vivec
Self-Ejected
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2014
- Messages
- 1,149
As I see it, the most important aspects of Encounter design is the quality and the variety of the encounter. There are games like Diablo where the encounter is all about loot and not about what you fight, although that can also take the center stage occasionally. In the other category, there are games like IE series, where you might have to slug through countless trash mobs before getting to the encounter relevant to the plot.
Games that center on the plot should try to have plot specific encounters ('handcrafted') at every turn. It requires attention to detail, thinking of the causality of the placement and the specific abilities the enemies should have to be a commensurate challenge to the player. On the other hand, I can very well imagine the same game having an 'arena'/'dungeon' area which is optional (temple descent in Drakensang 2) where the entire point is enjoying combat.
Generally, the trashiness of the encounters is more suitable to real-time based games as there the encounter is faster and the repetitive combat does not last long. Turn based games are slower; require more input and deliberation and thus can afford to have fewer but harder encounters.
Where does this game fit on the scale? What is the design method for the encounters here?
Games that center on the plot should try to have plot specific encounters ('handcrafted') at every turn. It requires attention to detail, thinking of the causality of the placement and the specific abilities the enemies should have to be a commensurate challenge to the player. On the other hand, I can very well imagine the same game having an 'arena'/'dungeon' area which is optional (temple descent in Drakensang 2) where the entire point is enjoying combat.
Generally, the trashiness of the encounters is more suitable to real-time based games as there the encounter is faster and the repetitive combat does not last long. Turn based games are slower; require more input and deliberation and thus can afford to have fewer but harder encounters.
Where does this game fit on the scale? What is the design method for the encounters here?