Game Mechanic Suggestion: Stamina as Bio Energy

Discussion in 'Feedback' started by Ikalx, Sep 4, 2010.

  1. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    Stamina is a mainstay of the FPS environment, but we have a unique opportunity and background story to capitalise on this feature - the "humans" in Empires have all been either nanotechnologically or genetically enhanced.

    Let me just introduce this idea: Stamina can be used in any number of very cool and interesting ways in Empires if we just change the idea from "stamina" to "bio-energy". There is a large justification for this in both the story and background of the entire game.

    I don't know exactly what could it be used for, but I do know it could be used as a deployment mechanism for skills and abilities that are in the game and could be worked into the game; stamina already lets you run fast as long as you have energy, there's no reason not to expand it to other things when you're dealing with the nanotech and genetically enhanced people of Empires.

    I believe this could be an very worthwhile mechanic if we can brainstorm a bit about it - there currently exists no mechanism to "activate" abilities which would drain from a temporary pool of resources. Currently we only have passive skills and nothing 'active' except sprint. Skills like "dig-in" have conditions on them, but we don't have the scope of abilities that could be activated. For instance the grenadier's passive mine detection - it's rarely useful for a 4th weapon slot, cannot be buffed because it will be overpowered and make mines useless, so it remains fairly niche. But what happens if you could make it an active skill, have it reveal mines around you - to all players on the minimap and the local players on the gui, but at the cost of stamina.

    It's not a great idea (the mine detection), i'll admit, but it touches the surface of what could be done. Short, more useful abilities, at the cost of one of the most vital resources - your movement/jump ability. It would surely make a perfect justification for being 'winded'.
     
  2. Mashav

    Mashav Member

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    Why not suggest actual abilities rather than a mechanic which, as you pointed out, is already an option.
     
  3. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    Because it needs to be pointed out as an option. I certainly wasn't thinking like this until now, and it's not like i've come up with lots of ideas that people thought were good. The one idea I did come up with which gave me this idea is touch-and-go for use (http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=13634).

    The main reason I wouldn't suggest ideas in the same thread is because people are very literal and would think the mechanism is only constrained to that idea. And I don't have lots of good suggestions right now :p
     
  4. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    So you're saying that, like the way that the engineer calc can: Build, repair, decon, revive and heal, the stamina bar would function more like in the first HL2 (I.e. not ep1+) where both Stamina and Torch (flash-light to Amerifags) shared the stamina bar under the guise of "Auxillary power". Just checking I have it right.

    It could be interesting, and it could be an interesting mechanism to toy with. It's not something I think should be considered now, but I mean sure, it should be kept in mind when thinking about new skills and whatnot.
     
  5. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    Yeah that's pretty much what I mean. Empires has a lot on it's plate right now, but I figured I should jot this down while it's crossed my mind :)

    I have a history of doing things like this:
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=3504
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=3693
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=3711
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=7112
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=9824
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=11109
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=12891
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=11694
    http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=8584

    Oh and Mashav, this is why I didn't suggest an actual ability (from the last link):
    I know by now that even if my ideas are good I may have to wait a long time for the payoff, and if they are implemented quickly they are usually taken into a format that is crazy and completely disregards the fact that I tried to make them as balanced and non-OP as possible and any concensus that the community may have reached (e.g. Vehicle Skills). And also that I might have some insight into how the idea should work.

    Some others are completely my fault - like not making patches for class identifiers and not outlining how the scout flag would work as an entity (which brutos asked me to do so he could look at it).
     
  6. Empty

    Empty Member

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    Add cloaking, super regen, and other epic abilities and hell to the yes I like this idea.
     
  7. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    Well yeah. That's the thing with this idea, if we were going to go for it, there would have to be no half measures. We'd have to give every class a set of really good abilities, if not more than 1, and this could be awesome. But it can't be a 1-off gimmick for a few features.
     
  8. Empty

    Empty Member

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    It would be a massive overhaul yes, but it would definitely make infantry combat a million times more interesting.
     
  9. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    It's not really that hard to come up with a few ideas that will make classes and general infantry gameplay better, is it?

    We can start small, but don't we owe it to mod to have a go? When we stop trying to improve the game like this because it requires changes to gameplay, haven't we effectively shut avenues that we could easily have gone down? This shouldn't be a hard feature to code, we just need a few good ideas to make it work. And better, this makes a lot of SENSE. It brings to life the environment that was created for Empires, it brings their world that much closer, and immerses you that much more.
     
  10. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    do you mean applications remotely like (im not too sure about the button mechanics, but i had to give it some clear way of "activating to differentiate it with passive activation)

    -*on taking health regeneration*-
    ---ducking + sprint while hurt drains stamina if stamina bar is not empty to heal health very rapidly

    -*on taking repair upgrade*-
    ---ducking + sprint while engy calc is empty will fill calc super fast while draining stamina

    ORRRRR

    -*on taking health regeneration*-
    ---health regeneration takes an overdrive regeneration +500% if you are lower then 45% health and not running by draining stamina automatically

    -*on taking repair upgrade*-
    ---when the calc is empty but you keep repairing the calculator will drain a set amount of stamina while your calculator will get a 10% refill, if you use it up the process repeats until both stamina and calc are empty
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2010
  11. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    This, yes, although it's a touchy subject because it has to be done carefully.

    The repair upgrade thing is a bit "what is this I don't even..." It's not going to be applied to every skill, that makes less sense.

    One thing we could use it for is as a water-breathing meter - I mean we don't even have one, do we :confused:
     
  12. Ikalx

    Ikalx Member

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    Can I just bump this for consideration? I feel like we're at a point where good ideas for this mechanic might have a chance of getting in to the game.
     
  13. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    Since when does stuff actually get implemented newly in empiresmod?
     
  14. BigTeef

    BigTeef Bootleg Headshot master

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    When we got rid of Hitler.
     
  15. ImSpartacus

    ImSpartacus nerf spec plz

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    Fridays.
     
  16. 101010

    101010 Member

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    I didn't know we got rid of him...... I thought he just worked a lot lately :/
     
  17. f1r3w4rr10r

    f1r3w4rr10r Modeler

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    And here we see another idea not making it into the game because it already gets derailed after the second post...
     
  18. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    You were around during that time and yet you still say that. Come on man.

    I support the idea, by the way.
     
  19. f1r3w4rr10r

    f1r3w4rr10r Modeler

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    I meant the second post after the bump. And yes I support this idea as well. I also want to remind people of something I suggested ages ago: Add a particle effect to someone, who's bioed. The particles are already there, I've seen the files.
     
  20. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    There should be a separate thread for this. It's a great idea.
     

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