PiggyPlus Mod Concept - Interactivity, Exploration, Monsters!

[wretch]

Hey guys !

Alright, some more thought on your project^^

Interactivity: You'll be able to carry a lot more objects, just like good old The Dark Descent!

Last worked on: Not started

Honestly kind of pointless, but OK.

@wretch : as this would probably decrease the game's performances, maybe you should remove some of the objects. For example, there are a lot of bottles in the drawers (I mean... what's up with all these bottles in the drawers ? Every time, I was like "damn, they sure are thursty !" )

Exploration: Most of the locked doors are now unlocked and open for exploration.

Last worked on: Not started

Probably not a good thing. Have you seen youtube gameplays of the game? People get lost enough as it is. Adding a bunch of pointless rooms will only make the game harder, and it will make it easier to get stuck, and thus pulled away from the atmosphere.

Honestly, when I look at most of the Amnesia Let's Plays on YouTube, all I see is someone running everywhere, switching all the switches they find without knowing what they do and taking every objects they find to throw them on the walls. They act so randomly and pay so little attention, I think they would get lost on a straight corridor^^
Because, honestly, AMFP is pretty straight forward.
But you have a point because there are so much closed doors in the mansion that it could become a pain to explore every room.
@wretch : as there are a lot of closed doors in the mansion, I would suggest not opening all of them because I fear this will reduce the game's performances. Maybe remove some of them, even, so the player don't end up saying "why are all these doors open and not this one ?"

More Pig! More Pig!: There will be a few extra monster encounters throughout the game.

Last worked on: Not started

OK I guess...

@wretch : I really do believe that some parts of the game could use one monster encounter.
For me, the game is almost perfect until the sewers. But, in the sewers, I was kind of disappointed that you don't really encounter any monster. The level is great, you can almost smell the stench. I really felt disgusted by this part, which is a good thing. But, fear ? Not really. That's the first part in the game where I began to think "Maybe it could be a little scarier".
There are a few other parts where I thought the same thing. But not much, so, don't overdo it^^

More Danger: The pig monster stats will be porked up exponentially, increasing the terror as the monsters now pose a very serious threat. Mandus will no longer regenerate health, relying on an alternate method of healing.

Last worked on: Not started

No. No no no no no. Don't do that. You may think a stronger monster equals a scarier monster, but that is simply not true. The player doesn't know how strong the monster is to begin with. Worse: players usually jump not when they die, but when they are hit. Being hit is scary, dying is not. If the monster is too strong, the player would die too quickly. Plus you risk making the game too hard, maybe even frustrating, completely destroying the atmosphere.

If you ask me, the best you could do is detect if the player is making an effort to survive, and make him immortal if he is. Otherwise let him die. Probably not easy to do though.

I agree on this one. Personnaly, I died 2 times during the game : on the first encounter and on the second Tesla Pig. Honestly, I don't mind that the monsters can hit me several times before dying (plus, you die after 3 or 4 hits which is not that much), they are not less scary because of that (that Tesla Pig... oh, man !).
The fact that the health regenerate doesn't bother me and it was also the case in TDD. But why not, because it could had some tension to walk in the dark with low health and a monster lurking.
@wretch I suggest you keep the regenerating health, but maybe it could be slower, like in The Dark Descent. Because if a player has low health, doesn't find health potion and must encounter more monsters that are beefed up, it can become frustrating (you know, the famous "I can't pass this f****ing part ! Every time the monster gets me, and I have no health at all ! I'm screwed ! - Rage Quit -")
As for the monsters, my only thought is that the Tesla Pig could be faster.

A few surprises: There will be 2 very special surprises. Maybe even 3! Super vague hint: One of them has something do with inventory. Let's just say I have this "something to do with the inventory" feature completely figured out already.

Last worked on: Not started

An inventory? Seriously? Truth is, since Penumbra, the inventory has been progresively becoming less and less relevant. If you ask me, it was only natural that it went away.

Even if you disagree with that, what the hell do you plan on having an inventory for, if I may ask? The game has no items for the player to store anyway.

I do agree that the inventory was almost useless in TDD.
Having one would also mean that you add several puzzles, which is not bad but, I don't know...
The inventory broke the rythm of the game for me in TDD. Everytime I had to go into my inventory to pick up the ONLY key I had to open the ONLY locked door, I thought "Please, Daniel, use it automatically. You don't have any other choice, so do it"
@wretch : Maybe only focus on the puzzles that use the physics of the engine. I totally understand why TCR didn't add puzzles like in TDD : it wouldn't make sense. We're in a factory and I don't see why some door should be unlocked with some complex puzzle. Everybody who works in here must be able to go everywhere, so, that wouldn't make sense. I think you should only play with the physics. You know, something like some broken pipes blocking a door or something like that.

Countless of minor changes: One of the many is the old chase theme from ATDD returning, as the new one is silent and does not induce the terror the old one did.

Last worked on: 2013.09.16

Doesn't sound bad, though I must say I liked how the game managed to have scary chases even without resorting to scary music.

@wretch : I already told you what were my feelings about that ^^
I love AMFP's score. If you can keep it, I would be more than happy. If you think it's best to use some of TDD's music, no problem.
But what I would highly recommand is that you don't add any music when a monster is lurking. I find it much more scary this way. I mean, MUCH more.
In TDD, at some point, it became like a routine." Alright, I hear music, so, let's look for the monster". In AMFP, with only the light flickering, I never knew if there was actually a monster, or if it was just to f**k with me. I was always tense due to that. I don't know what you thought about that, but I think you should keep that aspect. Music for chase and attack : Yes ! Otherwithse : Silence is golden

Interactivity:

I don't think I'll be able to make every single object interactable without making the game run at less than 30 fps. I'll see just how many interactable objects in AMFP I'd be able to have in a level without seriously hurting the performance.

Exploration:

One of the surprise features and the possible third surprise feature aim to add a point to exploring these new rooms. A performance reduction with all those countless of locked doors in the Mansion is possible, but I'm confident it won't get bad.

More Pig:

The extra monster encounters won't be overused.

More Danger:

It won't be that hard, I'm not making the monsters into 5000000 speed beasts that 1 hit kill you and that they always know your exact hiding spot. No, pick a decent place to hide and you'll be fine. Also, this alternate method of healing isn't going to be a rare occasion, so health regen should go.

A few surprises:

Can't say anything here without spoiling big stuff about the mod. Sorry.

Countless of minor changes:

I'm not sure if it'll be possible to reimplement the search themes. Not like I'd want them back, it's a lot creepier when you don't know if that monster despawned or if he's searching that small, dark room that you have to go past if you ever want to leave that hallway. As for the TDD music, it's extremely unlikely I'll add any more TDD tracks to AMFP.

Since many people are expressing similar concerns about some of this hypothetical mods hypothetical features , perhaps I should make a FAQ.