Game Design & Development

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Mounts and Pets

	BirdSpirit PLEASE note that I had originally posted this idea in the Earth Eternal forums, a game that has now been shutdown. Therefore, there may be some parts that may not apply to Antilia, but I've tried to take most of them out. For things that I have not changed, I have not played Antilia enough to make a proper judgement about certain things so I left them as is. Some parts include "credit items" which were previously used for people willing to pay real money for the game. I would mainly focus on the way of attaining mounts (1-7), since there is not yet a battle system in Antilia. _____________________________________ Below, I've compiled some of my ideas about mounts. 1. Minimum Level: I would say about level 10. This is not a set number yet since it is to be determined how the quests in Antilia will be set up. By then however, the player will be more familiar with the controls of their own character and be ready to command something else. 2. Mounts Available: The mounts should include most of the creatures of Antilia and must be caught. They must be animal based, so bipedal monsters (although it would be an interesting sight) would be unavailable. Also, monsters that look alike but have different names will make no difference due to customization (see 5). 3. Obtaining a "Catcher": Name subject to change. A catcher helps one tame a creature so that it can become their mount and pet. There are several options: a. As soon as a player reaches level 10, he or she is automatically given an item that allows them to get a mount. If the player's inventory space is full, the Catcher will appear once there is space. b. The player must do a quest in order to get the Catcher. c. The player must do a quest in order to get the recipe for the Catcher. Afterward, they can just gather the components and craft it themselves. 4. Using the Catcher: The Catcher can be equipped in the same slot as the fishing rod. Before using the Catcher, the creature to be caught must have less that 30% of its health. If this condition is fulfilled, then the player may send out the Catcher. However, the Catcher only has a certain chance to trap the creature (say 30% for example) and if it fails, the player may not try again on that same creature. The process can be repeated on a different one. A credit item for this could be something that has a 100% chance of catching a creature at 100% health. 5. Customization: Once your mount is captured, a customization window will pop up. Here, the monster that was just caught can be customized similar to the way the players are customized. The name, color, gender, size, and class (see 6) may be chosen. You may choose to do this later if you would like (as in once you get to a safer place with no enemies around), but your mount will not appear until it has been finalized. 6. Class: Mounts can be divided up into 4 classes: speed, defense, magic, and power. Each class has its own strengths, along with abilities specified only of that class. a. Speed - The mount can occasionally double hit (do twice the amount of damage) and allows the player a higher chance to avoid attacks. It is also given an ability that increases traveling speed even more so for a certain amount of time. Cooldown times are shorter by 1 second. Speed class gives mounts a permanent dexterity bonus. b. Defense - Defense class mounts receive a constitution bonus. They have the ability to increase the player's armor and constitution for a certain period of time. Like the speed class, defense mounts increase the miss rate of the opponent. When the player is running away, opponents are more likely to give up the chase earlier than they usually do. c. Magic - Magic class mounts give extra will and wisdom to the player. The mount has a permanent psyche bonus. The damage of abilities of both the player and the mount do extra damage (as in if the ability normally does 15 damage, the damage becomes something like 17, giving all abilities + 2 damage). These mounts have the ability to increase the resistances of a player for a certain period of time. d. Power - Power mounts have strength bonuses. They have a chance of stunning an opponent during battle and their special ability is to increase the player's strength for a period of time. Power mounts give players a permanent higher chance to do critical hits. 7. Taming Your Mount: The more obedient a pet/mount is, the better it carries out orders and fights. In order to train your mount in such a thing, the player must simply interact with it, whether it be feeding, fighting, etc. Mounts that reach a certain obedience level may unlock additional bonuses. 8. Statistics and Abilities: Mounts can increase the traveling speed of the player by a certain percentage. Speed mounts can travel even faster (mentioned in 6). I'm still grappling with this somewhat, but my opinion right now is that the stats of a mount are a percentage of the player's stats (before stats of equipment are added). Of course, this would make the mount weak when battling other creatures, so I've opted for the fact that they will not die in battle (causes for a mount's death are in 15). The mounts can have their own abilities, and maybe some of their master's, which are chosen by the player. These abilities can be set on automatic use, manual use, or a combination of both. As for the monster's own abilities, they can be given 2 ability points every five levels. These will function the same way as player ability points do. So, there are Tier 1, 2, and 3 abilities and they can each be upgraded. However, mount abilities don't cost will and wisdom since mounts don't have that. Only cooldown and cast times exist. I have some ideas for general mount abilities below. They are not separated into Tiers. These will be the attributes of when you first get them. Non-combat abilities can ONLY be targeted on the player and the mount. a. Chomp - Instant cast that deals 15 physical damage with a 3 second cooldown. b. Tail Whip - Instant cast that hits the opponent twice, doing 8 physical damage each. It has a 4 second cooldown. c. Roar - Instant cast that increases spirit of the mount and player by 7 for an hour. It requires reagent and for the player to not be in combat. d. Healing Breath - A channel ability that lasts 8 seconds and heals 40 health per second. The target for this will always be the player (so no need to select a target). e. Frostbite - Instant cast that deals 15 frost damage with a 3 second cooldown. f. Inferno - Instant cast that deals 15 fire damage with a 3 second cooldown. g. Death Stare - Instant cast that deals 20 death damage with a 5 second cooldown. h. Sunstar - Instant cast that hits 3 times and deals 11 mystic damage with a 5 second cooldown. 9. Equipment: Mounts can have their own set of equipment that gives them additional stat pluses. They function the same way as that of the players. As for refashioning armor, I would go for the fact that the equipment doesn't show up on the mount because the creatures are so different. The mounts may only equip a helmet, body armor, and leg armor. Perhaps weapons can be added too, but they also would not appear on screen. Mount equipment is separate from player equipment. If you pick up something for your mount, it can say "Mount" in italicized words underneath the name to tell the player only mounts can use it. 10. Extra Stats: Every 5 levels the player gains, the mount will obtain 3 training points. There will be a "Trainer" (NPC) in each town, and by paying a certain amount of money (which increases with each upgrade) your mount can get a permanent stat +1 in a certain area (strength, dexterity, constitution, psyche, spirit). This would use up one training point each. 11. Inventory: Things we ride are large right? So it is only logical that they should be able to carry some stuff for us. Mounts can begin with 2 rows and maybe have more in the future if packs are added. The mount inventory is separate from the player inventory, so maybe things that are important but don't need to be used for abilities or in battle can be placed here. Items you would like to trade for example. When picking up items, they first go into the player's inventory. If that is full, the extra items can go into the mount inventory. 12. Controls: When mounted, you steer around and attack with the normal controls. The mount will automatically begin attacking once you do the same and the opponent is in its range. It will always attack the same opponent the player is attacking. This is similar to when you are dismounted (riding mentioned below). When dismounted, your pet will automatically follow you around. The mount can be set to attack or defend. When in attack mode, the mount will strike the opponent whenever it can. The player can manually choose for the mount to use certain abilities, or make them automatic (as mentioned in 7). In defense mode, the mount will have less attack damage, but it can still use its abilities. The player takes less damage if their mount is in defense mode. The abilities for mounts are in a separate bar and are activated the same way the player's abilities are (by clicking on them). 13. Riding: The obvious reason for this is to get to places faster, but there could be some other uses too. I will divide this section up into advantages and disadvantages of riding your mount, and of when you mount is not being rode. a. Mounted: For the player, this is advantageous because they are higher up and therefore harder to reach. So, being mounted can increase the chances of an enemy missing. Players may also received extra armor stats. Since the player and mount must work together in this position in order to win, we can establish what I will call a " power link". The longer the player stays on their mount, the better the link will get (to a certain point of course). A higher link may give boosts in spirit or strength to both the player and the mount. The maximum boost could be something like 5. Being mounted can be a disadvantage for your mount because it slows it down due to the weight of the player. Thus the mount can get less attacks in. The cooldowns for some abilities increases. If you have a speed class mount, then the cooldown times and attack rates go back to normal (as if your mount was not being rode.) Being rode can also prevent the mount from executing some abilities. b. Dismounted: While being dismounted, the player doesn't suffer from anything, but they lose the benefits of not being mounted. The power link (mentioned above) cannot be established if the player is not riding their mount. The mount, when not being rode, increases in attacks speed. It is able to execute all the abilities it has. Armor and resist stats increase. In this state, the mounts can have a protection link, which like the power link, increases in effect over time to a certain point the longer the mount stays dismounted. The protection link can increase the player's health. 14. Caring For Your Mount: It's not fun without disease, hunger, and a need for sleep is it? The pet is your responsibility and you must feed it, allow it to rest, and give it medicine when it's sick. Food and medicine can be obtained just like reagents or in the wild and the mount can take them when needed. The mount must be fed every two hours you play. You may only feed it 2 playing hours after you have last fed it. There will be a hunger bar for your pet to show you when it will be hungry again. The bar is separated into a couple sections that note the hunger status of the pet. If you haven't fed your mount before time runs out (by the time the status becomes starving), then your mount will die (details about death are shown below). An icon will appear if your mount happens to get sick (this will happen randomly) A timer will come with this. If it runs about before the mount is given medicine (we can have just one kind for simplicity's sake) the mount will also die. When the hunger bar is low or when sickness strikes, the stats of a mount decrease by half. This will remain that way until the player cares for the mount. Sleep on the other hand, can be taken care of any time as long as you're in a town or inn. Take your mount to a "Caretaker" (NPC) and allow it to sleep (the time it takes to do this will only last 10 seconds). One night will cost the player's level multiplied by 2 (Level*2). After that, the mount will have enough energy for the next 6 playing hours. There is also a bar called an energy bar (no pun intended) for this and it may be permanently increased to 10 hours if you have credits. If your mount's energy bar hits zero, your mount dies. Another credit idea for this is an energy potion, which can be used any time the player wants and restores the energy bar completely. A noncredit item may be a rare item that increases the energy by half an hour or one hour. 15. Death: Your mount can die, but it can be resurrected again, as long as you pay a fee of course. When a mount dies, it can be resurrected at the nearest sanctuary. However, the player must go to the sanctuary to pick it up (The map will show you where your mount is). A credit item for this could be a Mount Teleporter, which returns the mount back to wherever the player is immediately after it's resurrected. If the player were to die, then both the player and mount are brought back to the sanctuary, but the player does not need to pay a mount revival fee, only their own. ______________________________________________ Thanks for reading the giant wall of text. O.o Feel free to comment! BirdSpirit Friday, August 17, 2012 10:39am Kiyohime da'Tasiiama Kiyohime Ryuujin (EE) Cheynas Ah, how I love when my entire blob of text disappears when my computer randomly shuts down ^,^' *shrug* Might try and rewrite it... might not... see if I remember to after I've had dinner. Best way to re-write something lost is to forget what you wrote, do something else and look at it with fresh eyes. Friday, August 17, 2012 12:10pm Heart of Fire, Soul of Ice Body of Flesh, Mind: Unbound. --Cheynas da'Nayr StrayDog Solid concept BirdSpirit hope to see it in game. Wednesday, August 22, 2012 10:23am I was a wolf raised in a house of gold. Then I died, and came back as a stray, who bore his scars. Julian Ironquill Personally, I don't like much the concept of pets in these games, were a pet is just a beast you send to die for your own benefit, much like pokemons. I'd like to have pets that are just for looks too, that follow you around and are adorable, etc., like real pets. Wednesday, August 22, 2012 4:03pm This is a friend's comic. Please pay him a visit: Pobre Pucho Jeff Leigh Lead Developer Thank you for your thought out description, BirdSpirit - it was an interesting read, and there are certainly some ideas in there I like. I've done quite some thinking on mount/pet systems for Antilia before - trained pack jidous have appeared in both older lore texts as well as in the RP that was running for a while. I like the idea as well of getting the most of the content we create, and since we already have jidous in the game, it's just a matter of writing the code. In my implementation, the player would start with a jidou nymph (one of the little guys you see in-game), and depending on how the player trains and feeds it, could grow in different directions - grassland foods lead to a more grassland jidou - a light, fast jidou. Forest foods lead to bigger, slower forest jidou that have more attack power and carrying capacity. Swamp foods could take the jidou in the direction of a more aggressive jidou with special attacks. Highland foods could lead to a mountain jidou that can climb up steeper rock-faces, etc (there will be other forms as well, and I expect players to be able to get a good blend of at least 2 traits.. too many just becomes 'average'.). I liked point 5 - I planned on something similar, when you complete whatever is required to obtain the jidou nymph, you would have the opportunity to name it and customize it a bit... though some of the other points didn't quite apply to Antilia since it isn't a game with player levels or a targeting system. (Still, controlling your mount will work the same as if you were on on foot, as you suggest, and the system of battle will work the same, etc.) As far as your mount dying, I'm still thinking on this - but I imagine it'll work the same was as if a player or party member died. And yes - Julian, I too would like to see some creatures that were purely pets - less functional, but just for fun. Wednesday, August 22, 2012 6:32pm Jeff Leigh - Lead Developer - Right Brain Games In-Game: Tait da'Ariiel, Ziliia da'Lynnar BirdSpirit Thanks! I'm glad you like some of the ideas! I like the idea of an evolving jidou. XD I would assume that a player would get to pick a main trait and then a sub trait to create the combination they want, correct? Besides jidous, we could also have additional pets that boost a certain group of skills. You wouldn't be able to interact with them as much, but you'd be able to get a bonus when you carry out an action such as fishing or woodchopping. Thursday, August 30, 2012 10:46am Kiyohime da'Tasiiama Kiyohime Ryuujin (EE)

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