houses and feeling too linear, the cities in my game are still big maps with sidequests, so therefore you really don't feel too limited.
Darken
3952
have two types of houses, ones you cannot enter (locked) and ones you can. Have locked doors distinct from unlocked doors so the player isn't confused.
best of both worlds.
best of both worlds.
I believe the door indicator system was used in the first Mother game (or Earthbound Zero). I think circular doors indicated a building you could enter, whereas square doors indicated a house that was just for show.
Alouroua
77
Occasionally having locked doors (especially for homes) lends a bit more to realism. People don't generally let strangers barge into their home, I would assume.
Blitzen
3253
The classic and fairest mode of refusal of entry into a decorative map-piece house is to not put a visible door on it at all.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I'm not really sure why RPGs even let you go into people's houses, other than "because the FF series did it first". I mean, I can understand it if it's a plot-relevant location. In FF4 you could enter Cid and Rosa's houses in Baron, the house in Kippo where Rosa was being nursed back to health, and I think maybe three or four random houses in other towns. All of them had important NPCs or information in them that didn't make sense to be outside - there was one house you could enter for example which was owned by an astronomer and contained a telescope pointed at the moon. But houses for random shitheads? Even though I did it in my own game, I have to admit I don't really see the point.
Logical reasoning aside, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I think that being able to enter houses makes the town feel small while not being able to enter them makes the town feel large. In an area where places are blocked off, I feel like there is more to the world than just what I'm seeing. In an area where I can go everywhere, I feel like there must be nothing else.
Logical reasoning aside, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I think that being able to enter houses makes the town feel small while not being able to enter them makes the town feel large. In an area where places are blocked off, I feel like there is more to the world than just what I'm seeing. In an area where I can go everywhere, I feel like there must be nothing else.
I see your point, though I prefer being able to 'go off the beaten path' whenever I can in an RPG, and I think a location can be appreciated all by itself even if there isn't anything there.
For example, in the game Deadly Premonition there are really only a dozen or so locations that are relevant to the plot, but the entire town is modeled down to the street level, with lots of side areas with little to nothing in them. Had the game featured access only to the locations which mattered, the town of Greenvale would have seemed very restrictive.
Of course, all the non-essential buildings can't be entered, so there's that too.
For example, in the game Deadly Premonition there are really only a dozen or so locations that are relevant to the plot, but the entire town is modeled down to the street level, with lots of side areas with little to nothing in them. Had the game featured access only to the locations which mattered, the town of Greenvale would have seemed very restrictive.
Of course, all the non-essential buildings can't be entered, so there's that too.
Darkflamewolf
2178
My game is a bit of both, each NPC has a schedule and their house will be locked at various times of the day. And the treasure chests inside those houses can only be opened when they are either gone or sleeping.
Snes game Robotrek lets you ring the doorbells first before entering.... That might be a better solution?
Zephyr
1241
Protagonists are such bastards. Invading people's homes and looting them of valuables.
I remember a city I made in a now scrapped project I worked on over 2 years ago.
It was a big city and all the residential buildings had password-locked doors. Some houses you could actually enter if you obtained the passwords, but most you couldn't.
I remember a city I made in a now scrapped project I worked on over 2 years ago.
It was a big city and all the residential buildings had password-locked doors. Some houses you could actually enter if you obtained the passwords, but most you couldn't.
I was going to echo what Blitzen said. Locked doors usually lead me to believe can open them with the correct key.
Players get pissed off if you forget to actually tell them the door's locked, though.Well, this is largely because the first half-dozen doors in that neighborhood were locked, and since they weren't labeled any differently than doors that could be opened, I just assumed that -all- doors were aesthetic only and couldn't be opened.
Simple, make a way to differentiate between locked and unlocked doors.
A big lock on the door graphic, or just make all the locked doors a different color. Like say:
Wooden door: Always unlocked
Wooden door with a lockpad: Locked, but can be opened with a key "Hmm, if only I had a key...."
Wooden door with a red lock: Never can be unlocked "No matter how much I try, I'm not gonna get in here. Not worth it."
For a simple example. Just keep the rules consistent, if not players will be checking every single one when they can just skip over them if they can easily tell it's locked and won't be going in.
A big lock on the door graphic, or just make all the locked doors a different color. Like say:
Wooden door: Always unlocked
Wooden door with a lockpad: Locked, but can be opened with a key "Hmm, if only I had a key...."
Wooden door with a red lock: Never can be unlocked "No matter how much I try, I'm not gonna get in here. Not worth it."
For a simple example. Just keep the rules consistent, if not players will be checking every single one when they can just skip over them if they can easily tell it's locked and won't be going in.
EnderX
562
Depends on a few factors. I'm hoping to come up with a goodly number of detailed houses - but the project which this is for only takes place within a single town.
Ocean's suggestion is a good one. I do have a question for you though, Ocean - how would you mark a situationally accessible location? Say, you can only go into this house if you have at least one of party members A, D, or F in your party, where there are enough party members that the player might not?
Ocean's suggestion is a good one. I do have a question for you though, Ocean - how would you mark a situationally accessible location? Say, you can only go into this house if you have at least one of party members A, D, or F in your party, where there are enough party members that the player might not?
Welll, I'd need a reason why you can only enter that house if you have those members in it. Are they related and that's their home? If so, you can probably put a name plate and have them introduce their house (and make it special looking in some way to make it more recognizable) so that the player can remember that their house is there, as well as putting in the dialogue that they would like to return on occasion because they get mail (free goodies for the player) or whatever! Maybe then you'll want it locked when they aren't around, and door open when they are.
There are other ways but yeah, you'll want to think of what the situation is and how you can remind players. Maybe even in that particular case, a party member will ask you after a few missions to return to the house, but still be optional. All up to you.
There are other ways but yeah, you'll want to think of what the situation is and how you can remind players. Maybe even in that particular case, a party member will ask you after a few missions to return to the house, but still be optional. All up to you.
Basically you can also have people that you talk to who explains things about certain houses, and their text color when they mention a name of a person who owns it, so they will remember that part when they find the character.
LA Noire is a good example of doing this. Golden knobbed doors can be visited, silver knobbed doors can't. It does impose a bit of linearity but I feel useless houses add atmosphere, but there ideally should be something pragmatic about them. Information, secrets, chests, atmosphere, are some justifications. There should be a reason behind the decisions you make, and how it affects the player/game/gaming experience. It is part of the responsibility that we as game makers take on an omniscient perspective while designing, and think of every possible situation we may put the player in.
