» Mon Aug 20, 2012 1:27 am My idea is basically a toggle switch labeled "hardcoe" or something of that sort underneath the difficulty settings in the menu (thus not replacing difficulty and still being modified by the difficulty) that changes the game in certain ways to make it more challenging and realistic. Some of my ideas people already do to themselves to create personal challenges. My ideas for what this toggle changes so far are as follows:
-You need to sleep. The bare minimum sleep required is 6 hours every 48 hours in-game. Failure to sleep leads to a mild exhaustion resulting in slightly diminished total Health/Stamina/Magicka (heretofore "stats"). This penalty increases each day without sleep to a point, similar to how the sun increasingly harms vampires' stats, eventually leading to a slight decrease in XP gained from actions (basically, severe sleep exhaustion leads to the opposite of being rested or well rested).
-You need to eat (and maybe drink). Potions don't count. The game will assign a calorie figure to normal food, cooked food getting a significant boost to calories. E.g., raw rabbit would contain 100 calories, cooked rabbit having 250; horker meat might have 500 calories, cooked horker loaf having 800. All mead and ales would have between 80 and 120 calories. You would need to consume 2000 calories over a two day period (you could essentially starve yourself for one day and eat both days worth of food the second day). Failure to feed would result in daily accumulating penalties similar to failing to sleep.
In order to keep penalties from stacking too high and killing to player, especially low level players, players who have not invested in a single trait, or level 3 and 4 vampires in the sunlight, the penalties would be percentiles of maximum after other penalties had been applied.
E.g., Mild Exhaustion: 5% stats decrease.
Exhaustion: 10% stats decrease.
Severe Exhaustion: 15% stats decrease, 5% XP decrease.
Sleep Deprived: 20% stats decrease, 10% XP decrease, occasional blurring/disorientation of vision.
Mild Hunger: 5% stats decrease.
Hunger: 10% stats decrease.
Severe Hunger: 15% stats decrease, 5% less damage done by physical or magical attacks, block 5% less damage.
Starvation: 20% stats decrease, 10% less damage done by physical or magical attacks, block 10% less damage,10% more magicka/stamina required for spells/power attacks/blocking.
-You must dress for the cold weather. Above a certain altitude, or simply if you are surrounded by snow/ice, you must wear a heavy, full-length fur cloak. This cloak would be a smithable item under "Leather" and would require 6 Leathers, 5 Leather Straps, and some combination of unrefined animal pelts, say 1 of any kind of bear or saber cat pelt; or 2 horse or elk pelts; or 3 (ice)wolf pelts; or 5 goat or fox pelts; or 15 rabbit pelts. To keep players from becoming overpowered via enchanting, this cloak simply can't be enchanted (it lacks the structure and integrity to hold a magical charge). Failure to bundle up in extreme cold results in a small 5% stamina/magicka penalty, an double stamina use from sprinting, and slightly frosted/blurred vision. Overheating, i.e., wearing that fur coat down in the hotter valleys, leads to a similar 5% magicka/stamina penalty, double stamina use from sprinting, and slightly sweaty/blurred vision.
-No fast travel. Only carriages and walking. Fast traveling is simply disabled. I also believe, however, that some sparse ayleid or magic teleportation portals should dot the landscape (I believe that this has been mentioned before, in the week-after game-jam).
-Smithing is more realistic and more materials are required. For some items in the core game, such as the iron shield, wood is obviously seen in the final product yet was not used in it's construction. Some sets of armor are also seemingly fashioned from far less materials than would seem possible. Also, leather or fur is of often used inside of the armor and yet is not seen in its construction. Feathers are an essential part of arrow construction and would thus be required in their crafting. Etc. etc. etc. In addition, permanent upgrades from smithing would be more costly.
-More tools are required to do some work. You already need an axe or pickaxe to chop wood or mine ore, in this mode you would also need a hoe to harvest crops for work, and a hammer and tongs to work a forge. For mages, perhaps a focusing crystal would be required to enchant, and a mortar and pestle for alchemy.
-Weapons and armor can become dull with use, but can also be "Sharpened" or "Reinforced." In addition to being permanently upgraded, weapons and armor (specifically "Armor" and not boots or gloves, etc.) can receive a temporary 20% boost to damage/protection by being worked at grindstone/bench at the cost of an ingot. With use, the items would lose their bonuses, and with extensive use would become "Dull" or "Battered," losing 25% of their effectiveness. This would be fixed also at a grindstone/bench for the cost of an ingot.
That's pretty much what I have right now. It's supposed to be a "hardcoe" mode, though, not a difficulty level, so you can still play hardcoe on novice difficulty or what have you. It's supposed to be there to make you think more about your character and challenge your gameplay. As with the difficulty levels, it could be toggled on and off at will, so you're never stuck with it if you don't like it, you don't waste a character build with it on, and if you ever get into extremely dire straights, you don't have to worry too much about ruining your game or losing your character (hardcoe mode is not responsible for you saving your game the instant before you get eaten by a dragon).
Okay world, let's make it happen! Thoughts?
