Houses
Tue, 11/02/2010 - 21:52
Bear with me.. i know from the title this seems like a silly idea but please read on
So lets face it, after the first couple of days or weeks Spiral Knights loses it's spark. I know because it has been happening to myself and my guild. It's not that Spiral Knights isn't a great game or that it isn't unique and fun to play. But the game has very few goals, with no real competition between users and the only goal being to reach the core and find the best armour/weapons to suit your play style, waiting around for mist energy or paying money for more feels like a complete waste. The 100 mist energy alone is normally used within an hour on a few elevators and a crafted item.. leaving you with no energy to use for the next 2 and a half hours. Why log on for that every day? it's rare enough finding other guild members online let alone being able to have the energy to play with them. So with so little reason to play i figure either you give us goals or more energy, and being a company which needs to see some dough at the end of the day, giving the users more reasons to play and invest money is probably the way to go.
So here's my idea
I was trying to think of a way to combine all the little ideas i was having and then i realised a house would be perfect. Each user could get their own house which is practically just a largish room. The idea is basically like an achievement system, but instead of giving users a simple check list and a little badge for each achievement completed the user gets a furniture item that they could not only display in their house but may also have a specific purpose. Each room could have something along the lines of a monitor at the entrance of their house. The monitor could allow the user to turn furniture on/off (because allowing the users to place their own items would just be a pain) as well as show a list of achievements the user would need to complete in order to unlock more furniture.
Here are some furniture ideas i was having that might work:
Armour Display:
This would probably be the first item you receive in Spiral Knights. Possibly earned by something easy like finishing a total of 10 levels, playing a level with 3 other users or just your first time visiting Haven. The Armour Display is a mannequin that the user can drop any spare armour items on to for display. It could possibly be expanded to display two weapons and a shield after finishing a total of 50 levels or maybe visiting a sub town.
Trophy Cabinet:
This idea i would love to see in the game. Quite frankly it's just a high score table, the user can see how they rank up against the Spiral Knight's finest and would give the game the much needed competition it needs. Scores could include things like total levels finish, most crowns currently held, user play times or various other scores. Top scorers list should display at least 20 or more names so top scorers can see just how far off they are from each other. This item would be obtained fairly simply, through running a few levels or just entering a PvP match(if implemented)
This is a feature that i would love to see in the game regardless of if it is in a house or not. A simple bulletin board in the arcade would suffice.
Alchemy Table:
A simple idea really, instead of just dumping an alchemy vendor in every house the users would need to actually craft a table from various existing materials collected from mobs. The table would sit against a wall somewhere in the house and users could then craft in the privacy of their own homes.
Mist Container:
This idea is one of the many i have had whilst trying to find a balanced system for mist energy that would work for both the knights and 3 rings. After the user reaches the core they would receive this item, as this is a very useful item it would not be wise to just give it away willy nilly. The Container, weather it be a canister of some sort or a sort of vending machine, would allow the user to store away mist energy from the knight's suit. The catch is that it can only store a total of around 50 mist energy and when depositing, 25% the deposited energy would be lost (due to "leakage" during transfer) and of course the users can not withdraw without visiting their home. This would allow users to save away energy that they plan to use on crafting, without accidentally wasting it on a lift.
Of course these are just some ideas and less functional items like simple rugs could be earned for killing a certain amount of Wolver etc.
Wed, 11/03/2010 - 02:44
#2
I like the idea of housing
I like the idea of housing for Knights, but I think it would be less house and more... Improvised apartment.
Kind of like this, I guess.
Wed, 11/03/2010 - 04:07
#3
apartment/house.. same diff
"I think the core issue is not a lack of stuff to do (which is still something that ideally should be worked on too) but the energy system in it's current state which is causing it."
i agree.. but they don't seem to be listening to us on this point.. i'd be happy even if they just lowered the elevator costs to 8 or even better half price.. and some crafting items really shouldn't cost so much as it's hard enough getting the recipe and materials..when you get to the crafting your not going to bother making extra to sell/give away because it'll cost you half a days mist energy. All i can do now is suggest extras i'd like to see and pretend that energy isn't an issue
"but I think it would be less house and more... Improvised apartment."
call it what you like.. having your own space would just be nice.
Wed, 11/03/2010 - 04:16
#4
I don't know about housing,
I don't know about housing, but I kind of like that mist energy container idea.
It might be simpler to just add an account upgrade that increases our standard mist energy capacity, though.
The only trouble with instantiated player-housing is that if players spend too much time in their houses, the world will feel empty. It's really the social aspects that are going to keep Spiral Knights alive.
Wed, 11/03/2010 - 04:22
#5
>but they don't seem to be
>but they don't seem to be listening to us on this point..
They're listening. They read every post on these forums. In another thread (http://forums.spiralknights.com/node/217), Cory posted this:
>This is a dangerous topic for developers to tread upon, but I do want to let you guys know:
>This is the first phase of the Preview Event. Right now, we're mostly just trying to get players into the game, see some early behavior patterns, and most importantly, make sure things on the technical side aren't horribly broken.
>In subsequent phases, we're going to be focusing much more closely on the energy system, payment models, and getting all of that stuff where it ought to be.
>So! Do know that we're listening to your ideas and concerns. If you don't see movement right now on things, it's not because we're not interested; we're just not to that phase yet. We'll be shaking things up in the future, and though it might be a bumpy ride, in the end, we hope to provide options for numerous different playstyles.
Fri, 11/05/2010 - 06:08
#6
A house system
A house system sould be lame, but you simply put it as a really good improvment ^^. Having a house that gains not only furniture, but maybe some rooms, as a training facility with some special monsters, or a party room, where you can just hang out wth friend in a feast of falling jellys >_<. Competitions rooms would be nice too. It's nice to think that you could achev them by playing the game and being good on it, instead of only being good in making money. Of course i would tolerate some real money payd furnitures, but only if you can gain a copy of them via no money gameplay (let's say, you could have only 2 armor stands, but could buy a third one, if wanted, via real game money).
I think the core issue is not a lack of stuff to do (which is still something that ideally should be worked on too) but the energy system in it's current state which is causing it.
In a feedback survey I recently received one of the questions asked if you supported a PVP mode for the game. This, along with your idea as well as some sort of mini game park (Mario Party Mini-game free play anyone?) would definitely encourage more people to play even though they aren't able to participate in the core aspects of the game.
Ideally a revamp of the energy system which doesn't 'punish' those who wish to invest more time playing along with fun extra's