Hit-Point Dilemma

Discussion in 'Clockwork Empires General' started by Triskelli, Oct 10, 2012.

?

Ideally, how would you want unit damage handled?

  1. Health Points

    17.9%
  2. Limb Injuries

    82.1%
  1. EleSigma

    EleSigma Member

    Is it possible to have some sort of limb damage though? Something like being shot in the right arm causes a soldier to drop his/her pistol and is unable to use that arm or two handed tools until he gets medical treatment, or being shot in the leg causes the soldier to be unable to run?

    Things like that, that wouldn't require animations of limbs getting blown off and hopping around. Rather just status effects.
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  2. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    Such things are possible and there might be Schemes afoot. ... We can probably talk about that in a blog post sometime ...
     
    Kazeto and EleSigma like this.
  3. EleSigma

    EleSigma Member

    I like schemes that also double as a foot. :p
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  4. Gorbax

    Gorbax Member

    Afoot and aloof are a few of my favourite words
     
  5. Razorsharp

    Razorsharp Member

    Yep, that would be perfect! Something simple, like stat reduction for damaged limbs will atleast add simple depth in to combat (which, i'm hoping, will impress)
     
  6. blackdaze

    blackdaze Member

    My idea would be that injuries could easily be assigned with arbitrary values (arm broken, liver punctured, eye poked) and just add blood to the equation. It could open the possibility for cog-based limb/heart replacements parts. We know that their diagnoses are always accurate so minor injuries, fatal injury or some slight scratches and paper cuts could all require serious experimenta...err...surgery with cog replacements.

    I imagine (since I'm not an artist) that wouldn't be terribly expensive as far as art goes and could just be reskins. If most citizens legs aren't showing, then arms would be the only thing to draw. Internal wounds wouldn't be an issue because they could be abstracted on a stat sheet. As far as drawing the injuries, just have to have players or limbs in three states: bandaged, bloodied, and experimentally replaced. All would be reskins since finer player details could be obfuscated by the perspective and/or distance from the camera.

    Then again I'm not a video game programmer/artist so I have no idea how hard something like that would be...
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2014
    Vitellozzo likes this.
  7. SangerZonvolt

    SangerZonvolt Member

    Well I think slaping a blood texture on the injured body part shouldnt be that hard...
     
  8. Nicholas

    Nicholas Technology Director Staff Member

    Good grief, that's a lot of votes for limb injuries.
     
  9. Soon all the colonists will be walking around with peg legs and hook hands
     
    Vitellozzo likes this.
  10. Wootah

    Wootah Member

    We understand that the animating of injuries would be a nightmare. But if you had leg injuries that made them move slower and arm intjuries that made them perform their duties (pickling fungus) a lot slower, that would be kind of cool. Or maybe it wouldn't. It might just make the game feel more clunky.

    But we trust you to make it the most fun possible.
     
    convolutedthinker likes this.
  11. Razorsharp

    Razorsharp Member

    Hell yes, just make sure this doesn't impare the production of clockwork empires. I am REALLY expecting this game to deliver, and i usually don't fork out money for games, but i would be more than happy to pay twice for this if it has a metascore of atleast 75 (yes, i actually look at metacritic before deciding on whether i want to buy a game or play it on a friends/dorm mates comp)
     
  12. I think limb injuries instead of hit points would be fun, too.
     
    Vitellozzo likes this.
  13. Stuthulhu

    Stuthulhu Member

    Could it be that we've simply tapped into the reservoir of hidden limb hatred that seethes within us all? Oh how I have loathed my two left feet....
     
  14. Ghostwoods

    Ghostwoods Member

    In early eds of RuneQuest, limb-loathing was so serious that you were better off buying expensive metal armor for your arms and legs, and leaving your head & entire torso bare. All those buff young adventurers wandering around in, effectively, sheet-metal stockings and arm-length gloves, and nothing else. Kinky. Mumble mumble snort Very Drunk At The Time mumble.

    With that said, I do love DF's system of uber-targeted insano-damage. It's so much more crunchy & interesting than just hit-points.
     
  15. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    (And convenient when there are absolutely zero art requirements, grumble grumble.)
     
    Ghostwoods likes this.
  16. One of the reason's dwarf fortress can lag modern computers is because it simulates all those individual body parts
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2014
  17. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    I haven't chimed in on this discussion, but I just want to point out that some of us are more concerned about the big picture in games like this, than in details that can be rendered insignificant. Sometimes simpler is better.
     
  18. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    To be fair, it also simulates like 7 layers of cartilage, skin, bones, and nerves :D
     
    convolutedthinker likes this.
  19. Cutter

    Cutter Member

    I voted for Kodos, and limb injuries. It makes it more interesting. When the fish-people come to drag some people off it'll be the wounded and crippled.
     
  20. Ghostwoods

    Ghostwoods Member

    Surely crippled & maimed characters would be good for some delightful art assets? What about a farmer with a leg-cast, or one of Dr. Ottker's Horribly Complicated Mechanical Neck-And-Spine Braces?