You may want to read part I before reading this.
Dungeon Lighting (finally) gets Intuitive
As you might have noticed in release #5-7: some rooms are lit up and some are not, and I’m not talking about the “brightly lit rooms” or “darkness”. It is just that some rooms have all tiles lit and some don’t. If a monster is on a square that is lit up, you can see it regardless of your ‘light’ attribute.
I wanted to make this mechanic much more clear, intuitive and equal for monsters and the player.
Braziers
In the next release, in order for a square to be lit up it needs to be close to a brazier. Braziers are a new dungeon feature that lights up nearby squares. All squares that are not close to a brazier or other light source will be dark (and by “dark” I mean “not seen unless in your vision-radius”). This has replaced the current system where some rooms are just randomly lit up.
There are a lot of braziers scattered around in the rooms of the earliest levels, making your ‘vision’ (previously ‘light’) attribute matter less in the beginning. The number of braziers scattered will decrease as you descend.
The ‘in light’ status
Whenever someone (you or a monster) is standing near a brazier, they will be given the new “in light” status. Currently there are two types of braziers: small ones with light radius 3 and large ones with light radius 5.
Monsters that previously had the property “emit light” will instead have the “in light” status permanently in #8. Equipping a strong light source such as a lantern will also give you the status “in light”.
Anyone ‘in light’ can be seen at arbitrary distances regardless of the observers ‘vision’ attribute if there are no obstacles. That is, if the player is ‘in light’ it would be as if all monsters had infravision. This means that being in light is a status that makes you vulnerable to attacks from monsters at arbitrary distances or from monsters in the dark. It also makes you susceptible to surprise attacks (see next post)! The game warns you if you are in light by giving you the visible ‘in light’ status and gives your character a different colour.
Of course the same applies for monsters: if a monster is in light you will be able to see and attack it from arbitrary distances.
Small and large braziers lighting up the dungeon around you. Standing near a brazier gives the “in light” status.
In the last post I will write about a new mechanic that will be possible through the new light and noise system: surprise attacks!
Fantastic. #8 will look and feel like a brand new game!
Indeed, and there are even more changes coming. I am actually considering to call it something else. Maybe TGGWv2.
The Ground Gives Way… Again. TGGW:A. 😛
Any thought on the current hunger system and how it encourages starvation? I always prefer starving to avoid hunger damage and open stuck doors, whereas being full is quite bad being unable to use potions or herbs. Maybe some penalty when starving, or some boost when full.
It is optimal to be as starving as possible as you say (while still remembering that some food can rot). I don’t necessarily see that as a problem. I think it is a strategy for the player to discover.
However, you are right that it could be interesting risk/reward if there was some benefit to being full and/or drawback of being starving. Good thinking!
I like the idea of having an additional drawback to starving (full probably doesn’t need one since you’re susceptible to hunger damage). That would change the strategy up quite a bit, in a good way, depending on what it was…
Yes, having drawbacks and benefits or both makes the game more interesting than having strategies like “it is always best to be starving”, I agree!
However, it is still quite interesting that you usually have to eat any food you have to not risk it to go bad. So there’s still room for some interesting choices.
I will think more about it for sure!
True about the food going bad, but it seems like that’s still not enough of a disincentive to wait to eat it (perhaps only once you’re a better player). The only reason I’d eat it is if it would clear up inventory space that I’d really want for something else.