Suggestions for the Custom Sandbox mode

[tortuosit]

Hi Hinterland,

thank you very much for custom sandbox games. You even allowed a simple way of sharing the settings, which is a very good move, this way e.g. Streamers can share their settings. I honestly didn't see customizability coming, because software which is also for consoles tends to be kept simple.

I have suggestions:

a) Allow randomness (or even better, a range between a and b) for as many settings as possible! For the kind of ...erm... realism experience it is good to have uncertainty and no information about specific aspects.
b) As for the sharing, allow copy/paste!
c) A preset save system would be nice.

Very thankful! - Best regards - Tortu

[Adam12341]

1+ for randomness, I really want to see that in the game!

[Vinceofpyrenees]

+1 for preset saves.

[Mroz4k]

All of these suggestions are really good. Ramdomized settings would surely provide a very interesting challenge - however, there is an issue I see. There would have to be some sort of balancing system in play as well - because if a hardened player used to Interloper rolled random settings with Pilgrim difficulty, they would likely not be very happy. 

So, maybe the randomized selection would work in a matter that you would set up a "difficulty preset" first, and then the randomized settings selected the options in more-less the margin of difficulty of the selected preset.

Say you would select Hard difficulty - consistent with Stalker - the game would randomized the Interloper weather, Stalker animal frequency, Stalker loot, Voyageur animal strenght, Interloper tools, Stalker natural resources, etc. The outcome would still be randomized and utterly unpredictable, but it would be ensured that the generated game will provide the amount of challenge that the player is looking for.

Also this would prevent "extreme" hits - for example Stalker animal spawns with Pilgrim animal behaviour - resulting in scared wolves everywhere. This would obviously result in unlimited forageable food from the wolf-downed deer.

Great ideas though!

[Jolan]

I would also like to be able to choose how many feat you can have active in your custom play thru - that would be cool.

[cekivi]

Being able to save a few pre-set custom modes would be nice. Especially for folks who share a game. 

[TerribleSurvivor]

8 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

All of these suggestions are really good. Ramdomized settings would surely provide a very interesting challenge - however, there is an issue I see. There would have to be some sort of balancing system in play as well - because if a hardened player used to Interloper rolled random settings with Pilgrim difficulty, they would likely not be very happy. 

So, maybe the randomized selection would work in a matter that you would set up a "difficulty preset" first, and then the randomized settings selected the options in more-less the margin of difficulty of the selected preset.

Say you would select Hard difficulty - consistent with Stalker - the game would randomized the Interloper weather, Stalker animal frequency, Stalker loot, Voyageur animal strenght, Interloper tools, Stalker natural resources, etc. The outcome would still be randomized and utterly unpredictable, but it would be ensured that the generated game will provide the amount of challenge that the player is looking for.

Also this would prevent "extreme" hits - for example Stalker animal spawns with Pilgrim animal behaviour - resulting in scared wolves everywhere. This would obviously result in unlimited forageable food from the wolf-downed deer.

Great ideas though!

The moment the game intervenes in customization it cannot longer be called customization. I would put this in an extra tab called "Random" difficulty. Customization should really let the player do whatever he wants to!

[tortuosit]

9 hours ago, TerribleSurvivor said:

The moment the game intervenes in customization it cannot longer be called customization. I would put this in an extra tab called "Random" difficulty. Customization should really let the player do whatever he wants to!

Yes, it would, and what I want is: "Surprise me!". You're talking UI here, IMO there's no extra tab needed. But there could be, e.g. the user could define an array of variations there.

Quote

however, there is an issue I see. There would have to be some sort of balancing system in play as well - because if a hardened player used to Interloper rolled random settings with Pilgrim difficulty, they would likely not be very happy. 

So, maybe the randomized selection would work in a matter that you would set up a "difficulty preset" first, and then the randomized settings selected the options in more-less the margin of difficulty of the selected preset.

Yes, a full surprise may not always be desired, at least not in all attributes the survival mode offers...

Optimal (most possibilities for users) is this: For every customizable game attribute, the player may be able to define a fixed value n and an amount r [0..1](float) of randomization variation. You get the idea, with r=0 there is no randomization, i.e. least variation from what you have set up. With r=1 you have full randomness.

I know I am asking for much, but when it comes to randomization, of course we need seeded and sharable one  Just dreaming