Multiplayer mode

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Vroqren
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Multiplayer mode

Post by Vroqren »

I am aware that this has most likely been considered already, but I have some input towards this. If there was a multiplayer mode, it would increase the number of players, so also the number of purchases. This would especially be true if multiplayer was for registered players only. Making Book III multiplayer would improve my liking of the game (which would be really hard to do, as it's by far my favorite medieval game.) Some ideas for multiplayer are-

Accounts: The beginning of the SP game requires players to make an account (username and password) Then, they go eat lunch or something, (The point is that they leave.) When they come back, they login to their account. This action brings them to a new screen, which shows the following
:Load a saved game:
:Load from where you left off:
:Load in multiplayer mode:
: Player stats:
:Settings:
:Cancel:
With this, saving only become necessary when one is unsure whether they are on the right path.
Now, where do accounts come into MP? The multiplayer game uses the same account. The only difference other than allowing players to see each other, is change of the boundaries, and npc's.
Map/Boundaries: When in the multiplayer mode, players may not use quick travel. There are certain regions where fighting other players is allowed, but in cities it is not. A player may not travel in MP past the area that he has traveled in SP. So, if said player has not explored an area in SP, than he must go into SP and explore there (Exploring somewhere is as far as your cartography reaches.) in order for them to go there in MP. If a player has never traveled into a region where fighting is allowed, than they can not fight other players. When a player is done with MP for any amount of time, and they start SP again, regardless of where they ended up in MP, they start where they left off in SP. So, I'll use an example from Book II if it had MP. John is in Port Kuudad in SP. He goes into MP, and travels to Everdale. He has some fun there, but eventually gets bored. So, he quits and goes back into SP. Even though he quit MP in Everdale, he starts in the same spot he was in in Port Kuudad.
Items/NPC's: Any item that a player has in SP they also have, and can use in MP. All potions can be made still, as no skills are reset or anything. This is to balance the amount of playing between SP and MP. Any NPC's that are for buying items, selling items, or for quests disappear. Other NPC's though, such as NPC's to fight stay there. Because they would be killed instantly by players most of the time, those NPC's respawn every two minutes. This is not cheap however, because experience can NOT be gained in MP. If an NPC is not killed before the two minutes when it should respawn, then a new one deson't respawn. Certain aspects of the game go away, such as the quest journal, but knew ones appear, such as chat. Players-player chatting has the same chatting rules as player-NPC, except players can have up to four people in a conversation. So, when you click on a player in a non fighting area, it asks them if they want to chat with you. There are three options here-
:Yes:
:Not now:
:Never again:
Choosing yes results in a chatbox coming up. Any message may be typed, and when enter is pressed, the message is displayed to the other player. Choosing not now results in the player who asked you to talk receiving a message saying something along the lines of "Not now, try again later". Then they must wait 60 seconds before asking that same player again. Choosing never again makes it so that those two players can never open a chatbox with each other.
Dying? If a player dies while in MP mode, they lose all of their items, (They don't go away in SP) and respawn in the same general area as where the game starts. The items are not obtainable by the player who killed you, or any other players. In fact, they are only visible to you. So, to get your items back, you must work your way back to where you died. Your items are all on the ground in that square, or maybe moved a bit by wild animals, depending on where you are.
Advantages to beating SP Players who have beat the SP game have a great advantage over the players who have not. Some of these include-
:All regions available in MP, even if they weren't traveled in SP:
:Higher level accounts, and they get 20+ skill points to spend in MP:
:Better items, that are only obtainable through SP:
:A greater ToHit probability added to the ToHit probability at the end of SP game:
:Quick Travel is available, but only if character is within one region of the quick traveled region. Must be N, S, E, or W, of the region the quick travel sign is in:
And many more are possible. I know this is a long shot, but I'd appreciate it, and I know others that would too. Thanks for reading!

Check out my walkthroughs:
Character: here
Book I: here

Book II: here
Fathamurk: here
Book III: here
SpottedShroom wrote:There's evil and then there's just being contrary to your own best interests
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CrazyBernie
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Re: Multiplayer mode

Post by CrazyBernie »

While some sort of multiplayer mode would be really cool, it wouldn't work so hot with the turn-based nature of the engine. I can tell you with 100% certainty that Book III will not have multiplayer. I wouldn't count on it for BW's next project either... unless there's a HUGE amount of feedback to that effect. The market for really good single player games is a little dry right now with everyone trying to push that multiplayer aspect.
supaflyryguy
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Re: Multiplayer mode

Post by supaflyryguy »

I agree with what CrazyBernie has to say. A multi-player option would be neat, but would slow down the gameplay. Even if BW added say... a two-player co-op, both players would have to take "actual" turns. So in order for a multi-player mode to work, Eschalon's core gameplay would have to be revamped. Honestly, I'd rather not see Eschalon: Book III turn into World of Eschalon. There's nothing wrong with the idea, though.

And, like Bernie said, too many developers these days focus their efforts on multi-player and neglect the single-player experience almost entirely. I'm open to change, but I really wouldn't like to see BW following that trend (not that I think he would, anyways). Plus, overall, I prefer the RPGs I play to be single-player.
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