Summary at bottom, if this is too much to read (Meandering thoughts, within!)
The text tag is a good idea, but I think some players may have trouble describing their role within a group, at least at first. Perhaps a text-based hybrid solution, like a drop-down menu of selections, based off their skill choices, as a suggestion tag?
In addition to that, the selected tag could also be displayed in a LFG window. I know that the selections of skills are large, and the possible 'names' of a role within a group would be even larger. Therefore, what if this "Tag" were something the player base could come up with? Sort of a pool of names, a person could pick from, that describe that set of choices, that approximate the player's own, by at least 50% matches.
To avoid spam choices, perhaps a voting system could be passively implemented? Say a player talks with their group, they come up with a name for their role, the player would edit their choice into the list and the rest of the (full) group would have to pick it and vote yes. After that it would appear in the public group listing, temporarily, for an hour, say.
This would be available to the public in general, and would garner a certain number of votes by how many people pick yes. If it passes a certain percentage, say 70% of the population in the area online at that time? Then it would be put into the public pool of role-names for that configuration of skills, with a +/- margin. so if someone else wants to pick that role-name, they dont have to be an exact match.
Players who dont vote count as an automatic no, of course. The drop-down menu of choices would be available only when someone wanted to classify themself. Otherwise it would be out of the way, and not intruding on anyone's attention.
Player skill is important when determining a person's role within the group. Broader choices dictate, by necessity, that a player is more flexible in a role, and can easily perform several functions within the group. And Following out of that, you have player style, which is how the player is comfortable playing.
Perhaps to make a group's finding of another member, an option would be to have a player listed by their style. This could be a beneficial thing, because a group made entirely of laid-back people would have a fun time, hopefully without the odd friction element, of heads butting. Alternatively, a group of serious minded people, who enjoy challenging themselves, wouldnt be stuck with the 'casual' element that fustrates them?
But that is a shallow level of style, a most basic gameplay choice. Perhaps we were thinking more along the lines of 'Ok, this guy likes to flip around alot and hit things with ninja-like accuracy, etc". How would one say, this particular style is? Above and beyond just the casual or serious nature of their play? That could be put under a general style of "Aggressive" for example. Or someone else, who likes watching their group for AI aggro and intercepting incoming attackers, might be considered "Defensive" style.
So, to sum up things: a text tag is a good idea, to have a player self-label. One may not even need to go through the trouble of voting for 'role-name' tags to supplement that. Style would likely be the most important, overarching, concept to watch for in a group's lineup. Whether, it would be Defensive, Aggressive, Healing, Damage, or Control, etc. Lastly, a person can be a combination of a style, an Aggressive Healer, or Defensive Control.
Roles in CoS are very diverse, and simple tags like 'Tank' certainly won't work. Sure, you could probably make your character somewhat 'Tank' like, but why would you? In many MMO's the designation 'Tank' means that you have a lot of defense, can take a lot of punishment, but don't do a lot of damage. This works in a game where you typically fight very few opponents (often just one) at a time. This is not true in CoS.
The result is, everybody fights.
We're not including a 'taunt' Ability to pull all the monsters to one person, it's impractical, and really not very realistic.
There are some Abiities, like 'Hold the Line' that help warriors who put themselves across a narrow opening to keep opponents from getting past, and there are concealment, and 'web' typpe abilities, to help control some of the opponents, but no way to force all opponents to attack one character.
Anyway, this is just to point out that roles in CoS are not as narrow as you may be used to in other games. Your characters are much more complex, and capable of using different strategies in different situations, rather than one strategy for all. Therefore, each character will have a diverse set of Abilities.
As a side note, this also helps when you want to solo, or just have a small group of two or three.
So this means that when trying to fill a position in your group, there really isn't a specific 'need' since most characters will have a broad set of Abilities. When it comes to character types, you can probably tell quite a bit by just how they look. If they are dressed in plate armor, you can assume they probably favor melee combat, etc.
But, although CoS features a specific District (the Tavern District) in the Citadel as a place where LFG players can go to physically find other LFG players, they can also use the UI system. But, if we include a 3D render of the player in the LFG UI system, you could still get a 'look' at the prospective team member.
We are considering allowing players to look at the other players complete list of Abilities. This would be voluntary, meaning the player could uncheck the option and then other players could not look at this information.
But the idea of play 'style' is also important, and this cannot be seen from looking at the character, or even reading their Abilities list. So, as an option we are considering allowing any player to write a short (500 characters) description of their character. They can write anything they want to describe their style of play, what they like to do in battles, etc. Then other PCs can read this description to get an idea of the kind of team member they might be, and the style they like to play.
Since you are not implementing taunt (which I think is pretty lame) then I will conjecture that the monster AI will be more robust than an FSM that simply targets the pc with the highest aggro score.
As to the original topic, I'm thinking Human that is heavy in Shadow with some Magic.
Since you are not implementing taunt (which I think is pretty lame) then I will conjecture that the monster AI will be more robust than an FSM that simply targets the pc with the highest aggro score. As to the original topic, I'm thinking Human that is heavy in Shadow with some Magic.
Yeah, Taunt is an skill made specifically for the 'Tank' system of specific roles. Since we don't have those kind of narrow roles in CoS it doesn't make as much sense. Each player in a group can do many different roles, based on the strategy you come up with to fight a specific type of opponent. You'll need other strategies for other opponents.
So yes, the monster AI will be more robust. We use an intelligence rating that governs the options available to the A.I. Or in other words, dumb monsters act dumb, smart monsters act smart, and have far more options available.
Perhaps on the LFG UI, to reduce clutter, show the first 20 or so characters of the free text. Then if the player looks interesting, you can hover to bring up a tooltip box to show the full text. This would be a lot easier if you could just post a screenshot of the UI.
Glad to see a level of smarts being applied to mobs. So then, will there be squad-level AI as well? It's kinda lame when a mob acts the same whether you pull one or 100. Some of the more intelligent behaviors you're working on will probably offset this. However, groups should work together like squads do in FPS games like F.E.A.R.
Example: Enemy "squad" is holding a gate. Several tank-types are in front with ranged on the walls. Player with long range weapon snipes a guard, pulling him away from his post to get slaughtered. Lame. With a squad leader in charge of guarding the gate, the guard will hold position while a healer patches him up. If there is no healer and the enemy is out of range, the squad leader may pull the guards inside the gate to defensive positions so they aren't picked off.
for an offensive group say your wounded and taking cover from the ranged units behind a wall somthing they might do is keep you pinned with 1 or 2 of there ranged while the rest move to get a better postion while gaurded by melee of course this would be really E.V.I.L.
or if the morpheal ( i think i spelled it right) siege a town if you show a great front defense they might see this and try to find another way in.
oh and i have an exalent plan for fending of zombies from a town but thats mine.
Perhaps on the LFG UI, to reduce clutter, show the first 20 or so characters of the free text. Then if the player looks interesting, you can hover to bring up a tooltip box to show the full text. This would be a lot easier if you could just post a screenshot of the UI. Glad to see a level of smarts being applied to mobs. So then, will there be squad-level AI as well? It's kinda lame when a mob acts the same whether you pull one or 100. Some of the more intelligent behaviors you're working on will probably offset this. However, groups should work together like squads do in FPS games like F.E.A.R. Example: Enemy "squad" is holding a gate. Several tank-types are in front with ranged on the walls. Player with long range weapon snipes a guard, pulling him away from his post to get slaughtered. Lame. With a squad leader in charge of guarding the gate, the guard will hold position while a healer patches him up. If there is no healer and the enemy is out of range, the squad leader may pull the guards inside the gate to defensive positions so they aren't picked off.
Different monsters will have different AI. When you attack one guard it triggers them all to attack you (unless you are sneaky and just kill one without the others noticing).
Interesting idea with the squad AI, although I remember hearing that groups can work together and kill you.
__________________________________________________ In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
Comments
Summary at bottom, if this is too much to read
(Meandering thoughts, within!)
The text tag is a good idea, but I think some players may have trouble describing their role within a group, at least at first. Perhaps a text-based hybrid solution, like a drop-down menu of selections, based off their skill choices, as a suggestion tag?
In addition to that, the selected tag could also be displayed in a LFG window. I know that the selections of skills are large, and the possible 'names' of a role within a group would be even larger. Therefore, what if this "Tag" were something the player base could come up with? Sort of a pool of names, a person could pick from, that describe that set of choices, that approximate the player's own, by at least 50% matches.
To avoid spam choices, perhaps a voting system could be passively implemented? Say a player talks with their group, they come up with a name for their role, the player would edit their choice into the list and the rest of the (full) group would have to pick it and vote yes. After that it would appear in the public group listing, temporarily, for an hour, say.
This would be available to the public in general, and would garner a certain number of votes by how many people pick yes. If it passes a certain percentage, say 70% of the population in the area online at that time? Then it would be put into the public pool of role-names for that configuration of skills, with a +/- margin. so if someone else wants to pick that role-name, they dont have to be an exact match.
Players who dont vote count as an automatic no, of course. The drop-down menu of choices would be available only when someone wanted to classify themself. Otherwise it would be out of the way, and not intruding on anyone's attention.
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Style choices:
Player skill is important when determining a person's role within the group. Broader choices dictate, by necessity, that a player is more flexible in a role, and can easily perform several functions within the group. And Following out of that, you have player style, which is how the player is comfortable playing.
Perhaps to make a group's finding of another member, an option would be to have a player listed by their style. This could be a beneficial thing, because a group made entirely of laid-back people would have a fun time, hopefully without the odd friction element, of heads butting. Alternatively, a group of serious minded people, who enjoy challenging themselves, wouldnt be stuck with the 'casual' element that fustrates them?
But that is a shallow level of style, a most basic gameplay choice. Perhaps we were thinking more along the lines of 'Ok, this guy likes to flip around alot and hit things with ninja-like accuracy, etc". How would one say, this particular style is? Above and beyond just the casual or serious nature of their play? That could be put under a general style of "Aggressive" for example. Or someone else, who likes watching their group for AI aggro and intercepting incoming attackers, might be considered "Defensive" style.
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So, to sum up things: a text tag is a good idea, to have a player self-label. One may not even need to go through the trouble of voting for 'role-name' tags to supplement that. Style would likely be the most important, overarching, concept to watch for in a group's lineup. Whether, it would be Defensive, Aggressive, Healing, Damage, or Control, etc. Lastly, a person can be a combination of a style, an Aggressive Healer, or Defensive Control.
Roles in CoS are very diverse, and simple tags like 'Tank' certainly won't work. Sure, you could probably make your character somewhat 'Tank' like, but why would you? In many MMO's the designation 'Tank' means that you have a lot of defense, can take a lot of punishment, but don't do a lot of damage. This works in a game where you typically fight very few opponents (often just one) at a time. This is not true in CoS.
The result is, everybody fights.
We're not including a 'taunt' Ability to pull all the monsters to one person, it's impractical, and really not very realistic.
There are some Abiities, like 'Hold the Line' that help warriors who put themselves across a narrow opening to keep opponents from getting past, and there are concealment, and 'web' typpe abilities, to help control some of the opponents, but no way to force all opponents to attack one character.
Anyway, this is just to point out that roles in CoS are not as narrow as you may be used to in other games. Your characters are much more complex, and capable of using different strategies in different situations, rather than one strategy for all. Therefore, each character will have a diverse set of Abilities.
As a side note, this also helps when you want to solo, or just have a small group of two or three.
So this means that when trying to fill a position in your group, there really isn't a specific 'need' since most characters will have a broad set of Abilities. When it comes to character types, you can probably tell quite a bit by just how they look. If they are dressed in plate armor, you can assume they probably favor melee combat, etc.
But, although CoS features a specific District (the Tavern District) in the Citadel as a place where LFG players can go to physically find other LFG players, they can also use the UI system. But, if we include a 3D render of the player in the LFG UI system, you could still get a 'look' at the prospective team member.
We are considering allowing players to look at the other players complete list of Abilities. This would be voluntary, meaning the player could uncheck the option and then other players could not look at this information.
But the idea of play 'style' is also important, and this cannot be seen from looking at the character, or even reading their Abilities list. So, as an option we are considering allowing any player to write a short (500 characters) description of their character. They can write anything they want to describe their style of play, what they like to do in battles, etc. Then other PCs can read this description to get an idea of the kind of team member they might be, and the style they like to play.
Hmm I think ill make a Gargoyle with shadow or Jenomos with shadow or spirit.
Since you are not implementing taunt (which I think is pretty lame) then I will conjecture that the monster AI will be more robust than an FSM that simply targets the pc with the highest aggro score.
As to the original topic, I'm thinking Human that is heavy in Shadow with some Magic.
Yeah, Taunt is an skill made specifically for the 'Tank' system of specific roles. Since we don't have those kind of narrow roles in CoS it doesn't make as much sense. Each player in a group can do many different roles, based on the strategy you come up with to fight a specific type of opponent. You'll need other strategies for other opponents.
So yes, the monster AI will be more robust. We use an intelligence rating that governs the options available to the A.I. Or in other words, dumb monsters act dumb, smart monsters act smart, and have far more options available.
Perhaps on the LFG UI, to reduce clutter, show the first 20 or so characters of the free text. Then if the player looks interesting, you can hover to bring up a tooltip box to show the full text. This would be a lot easier if you could just post a screenshot of the UI.
Glad to see a level of smarts being applied to mobs. So then, will there be squad-level AI as well? It's kinda lame when a mob acts the same whether you pull one or 100. Some of the more intelligent behaviors you're working on will probably offset this. However, groups should work together like squads do in FPS games like F.E.A.R.
Example: Enemy "squad" is holding a gate. Several tank-types are in front with ranged on the walls. Player with long range weapon snipes a guard, pulling him away from his post to get slaughtered. Lame. With a squad leader in charge of guarding the gate, the guard will hold position while a healer patches him up. If there is no healer and the enemy is out of range, the squad leader may pull the guards inside the gate to defensive positions so they aren't picked off.
that sounds like an extremely good idea skipth
for an offensive group say your wounded and taking cover from the ranged units behind a wall somthing they might do is keep you pinned with 1 or 2 of there ranged while the rest move to get a better postion while gaurded by melee of course this would be really E.V.I.L.
or if the morpheal ( i think i spelled it right) siege a town if you show a great front defense they might see this and try to find another way in.
oh and i have an exalent plan for fending of zombies from a town but thats mine.
Different monsters will have different AI. When you attack one guard it triggers them all to attack you (unless you are sneaky and just kill one without the others noticing).
Interesting idea with the squad AI, although I remember hearing that groups can work together and kill you.
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten