Zan the Bonebreaker

Blending Stealth & Imsim Design

Added 2022-06-24 11:19:06 +0000 UTC

This is a part of Map04(?), which will be one of the 'wilderness'-focused maps of Haggard.

I wanted to use this opportunity to think of how I could mix the immersive sim element into the gameplay without it being just a facade thing.

Here's a good example of what I mean:
on the lower left side, you can see a cave with two bears(?), one sleeping and one patrolling. The cave is very dark, save for just enough light at the entrance to allow the player to spot the patrolling bear in time. You could try to get past the first bear, but the dark cave would make it really difficult to not fumble over the sleeping one or step on a pile of bones and wake it up. Carrying a torch would help, but then the patrolling bear would spot you. You could throw and object to draw the patrol away, but that would be messy and could risk awakening the other. Heck, you could make a run for it, but needless to say, fighting bears is a bad idea.

And here come the interesting options:
1) What if the player could catch a fish from the nearby ponds and drop it on the bear's patrol so it could start eating it and be distracted?
1.a) What if the player could find the means to light the campfire, cook the fish, and put it further away, drawing the bear out of the cave?
1.b) What if the player could apply poison to the fish and kill the bear?
2. What if the player could find a bush of Bearberries which might have the ability to cause a bear to get sleepy?
3. What if a player could attract the zombie patrolling further ahead and cause the bear to infight for just long enough to be able to make a run for it?
4. What if the player could use a force-pull style scroll to send the bear into the endless pit crossing the map?

While I can't guarantee that all these mechanics can realistically make it into the game, it's definitely something to aim for. So yeah, I'll be doing my best to come up with more such scenarios and designs :^)