Greetings! Welcome back to the weekly dev log. Let's get into it!
At the end of last week's dev log, I announced that I had something 'in the works' that would, if it turned out well, would accomplish the feat of differentiating Lands of Crown from Streets of Rogue, my main inspiration, as well as doing so in a way to make the game more fun rather than just needlessly adding a new mechanic for no reason other than to differentiate the two games.
So, what's this new thing?
Well, I did some brainstorming and, along with help from a friend, came up with a mechanic that I'll dub for now as 'Agents'. Agents are characters that you will find in every level that will act and behave as regular NPCs... for a while. It turns out that these Agents are quite similar to the player in that they also have been tasked with accomplishing a variety of quests for the Witch in order to progress to the Crown.
What this means is that while you're going about your business working on your quests you've been assigned, these Agents will also be doing the same. They can break into houses, free prisoners, rob a shopkeeper, etc. Agents can have any type of quest that the player can have. This means that sometimes an Agent will have the same quest as the player, meaning that they can steal your quest reward if they beat you to the punch.
This mechanic will help to create a living world for the player, making them feel a part of this world rather than the sole force moving things along. This will also encourage players to take a more active approach in how they play, rather than always planning out the perfect scenario to accomplish their quest. The player will be encouraged to think on the fly and take the initiative, which may mean taking some extra damage or going through with a plan somewhat unprepared.
However, this does not mean total chaos and constant action. The Agents will not move from quest to quest like a robot, they'll wander around town and scope things out before striking. Once they've accomplished a quest then they'll go wander around some more before doing another quest. This will allow the player to feel the pressure of the Agents without constantly rushing through a level to do everything as fast as possible.
Is that it?
Actually, no. I have another mechanic in the works that will build off this Agent mechanic in a fun way. As before, I won't say what it is, but just stay tuned for next week's dev log.
Thanks for reading, and as always I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly