ID:113882
 
All right, now that Darkness is almost completely done, I'd like to get started on LOD. There's some issues though, such as scale, lighting, and balancing.

tl;dr There's too much to condense down, if you're really interested, it's best to read the whole thing.

Scale: I'd like to make the world and the content within it very large, but in order to do that I'd need to sacrifice a few things.

First off, the flashlight pseudo-dynamic lighting. It puts a great load on anyone without hardware rendering and it's also causing huge file sizes. If I keep it, we're looking at lag and huge downloads for updates.

Second is pixel movement, I really really want to keep this. however it seems that whoever hosts the game would have to put caps on servers of around 15 players. Most wouldn't mind this except for the fact that if the world is large then you'd want to populate it accordingly, unless the "go it alone" aspect is something that intrigues you. Then again, I might be able to "scale" how much pixel_movement is used and create a good in-between.

lighting: Like I said before, I may have to remove the flashlight lighting effects for this to work, but I can add something to make up for it. I can use a lighting system I've been working on to add light sources in the world that can be powered by the player. You won't be able to move them around but they will conform to their surroundings. (Light won't pass through walls)


Balancing: Creature encounters would be less likely, and as a result ammo and health will be much more scarce. You'll be given the ability to use a melee weapon though, so you'll never be completely defenseless. Medpacks will be few and far apart and will also heal much less health. Food will be required once every in-game day and you'll need to find some to keep from starving. You'll start off with enough rations for 3 days. Starvation will take a small amount of health every in-game hour. Luckily, food won't be too hard to find but it will be in places where you're more likely to get attacked.

There's also the possibility of weather and temperature. Too hot and you'll go into heat stroke, too cold and you'll develop hypothermia. Both will have similar effects to starvation, but can be warded off by watching your body temperature and making sure to keep cool/warm depending on the situation. Example: moving will raise your core temperature by a few degrees while sitting still will drop temperature.

Sleeping may also be necessary, at least 1 game hours per in-game day. Luckily, if you go to sleep in-game you will be able to log-out while sleeping. Once you finish sleeping your character will be saved. Sleeping will also restore small amounts of health, unless you're starving or under hypothermia/heatstroke. you can allot a time to sleep and if you move while sleeping you will wake up. If you don't sleep at least 1hr/day you will start to have insomnia, which will lower attack damage, movement speed, and other stats.

Lighting will do a few things for you. as well as making it easier to see, you will have a better chance at looting containers. Not a huge bonus, but a bonus nonetheless. Some types of lighting will also provide heat, such as fires, which is good for those cold nights. There's a higher chance of getting attacked while using lighting though, as monsters will be attracted to light sources. (though they only spawn in the dark.)

Hopefully, the more aspects that are included in survival makes the game more interesting and enjoyable.

The basis of Darkness is just a wave based shooter, but this game will be more about survival. The idea of this game is you're stuck in this area filled with monsters and you need to find a way out while staying alive. There will be several ways to "win" the game and it'll all be based on how best you can survive. Even if you find a way out within the first few minutes of gameplay, you may have to wait it out until you get the chance to make your way to freedom, so staying alive is your best bet.

Let me know what you think and I'll get started on the game ASAP. =)

I'm just going to leave this here.

http://files.byondhome.com/D4RK354B3R/d4_ASE_demo.zip

If you're interested, send me a page.