slaen
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Rough sculpt of a low level inquisitor
🕑 Added 2023-05-11 00:30:58 +0000 UTCI'm still sort of fleshing out the overall design. Trying to get an imposing silhouette and have a sort of religious fanatic tone to the design. Heavily taking inspiration from Warhammer Night Goblins. I'm thinking the robe edges will be torn and frayed and I'm going to try adding metal studs, leather patches, and random chunky stitches all over the place. I dunno any thoughts or feedback so far?
Possible spoilers on this next bit...
I'm trying to figure out if I should add in a morality system or not. On the one hand I want to give the player freedom of choice to do and be whatever they want but on the other hand it feels like there's a responsibility to say "this is bad" of certain actions.
One example of a decent morality system I think was in the original 2 Fallout games. They let the player do terrible things but then indicated to the player that the world viewed those actions as bad. In Fallout 2, for instance, early on the player is given the option to join a group of slavers as they go out, capture people, and then sell them into slavery. Obviously one of the most evil actions that a person can take. Before joining the slavers though the player had to get a tattoo on their forehead that would indicate to everyone inside of the game world just who they were and what they were about. The in-game draw to these actions though was that in the early game by joining the slavers the player would earn a large amount of money. Which then gives them a significant leg up to start with. But then the developers in the later game added a group of mercenaries that would hunt down and attack anyone that had the forehead tattoo. So there's an in-game mechanic and reason to perform an evil action but there's also a consequence to those actions.
Another example is the morality of Fallout 3. They also added a group of slavers that the player can join. Instead of going out on raids with the slavers the player gets a mesmetron, a gun that will stun the victim long enough for the player to place an explosive collar on them. If the victim doesn't run to the slaver's camp the collar explodes. The player of course gets payment for each person. This changes the value of the player's karma meter in game. Once the meter drops below a certain point bounty hunters will begin to attack during random encounters.
For some reason, even though on paper it's very similar, the tone and feel of this mechanic is completely different between Fallout 2 and 3. In 3 it felt more like just another quest instead of a decision. There wasn't the same moment of thinking the actions through. Where in Fallout 2 the player had to think "If I do this then the characters in this world will treat me differently. I will literally be marked for the rest of the game by these actions. But I'll get a bunch of money." In Fallout 3 I don't remember the monetary rewards being anything significant, and I don't remember any NPCs reacting any differently to the player after they had literally enslaved people that they knew (it has been a while since I've played so maybe I'm forgetting something).
But then on the extreme end of the spectrum I would place something like Grand Theft Auto. Where the player has complete freedom to be absolutely terrible and there aren't really moral consequences to their actions. The police are called and the player receives a wanted level for running down pedestrians with their car. But the consequence of the police being called is nearly every mission regardless of how bad it is in a moral sense.
I'm leaning towards something sort of like the Fallout 2 system. Where there's an in-game reason for the actions but also an in-game consequence to them that clearly indicates that people inside of the game world view this action as morally wrong.
But what do you think? Are there any other examples of morality systems that might be better suited for Feign? Or should morality be left out of things entirely and the player is just presented with a completely open ended sandbox?
Comments
slaen
Awesome, I really do like these Fable 2 ideas! Maybe do a twist on the Fable 2 system. Where they had the purity / corruption and also good / evil and trying to figure out how that would look and play out inside of Feign. Maybe something like if the player has high levels in corruption and in goodness then they get propositioned by NPCs but if they have high purity instead then they don't get propositioned but get some other consequence for their actions? I think then it's a matter of trying to come up with interesting reactions based upon each different alignment. But yeah, this would be really cool to implement!
slaen
That's awesome! I was thinking along different lines but I like your idea better! Tie the morality into the faction system that's already in the game and makes things relative per faction. That's really good idea.
Crash
The first thing that came to mind was Fable 2 as well, where completing some quests gave you "good" points that eventually opened up unique quests and eventually gives you a faint halo over your head if you do enough good, and similar for evil. Since this game is set in a fantasy world, I can very easily see this system fitting in well, where if you're good enough the townsfolk will occasioonally proposition you for sex on occasion (even more so if you're walking around in sexy clothes or just plain naked), but the baddies hate you. If you're evil enough, the imps/demons and barbarions do the same for you outside of town.
werebearhaircare
Good ideas and I like your comparisons. Fable 2 had an interesting morality system where different towns treated you differently depending on your actions. The town filled with brothels doesn't mind public sex or nudity, but the high town sends the guards after you. Not sure if that's already what you're thinking, but hope it helps
