Gameplay concepts and mechanics from RUNNING WITH RIFLES

[HaafuGee]

The 'feel' that RUNNING WITH RIFLES (RWR) goes for is for the player to feel like they're just another cog in the war machine. It's a top-down shooter, but I think Ravenfield can look at the concepts and mechanics in RWR and learn a trick or two. The reason I bring up RWR is that Steelraven's plans are to implement a campaign mode. Note: I've only played the Beta 5 version of Ravenfield (the one without the better models/custom maps)


Here's a list (in no particular order) of a few of the interesting parts of that game.

1. All bots and player characters are named and ranked from a random pool (every time the player dies they spawn as a "different person")
   
2. Player receives xp and resource points (RP) for doing stuff (this is persistent for the player)
   
3. XP increases rank, which allows access to different items and to allow
   
4. RP is used to purchase specialised stuff (eg. C4, camouflage, special weapons, airstrikes, vehicles, reinforcements etc.)
   
5. a basic inventory system exists, allowing weapons to be picked up and sold/stashed for later use
   
6. each faction has its own stock weapons (assault rifle, LMG, sniper)
   
7. day/night cycle exists, night decreases bot visibility
   
8. the map is cut into sectors, and to capture an sector a team must have 2/3 of the total amount of troops in that area
   
9. bots patrol areas and guard important objects (eg. radio towers, caches)
   
10. the player can choose to conduct their own sneaky attack behind enemy lines
    
11. a single bullet will down you, with a weapon-specific chance of instantly killing
    
12. medic-bags are used on other troops to revive

I'd encourage you to check out RWR, it's a nifty little game. There are all sorts of mechanics and concepts in there that I thought were really neat. There are some mechanics which probably don't have a place in Ravenfield, so let me break it down.

The first thing which Ravenfield can learn about the feel of the large battle. Flags, as in small points to capture, are things which I think should be reserved for games with more limited troop counts. When I crank up the number of bots, the AI pathing becomes very obvious and it feels kind of silly as they stream from one flag to another. On the other hand, RWR's sector mechanic forced the devs to make the AI move in terms of areas, not points. The result is that RWR has "fronts" in its fighting. The bots really like using cover, and eventually one team breaks through.

The second thing which Ravenfield can learn about is player autonomy and variety. In RWR the bots all partake in a gigantic firefight or patrol their sectors. The player can engage in these firefights, but they can also do other things. There are vehicles to be stolen, objects to be destroyed and people to be killed behind enemy lines. What was completely unexpected to me is that RWR can actually be played as a stealth game. Buy a ghillie suit (using RP ups the stakes, because getting killed means you lose the thing you bought), wait until night and use a silenced pistol. I'm not saying that Ravenfield needs a stealth mechanic, but I certainly think it could benefit from having some of these openworld-ish choices to make.

The third thing which Ravenfield can learn about is the possible value of ranking. I know, I know, ranks have been shut down before. It's important that we make the distinction between ranks as most of you will be thinking of and how RWR uses ranks. In COD and Battlefield, ranks function purely for incentive and they can feel silly. RWR's rank system is good because it's the solution to a few issues. There are three which I think are particularly relevant. The first is that the player can kick a bot out of a vehicle only if their rank is higher than the bot's. The second is that the number of bots that the player can control/have following them is defined by their rank. The third is that the player's access to increasing levels of radio commands is linked with their rank (eg. calling in a small mortar strike is Corporal, while large artillery is Lieutenant). I think RWR's use of ranks strikes the right balance between capturing the feel of being a cog and having a reward for doing stuff (of course, assuming that there is a variety of things to do other than just kill).

All in all, I think Ravenfield needs to consider its identity as a game. While Ravenfield might be inspired by Battlefield, I think it should be careful about how closely it wants to tie itself to the multiplayer style of FPS gameplay. It's true that RWR has multiplayer, but at its core it's a very singleplayer game.