As long as these barriers fit in with the surrounding environment and don’t look artificial, it seems like a good idea. In the example above the “barrier” blends in very well.
Doesn’t this mean a lot of extra work for you guys, though, if you have to create optional areas that some players won’t even get to see? And are these barriers truly “random”, or are they affected by certain conditions, such as quest choices or amount of play-throughs? I just figure it would be annoying if you took your character through the game for the third time, and the RNG always placed the barriers in the same locations…
I like the idea of alternate paths that would open up on your second or third play-through. Things like shortcuts and/or areas with especially challenging creatures.
Would these barriers be only on a second play through, or do they show up on a reload?
Most games that have had randomness like this in the past generated the landscape and map when the game loaded, and many didn’t save that info when you closed the game. So, you could swap characters to access your storage on another character, then load back the original and see things had changed.
Or will this all be decided as soon as we start the game, meaning it’s seed based and totally possible that you get the same seed again…with a mod tool or something?
I have the same question as Staalker. And that has me of two minds with the implementation.
Completely randomising every time a new game session starts has its own perks, creating a unique environment each time and appealing to the adventurous spirit. However, I also like the idea of a game map being fixed say, per difficulty. Much like how Diablo 2 worked with the randomness in single player mode. The advantage of that is it provides a means of not having to traverse a new path each time and stumble across dead ends. Good for doing boss runs. The disadvantage is the player can be unlucky by having a terribly long route to traverse each time they decide to play through a particularly long area.
Or, would it only randomise when the game is started up initially from Windows? And multiple playthroughs across multiple characters yields the same map and barricades?
The barriers randomize each game session. They generally don’t set you off down a long alternate path though, as you may be envisioning. Rather, each barrier tends to only be a minor divergence but there can be several in an area so that they collectively mix things up quite a bit. Often it is still possible to loop around and explore the full area. The purpose of these is not to totally change the gameplay experience but just to get people doing things a little differently each time.
The person above who described themselves as always running along the same level wall out of habit is exactly what we hope to alleviate. That is the type of thing I might do and I think many others do just out of habit or for the sake of efficiency.
As an example, before we had the barriers, I had created various possible routes through the starting area but in playing, I realized that I almost always go the same way without really thinking about it. The barriers prompt me to deviate off the normal path now and it keeps things fresh.
Thanks Medierra. More than anything, it is a great idea. I’m sure when the game gets released other people will pick up on the simplicity of the idea and appreciate how neatly it alters gameplay in an unobtrusive manner.
Thanks for this awesome update! This is the only thing I felt was missing. Now this game has everything it needs in my eyes. Congratulations for the hard work put in, and good luck in the future!
Will there be any skills or gear that would make it traversable (jump/climb/teleport/etc…)?
It is interesting to “make” us not hug a wall and explore everything.
Getting over a wall that’s only 4 feet tall, though, is more realistic.
Aside from that, I’m all for randomization. It’s the biggest thing I missed about Diablo. There were always constants (big boss will always be on this level, but I don’t know where or when), but everything else was new.
JJ
Mostly for insurance reasons. Due to the risk of personal injury and lawsuits that might arise from it, the property owners strictly prohibit climbing of any sort.
