adding to sanity

[Amalgamation]

I wanna start off by saying I absolutely love this game. I think it is great and easily a 8/10 for the price.

that being said I was a bit disappointed in the lack of depth in the sanity system. I think some simple additions could go a long way to adding an incredible amount of depth to the entire game and management system.

sanity, in addition to causing a death at acertain threshold, could be be used to add more to the combat system and rooms in general.

at certain levels of insanity maybe some (doesnt have to be all) monsters could be given one extra move to use or become more unique. like blobs being able to divide or the fish people being able to perform a shotgun blast of water at certain levels of insanity.

you could also have it effect the rooms and environments. it could be as simple as slight atheistic changes all the way to adding or removing hazards. imagine sane people in innsmouth only have one tentacle able to come out of the manholes in a room at a given time. as your sanity decreases more tentacles are able to spawn from the manholes. maybe even add a new form of them that shoots a projectile.

I think some slight additions with this would actually make sanity more important and add a great deal of depth to the game for not a ton of work.

it could even be something exclusive to hard mode at the start, allowing time for you the dev's to figure out if things do or do not mesh well into the existing game.

I hope you guys continue to do great work with this game. it's one of my favorite lovecraft inspired games so far, and would absolutely love to see a 1.1 or 1.2 patch that adds more to it down the line. please consider what I've said if you guys do plan to add more content at some point. thanks!

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by SinisterPony:

... add a great deal of depth to the game for not a ton of work.

It looks like the devs have enough on their hands just trying to patch broken or suboptimal parts of the game, so I wouldn't count on any major elements being added to gameplay.- at least in the foreseeable future. Also, what you suggest sounds like a TON of work. Consider how huge the maps are, how many map types there are, how many characters there are, and how many monsters there are. Even minor changes in a game's code can potentially cause major ripples. Just look at what got broken recently, while the devs were patching existing parts of the game.

It's true that the sanity system acts like a second health bar of sorts but trying to make it more nuanced is likely beyond the scope of the dev's current resources. They have mentioned the possibility of adding to the game should it be successful, so there is that hope down the road.

[Blini games]

Hello,
First of all, thanks a lot for your words :) We are glad that you like the game.

About the Sanity system, we need to be very careful here. Besides what Ninth Hour well said, that we need to fix first several issues, the main problem is that Nintendo has copyrighted the Sanity system in the games market, after their Zelda, as part of their original programming and idea, and any attempt to do something very detailed, you risk having copyright issues.

See, for example, Call of Cthulhu for PC, this game should have a very deep and complex sanity system right? Being based on the RPG tabletop game makes total sense, but as the studio said in an interview, they just did a percentage scale, that lowers with the choices you make, and scripts special options in the dialogues and actions, depending on your level of sanity.

Having said that, we plan for 1.1 to add new content and improvements.

[Stallker]

Originally posted by SinisterPony:

I wanna start off by saying I absolutely love this game. I think it is great and easily a 8/10 for the price.

that being said I was a bit disappointed in the lack of depth in the sanity system. I think some simple additions could go a long way to adding an incredible amount of depth to the entire game and management system...

Hi!
First of all, thank you very much for your interest in our project and kind words.

Regarding the system of sanity - we had a lot of ideas how to use the madness of the character for the variety of gameplay. What you see in the game is only a small part of what we wanted to do.

Unfortunately, the reality not allow make everything that we want. We did not have time to make sanity system as well as we planned at the beginning.

And such things as:
* A crazy character begins to see something that a healthy character does not see.
* A crazy character can fall into places that a healthy person cannot fall into.
* Character's madness gives him an advantage in some game situations, quests and riddles
* Some characters are always on the verge of total madness.
* And some just can not go crazy.

Goes to the addons or sequel if any will be in future
(also as COOP, new characters, and new Mythos worlds).

Hope both you and we are get in there and see more interesting sanity system in our project 8)

[Amalgamation]

I

Originally posted by Ninth Hour:

Originally posted by SinisterPony:

... add a great deal of depth to the game for not a ton of work.

It looks like the devs have enough on their hands just trying to patch broken or suboptimal parts of the game, so I wouldn't count on any major elements being added to gameplay.- at least in the foreseeable future. Also, what you suggest sounds like a TON of work. Consider how huge the maps are, how many map types there are, how many characters there are, and how many monsters there are. Even minor changes in a game's code can potentially cause major ripples. Just look at what got broken recently, while the devs were patching existing parts of the game.

It's true that the sanity system acts like a second health bar of sorts but trying to make it more nuanced is likely beyond the scope of the dev's current resources. They have mentioned the possibility of adding to the game should it be successful, so there is that hope down the road.

I agree. but those are pitfalls that almost every implementation to a game has to deal with (save for like basic UI changes). if anything, even as small as adding a new attack at 50% sanity to ONE monster in the area, could have a major ripple then it sounds difficult to add anything to the game. which is an attitude I would disagree with. I also didn't imply that every environment and every monster in every level should have variations with sanity.

it can be one environment (hazards) chanhe or one atheistic change or one monster move addition for each level. just ONE change in each level would increase the depth tremendously and add actual value to the system. the system has so little in it that one minor change would drastically improve it's overall implementation. which sounds like a worthwhile effort.

and as I said I was hoping for an addition in a 1.1 or even 1.2, I dont expect these massive changes to happen over night. this could even be only implemented in content that is being created for the future.

my initial point still stands regardless, the sanity system is disappointing. it's a flat health bar that is doesnt even need attention from the player from about half way through the detectives storyline. I have not had a single sanity issue with ANY other character, it might as well not even be there.

I agree with the dev's this definitely wasnt the full scope and intention of the system. but having it so half baked will get people, like me, to see where its potential is and thus want more from it.

(I have no idea about this "Nintendo vice grip on santity systems", that seems like nonsense frankly. if there is an article I'd like to see it)

frankly I do not see the current mechanic as a system or even functioning in it's current state. it basically makes my characters portrait purple and little else.

I see the potential but have to admit it falls sooo damn far from that goal.

[Amalgamation]

long story short I hope you do at least something with the mechanic in the future, whenever that maybe. I hope that what I said is in line with what the dev's were intending and that the fact I came to a similar vision speaks volumes about the potential this system has.

potential that is currently not being used.

[Amalgamation]

Originally posted by Stallker:

Originally posted by SinisterPony:

I wanna start off by saying I absolutely love this game. I think it is great and easily a 8/10 for the price.

that being said I was a bit disappointed in the lack of depth in the sanity system. I think some simple additions could go a long way to adding an incredible amount of depth to the entire game and management system...

Hi!
First of all, thank you very much for your interest in our project and kind words.

Regarding the system of sanity - we had a lot of ideas how to use the madness of the character for the variety of gameplay. What you see in the game is only a small part of what we wanted to do.

Unfortunately, the reality not allow make everything that we want. We did not have time to make sanity system as well as we planned at the beginning.

And such things as:
* A crazy character begins to see something that a healthy character does not see.
* A crazy character can fall into places that a healthy person cannot fall into.
* Character's madness gives him an advantage in some game situations, quests and riddles
* Some characters are always on the verge of total madness.
* And some just can not go crazy.

Goes to the addons or sequel if any will be in future
(also as COOP, new characters, and new Mythos worlds).

Hope both you and we are get in there and see more interesting sanity system in our project 8)

okay wow. you're right, Nintendo did patent a sanity system. that's insane (hehe)

[Amalgamation]

super excited to see what you guys have planned for the future, this game has been soo awesome. I've got a solid unique 15 hours of play and I'm just getting ready not to fight my first great one.

excited to say the least!

[Blini games]

Thanks a lot for your feedback SinisterPony and for your support. Our intention is to continue improving the game, fixing every issue, and adding new content.

About Nintendo, yeah, crazy stuff, right? :)