weapons?

clankill3r

Will there be a weapons in the game?

I think a knife would be cool, cause its very common i think. For example if divers get stuck.
And maybe it can be used to free a animal for example.
But i would love a harpoon with a slow reload.

I want to fight some mean big fish

Also if you cut a small fish, the blood could attract sharks.

Also a light that you can drop would be nice. Light attracts a lot of animals, and it would be cool to drop a light somewhere so the light is the center of attention instead of you. This could help to explore if there are dangerous fish around.

Tzudro

I like this idea of a distraction light, sort of like a sub aquatic flare. I can also imagine (as far as defenses go) some kind of electric pulse to escape the grip of an attacker, or a sonic pulse or chemical cloud to repel them.

I'd rather not kill things. We've got enough killing in our world already.

SteveRock

Tzudro, are you Charlie in disguise? :P your posts are generally well in line with what Charlie has discussed with us in terms of design goals.

Samaruto

Tzudro wrote: »

I'd rather not kill things. We've got enough killing in our world already.

Yeah - would be cool when you have to capture specific creatures to sell them or to research new tech.
Or when you nonstop killing the friendly fauna it becomes more and more hostile towards the player.

Nebuscelous

I love the idea of a more clever, evasion/defense based predator interaction. Limiting the killing to a minimum would be a refreshing change.

It also frees up the interactive real estate for more interesting activities. One perhaps could engage in skill based mini-games when retrieving samples of biological and mineral materials. Something akin to lock-picking, where if a sample is damaged or collected haphazardly, it lowers or negates it's usefulness. Consider on-board lab based mini-games in which the player is allowed to engage in specimen injections and and sample analysis.

As far as weapons are concerned, perhaps there could be tranquilizer guns that the player could load varying levels of anesthesia charges into for different size creatures. The guns could be high caliber rail-guns, and range from quick draw pistol types, to long range sniper variants. Being that the game takes place on an unexplored planet, some creatures should not react to the anesthesia, due to differing toxicity resistances.

Once an animal is tranquilized, players could perhaps set tracking tags on them to track migrations and follow them to new, hidden nesting areas, as well as gain intel. on the varying species.

If killing creatures without limit is an option, (for the sake of player freedom) I like the idea of the world becoming ever more hostile in retaliation to one's ruthlessness. With limited means of lethal action as scientific explorers, the consequences for mindless killing should be dire indeed.

However, I think it worthwhile to consider having such lethal action, not even be an option.

STARSBarry

as much as I think tranq guns fit the ocean theme the thing is, its a Sci-fi ocean game, id like to see some sort of high tech equivalent. Like a device that sends out a high frequency sound that is so powerful it can outright stun smaller animals and make medium sized creatures think twice about tackling you, of course larger animals would be somewhat more immune and you would need to.... overcharge the weapon to get rid of them, problem is if you miss the gun would be down for sometime after an overcharge attempt as it would cause the weapon to trip its safety protocols and shutdown and reboot.

it would also mean the weapon would lose effectiveness at long range, causing you to get up and close to tackle animal threats... which is of course not where you really want to be, this adds a nice reward/risk approach to dealing with dangerous animals. Do you attempt to get up and close and scare away that would be predator, possible disturbing other nearby risks, or do you leave them be and hope they don't notice you as you explore near by.

Other sonic ideas could be a way to record the sounds of larger predators and attach them to an audio buoy to keep smaller ones away, of course then again that could attract rival creatures of this type towards that area creating a bigger threat than would of otherwise been there.

I think if this game wants to be different, which is already is, it should embrace the use of audio as its main technological advantage for the humans.

Nebuscelous

Why not have both types. One thing we love about video games is choice. perhaps leave it up to the player to decide which technology suits their play style.

Each could have strengths and weaknesses. I think sonic technology is a huge part of the human race's way to advance into the future. It is to be considered though, that in a high density atmosphere like water, sound carries very well. So perhaps sonic defense mechanism are like the scientific shotgun, while tranquilizers maintain one's anonymity better.

Tzudro

SteveRock wrote: »

Tzudro, are you Charlie in disguise? :P your posts are generally well in line with what Charlie has discussed with us in terms of design goals.

Ha ha, no, I'm not Charlie in disguise, but the comparison is high praise indeed, thank you!

It is refreshing to know that one of the gents on the team is on the same level as I am. I know that not everyone is thrilled about a more "discovery and exploration" and less "invade, kill, conquer and destroy" game, but I believe this game is going to be the first of it's kind.

This project seems more akin to art (as opposed to "game", which seems to be a debated term) than anything else. It's less about "winning", "beating", or "conquering". It's more about experience and appreciation, finding and enjoying the feelings you get. Whether they be the awe of a violet, shimmering sunrise you watch from just beneath the waves, the tension and fear as you try to escape some barely seen creature stalking you in the dark, the sorrow of losing crew when a submersible fails to return from a scouting trip, the relief when they do.

I'm so excited about the possibilities of this project, I can't help but get a little lost in the space you've created in my mind. Every piece of art becomes a story, every bit of music allows my stories to have a soundtrack and provides fuel to the feelings of that story.

Alright, let me quit, I could go on and on. Thanks for doing this, UWE. I have faith that you'll deliver something sublime.

Seldkam

^ An idea popped to mind after reading that, is there going to be any kind of submarine surfacing for any reason? Just curious...

Facepunch

How about weapons that have high firepower, but shoot inaccurately, because firstly, your character is most likely civilian and hasn't fired many weapons, and secondly, it decreases your chance of hitting small harmless fish and instead leans it's capability over to hitting larger, more dangerous fish like

this

Nairit

As much as I agree on sonic, chemical, biological, and electrical replants as main forms of active defense.... I'd still like to go spear fishing.

Which of course means knife and spear guns could still be used for defense not just for hunting.

Also I don't think we should be obsessed with non-violence. Animals aren't. Senseless violence - yes let's try to avoid it, but hunting for survival sounds perfectly fine to me.