Poker: great, but be careful to create a game that can't be abused if it's for in-game cash (do people in a town know each other in real life? Will they call/txt each other saying what they've got in their hands? This would make the game unfair for people in the game just trying to enjoy it for what it is at face-value). Perhaps you could have one lot of poker with very careful controls (can't see a way around what I just suggested, but maybe you can think of something) for in-game cash, and another game of poker for something unimportant in the game (like 'poker chips', for example, which can't be sold or used for anything else).
HP/dying chances : it’s fair that people should hurt themselves more, and more often during work, but 1) I hope it’s only a bit more of each, and 2)I heard something (might’ve just been a rumour), that the piles of job-drop products we stack up in our largely useless (although admittedly pretty, in a hoarding kind of way) inventories,
are actually useful – you put certain ones in your product slot during work to cut down on work-injury/work-injury chance. For example, what’s that job where you can get a damage report of ‘blazing hot sun today, you lose 3 damage points’? I’ve a feeling that if you put a glass of water in your product slot, you avoid that… Of course I could be completely making that up, but it does add a little complexity, which is kinda nice. The only frustrating thing is putting a glass of water in your product slot when you wanted/needed to put something useful for lp in there, like the walking stick. Anyway… enhancing/improving this element of the game would be interesting. Would you just tell people what products they need to avoid which injuries? Maybe it’d be a bit more fun for people to work it out for themselves (I imagine a job report like this: The paddle steamer is breaking in half and sinks. You have a lasso equipped however, and manage to lasso a tree on the riverbank and pull yourself ashore through the current without any injury. A salmon has swum down your shirt!). But perhaps they should at least be told that such a system is in operation so they know to look for solutions in the first place..?
If Neo’s right, and the duel-block lift really will protect people from worker-killers, then go for it, but I just haven’t been able to get my head around how that could be true. Maybe I’m just a paranoid worker, but it seems like even if the new duelling system does advantage workers a bit more (comparatively to the system as it is now), the duellers will still find a way of working it in their favour through some strategy or other, and once that happens, the 48hour KO duel-block removal will be a negative thing for me and other non-duel-inclined people.
New duel system: interesting idea. Could perhaps make things fairer in some ways? I hope it keeps the framework of the existing system in a way, mostly so I don’t have to learn a complicated new system! Perhaps some elements of the existing system can be simplified, and some can be expanded on/added to. I like the higher-dueling-level=more rounds idea. Generally, I like the attack-action and movement-action ideas, although I’m a little alarmed from the point of view that, as a non-dueller, I don’t devote much brain power to how-to-get-the-most-out-of-my-duels, and duellers obviously will devote their brain power to this, and this means they’ve got even more advantages in a complex system!! (This isn’t really a problem, except for people who get duelled who’d prefer not to take part in the duelling element of the game. For people who
are into duelling, it makes the game more fun). At this point, I’d like to make another short plug for my ‘introduce a class of character that can’t ever duel or be duelled’. There are issues with this idea (kindly pointed out to me by TJ Tuttle and Neo), but from the amount of feedback here indicating people’s dislike of being duelled, I feel it might be worth the dev.s time finding a way to make it work.
The current dueling skills will be less important for the hitting chance and damage calculation
– what will be more important in this area?
… but they will be more important for the dueling actions
– I’m confused. Big time. Sorry Neo, putting it in big red letters just wasn’t enough for my confused little brain. I had a bit of an inkling of where you were going, but eventually decided I need a comprehensive explanation (preferably using small words and lots of examples
). It seems to me that I might not be the only one around here who needs that…
Towns: unlimited building levels – good idea if it is subject to the law of diminishing returns. I don’t mind buildings deteriorating a bit over time (it’d be a great ‘levelling’ influence in the game, ha ha), but would prefer it not to affect the buildings until they’re 2 levels away from completion or greater, and preferably nothing under level 5.
Higher Character Class bonuses: idea as described sounds good.
Newspaper: I like it. But if I bid to put something in the paper and it’s not printed, I’ll be after the editor’s blood if they don’t give me my money back…
Crafting: if this element of the game is designed carefully, it could certainly add enjoyment for people who enjoy puzzle and building elements in games – getting their special item just right could be rewarding, and if you can design what it looks like too, that would be good for the artistic sorts.
New Screen design: as with everything, it’s a case of ‘you can’t please all the people all the time.’ Some people like the slightly quaint look of the game. I do – but I also might enjoy something a bit prettier/less monotonous/simplistic. As for redesigning the buttons and their whereabouts on the screen, that will probably a positive thing if done sensibly (you could perhaps make some elements of the screen customisable, so as different people can enjoy it different ways).
Content Balancing: sounds good if done carefully.
Town Customisation: sounds excellent! I want to put tons of trees and parks in and around my town, and I want to design how my residences look, and the shape of the church’s bell-tower, and the paint scheme and colour of the Saloon. And I want to put moving cats, dogs, birds, horses, horse-drawn carriages in there, and I don’t mind paying in-game cash for all that. I also like the layout-gives-advantages/disadvantages idea.
Randomised Items: sounds good. The difficulty with unique items, if they’re like a ‘best’ item, such as the Golden Set items, is that you really only want a few of them to exist, but that seems unfair for the people who don’t get them, especially for the people who might want to start playing The West for the first time after they’ve already been grabbed up. So perhaps the unique items should be good, but not ‘best’. Maybe getting unique items (each with a person’s name attached? as in ‘Wyatt Earp’s colt buntline’) gives you kudos points? (Useless, but nice to have as a stat. – I bet JoxerTM wouldn’t approve, but I’d probably spend some enjoyable game time chasing a few kudos points). Having a far greater diversity of equipment is probably a good thing.
New Map: are all these changes only going to be implemented on a new map? I like a lot of these new ideas, and although having a new map sounds like a good idea, it be a shame to miss out on them if I decide I’m busy enough just playing in one world (which is what I currently do). As for the idea of basing it on the real Wild West, that sounds cool, although having, for example, only Hunting Buffalo on the western side of the map, might be a bit of a drag for people on the eastern side. Perhaps you could have certain key desirable jobs scattered evenly throughout (as now), and additional special jobs at certain locations (and/or at certain times – good idea if the newspaper advertises this I think). I liked the idea on this thread of a railroad/stagecoach for quicker travel (and it could also give new jobs, products, quests etc. etc.).
Character Customisation: great idea.