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HOUSES WITH NOT MUCH IN VS LOCKED HOUSES.
Posts
UPRC
5516
UPRC
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CloseIf a house is going to be unimportant, then I think it should at least have an item or two hidden inside.
In Blackmoon Prophecy, probably about 2/4 of the houses that the player can enter belong to town/village elders who usually offer some kind of objective for the player to complete in order to proceed. Another 1/4 has houses which have fairly irrelevant NPCs who have nothing important to say, but there is usually treasure hidden in their homes somewhere. The other 1/4 are houses with no treasures and NPCs that say absolutely nothing of any importance.
I find that having several shops and necessary buildings rather than just two or three helps reduce the need for the mapper to add random houses. For instance a lot of my towns have the following:
1. Weapon Shop
2. Armor Shop
3. Item Shop
4. Magic Shop
5. Inn
6. Pub
Meanwhile about 90% of my towns have an elder's house as well, while about half of them will have an additional building or two (common houses or something like the Kaipo's beginner's hall in FF4).
In Blackmoon Prophecy, probably about 2/4 of the houses that the player can enter belong to town/village elders who usually offer some kind of objective for the player to complete in order to proceed. Another 1/4 has houses which have fairly irrelevant NPCs who have nothing important to say, but there is usually treasure hidden in their homes somewhere. The other 1/4 are houses with no treasures and NPCs that say absolutely nothing of any importance.
I find that having several shops and necessary buildings rather than just two or three helps reduce the need for the mapper to add random houses. For instance a lot of my towns have the following:
1. Weapon Shop
2. Armor Shop
3. Item Shop
4. Magic Shop
5. Inn
6. Pub
Meanwhile about 90% of my towns have an elder's house as well, while about half of them will have an additional building or two (common houses or something like the Kaipo's beginner's hall in FF4).
Irili
3198
I think that it is more realistic to have locked houses for the most part. After all, I don't leave my house unlocked when I go to the store. I don't even leave my house unlocked when I'm at home.
I suppose having some houses unlocked which have something hidden in them is alright though.
I suppose having some houses unlocked which have something hidden in them is alright though.
I have never understood the point of unlocked houses in RPGs. The only time I find them acceptable is when their is a treasure box, items to obtain, events, or cases where you use a lockpit to enter a house. Some people say that locked houses make a game seem linear, I think it saves time for developers whats the point of making a house if their is nothing inside of it besides NPCs that say the same thing every time you talk to them. I support Skyrim's system of locked doors at night and open doors during the day. In games like Skyrim opened houses have items that can be stolen which I find very unique and realistic. But to answer your question and summarize my rant I dont support open houses unless there is a purpose.
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
Of all the stupid topics to revive with a necropost...
Arandomgamemaker
1629
author=LockeZ
Of all the stupid topics to revive with a necropost...
After over 2 months, no less....
Make locked houses and make a lockpick item/have a Thief character. You can amek the game funnier in this way.
Or just make locked houses, whatever.
EDIT: XDD I hate when someone revives a topic because i think its alive XD
Or just make locked houses, whatever.
EDIT: XDD I hate when someone revives a topic because i think its alive XD
Sorry for not reading the entire topic, but...
LOCKED HOUSES, DEFINITELY.
Unless you're a genious in terms of mapping and characterization, people will not want to explore a bunch of houses with NOTHING (and I mean that functionally). I don't mind locked houses at all. You don't need a new map and some random NPC that says "evil people are mean" just because there's a house in your town map.
LOCKED HOUSES, DEFINITELY.
Unless you're a genious in terms of mapping and characterization, people will not want to explore a bunch of houses with NOTHING (and I mean that functionally). I don't mind locked houses at all. You don't need a new map and some random NPC that says "evil people are mean" just because there's a house in your town map.
I don't mind a few locked houses, but I like to explore town and that means some houses as well. I hate towns where all you get is a shop, inn and <insert something that is part of the plot here>. It's boring and annoying.
I play games for exploration, characterisation and plot, so I do enjoy rifling through houses and stealing stuff to aid in my journey to save the world.
Of course it can get out of hand when you have 50 houses and no treasure in sight. A good ration, imo, is 2 'dud' houses for every 3-5 treasure houses. And of those duds, one empty one is fine. If you're gonna make duds, at least make them interesting. If you can't make them interesting, make them locked, or blocked.
I like to put houses next to each other and block the doors or add a small yards or have the doors in areas that can't be reached. That way they at least look interesting on the outside.
I play games for exploration, characterisation and plot, so I do enjoy rifling through houses and stealing stuff to aid in my journey to save the world.
Of course it can get out of hand when you have 50 houses and no treasure in sight. A good ration, imo, is 2 'dud' houses for every 3-5 treasure houses. And of those duds, one empty one is fine. If you're gonna make duds, at least make them interesting. If you can't make them interesting, make them locked, or blocked.
I like to put houses next to each other and block the doors or add a small yards or have the doors in areas that can't be reached. That way they at least look interesting on the outside.
My biggest issue with houses is that I have never played an RPG where Hero walks in, Resident NPC notices, then gets thrown out by Resident NPC for barging in. And even if you have it so Hero politely knocks on Resident NPC's door, why the hell would they even let a common stranger come in their homes? (Unless, of course, Hero is a respected popular figure and Resident NPC has a deep respect for Hero because of Hero's past deeds -- THAT I can understand.)
On my Runic Cipher demo from 2009 I included about seven residences just in Sassoon City (all but one of them a big mansion belonging to the wealthiest citizen in the country). A few NPCs I had them say shit like "Who are you?" I honestly think that both "Who are you?" and any random line not having to do with your character barging in is a bit silly, and I learned from that mistake. From now on, I just have two houses tops per city/town/village. I mean, really? I know houses are fun to look at, but you do have to apply some common sense here.
Bottom line is: I suggest anyone serious about a game he or she is making to think twice on the whats and whys of putting an accessible house when most likely the residents don't even know who the playable characters are. WHAT will you have the residents say to your characters that is actually helpful and/or informative without it being danged awkward or random? And WHY are you giving a stranger access to their home?
On my Runic Cipher demo from 2009 I included about seven residences just in Sassoon City (all but one of them a big mansion belonging to the wealthiest citizen in the country). A few NPCs I had them say shit like "Who are you?" I honestly think that both "Who are you?" and any random line not having to do with your character barging in is a bit silly, and I learned from that mistake. From now on, I just have two houses tops per city/town/village. I mean, really? I know houses are fun to look at, but you do have to apply some common sense here.
Bottom line is: I suggest anyone serious about a game he or she is making to think twice on the whats and whys of putting an accessible house when most likely the residents don't even know who the playable characters are. WHAT will you have the residents say to your characters that is actually helpful and/or informative without it being danged awkward or random? And WHY are you giving a stranger access to their home?
Allen, there's always a bit of silliness in even the most serious of RPGs. After all, you are in a world where magic and monsters are an every day reality for the people who live there, and who's to say that the house owners don't themselves barge in to other people's homes when they're not in their own?
I did have an idea where people would comment on what you were doing in their house. Most of the time there were snarky lines and telling them off for going through their drawers. ("Oh no, go right ahead. Help yourself to that potion, sure. It's not like I bought it for a reason or anything. No, it's just there to make the shelf look pretty.")
I figure it's either an intimidation factor (big ass swords being wielded by skinny emo kids barging into your house and rifling through your stuff would surprise you a tad. You'd probably wonder if they were quite right in the head...) or just the law of the land.
Also:
I did have an idea where people would comment on what you were doing in their house. Most of the time there were snarky lines and telling them off for going through their drawers. ("Oh no, go right ahead. Help yourself to that potion, sure. It's not like I bought it for a reason or anything. No, it's just there to make the shelf look pretty.")
I figure it's either an intimidation factor (big ass swords being wielded by skinny emo kids barging into your house and rifling through your stuff would surprise you a tad. You'd probably wonder if they were quite right in the head...) or just the law of the land.
Also:
<@timmo> "Adventurer" (in video games) is a euphemism for "Violent kleptomaniac"
<Umm> Sorry, had to eject a stoner from the house
<Umm> Fuckhead managed to bust a door, though
<Navier> ...?
<Umm> Claimed to be "fixing" a door that was broken into being closed
<Umm> He managed to break it into being open
<Einar> why was there a stoner IN your house?
<Umm> I don't know
<Einar> You should call the police
<Einar> Real life is not video games. Having strange people wander in, dig through your stuff, and attempting to solve door-opening puzzles does not indicate they're saving the world.
Darken
3952
author=allen hunter
Bottom line is: I suggest anyone serious about a game he or she is making to think twice on the whats and whys of putting an accessible house when most likely the residents don't even know who the playable characters are. WHAT will you have the residents say to your characters that is actually helpful and/or informative without it being danged awkward or random? And WHY are you giving a stranger access to their home?
<RPG> contra's depth is an illusion, it's not sustainable for a real story
<RPG> it's just fun, with fun gameplay
<RPG> rpg players ask "where did the robot come from"
