Fog of War

[Lesleyr]

Blundering around in the dark, lost in a dungeon made me wonder whether marketing an IAP or creating an option to remove the fog of war is possible. If not for the whole game then at least for the dungeon bit?

[fallen]

Lesleyr - towns with not have fog of war, which will be revealed in the second phase.

Removing the fog would really change the game in a major way. How do you feel about "blundering around in the dark" ... from your description you feel its too close and dark in there? What else could be done better?

[Lesleyr]

fallen I think part of the claustrophobia is caused by that bug that causes the fog of war to close up where you have already explored thus you can't see where you are going and don't know where you have been. Rather like being lost in thick mist. That and the area I was lost (and going the wrong way) in was simply walls and floor over and over again with no scenery or landmarks eg skeletons, a couple of rocks, a broken discarded weapon etc.

[hosh]

Oct 25, 2013 9:35:41 GMT -5 Lesleyr said:

Blundering around in the dark, lost in a dungeon made me wonder whether marketing an IAP or creating an option to remove the fog of war is possible. If not for the whole game then at least for the dungeon bit?

I love the fog of war!

I hope there are more perception-changing kind of mechanic, but this is pretty good. Reminds me of the fog of war on Nethack.

Edit: hmmmm, maybe I just like dark, creepy places anyways.

By the way, you can use the blood splatters as landmarks.

[evmaker]

Oct 25, 2013 14:21:21 GMT -5 hosh said:

By the way, you can use the blood splatters as landmarks.

This brings to mind conversations along the lines of:
"Where was that locked chest back here?"
"Hmm, follow blood back to the first fork, and look for the splatter that looks like a X, and follow it until the next corridor until you see the wall where the blood makes an wavy pattern."

[fallen]

We are working on the ability to store the fog layer so that when you come in and out of the game, the information is not lost. That will help a lot and cut down on re-exploration between play sessions.

[johndramey]

Oct 25, 2013 19:00:03 GMT -5 fallen said:

We are working on the ability to store the fog layer so that when you come in and out of the game, the information is not lost. That will help a lot and cut down on re-exploration between play sessions.

That will go a long way to making the map seem less..... claustrophobic. I have one small idea that I'd like some feedback on, and if people like it maybe we could try it out later on? As it is now, the fog of war is a very slightly opaque black and the unexposed map tiles are black. Could you maybe tint the fog of war more on the grayish side of things? That will help to differentiate the fog of war tiles from the unexposed tiles, and make the map seem more.... alive? You know what I mean? As it is now, when we zoom out everything looks black and dark, if the fog was just a little more gray we could easily distinguish traveled paths from the black of unexplored spaces.

Just a thought though, what do other think about this?

[evmaker]

Oct 25, 2013 19:41:48 GMT -5 johndramey said:

As it is now, when we zoom out everything looks black and dark, if the fog was just a little more gray we could easily distinguish traveled paths from the black of unexplored spaces.

Just a thought though, what do other think about this?

For me that would be great, on my last team before I switched I was trying to remember where the camp was from where I currently was (and I was there in the same 'session' so the path wouldn't be gone) but was finding it a little hard due to that.

[fallen]

I can agree with that ... the depth of fog for areas in which you have been makes it hard (especially since everything beneath is also gray and black!) to actually see what is there. I can lighten the opacity on that fog layer.

[slayernz]

You could potentially have items in your inventory (or equipped) that provide increased visibility (eg fire torches, magic light orbs, etc). They can also cause increased encounters due to the fact enemies can see the light from further away.

[Deleted]

I actually prefer the really thick fog of war, once the two current bugs are fixed (map forgetting where you've been and patches of fog of war staying revealed) I think it'll be really atmospheric. Personally, I like the very subtle, faint colour of tiles you've been to as they are out of eyesight and hard to remember - I think it really accents the dungeon feel.

[hosh]

Oct 25, 2013 21:20:35 GMT -5 slayernz said:

You could potentially have items in your inventory (or equipped) that provide increased visibility (eg fire torches, magic light orbs, etc). They can also cause increased encounters due to the fact enemies can see the light from further away.

+1 to anything that manipulates fog of war.

I've never liked how fog of war has typically been implemented in games, as they all date back to "fog of war" from way back in the Warcraft 1 days, and they all are misinterpretations of Clausewitz's concept.

While we're on the subject, other potential things can include: triggering traps increasing chances of encounters; sensing magic, magic use (both PCs and NPCs); hearing very loud actions (melee fighting, the wizard's fireballs). Even better if the person equipping the torch / magic light orbs / etc. also happens to *draw* the attention of hostiles while simultaneously increasing the stealth of anyone (including NPCs!) outside of the torch / etc. area of effect.

[johndramey]

Oct 25, 2013 20:25:36 GMT -5 fallen said:

I can agree with that ... the depth of fog for areas in which you have been makes it hard (especially since everything beneath is also gray and black!) to actually see what is there. I can lighten the opacity on that fog layer.

Cool, but just a little lightening will do. We don't want to remove the "oooohhhhh spooky" factor, just make it a little more obvious what is fog and what is unexplored The atmosphere you guys have built is awesome, and I'd like to preserve it as much as possible.

Another small question;

With the fog of war bug being quashed, is there any chance of having the game remember our blood splashes? They seem to get removed whenever we back out of the game, and they are really, really awesome to have. If we could keep them between loads it would be really cool, helps to add a personal narrative to the game.

[fallen]

Ha ha, a personal narrative of gore and destruction?! We can look into it but its definitely much harder.

[Cory Trese]

Oct 25, 2013 23:07:38 GMT -5 johndramey said:

Oct 25, 2013 20:25:36 GMT -5 fallen said:

I can agree with that ... the depth of fog for areas in which you have been makes it hard (especially since everything beneath is also gray and black!) to actually see what is there. I can lighten the opacity on that fog layer.

Cool, but just a little lightening will do. We don't want to remove the "oooohhhhh spooky" factor, just make it a little more obvious what is fog and what is unexplored The atmosphere you guys have built is awesome, and I'd like to preserve it as much as possible.

Another small question;

With the fog of war bug being quashed, is there any chance of having the game remember our blood splashes? They seem to get removed whenever we back out of the game, and they are really, really awesome to have. If we could keep them between loads it would be really cool, helps to add a personal narrative to the game.

We are going to have to add a fade-out and reclaim memory cycle to the blood splatters, I'm afraid.

After a while keeping track of hundreds of them taxes the device memory -- and keeping them around forever taxes your storage memory.