Ideas and Suggestions

[Beridel]

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be fun (and maybe even a good way to inspire the devs!) to create a thread where people could propose different ideas that they think could make A Game of Dwarves awesome. They can be big complicated systems (like my trade caravan idea below) or just specific buildings (like my second idea below). Have at it!

I'll go first:

1) It would be cool if our dwarven settlement had some sort of contact with other settlements (dwarven or other); i.e. the trade caravans in Dwarf Fortress that can help you target high profit commodities to help you focus your industry while developing.
2) Dwarven breweries!
3) I saw a post in another thread that made me think of: the option to have military dwarves train against dummies or other military dwarves. Training against dummies could be slower but you'd have all of your military dwarves in top form for an unexpected crisis; Training against other dwarves is faster but could result in injuries. A sort of low risk/low reward vs. high risk/high reward decision.

[Archam]

Let us play those lovely goblins you shown us in some screens
That would make some fine bonus missions.

I'll wait to see a little more of the game before to come up with new suggestions.

[S0ny B1ack]

Let us play those lovely goblins you shown us in some screens
That would make some fine bonus missions.

I'll wait to see a little more of the game before to come up with new suggestions.

Well early suggestions can be usefull, since its easier to implement them while the whole game is still beeing worked on...

[John Forseti]

Depending on the turn over rate, it might be nice to be able to mark specific dwarves as interesting and follow their development.

[chuminhtri]

How about we allow a drwaft with master level skill to teach other drwaf that are doing the same thing as them? that way we can have a constant reserve of high skill drwaves. This mechanic can be implement simply by checking for any other drwaves with lower skill level than the master and give them a small experience bonus when doing the same job near the master.

[Kalelovil]

-The possibility of uncovering crypts/caverns/catacombs/nests underground with the chance of enemies, loot (within reason, spider corpses should not drop coins for example), and occasional magical items (pickaxes, weapons, armour, etc.) for the lucky discoverers to equip.

-Magic, for a specific profession of dwarves to use. Lightning, fireball, ray of frost/fire, heal, slow, poisonous cloud, stun, confusion (so enemies attack each other), blind, animate dead, etc. With a chance to backfire, and with mana as a pooled but scarce resource.

[hombrebravo]

This game would be epic if it allow you to build complex structures above ground (castles/fortress) with the same amount of attention to detail that's being shown to underground structures. I would like the ability to design my castle without prefabricated towers and such, but with flexible building components that allows for creativity. There should be a strong incentive to build an effective defense above ground to keep your dwarves safe, but also a strong need to explore the surface for needed materials. In short, I would be really disappointed if the possibilities for creative gameplay above ground was not fully explored in this game.

[ImpalerWrG]

Interesting looking game, some of the perspective resembles what I did in a project called Khazad which explored how to view/interact with a tangle of underground tunnels. From what I can see in your promo video's you can see multiple underground levels at once (I counted 3 levels), their is also clearly a slider on the right hand side of the screen which presumably moves the view in the vertical axis. The question is do you have a way to adjust the number of levels being viewed at a time or is it fixed at 3?

I developed a simple UI tool to control this. Start with a normal slider but place 2 control knobs on it, each moves independently but they can not move past each other, any attempt to do so just pushes the other knob. The position of each knob determine the top and bottom most levels that are shown, so a minimum distance of 1 is always maintained and a minimum of 1 level is shown. If I want to see more levels I can expand the range by moving the top knob up or the bottom knob down and contracting the range is just as simple. But suppose you want to move the whole 'floor slice' your viewing up and down, moving the knobs together, that's done by grasping the space between the knobs which will be a variable size knob of its own. When that is slide up or down both the top and bottom move in synch so your viewing slice remains the same size. Keyboard up/down arrows as well as the end arrows of the slider map to this type of synced movement as its what will be used most often. It's also a nice idea to apply a depth shading (toggle-able) so the player can get a better sense of depth when viewing a lot of levels at the same time.

[Freshock]

I already love the game from the videos and pictures I've seen, but maybe I can think of some ideas:

Customizable Dwarven King? Just a simple creator to make the game more personal. Not sure if there will even be a king/ruler/lord.
Bonus items unlocked by achieving achievements on Steam etc.
I noticed that the dwarfs was going to have a mood-system. So maybe some torture-buildings to keep them motivated !
Traps, maybe with lava or pits, that you can use to defend yourself against the enemies.
Rare items that you can equip to your lord, so you get bonuses in for example how much food you harvest, or money you get etc.

[Xerkis]

Player customization:

Able to make (and distribute) our own maps / campaigns.
Modify weapons, creatures, items, etc.

[c92nichj]

How about we allow a drwaft with master level skill to teach other drwaf that are doing the same thing as them? that way we can have a constant reserve of high skill drwaves. This mechanic can be implement simply by checking for any other drwaves with lower skill level than the master and give them a small experience bonus when doing the same job near the master.

This is how it worked in Evil Genius and I thought that was working really nice.

[c92nichj]

A minor graphical suggestion, On the overland map the entrance to the dwarven kingdom should not be a hole in the ground it should be a door into a mountainside somthing comparable to Moria, or atleast an entrance into some overland building. It looks really silly with just a hole in the ground.

[Xerkis]

A minor graphical suggestion, On the overland map the entrance to the dwarven kingdom should not be a hole in the ground it should be a door into a mountainside somthing comparable to Moria, or atleast an entrance into some overland building. It looks really silly with just a hole in the ground.

Absolutely!
Hopefully what we see there is simply a place holder.

[Zzzzz...]

What about something from Stronghold: Crusader where you build good/bad things and it affects the dwarves with pros/cons each.

[Beridel]

What about something from Stronghold: Crusader where you build good/bad things and it affects the dwarves with pros/cons each.

I really like this idea. Sorta going into an RPG-ish direction, but you would be forced to make some key decisions on how you would build/manage/plan the future of your dwarf settlement. Everyone loves making key decisions that strongly impact/vary gameplay instead of going through the same motions while building up your settlement every game.

[Thorwaldsson]

Yes, having the player build objects that influence the mood of his dwarves is something we're already implementing, however having some things affect your creatures in a bad way is certainly an interesting thought. I'll strongly consider it. Thanks for the tips, all of you.

//Thorwaldsson

[Zarine]

I would propose traits that dwarf could have traits that would affect how they work, build, move, fight...
Each dwarf could have 1 trait when they are "born" or maybe after a specific level. The dwarf could be fast, strong, agile, tough, smart... each one of those would have effect on different actions.
A strong dwarf would deal more damage, dig faster, cut tree faster
A fast dwarf would move faster
An agile dwarf could evade monster hits
A smart dwarf would require less time to perform actions

And also why not put the opposite trait as well and give dwarfs a good and a bad trait.
That way, all dwarf will be different and you would have to look a little bit at their trait to know what they could be used for before transforming them.

[Thorwaldsson]

We have a system akin to that planned, I can't promise that it'll make the final cut but I'd like it to

//Thorwaldsson

[Kalelovil]

I would propose traits that dwarf could have traits that would affect how they work, build, move, fight...
Each dwarf could have 1 trait when they are "born" or maybe after a specific level. The dwarf could be fast, strong, agile, tough, smart... each one of those would have effect on different actions.
A strong dwarf would deal more damage, dig faster, cut tree faster
A fast dwarf would move faster
An agile dwarf could evade monster hits
A smart dwarf would require less time to perform actions

And also why not put the opposite trait as well and give dwarfs a good and a bad trait.
That way, all dwarf will be different and you would have to look a little bit at their trait to know what they could be used for before transforming them.

I was about to make a similar suggestion, but I was thinking of a more complicated system.



Dwarves could have a number of both born traits and learned traits.

Born traits would be largely random, with the more drastic ones less common.
They could be a large variety of them, and a number of them could be humorous or odd to add flavour to the gameplay.
If dwarf maturity, old age and death are going to pass relatively fast in the game, then it might also be worth making some of the born traits inheritable. Then if you have a dwarf with some traits you don't want to be passed down the gene pool you might be tempted to place that dwarf in the vanguard of your garrison.

Things like:

Easily amused ("This dwarf is almost constantly happy, but their concentration is lacking as a result")
Imbecile ("This dwarf is not well-endowered mentally, but is still capable of performing manual tasks")
Genius ("This dwarf is a natural genius, and particularly skilled with elaborate machinery")
Paranoid ("They're out to get me! I know they are!")
Sociopath ("This dwarf has difficulty empathising with and aiding other dwarves in trouble")
Weak-stomached ("This dwarf has a tendency to faint at the sight of blood")
Pet-lover ("This dwarf loves to be around tame animals, gaining happiness when doing so.")
Charming ("Other dwarves are happy when near this dwarf, and this dwarf has a bonus to fertility")
Gloomy ("This dwarf recevies a small penalty to fertility, and other dwarves are happy to be around them")
Weak liver ("The greatest shame of dwarven society, this dwarf cannot hold their liquor!")
Beautiful ("This dwarf is the epitome of dwarven beauty, and receives a bonus to fertility as a result")
Good-looking ("This dwarf is naturally good-looking, and receives a small bonus to fertility as a result")
Ugly ("This dwarf has a face only its mother could love, and receives a small penalty to fertility as a result")
Naturally artistic ("This dwarf is a naturally skilled artist, but their proficiency at less ephemeral matters suffers as a result")
Hulking ("This dwarf is a physical giant among dwarves, possessing immense physical strength and constitution, but lacking some agility")
Agile ("This dwarf is naturally agile and dexterous")
Gluttonous ("Food and the next meal is constantly on the mind of this dwarf, to the detriment of other activities")
Greedy ("This dwarf likes hoarding as much physical wealth as possible")
Power-hungry ("This dwarf aspires to a high position in dwarf society, and won't let anything get in their way")
etc.


Acquired traits would have a random chance of being acquired by a dwarf when that dwarf does certain actions, or alternatively given after that dwarf has performed an action a certain number of times.
Some of them could also work as skill levels if you want more gradation.

Trained in [weapon] ("This dwarf has developed the know-how to use [weapon] effectively") {chance of attaining when practising with weapon}
(leads to) Skilled with [weapon] ("This dwarf has become skilled with the use of [weapon]") {chance of attaining when dealing damage against enemy with weapon}
(leads to) Master of [weapon]s ("This dwarf is a master of the art of using [weapon]") {chance of attaining when dealing damage against high-level enemy with weapon}
Proficient in [crafting skill] ("This dwarf has learned how to perform [crafting skill]")
Experienced in [crafting skill] ("This dwarf is a skilled [crafting skill]")
Master at [crafting skill] ("This dwarf has turned [crafting skill] into a fine art form).
etc.


And some which could be acquired either way, e.g.:

Solidly built ("This dwarf has a deal of natural physical strength and constitution")
Disfigured ("This dwarf has a horrible facial disfigurement, and receives a large penalty to fertility as a result, but some weak enemies will flee at its sight")
Limp ("This dwarf walks with a limp")
Blind ("This dwarf is blind, a significant hindrance in many physical activities, but it does have a better chance of detecting hidden or invisible enemies")
Frightened of X [where X is a creature type] ("This dwarf has a deeply embedded fear of X, and is liable to flee at the sight of one") {chance of attaining when badly injured by X}
etc.


The most significant traits could also be attached as epitaphs to names, so that it is easy to tell a dwarf has it at a glance. E.g. 'Thoren Gilgirn "The Lame"'.

[SirRight]

A minor graphical suggestion, On the overland map the entrance to the dwarven kingdom should not be a hole in the ground it should be a door into a mountainside somthing comparable to Moria, or atleast an entrance into some overland building. It looks really silly with just a hole in the ground.

Maybe as you progress, go deeper and get richer, that hole evolves to a door in the mountainside, then a shack, ... all the way up to a Dwarf fortress. This would just be a graphical thing unless surface attacks will be part of the game. if the latter is true then the fortress would defend better than just a hole in the ground!