[Suggestion] Companion - Pet

[The_Sorrow]

The title says it all.

Finding a companion or pet would be nice, or even be able to buy it for a lot of gold.

Either for pure visual purpose or even to have a >little< extra damage. Make it customizable. Finding items for it might be fun too.

Something like a hawk, owl, wolf, dog, tiger whatever you want. The options and ideas are endless and could bring a new and fun aspect to the game and something new to spend your gold on.

What do you guys think? Any ideas?

[EmberWolf]

Good idea. They could each have a different effect.

[Nosferatuno]

I'm just thinking of the odds of an animal seeing the main characters face(?) and thinking "Yeah, this guy seems like he wont eat me. I should be friends with him. No head, no problem".

I'm not pretending that this game has some type of deep storyline that is presented to us, however one should consider if this fits within the world.

[Mirror]

so basically a fairy that says "hey listen!"

[Laphi]

Make it fetch a grenade

[Blargo]

Maybe they could have a small purpose, like pointing out hidden runes or something.

[Dredk]

really good idea

[Epsilon Rose]

It could be interesting as a class of weapons or skills, but it would be somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the game if it were it's own thing.

[The_Sorrow]

I like toread what you guys think about that. As I said, it might just be for pure visuals. Epsilon Rose also said, it could be a weapon or a skill, that's a nice idea too! : )

[drugon]

That reminds me of NetHack. ^_^ I like the idea. Though not sure if it will be possible to make it as mobile as a player character. So it should either some flying creature or have phase shift ability like phaser.

[Stalkholm]

What about a summoning system? Torch Light did something like that. "Summon five stationary Skeletal Archers to fire on your enemy." "Summon a Seletal Knight that lasts for five minutes or until killed."

A pet system would be a lot of fun, so would summons (in my opinion), though it could be difficult to balance around...

Anyway, +1

[The_Sorrow]

Originally posted by kirinelm:

What about a summoning system? Torch Light did something like that. "Summon five stationary Skeletal Archers to fire on your enemy." "Summon a Seletal Knight that lasts for five minutes or until killed."

A pet system would be a lot of fun, so would summons (in my opinion), though it could be difficult to balance around...

Anyway, +1

So it would be a skill?

[Epsilon Rose]

Originally posted by kirinelm:

What about a summoning system? Torch Light did something like that. "Summon five stationary Skeletal Archers to fire on your enemy." "Summon a Seletal Knight that lasts for five minutes or until killed."

A pet system would be a lot of fun, so would summons (in my opinion), though it could be difficult to balance around...

Anyway, +1

The problem with summons is that they're one of the hardest types of abilities to balance, largely because they're effectively, free, disposable health that's attached to damage. It's basically the same problem as turrets, but even worse.

I'm not saying summons aren't interesting or that they shouldn't be added, just that turrets, and skills in general, should be fixed before anyone seriously suggests summons, since they have the same challenges on a smaller scale.

[Stalkholm]

So it would be a skill?

It was a skill/spell in Torch Light, and I could see it working as a skill in Dead Cells too; but then it could also work as an always on companion as well (assuming it was balanced of course.)

Mostly it was a comment about implementation and mechanics, but there are lots of ways that pets have worked in other games.

The problem with summons is that they're one of the hardest types of abilities to balance, largely because they're effectively, free, disposable health that's attached to damage.

For sure, balance is always going to be an issue, especially in an ecosystem like Dead Cells.

Just for grins and giggles: What about a shared health bar? 50% of the player's health stays with the player, 50% of the player's health goes to the summon? (Or whatever split the devs see fit.) So that there's a definite risk/reward to weigh.

And yeah, I had to stop using Turrets and Biters, their damage is okay, but it's the distraction that makes them so useful.

But yes, I agree: Balance uber alles.

[Epsilon Rose]

Originally posted by kirinelm:

So it would be a skill?

It was a skill/spell in Torch Light, and I could see it working as a skill in Dead Cells too; but then it could also work as an always on companion as well (assuming it was balanced of course.)

Mostly it was a comment about implementation and mechanics, but there are lots of ways that pets have worked in other games.

The problem with summons is that they're one of the hardest types of abilities to balance, largely because they're effectively, free, disposable health that's attached to damage.

For sure, balance is always going to be an issue, especially in an ecosystem like Dead Cells.

Just for grins and giggles: What about a shared health bar? 50% of the player's health stays with the player, 50% of the player's health goes to the summon? (Or whatever split the devs see fit.) So that there's a definite risk/reward to weigh.

And yeah, I had to stop using Turrets and Biters, their damage is okay, but it's the distraction that makes them so useful.

But yes, I agree: Balance uber alles.

That's an interesting solution and it definitely has some potential, but it also has some major pitfalls.

The big one is how it reacts to enemies. You don't care to much if a turret just sits there and takes a slasher swipe to the face, because it's not really costing you anything and you can just summon another one. However, if that turret had a portion of your health, you'd be pretty annoyed. That means any summon that has your health needs some way to defend itself, even if that just means not being near the enemies because it uses ranged attacks and knows to stay away. At the same time, if it's too good at defending itself then the cost won't be meaningful.

One interesting idea would be to have the player and the summon use the same health bar, but limit how rapidly the summon can take damage and, maybe, be a bit more lenient on the rally time. Because of how the rally mechanic works, that would encourage the player to stay in close and keep fighting, rather than simply dropping the summon and watching from a distance and the rally mechanic can help negate the stuipid damage the summon takes.

It's not an insurmoutable problem, just a tricky one.

[drugon]

I think that pets should be niether weapon nor skill. Just a creature that you save like in Brogue and that joins you until it will be killed. They should level up with player (probably it will happen every upgrade or every time a player go next level) and maybe evolve somehow. As for health restoring - well they could restore health when player feels up a flask. Probably there should be a possibility to feed your pet by giving it a food instead of eating it by yourself.