Chances are this is a bit too much of a change to the game and might completly “ruin” the game but here is the idea.
Although I spend 3 hours a day playing Cataclysm DDA I’m also having fun with another similar game, Project Zomboid. It’s pretty obvious that cataclysm is a much more advanced game than Project Zomboid but there is a feature in it that I’m not sure if it exists but it is at least not noticeable in Cataclysm which is Fear, in Project Zomboid if you see a Zombie at a distance you get slightly scared but if you encounter a zombie in front of you right as you open a door you get extremly scared which makes your, equivalents in Cataclysm, of Strenght, Perception and Dexterity drop reducing your fighting capacity. I think this is a great feature that could be implemented in Cataclysm. Again I must say I’m not sure if this exists already and it just isn’t noticeable on the HUD.
If it doesn’t exist it seems like something of easy implementation simply checking the distance to an enemy zombie as you spot him and apply a temporary penalty from there.
Fear might be a nice addition but it wouldn t be easy to make it realistic (somewhat the games goal). If id go by me id say i fear things that i do not know that might be dangerous and things that i know are dangerous. So in game terms it should be like you gain fear lvl? how do i call it xD when you encounter a new enemy or when you encounter a known enemy that hurt you badly recently . The fear lvl should drop with enemies of the same typ slain… like how you stop to care about slaughtering them z children (is that actually a feature or am i imagining this xD). Then maybe add some other things on top like fear by suprise or fear by lack of sight(like hearing strange noises in the dark but you can t see the source). Well could be nice thing to implement if done in the right way imo. I wouldn t place it high on my priority list though.
I also thought of that, fear isn’t always bad, it can make a person weak but it can give her tons of adrenaline too which is good especially in a danger scenario.
i like this idea very much.
the fear caused should be based on the monster’s perceived threat.
Things that’d modify the threat level:
The monsters perceived stats. eg. its strength, speed and size.
The player’s experience with that type of monster. (simulating what the player knows about it) - also a players general experience in monster killing should give a bonus (a hardened 2-yr survivor is not as easily scared as a green shower victim)
The player’s combat skills.
The player’s traits, mutations, CBM’s.
The suddenness of the monsters appearance (i once had a Hulk out of the blue breaking down a wall and appearing 1-tile from me. in that situation i’d be scared beacause i wouldn’t expect it). It should play a part if a monster appears close by suddenly. (not spotted beforehand)
The proximity of a monster causes some fear regardless of (5)
Drugs, booze.
More things that other people will think of.
Fear could and should also interact interestingly with some existing traits/mutations. like adrenaline, near sighted (you see the monsters closer)…
What fear does:
Normally (barring mutations/traits/CBM’s) debuffing morale, focus and stats, in this order, depending on the fear level.
Wasn’t there a game called Fear Effect? For the PlayStation? There is also the game Eternal Darkness that has an interesting approach to fear/sanity : if you see the monster, you take a sanity hit. If you kill the monster, you regain sanity. Having 0 sanity made those sanity hits drain life, and made creepy things happen … come to think of it, that might not translate great to DDA. But those are some games I can think of that tracked fear.
I dunno, im fairly against it, by the end of week 1 I can be well on my way to 1000 kills, at what point do these things stop being scary? Either the sort of hordes you come up against would make it a pretty much constant debuff, or it would just make for a harder start and have little effect on late game.
This is certainly an interesting idea, but I’m not sure it would benefit the game in any way.
As much as I love Project Zomboid, it does seem a bit odd to me whenever you freak out, just because you spotted a zombie! I mean, sure, that would rattle most people, but it is ummmm, a ZOMBIE apocalypse, and so there are going to be ZOMBIES walking around…
The posts in this Topic really expanded this idea for me and must of you are right when you say it wont benefict the game that much, but I was thinking of something really momentaneous, when you spot a close zombie out of no where you get a dexterity or strenght penalty that clears after a bit or after you kill the enemy.
Anyway, I prefer base DDA to have fear be on the player’s side, not the character’s. Psi-paralysis such as the Amigara Horror is one thing, but arbitrarily freaking to the point of stat debuff is another.
But as I’ve said before, Cataclysm: Eternal Darkness Days Ahead would be a fine mod. I’ve no problem with that, just with mandatory fear/SAN management in mainline.
Anyway, I prefer base DDA to have fear be on the player’s side, not the character’s. Psi-paralysis such as the Amigara Horror is one thing, but arbitrarily freaking to the point of stat debuff is another.
But as I’ve said before, Cataclysm: Eternal Darkness Days Ahead would be a fine mod. I’ve no problem with that, just with mandatory fear/SAN management in mainline.[/quote]
Dang, i can´t decide between both.
But anyways, the best horror games have the fear in the player´s side, but then we have Amnesia… with fear in both sides…
I’m on the same page with KA101 here, it’s that there’s another side to that (page):
Fear could be a psychosomatic effect, a good mechanism to improve on player’s decision making skills .
I don’t reason with Fear/Courage scaling being equal to Depressed/Elated states of mind. The other thing is that focus pools are nicely balanced right now.
