New version: How hard should raising pups be?

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New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by loboLoco » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:06 am

When we developed Slough Creek originally, we thought a lot about how hard it should be to raise your pups and get them to the rendezvous point. We aimed to make it somewhat difficult, but not so hard that most players would fail and lose all their pups. Aside from bugs that might have made it artificially hard (or easy?), how do you evaluate that difficulty level: too easy, too hard, or just right? And as we tune and tweak the new version, should we make it easier or harder? Any particular suggestions about what to tweak?
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by psy » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:18 am

I think that it should be a bit easier. Maybe having less predators around the pups would lower the difficulty.

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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by duskypack » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:31 am

As a Wolfquest veteran, it is to easy. Perhaps you can make it perfect for everyone by setting a difficulty level. I know dens sort of have to do with it, but I would like even more difficulty, while others want it easier. So, setting difficulty for the win!
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by psy » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:36 am

duskypack wrote:As a Wolfquest veteran, it is to easy. Perhaps you can make it perfect for everyone by setting a difficulty level. I know dens sort of have to do with it, but I would like even more difficulty, while others want it easier. So, setting difficulty for the win!
Full support on this!

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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by alethe » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:41 am

Raising the pups is pretty easy as is. But I think that the Summer Journey shouldn't be a gauntlet of death for the puppies.


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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by Owlir » Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:23 pm

duskypack wrote:Perhaps you can make it perfect for everyone by setting a difficulty level. I know dens sort of have to do with it, but I would like even more difficulty, while others want it easier. So, setting difficulty for the win!
I agree with this. Someone who has probably played the last quest before would probably find it easy, and a bit boring to replay again, unlike someone who is new and would most likely lose a few pups. A difficulty level would for sure resolve this.

As for me, I found it quite easy to raise the puppies, but found the journey very hard. The drowning is what I found was the most difficult. I think maybe perhaps adding a feature for your wolf to have to make the puppies "swim" over rivers? Or would that be too unrealistic?

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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by duskypack » Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:34 pm

Owlir wrote:
duskypack wrote:Perhaps you can make it perfect for everyone by setting a difficulty level. I know dens sort of have to do with it, but I would like even more difficulty, while others want it easier. So, setting difficulty for the win!
I agree with this. Someone who has probably played the last quest before would probably find it easy, and a bit boring to replay again, unlike someone who is new and would most likely lose a few pups. A difficulty level would for sure resolve this.

As for me, I found it quite easy to raise the puppies, but found the journey very hard. The drowning is what I found was the most difficult. I think maybe perhaps adding a feature for your wolf to have to make the puppies "swim" over rivers? Or would that be too unrealistic?
You know, if you get one pup across then your mate usually brings the rest. Hungry pups also swim to you. If you can do a side-thing of teaching pups to swim would be awesome.
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by loboLoco » Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:35 pm

What would the difficulty levels affect? For sure it would affect the frequency/probability of predator attacks, at the den and on the journey mission. What else? (The simpler it is, the more likely we could implement it, so I'm not looking for a big list. What would be critical factors?)
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by alethe » Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:36 pm

I mean, that could just be fixed by making the mate's AI smarter. I'm always the one bringing my pups across, not my mate because they drown the puppies.

A factor could be the predators, maybe also decreasing the pup's base health too.


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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by duskypack » Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:40 pm

My mates NEVER drown puppies, they do that?

Perhaps the pups might get hurt more, maybe they might wander more? Maybe the Summer Den could be farther into Douglas? The mate could stay closer to you, so you feed the puppies. Hares and carcasses would spawn way less often.
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by psy » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:16 pm

As river6 said, making the mate's AI smarter can fix the problem. Even without pups, mates are a bit....I dunno, idiotic?
Here's my chart of difficulty:
Easy- Less predators
Medium/normal: Even amount of predators
Challenging: Many predators
And maybe there will be a 'boss round' difficulty.
Expert Mode: Predators nearly everywhere

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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by duskypack » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:41 pm

Derp-Bacon wrote:As river6 said, making the mate's AI smarter can fix the problem. Even without pups, mates are a bit....I dunno, idiotic?
Here's my chart of difficulty:
Easy- Less predators
Medium/normal: Even amount of predators
Challenging: Many predators
And maybe there will be a 'boss round' difficulty.
Expert Mode: Predators nearly everywhere
I think there should be more features affecting it then just predators.
¯~_°. .°_~¯
Night is now falling, so ends this day.
The road is now calling, and I must away.
Over hill and under tree, through lands where never light has shone.
By silver streams that run down to the sea.
¯~_°. .°_~¯

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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by alethe » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:42 pm

Maybe weather could be a factor?


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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by duskypack » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:44 pm

Yes, weather would be cool. The rain could make it harder to find things, maybe even name tags.
¯~_°. .°_~¯
Night is now falling, so ends this day.
The road is now calling, and I must away.
Over hill and under tree, through lands where never light has shone.
By silver streams that run down to the sea.
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Re: New version: How hard should raising pups be?

Post by alethe » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:46 pm

does the rain already wash away scents (I haven't played the game very much with the weather effects)? If it doesn't already, it would be a cool feature.


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