Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Status: Reviewed and Refined

Well, after a bit less than a month, reviews for Fate of a City have been coming in with mixed opinions. In general it seems that gamers want more combat than is provided and that quests have made some players feel as though they are a Fedex Warrior at times. I've taken these comments on board for any future work that I do, though I don't foresee undertaking major modifications to Fate of a City in order to meet these requirements. There are several modders and players who have helpfully identified issues with the module, and I'd like to thank everyone who provided constructive feedback.

However, I have done a significant amount of reworking and refining of the module since its initial release, having made major changes to many areas, adding in a world map and also including a grabbag of new items. Hopefully version 1.08 should prove a completely stable and enjoyable experience for all players, but I'll still be open to tweaking the module further to provide additional support to players if they wish it.

Particularly pleasing was the review from Alazander in which he gave the module some considerable praise. The focus on choice and consequence a core aim of Fate of a City, as was providing a high level of polish to give a professional feel to the adventure.

His comments on area design being a little weaker than other aspects of the module caused me to re-examine that aspect of the module a little more closely, and as a result, I made some changes to several areas of the module.


The above is the source screenshot for the original loadscreen for the rich quarter for version 1.0. While I was happy with it at the time, it does appear somewhat bare and plain upon re-examination. The subtly of differences in texturing and colouring simply do not come out as strongly in game as they do when looking at the game from a static shot in the toolset. Increasing the contrast in textures and colouring, in combination with adding to the general "clutter" of the areas has provided a much improved look for the 1.08 release.



Finally, today I added a fairly comprehensive walkthrough for the module to the module's page on the vault. In closing, if you've already played the module, I hope you'll consider playing again, and if you haven't, then go and download it now! And I hope you vote for it!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nooo, don't have more combat in your future mods! I like it when combat encounters are fairly sparse, but challenging.

Fate of a City did this well. To many mods have me slogging through combat which gets... repetetive after a while.

Gonna have to replay your mod with all these fancy changes!

Lariam said...

Yeah, fairly sparse & challenging combat sounds just right.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

This is still on my list of modules to play ... :) I will be blessed to play the updated version then.

Getting the balance right for all players is impossible. Short of having a system that allows a player to increase or decrease the amount of combat (now there's an idea), you will always upset one group of players.

It's best just to stay on track with what you have in mind, and advertise the module the way it is. At least then players know what to expect and should not really mark you down for something that was intentional by design.

Also, sometimes even a player's mood can change what they want: Some days I like more combat, other days less. ;) However, I always like combats to make sense, if you know what I mean.

Anonymous said...

Hi AmstradHero,

I downloaded your mod on sunday and I love it so far: I particularly appreciate the heavy roleplaying! I cannot believe the amount of options you put in (especially the dialogue, in addition to satisfying any possible allignment, they actually reflect your PC's skills and stats... that's awesome)!
so please keep it that way! i'm fine with more combat, but i guess (this is only the 4th module I have ever played, so I may be mistaken)that there is combat in abundance out there, while I doubt many mods can rival yours in the way it addresses in-depth any personality issue that our average adventurer may have! ;-)
i will finish this run-through with the current version, than i will surely replay the updated version with a different character!
thank you for delivering this great game!

Nacaal

AmstradHero said...

Thank you to you all for your kind words and opinions. Rest assured that any future mods won't be turning into a hack-and-slash fest - I think that are a few too many of those on the vault already, even including some that specify roleplaying as heavy.

I do think that there will probably be a bit more combat in my future mods, but it's not going to be combat for the sake of having combat.

But as for Lance's idea to allow the player to increase or decrease the amount of combat... now that would truly be an interesting undertaking. Especially balancing set fights based on the character's level. It's definitely a problem worth pondering though.

Anonymous said...

For God’s sake don’t go the route of Bethesda’s Oblivion, that is, don’t scale combat to level!
There is nothing that takes the purpose and fun out of *earning* levels and becoming a bigger and better badass than an enemy system that scales to level. If I go to place X and get in over my head, I deserve to get wiped out (especially if the role playing end makes it abundantly clear that what I am doing is suicidal). But, if through exceptional planning and luck I manage to overcome a combat that I was not meant to, there is nothing more rewarding to the player in terms of self-satisfaction, to say nothing of loot gained.
In short, please, please, please do not go the rout of level scaling.

Tauschitz

Anonymous said...

I might add that nothing gives a better sense of development and "how powerful you have become" than lower level encounters that a party can handily eviscerate.

Tauschitz

Anonymous said...

I´m glad to see how the note is increasing. At the end, Fate of a City will reach 9 points and it deserves the Hall of Fame.

Good walkthrough as well.

Juan Valera.