Room objects/items ideas & balance!

[Misery]

Okay, so, we've hit 1.0, but that doesnt mean we're done adding stuff, no sir.   We're working on getting more stuff into the game, to add variety and just improve the experience overall.

But, doing that... not easy!   So, getting some feedback and such... a good idea right now.  Thus, this thread!

Firstly:  What do you think about the different objects and such in rooms right now?  Are they providing enough variation?  Is anything particularly obnoxious (other than spikes)? 

And items:  what do you think about the current balance on these?  Do you have any favorites, or ones you just dont like?  Or any that you think are just too strong?

Feedback on those things would help alot right now.

But also.... if you have any ideas for any new objects or items that you'd like to see in the game, please post it here!   We've got quite a community here, and I figure you guys are capable of some pretty interesting ideas.    And of course Arcen as a whole has always been very open to accepting ideas from the community and actually doing things with them.     Of course, this doesnt guarantee that everything will make it in, but... well, you get what I mean. 

Anyway, I'll be relaying anything here to the others once some responses have been gotten.

[Cinth]

As more enemies get added, rooms are going to need to be looked at.  Enemy classifications might also need to be looked at.  I haven't harped on this much, but I have brought it up before.

[Castruccio]

More later, but crosspost this on the steam forum if you get a chance.  Or get Chris to do it so the dev tag is on the post.  I bet you get some feedback there. 

[crazyroosterman]

hmm I've got nothing in particular so far apart from turning those spikes of when you've cleared the room there in(of enemys obviously) I've lost more health to walking over them when I forget that they don't turn than I care to say.

[Paladinlord10]

*deep breath*

On the subject of room objects: Yer aware of spikes.  I think it stems from them being very hard to see in some rooms.  The 2x2 blocks that destroy into... a myriad of object asteroids, some of the asteroids are... near invisible.  I've taken lots of chip/shield damage from unknown sources, and this one is at the top. Damn small rocks.... grrrrr.  The rest of the objects that come to mind are pretty good, black holes/attractors being a fine example.

On the subject of items:  The energy weapon pool is good right where it is. Plenty of variety, interesting effects, good stuff.  Primary weapons, I've seen 2 other than starting weapons. 2.  In 15 runs.  There definitely need to be more here.  Attachments are in a good spot I feel, also good variety.  Use items...  could use more of them, but also enough variety to be interesting choices.  My biggest gripe about primary/energy/attachments is that you can get multiple of them in the same run.  To take a page from BoI terminology, they need to be removed from the item pool if they're current equips or found in the past. 

*breathes again as it's been 5 minutes*

Now that the grit is there, I can speak on ideas.  Oh man.

Primary weapon ideas:
So, classic suggestions from other shooters, grenade and missile launchers as primary weapons.  Would be a gameplay style changer, for sure.  A lot of ways to damage/kill oneself w/ these, that's drawback enough, and the damage potential would be the draw.  They also wouldn't destroy bullets.
Laser weaponry.  Slow, decent range, fire and forget.  Drawbacks could be low initial power, or one 'shot' on screen.
Some of the energy weapons could be moved to be a primary weapon as well.  Example would be the shotgun.  A charged primary weapon. 

Room object ideas:
Bumpers.  The annoyances those alone could cause....
Trap turrets.  Undetectable by the player, and when the tile is run over, out pops Mr. Happy.
Dark rooms.  Kinda like yer already present blood rooms in idea, but w/ enemies.

What I could come up with in 1/2 hour of storming.  I'm sure there will be others of better caliber/quality to come along (And please speak up!  This is a great game, and I would love to see it succeed greatly!)

As always, thanks for your time.

[Misery]

*deep breath*

On the subject of room objects: Yer aware of spikes.  I think it stems from them being very hard to see in some rooms.  The 2x2 blocks that destroy into... a myriad of object asteroids, some of the asteroids are... near invisible.  I've taken lots of chip/shield damage from unknown sources, and this one is at the top. Damn small rocks.... grrrrr.  The rest of the objects that come to mind are pretty good, black holes/attractors being a fine example.

On the subject of items:  The energy weapon pool is good right where it is. Plenty of variety, interesting effects, good stuff.  Primary weapons, I've seen 2 other than starting weapons. 2.  In 15 runs.  There definitely need to be more here.  Attachments are in a good spot I feel, also good variety.  Use items...  could use more of them, but also enough variety to be interesting choices.  My biggest gripe about primary/energy/attachments is that you can get multiple of them in the same run.  To take a page from BoI terminology, they need to be removed from the item pool if they're current equips or found in the past. 

*breathes again as it's been 5 minutes*

Now that the grit is there, I can speak on ideas.  Oh man.

Primary weapon ideas:
So, classic suggestions from other shooters, grenade and missile launchers as primary weapons.  Would be a gameplay style changer, for sure.  A lot of ways to damage/kill oneself w/ these, that's drawback enough, and the damage potential would be the draw.  They also wouldn't destroy bullets.
Laser weaponry.  Slow, decent range, fire and forget.  Drawbacks could be low initial power, or one 'shot' on screen.
Some of the energy weapons could be moved to be a primary weapon as well.  Example would be the shotgun.  A charged primary weapon. 

Room object ideas:
Bumpers.  The annoyances those alone could cause....
Trap turrets.  Undetectable by the player, and when the tile is run over, out pops Mr. Happy.
Dark rooms.  Kinda like yer already present blood rooms in idea, but w/ enemies.

What I could come up with in 1/2 hour of storming.  I'm sure there will be others of better caliber/quality to come along (And please speak up!  This is a great game, and I would love to see it succeed greatly!)

As always, thanks for your time.

Spikes and asteroid things, a known (and annoying) problem.  Those, particularly the spikes, are a frequent complaint.  They just blend in waaaayyyyyyyy too much.

The weapon pool... it's funny, Chris was talking about how he thought the weapon pool was almost too much, that he just kept seeing them over and over and over and over.   The RNG is strong with this one, I guess.   There actually already are things like grenade launchers (has issues though; useless if you're using a controller).   The bit about getting multiple items in one run.... that's something that should go up on Mantis (Arcen's bugtracker).  I coulda sworn that was dealt with awhile ago, but I've run into things more than once in my last couple of runs too.

The room object ideas there.... those are hilarious.  I'm going to refer those over to the others for hopeful construction.   I mean, really.... bumpers... hahaha....  yeah, I want those in there.  I will then proceed to make some rooms with them.  This will probably annoy everyone, but that works out well enough.

[Cinth]

Obstruction additions are going to have to go through a higher power (likely Chris).  I've been looking into making some and there just isn't enough information on the wiki to even attempt it.

[PokerChen]

Oh, some of the primary and energy weapons might be hidden in the secret rooms only. So when the next patch hits you should be able to see them more.

[Misery]

Obstruction additions are going to have to go through a higher power (likely Chris).  I've been looking into making some and there just isn't enough information on the wiki to even attempt it.

Oh yeah, I know.

But that's why I made this thread.  Getting a few new room objects in was a subject discussed in emails, so I had the idea of making the topic to get some ideas from the community.  Naturally, he agreed it to be a good idea; with this community, how could it not be?    This stuff will go directly to him and be discussed with the others and all of that fun stuff.   And I've had a couple of ideas of my own too.

[NichG]

For room objects, mirror walls that bounce shots even if they don't normally bounce. Time warp zones that slow or asked shots near them. Or objects which 'catch' shots and re-emit them a few seconds later. At the weirder end, 'sight-eaters' - basically LOS blockers that cast shadows on the field based on your position. Both forward and backward shadows could be interesting. Cascading pressure plates which release a bullet and activate all adjacent plates with a delay and become inactive for a short time (put them in a ring and you get a bullet oscillator)...

[crazyroosterman]

Obstruction additions are going to have to go through a higher power (likely Chris).  I've been looking into making some and there just isn't enough information on the wiki to even attempt it.

Oh yeah, I know.

But that's why I made this thread.  Getting a few new room objects in was a subject discussed in emails, so I had the idea of making the topic to get some ideas from the community.  Naturally, he agreed it to be a good idea; with this community, how could it not be?    This stuff will go directly to him and be discussed with the others and all of that fun stuff.   And I've had a couple of ideas of my own too.

wait so if we suggested putting farming simulator elements into this game would that be a good idea? id love to be able to manage some crops and vegetables in the middle of floor (maybe even at the same time as I'm fighting in rooms full of bullets) would make for a nice break once in a while I think. 

[Cinth]

Obstruction additions are going to have to go through a higher power (likely Chris).  I've been looking into making some and there just isn't enough information on the wiki to even attempt it.

Oh yeah, I know.

But that's why I made this thread.  Getting a few new room objects in was a subject discussed in emails, so I had the idea of making the topic to get some ideas from the community.  Naturally, he agreed it to be a good idea; with this community, how could it not be?    This stuff will go directly to him and be discussed with the others and all of that fun stuff.   And I've had a couple of ideas of my own too.

wait so if we suggested putting farming simulator elements into this game would that be a good idea? id love to be able to manage some crops and vegetables in the middle of floor (maybe even at the same time as I'm fighting in rooms full of bullets) would make for a nice break once in a while I think.

Only if I'm allowed to cut the heads off the chickens.