Spiral Knights - Guild Tokens and Teamwork Mini-Dungeons?

Guild Tokens and Teamwork Mini-Dungeons?

11 replies [Last post]

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 21:43

Helencroft

OK, we all know there's not really THAT much Guilds can do beyond A) get folks together, B) get teams together for PVP, C) generally socialize, and D) have a fun little area that's only really good for a meeting hall or an AFK-ing spot. But most of us have looked at this and gone: "There could be more."

So, let's add more.

Let's add activities that encourage guilds -- things that only people partying with fellow guild members can do, like certain areas where guild members will go through a special challenge . . . challenges like taking a key from point A to point B, defending a point from mooks, or solving a puzzle area (we've already seen puzzle gameplay in the Twins' areas and in the Scarlet Fortress's Cravat Hall maps, it shouldn't be too hard) . . . and doing this will reward the guild members with Guild Tokens.

These sorts of areas-with-minigames could be thrown in either as parts of new areas, or as special 'mini-elevators' that require a certain amount of guild members to enter (and for them all, of course, to pay a sum of Energy), and will deposit them back where they entered the mini-elevator once it's done.

What would the point of these 'Guild Tokens' be? Simple.

You'd be able to exchange them for things like Shard materials, 'Spark' Tokens, Guild-themed Cosmetics, perks for the Guild, and other things that while not making the game balanced ridiculously in-favor of those with Guilds, would at least make it more interesting/worthwhile to be in a Guild than it is now.

With the addition of Guild Tokens, a Guild would also acquire a set of 'Guild Colors' -- colors that would be selected either upon the creation of the guild, or added/changed at a later date courtesy a certain amount of (of course) Guild Tokens -- and be able to make a 'Guild Emblem' from a preset batch of icons, backgrounds, and color combinations. Why would these things be added in now of all times?

So that when a Guild member acquires such an aforementioned Cosmetic item, it would be in the colors of the Guild, and have the Guild Emblem on it in certain cases.

For example, you'd have three guys messing about in the Guild Hall HQ right after the update, having gotten a nice sum of Guild Tokens after playing some fun mini-games and solving the occasional Zelda-esque puzzle room . . . they go to an NPC in the Guild Hall, something like a Guild Hall Receptionist or Guild Shopkeeper or something, a Knight decked out in the colors of the Guild . . . and each of the three guys goes and buys a set of Cosmetic helm and armor -- one with the appearance of the Wolver Set, but in the guild's colors, the other in a guild-color version of the Jelly Set, and the last one in a twin-plumed helmet and Demo Suit colored with the Guild Colors.

Yes, that's right, to reiterate, the Guild Token purchasable cosmetics would be helms and armor in various popular styles such as Wolver Set, Chroma Set, Jelly Set, Demo Set, Cobalt Set, maybe a Spiral Tailed Helm (twin-plumed helm) or a Bombhead for extra, and they'd be colored in the picked Guild Colors . . . maybe throw in a few accessories in the Lockboxes that show off the Guild Emblem of a player like a tabard for armor front, a samurai flag for the armor back, an eyepatch for helm front, that sort of thing.

It'd certainly make Guilds a lot more interesting to be in if this stuff was added, and it would probably get a lot more people joining or making guilds if it was so (and with things like eyepatches or samurai back-flag in the Lockbox, keys would be bought a bit more often) . . . so, that's my idea, sorry if I rambled a bit but that's what I'd thought about last night and it seemed like a good idea at the time . . . please tell me what you think of it, guys, gals, and gremlins, if you would be so kind~

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 22:03

Khamsin

Rename this thread "Teamwork

Rename this thread "Teamwork Dungeons" and I think you'd get a lot more traffic. The rewards matter to some degree, but I think emphasize on the actual guild content that is designed for teams would be of greater interest to most players.

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 22:29

Helencroft

At Khamsin's suggestion, here's some more focus on the journey.

Hmm. Well, on the note of the content of the teamwork areas themselves . . .

Well, as I said before it'd require you to have a certain amount of guild party members for the mini-elevator to function, and it'd take you to a particular (or random) mini-dungeon that functions either like a puzzle area or a mini-game, the completion of which would lead to a bit of crowns and some Guild Tokens. Obviously, these areas would be timed in a manner similar to the PVP areas, so that failure to complete the thing within a certain timeframe will cause the players to get ejected back to where they first entered the mini-elevator. Mini-elevators could be placed either in existing areas (e.g., tuck one away on a Deconstruction Zone or in one of the themed area maps like in the Aurora Isles or the Scarlet Fortress that has set, specific level layouts), or that 'broken elevator' in the Tier 1 and 2 Terminals could be appropriated to house the mini-elevator.

Ideas for possible areas would include:

Combination Lock: Just like the thing at the Scarlet Fortress's Cravat Hall areas with the three switches, but have it set so that each player has to work one switch (like maybe put them at the ends of some small hallways or something), or have it so that each player has their own set of 3 switches that they have to work to get their set of gates opened.

Key-pa-way: Concept name shamelessly ripped from the Mario Party minigame that spawned the notion, basically have a key or something that must be carried from Point A to Point B (e.g. starting point to huge gate) by one player, and the other players must fight off enemies so that they can get to the end of the area with the key and open the way to the goodies.

Defend the Point: Have an area/item/key-like-thing/something that needs to not have monsters around it for a given amount of time, sic monsters on that point, have players defend it, if it remains defended for a given amount of time HAVE AT THE TREASURE GUYS, DOOR'S OPEN NOW. Obviously the main hazard would be numbers of monsters coming in, and the monsters coming into the area that needs to be defended setting them back so that the ejection clock ticking down becomes an actual threat.

Puzzle Dungeon: Anyone who has played a Legend of Zelda game knows that there's always that dungeon that has a particular style of puzzle to it that centers around an item -- so the Puzzle Dungeon would obviously be an area filled with about one or two, maybe three puzzles centered around a certain sort of thing, like finding switches, turning on switches in the right order, which pressure plate do you stand on, or something more widget like shooting a gun or Alchemer ricochets (though either the mini-elevator would have to have a clue to show 'hey it's going to require a gun/Alchemer' in those cases, or those cases would have to have a 'pick-up-and-use-while-you're-here' gun/Alchemer a la Blast Network Bombs) or destroying the right monster in a small batch of them. Either way, it'd be more cerebral than the average dungeon crawl in Spiral Knights, for either refreshment or frustration.

Jump Quest: Yes, yes, 'oh gods a jump quest?! I thought I ditched those when I switched from [insert sidescrolling/platforming-capable MMO here]' . . . but let's face it, it's a staple. Obviously we can't jump here, so it'd probably be a sort of one-way jump maze like the Tin Tower in Pokemon Gold/Silver where you'd go along the path and get from point A to point B by trying to navigate the one-way jumps without resorting to a guide. Simple thing, would probably have a Party Switch at the end of the area before the prizes.

Hedge Maze: Make randomly-generated maze, proceed to have switches in various points in maze so that it's more convenient to split up, have Party Switch at end that's opened up by hitting all the switches, meaning you gotta split up the team to hit the switches first but then you gotta all meet up at a certain point at the ending. Would probably work by having sections of maze pre-made that get slapped together when the party enters the particular Hedge Maze mini-game area.

Those're just some ideas of what one could have available for team play mini-areas that could give guild member parties Guild Tokens; comments?

Thu, 11/10/2011 - 08:45

Khamsin

Key-pa-way could be fun.

Key-pa-way could be fun. Especially if they added some enemies especially designed to try to grab the key and run away with it.

Also defend the point could be fun if done right.

One that you didn't mention, having two parallel hallways full of enemies, and each guy or pair of guys has to unlock the door on the opposite side for the other guy or pair of guys. I think there was a mini-game in Mario Party similar to that actually (edit: found it actually surprisingly enough typing in "Mario Party Teamwork" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--l36QdXr8)

Thu, 11/10/2011 - 09:08

Blandaxt

Timing

("Obviously, these areas would be timed in a manner similar to the PVP areas, so that failure to complete the thing within a certain timeframe will cause the players to get ejected back to where they first entered the mini-elevator.")

you said that these arease will be timed, but the problem is with all of the activities you can do during the mini game, how much time would you allow to finish all of these puzzles and that would mean that the players would have to be at a certain level to be able to igure out the puzzles. your thoughts please/

Fri, 11/11/2011 - 00:20

Helencroft

Timing, eh?

Well, the puzzle areas would obviously have a higher time limit than the more action-based minigames, but in general it'd probably be the case that the areas' difficulty would be adjusted depending on what Stratum or Tier you encountered it at -- e.g., a mini-dungeon with a pressure plate puzzle (the goal of which would be to figure out which [insert number of provided weights equal to party members here] pressure plates are necessary to open the single door) would have about six to nine pressure plates to choose from on Tier 1, about 10 to 12 on Tier 2, and on Tier 3 it'd have up to 15 you could pick from . . . and the time would be adjusted to suit, being a little longer to allow for the added combinations.

Of course, reading over your post, Blandaxt, I do wonder if you're misunderstanding a bit of it -- "but the problem is with all of the activities you can do during the mini game" -- and the point of a 'mini game' is that it's a simple objective, something that you're going to all work at to complete within the allotted time. Sure, how much time would be provided is an issue, but it's not a terribly pressing issue when you realize that A) it's not going to be some silly gauntlet of challenges but instead be a simple task to get to a set of chests/Tokens, and B) OOO will probably be able to figure out through testing adequate time limits to accomplish each challenge. Each of these little 'mini-dungeons' accessed through the mini-elevators would be short, sweet, and hopefully entertaining as it provides a challenge for its participants that will encourage teamwork and provide rewards to the successful.

For extremely loose estimates of how much time would be allotted to each game (read: me musing on how time limits would be determined), just to be thorough . . .

Combination Lock: If it's just one lock for the team to solve, then it'd be given a certain amount of time, but if it's one lock per player to solve, then it'd be about double or so more than the original estimated time to complete the one lock. Add in extra for the players to be able to get to and from their switches if the switches are set away from each other to force teamwork.

Key-pa-way: This one would allow for enough time to carry the key from point A to point B, with some extra tacked on to make it so the enemies' harrassment of the key won't be terribly critical -- as in, if X is the amount of time it takes to go from Point A to Point B, and Y is the amount of time the enemies can harrass the players before it becomes obvious the players are losing, then X + Y = the time limit, with a few extra seconds added on for leniency depending on the Tier.

Defend the Point: Obviously this one would be timed based on how much time the point needs to be defended, with extra for A) enemies to safely waste before it becomes a problem and B) the players to loot it, with B a concern only if they don't cause the timer to stop when the point has been successfully defended.

Puzzle Dungeon: The length of the time given would probably be both Tier- and Puzzle-dependent. Let's face it -- some puzzles just take longer to solve . . . and so the 'harder', 'trickier', or 'more time-consuming' puzzle dungeons would be given more time to be completed than the ones with the 'easier', 'simpler', or 'quicker' puzzles dungeons.

Jump Quest: See 'Hedge Maze' below.

Hedge Maze: This one'd probably have the guaranteed highest time limit, with the time fixed but dependent on the size of the maze generated. How can it be fixed but dependent? Simple -- the size would depend on what tier/stratum it gets encountered on, and the time limit would be determined directly by the same variable. From there, it's just a simple race against time for the players, just as a timed maze should be.

Wed, 11/16/2011 - 01:06

Helencroft

I'm a little disappointed that nobody else has commented.

I hope my idea's not too uninteresting to folks, or that there's not much to talk about it . . .

I'd like to hear more of other people's thoughts about these ideas, even if they're negative ones.

Wed, 11/16/2011 - 01:24

Kinggobi

+1 I really enjoy these ideas

I really enjoy these ideas :) They have obviously been well thought out and Guilds are rather empty.

Wed, 11/16/2011 - 09:13

Spyash

im fully in support of all guild hall ideas

i think guild tokens is a good idea the gm should chose an emblem that he(or she) designs and then it gets emblazon onto the guild hall floor and it goes on the guild tabard bought from tokens(or given by gm:if decided that only officers can have the tabard the gm give it to officers)and on the guild hat,like the chapeau instead of the iron + sign thing it the guild emblem.

Wed, 11/16/2011 - 16:53

Neinhart

I like the idea of the tokens, but I the last thing I want is another in game feature sapping up my mist for the day other than that I like it alot, people would actually have incentive to join guilds

Thu, 11/17/2011 - 19:27

#10

Ethanpow

+1 I have suggested a similar

I have suggested a similar thing on my guild upgrade suggestion.
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/33164

Thu, 11/17/2011 - 19:33

#11

Kinggobi

^ Hey Ethan why don't you

^ Hey Ethan why don't you stop going into people's threads and telling them you suggested it? Her/His idea is better then yours because it was actually EXPANDED upon.

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Guild Tokens and Teamwork Mini-Dungeons?