Cooperative Campaign Suggestions (For local play - Shared Screen Vs Splitscreen Implementation)

[Duckington]

I have been following this game for a long time and I was super stoked when it came out, bought it immediately. One of the biggest draws for me was that it had promise of local coop and I was excied to sit down and be slugcats with a couple friends. I was disappointed when at release there was no coop implemented and have been scanning forums to see what has been the hold up and the general impression I have gotten is that the devs are having difficulty with the logistics of how to make it work. SO, needless to say, I have decided to flesh out my own personal input on how to make this work/what I'd like to see to maybe help the process along and help the devs think of what is the best course of action for getting coop running!

tldr; I want this game to have coop, here are my suggestions for the devs:

1. DON'T GIVE UP ON LOCAL CO-OP.
Honestly, forget online. While it definitely has appeal, the legwork it would take would be immense and you are better off just implementing SOME form of multiplayer rather than none at all.

2. Keep it 4 players local.
Why not? The extra work is minimal (once you've decided how to get two players) and it's adding the potential for more people to play the game and more chaos to ensue. You could even add the option for friendly fire (make sure it's able to be toggled).

3. Respawn.
If one of the slugcats were to die, respawning can be as simple as one of the surviving slugcats making it back to a safe zone to hibernate, cueing a respawn for all the slugcats who have perished, or if all slugcats die they would all respawn at the last used safe zone. It would be up to you if you want to go through the effort of individual advancement at the safe zones, but I think for simplicity sake, all the slugcats should advance as a unit (ie. If at minimum one slugcat survives between hibernations, they can all advance in the story).

4. Customizable Slugcats.
This is both for esthetics and for ease of telling eachother apart. At bare minimum, give the players the ability to change the colour of their slugcat (perhaps in the form of a colour wheel, or in preset colours - whichever the preference)

5. SHARED SCREEN VS SPLIT SCREEN IMPLEMENTATION
I feel like this is where the devs are having the biggest issues. So here we go:

There is really only two options I see as being viable for coop. Shared screen (all slugcats on the same screen at the same time with no divisions) or split screen (sectioning the screen into individual pieces, each tracking their own slugcat).

SPLITSCREEN
I feel like while its more work, this option ultimately will allow the most freedom for the players. Splitscreen will allow for players to be in separate zones at the same time and will reduce player frustration if one player exits a room and cannot see what they are doing/having to wait for another player to catch up. It also allows for a higher degree of exploration as players would have the ability to split up and explore different directions of the map simultaneously.

PROS
+No waiting for other players/loss of visibility
+Higher degree of freedom/exploration
+Don't have to worry about camera tracking
+Leaves room for friendly fire (if players wanted to advance independently)
+Leaves room for individual advancement (if you want to allow players to advance in story at different paces)

CONS
-More Work to implement
-Larger System Requirements
-Smaller Screens (though most people doing PC Gaming have large screens/TVS these days)
- More to track in game



SHARED SCREEN
There is actually a mod that exists that allows a second player to join into the game as an additional actor and follow along as the 1st player progresses. It does have issues with camera tracking and the second player essentially has to follow the first player or they are left behind. This would be the best way to fix the issue:

Camera Tracking: You have options. You could either track/toggle between specific players (which is what the mod does - constantly tracking player 1), which leads to a reduced playing experience for everyone but one player, or a better solution would be a camera that is centered equally between players in the same room that would zoom in and out depending on the distance apart from eachother. It would be relatively easy to code and would allow for maxmum visibility for all players at all times, though would reduce visibilty if the players were extremely far apart on small monitors (given the nature of most rooms this wouldn't happen frequently).

What to do when someone leaves an area: This is the biggest conundrum and probably why splitscreen will work better, but again you have options:

1. Follow the player who leaves the room first. (2nd Best Option)
- All players will be teleported with the player who left the room into the new room where the player. It removes the issue of players losing sight of their character but interupts whatever they were doing prior to a teammate leaving the room. It could be easily exploited to avoid enemies by having one player exiting the room to teleport a teammate out of danger.
2. Follow a specific player. (3rd Best Option)
- Designate a player to have the camera track (as in the mod, the first player has the camera tracking them). When that player exits a room, the other players will be teleported with them (not in the mod). Problem with this is that you designate a 'driver' that runs the show, essentially removing a portion of the 'coop' element.
3. Follow the last player to exit the room. (Best Option)
This option moreso follows the room until it's empty. As players exit the room, the camera stays focused on the players in the room until ALL players have left the room (essentially ending with the camera tracking the last player in the room). Now you have the issue of: what if players exited through different tunnels? One of two solutions, either teleport all players to the room MOST slugcats went to (Ok...) or you could have the camera follow the slugcat who left the room last*** (better). Now why is this even an option to consider? It allows for all players to finish what they are doing in the room and removes the exploit of one player leaving a room to save another/ruining a cool moment for another player who might be in the middle of something before being unwillingly teleported out of the room. It could be better implemented if you have it so players who didn't leave the room last are immune to all damage wherever they spilled out (since they can't see their player) and are essentially in limbo until the last player leaves to room. You could also have the players be able to RETURN to the active room at the press of a button/direction on the analog. This way, players can spend as much time in the room as they see fit without getting interrupted by another player leaving.


***Bonus input - With the teleporting that I keep refering too, essentially upon entering a new room, all players are spat out the same entrance. It would be relatively easy to implement and estethically pleasing to see 2-4 different colours come through a tunnel one after the other (if you choose to allow players to modify the colour of their slugcat)


PROS:
+Less to implement (debatable)
+Easier to see (debatable)
+Forces more cooperative play/coordination

CONS
- Less Freedom to explore


SHARED/SPLITSCREEN
This is another option to consider though likely the hardest and clunkiest until refined. Implement the shared screen when all players are on the same room and split into multiple screens as one player leaves the room. Merge to one screen when they are in the same room. You would have to work hard at it, but could make it dynamic splitscreen (think the newer LEGO Videogames) where only a fraction of the screen splits as you drift apart and connects again as you near eachother.

PROS:
+Freedom to explore

CONS:
- Tons of work
- Difficult to make it not look clunky/potentially disorienting to players to switch between split/shared screen






So these are some of my ideas! Hopefully I am not wasting my breath and it will help spur other players/devs into providing thier own feedback and criticisms to my ideas and help you brainstorm the way you want to go about getting coop into this amazing game. Please don't hesitate to pick apart my ideas and ask for clarification.

Until then, I will await ever so anxiously for the coop option to be in the main menu. Thanks so much for creating a killer game!

Ciao!

[e.bkapalka]

Hey! This looks super well written and thought out. All I have to say is a response to point #1 -- Online multiplayer / co-op / anything was never planned to be a thing and never will be a thing. The world of this game is as far from deterministic as it can possibly be, and synchronizing that online would be an absolute nightmare (not to mention impossible)