After playing HRH a number of times now, I have decided I kind of like the idea of time based skill advancement, and I think I'm going to steal it. :) I would like to change a few things about it though, as I have never been real comfortable with the idea of a player sitting around in a bar drinking ale, and then somehow receiving a level in 'Heavy Mace Weapon' skill, or going off and slaying a few thousand critters of some type, and gaining a level in 'Poetry' skill (maybe it was a really bad poem).
My idea is to have each skill have a variable which keeps track of how often it is used in each hour/day/whatever, and at the end of that time, the character gains 1 exp_point/level/whatever, divided proportionatly between all of the skills that were used during that time. I think this would actually work out pretty well, given a fairly large skill base, including a decent amount of skills that were 'semi-passive' skills. Things like 'Perception', 'Dectect Disguise', 'Appraise Spirits' (determine ale/wine quality), various languages, catching pickpockets and many other skills could be learned just by sitting around drinking beer in a pub.
Comments?
P.S. (to Lexy) No, this is not a suggestion :) I like HRH the way it is. Though to be honest, HRH works out almost the same as this anyway, as most of my skill points go into the things I am doing.
ID:154086
 Jun 19 2002, 2:06 pm
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Jun 19 2002, 2:12 pm
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JordanUl
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Yeah, That sounds a lot more fitting for a game, the more you use it the more it is advanced. That could be a great system, can't wait to see how it turns out!
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I was thinking that EXACT same thing....but then I thought...what is stopping somebody from using a technique over and over again? Besides a mild endurance penalty, nothing really....
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Nothing stops them, and at the end of the day they would gain 1 point, nearly all in that skill. Someone else who used 10 different skills during the day would, at the end of the day, gain 1 point, divided amongst the ten skills that they used. Each person would still only have one point, it would just be divided differently.
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Though to be honest, HRH works out almost the same as this anyway, as most of my skill points go into the things I am doing. Which is exactly my point... plus, my way is easier to code, harder to exploit, and contains less pitfalls. Consider this: not all skills can or will be used as often as others. The Parry skill might be used a dozen times in a given combat... the Pre-Emptive Strike skill can only be used once. Some of the most useful skills may be useful primarily in the fact of having them, their actual use will be rare (like, if everyone knows you have the Death Touch skill... you're hopefully not going to be using it all the time, but the fact that you have it will still have an effect.) Not that I'm trying to talk you out of the system... it has its benefits. Just pointing out some of the possible drawbacks you may or may not have considered. | |
Agreed that this would be much more complicated, but its pretty much all vaporware for me anyway, so that doesn't matter a whole lot. :)
There would have to be some sort of weighting system, though things like the 'Death Touch' skill not getting used very often don't bother me too much, as I wouldn't want skills of that power to go up very quickly anyway. Weighting could probably be built into the level advancement requirements for the various skills in some way: skills that tend to get used more frequently take a higher number of points to advance. And as pretty much all numbers will be hidden from the players, they really won't know the difference :) (You'll know your better at it when you do it better!) | |
Hey, well I also like HRH alot (great job so far Lexy!). But seeing as I like it soo much and have to much spare time between being outside and playing it I decided I was going to make a fun little (I stress little) game based on a system sorta like this one. A skill gain over time, (days and years. like every year get a couple of points). But I was thinking having it so when you want to advance in a certain skill you had to have the same ammount of ap (ability points thats part my game) as the skill's level. (I should say abilities level because no skills in this game.)Basicaly I writing to see if lexy would mind me making this little game, cause if she does then ill stop right here. A few things are though, one its set in a sci-fi theme of aliens (haha I was board wanted to draw aliens). There for all the "skills", abilities in this, are different. Over all I believe its actualy a unique tribute to HRH if anyting lol. But seeing as Lexy's HRH has inspired me to make this, I must ask permission before I go to far. Thanks, and oh yeah I can't wait till next time get to play HRH again.
P.S.:Prob won't even get that big due to the fact its just something to play when HRH isn't up. -kalzimere | |
You could have them get points over time, then whenever they spend those points on something it improves based on how much they've used that something.
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Another idea you might find interesting is to bump down the intervals at which you receive skill points, but at the same time, decrease the value of those points.
For example, say I play Hedgerow Hall -- I get 1 skill point every hour, and that 1 skill point will buy me a couple points in whatever skill I choose. Now, hypothetically of course, we try another situation, where I get 1 skill point every minute. However, I need 60 skill points to raise a couple of points in my skills. Same outcome, but a faster distribution, which gets rid of the anxiety of "waiting for the next skill point" and instead allows me to have sustained gain, removing the waiting period. Having a system where skill points are low-value would require that you keep track of floating point values and the like, though; if someone spends a skill point that will only raise a skill 0.02 points, then it will still take 50 of those skill points to raise the attribute one whole. Floating points aren't for every system, even though you can always round() the output. Personally, I like devaluing things and making events occur at faster intervals -- it's far more realistic, for example, to have a plant that grows 0.01 units every second than it is to have a plant that suddenly grows an entire unit every 100 seconds. This is dependent on how large or small a unit is, of course, but assuming that a single unit is equivalent to a month of plant growth, it is apparent that shorter intervals with likewise reduced gains produce smoother results. After all, things in life generally don't occur suddenly -- they're all done gradually. You do have to strike a healthy balance between the speed at which things are gradually modified, and the taxation of the hosting processor, though. Too many updates will slow the game down too much -- too few will make everything rougher (i.e. happen at intervals where the changes are apparent between cycles). | |