Monday, January 21, 2008
Frayed Knights: Secret Doors
Just a little tidbit from the ongoing development of Frayed Knights:
That is not a graphics anomaly. That little area where it looks like the texture doesn't line up quite right is actually a secret door. There will be an automatic search that takes place near it to let you - the player - recognize that something is not quite right (assuming the search succeeds). Or you may recognize it visually.
It's minor, it's silly, but it gives me warm feelings inside. Some days, I look at how much work the game needs, and I think, "Oh, man, this thing will NEVER come together." Other days - like today - I get a minor little victory like this, and it's so cool that I think to myself, "This is gonna be the coolest game EVAR!!1!1!" It's nice to have one of those latter kinds of days once in a while.
I've had a couple of them this last week. This is a good thing. Maybe it's a sign. Or maybe its denial. I dunno which, but it makes me happy. And makes the crazy hours I'm putting in on this thing seem worthwhile.
I was just thinking back a little, and trying to recall how many non-indie RPGs (or indie RPGs, for that matter) of the last five or six years actually include secret doors like this. Not very many that I can think of. D&D Online is one of the few mainstream games to include them. I don't know if the concern is that the players will miss them entirely - and thus miss some of the laboriously-created content the developers have put in the game. Or if they were just too hard to implement in art (one reason NWN didn't have them until a later expansion).
And for your entertainment - another great use of secret doors.
Labels: Frayed Knights, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:57 AM (Permalink)
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I bet you could work some magic with the UVs for the secret door texture where the more difficult to spot the door is the better it lines up. Some doors could even blend in perfectly.
# posted by 
: January 21, 2008 9:50 AM
: January 21, 2008 9:50 AM
TooMad - Yeah. It's just more work to make 'em line up perfectly. But that'd be a way to do it.
darius - Very true. Except it wasn't restricted to rogues. It would get to be something of a race in my group - who finds the secret door first. Since you'd do the same dungeons over and over again in that game, we rarely had any surprises there.
Well, I require a rogue in Frayed Knights, so finding this one should be no problem... :)
darius - Very true. Except it wasn't restricted to rogues. It would get to be something of a race in my group - who finds the secret door first. Since you'd do the same dungeons over and over again in that game, we rarely had any surprises there.
Well, I require a rogue in Frayed Knights, so finding this one should be no problem... :)
Just to be ornery: why does the player need to be able to see secret doors? It seems to me that the only result can be frustration, when there is obviously a secret door there, but the stupid rogue can't see it. (Or when the stupid party can't see it if the rogue is incapacitated.)
Conversely, there's nothing wrong with the rogue pointing out a seamless area of wall and saying, "There's a secret door there, honest!" Because hey, if he couldn't see things other people can't, he'd be a lousy rogue.
Conversely, there's nothing wrong with the rogue pointing out a seamless area of wall and saying, "There's a secret door there, honest!" Because hey, if he couldn't see things other people can't, he'd be a lousy rogue.
John -
No problem being ornery. That's exactly why I post these things here. While sometimes I may have to appeal to people to "try it first," my hope is that people will make me defend my design decisions. And sometimes change 'em.
Anyway - part of the issue is technical. Maybe. I've got this set up as a .dts object instead of a .dif object, which means it's going to have a little bit of a difference in lighting ANYWAY. But the .dts files have the advantage of smooth animation for opening the door. So I have a choice - either spend a lot of time trying to solve that problem. Or I simply take advantage of it, and make those little blemishes or anomalies actually be the signature for a secret door.
The search check simply calls attention to it. In case the player wasn't paying attention, Dirk might say something.
Now, opening the door can be made trickier with the equivalent of a lock or some other hidden mechanism to open the secret door. In this particular case, there's no trick - simply clicking on it will open it, whether the search called attention to it or not.
No problem being ornery. That's exactly why I post these things here. While sometimes I may have to appeal to people to "try it first," my hope is that people will make me defend my design decisions. And sometimes change 'em.
Anyway - part of the issue is technical. Maybe. I've got this set up as a .dts object instead of a .dif object, which means it's going to have a little bit of a difference in lighting ANYWAY. But the .dts files have the advantage of smooth animation for opening the door. So I have a choice - either spend a lot of time trying to solve that problem. Or I simply take advantage of it, and make those little blemishes or anomalies actually be the signature for a secret door.
The search check simply calls attention to it. In case the player wasn't paying attention, Dirk might say something.
Now, opening the door can be made trickier with the equivalent of a lock or some other hidden mechanism to open the secret door. In this particular case, there's no trick - simply clicking on it will open it, whether the search called attention to it or not.
One of the things I liked in DDO (I don't actually remember if this applied to secret doors, or just to traps) was the idea that you had to find a seperate box.
The classic movie secret door, a sliding bookcase or a spinning fireplace, was always as much about finding the door as finding the opening mechanism. ("Wait a minute, Mark Twain didn't write Great Expectations, Charles Dickens did. Aha!) That's something I would like to see more in games: finding the door being only half the battle.
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The classic movie secret door, a sliding bookcase or a spinning fireplace, was always as much about finding the door as finding the opening mechanism. ("Wait a minute, Mark Twain didn't write Great Expectations, Charles Dickens did. Aha!) That's something I would like to see more in games: finding the door being only half the battle.
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