Make the gameplay more fluid

[greengecko]

Hello

I think the current gameplay is not exactly like a hack´n slay gameplay should be like.
I think it has to become more liquid and faster.

My proposals:

-active camera (i mean when u touch the screen´s right or left sided end the camera should move with the mouse around the character because that would bring a better overview and a more active camera)

-character should walk faster..

-faster attacks (and more artistical attacks, atm its just smashing with the same move everytime..)

-more graphical attack effects, like for example exploding enemies when dying, but also cooler spells, for example the chain lightning is totally unspectacular.. (and the special attacks in general should look more spectacular..)

-well.. maybe cooler sounds but thats coming anyway i guess

-maybe the char could be surrounded by a little shiny ring on the ground or something, that would make it easier to recognize him in huge battles with many monsters.

-more colorful equpipment.. (armor should be more colorful and maybe special weapons should be shiny, for example a sword with firedamage should shine red, an enhanced weapon should be green or sth etc)

-and the last thing: I´d really like to see dual wielding. It really improves the fun and it gives the players more freedom in choosing his weapons and fighting style.



Ok, so please tell me what you think about the list.
I know that some things are difficult to implement and it is not pressing, but I think it should be implemented in future.
This is what would make Sumwars a perfect hack´n slay

[dezGusty]

Boy, you sure are active (that's good )

I for one agree that the game play should feel more fluid. But there are some targets set for the next versions; these should be proposed in addition to whatever is in the works...

- active camera... I don't get it. It's always with the character... what more to ask for? Vote down.
- character should walk faster... or add a running mode besides a walking mode. Vote up.
- faster attacks... hmm... maybe just a rework of skills would be in order. This is something I would leave for Lastmerlin to decide. Abstain.
- more graphical attack effects... extra attacks are not that easy to add, as they require animations. Spells? They will require shaders to look considerably better. I'll try to look into them. Vote up.
- cooler sounds:  there are plenty of sounds that need implementing, and it's a known issue. Vote up.
- shiny rings - not very hard to do, but not very useful (you're always in the center) and not pleasing to the eye in my opinion. Vote down.
- colorful equipment: if the graphic department has the time. Just to be clear, are we talking about 2D (inventory icons) or 3D items? Abstain.
- dual wielding: this would be a balance issue. Maybe it works for a warrior, maybe even mage, but not for an archer .  Abstain.

[greengecko]

Ah thanks fluid was the word I searched

For the active camera:
(Ok I know, I´m coming with an DS2-sample again, but I didn´t find another game with that camera)
What i mean is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9biYk3ET3E
Look at 0:57 (or a few seconds before it).
There he just touches the border of the screen with the mouse and the camera turns around the char in the left direction. If you touch the right border the camera moves round the char in the right direction.
Just an idea, but maybe this would be nice for sumwars

For the colorful part:
I mean both. If we have more colorful armor (shiny weapons?), helmets etc that would also solve the shiny ring problem. Because atm the char often just has the same color as the ground or the enemies. If he was wearing more colorful armor etc it would bring much more eyecandy and you could recognize him better in huge battles. But also the spell and power icons have to improve.. atm they just don´t look very.. beautiful. I know the designers have many things to do, but I hope one day they will work on it
(no pressure from my side!)

Thanks for your hard work Gusty

[West]

Eye candy != more colorful!

Personally I love the bleak, low-saturation color scheme of sumwars. A look like Sacred 2 or WoW or something would just be detrimental to the game's atmosphere.

Hmm, reading again it seems you're suggesting that only the player character should be more colorful. This would look weird, I think.

[greengecko]

No I just mean, the equipment honestly looks a bit boring..
I don´t mean the enemies, they look great.
And I also don´t mean that you should make the char a lantern.
But I mean something like green mage robes, yellow gloves etc.
Not light, but more colors on the equipment. I mean the char has to look special somehow and stick out compared to the enemies.. Atm that´s no the case :/
Maybe also cooler shapes like plate armor, great helm etc.

[fusion44]

A bit more color won't hurt. But we really need to be careful to not overdo it. Sumwars lives with this dark atmosphere. But I agree with the eyecandy. In my opinion, what we need is a nice effect framework that utilizes ogres particle system a little more. We need to combine particle systems and maybe ribbon trails for the most awesome effects.

[Lastmerlin]

-active camera (i mean when u touch the screen´s right or left sided end the camera should move with the mouse around the character because that would bring a better overview and a more active camera)

Sounds interesting and not to hard to implement. However, I would leave this as an option, because I am not sure that everyone likes it.

-character should walk faster..

Changes to walk speed are a serious issue for balancing and at the certain point, pathfinding. More over, the character is not THAT slow. Perhaps the animation is a bit awkward, to that is just looks like walking.

-faster attacks (and more artistical attacks, atm its just smashing with the same move everytime..)

Again, attack speed is not low (roughly the same number of attacks Diablo had as well) and this screws balancing. Again, we can work on the visuals, but I cant see a grave reason to change game mechanics.

-more graphical attack effects, like for example exploding enemies when dying, but also cooler spells, for example the chain lightning is totally unspectacular.. (and the special attacks in general should look more spectacular..)

Graphical spice-up is always possible, if someone does the artwork. If you propose (game-mechanics-wise) different spells, please post some specific ideas.

-well.. maybe cooler sounds but thats coming anyway i guess

If we get some, sure.

-maybe the char could be surrounded by a little shiny ring on the ground or something, that would make it easier to recognize him in huge battles with many monsters.

-more colorful equpipment.. (armor should be more colorful and maybe special weapons should be shiny, for example a sword with firedamage should shine red, an enhanced weapon should be green or sth etc)

Some visualization of auras or temporary effects already exists. But they might require some improvement. In general, I second that we should not aim at the color-satured comic-style of Warcraft III etc.

-and the last thing: I´d really like to see dual wielding. It really improves the fun and it gives the players more freedom in choosing his weapons and fighting style.

Requires quite some reorganizations in the core. And changes to graphic engine and more animations. In other words - wont be implemented too soon. Until then I can collect more arguments, why we really need this feature.

[greengecko]

For the speed thing:
We talked about it in chat

"graphical spectacles":
No the spells and powers are ok, but IMO they don´t look very spectactular.. Spells and powers should look like "Wow, look at that! Cool!"

And I know the shall not look like WOW
But a bit cooler (not always so boring grey and black) equipment would be awesome