When an NPC is hurt enough, they change in looks (to show they are hurt more). Limping, crawling, smoking, cracked, severed, enraged (color change), transformation (special monsters) This would be a nice addition to see with large packs of monsters that work together, or on large bosses with multiple sections. If a support monster (that heals other units, long ranged attacks, or a very difficult tank type mob) is showing signs that it is wounded, everyone in your party will know where to focus their attacks at. Alternatively, it also could signal everyone around you to move away from the target to prevent a counter-attack, such as a kamikaze or a last-stand type of attack (sudden projectile thrown, earthquake ground attack). When an NPC moves into a wounded phase, they act differently. Move slower (limping), "call for help" for nearby npc's, switch weapons/fighting tactics, healthy NPC's supporting wounded, start/stop spawning npc's To see NPC's working together and not zerging and clustering together to fight players would make them feel more... dynamic. NPC's that rushed to the wounded and healed them, or wounded that would "buff" surrounding NPC's when showing signs of hurt would change strategy with fighting certain packs of mobs. You might tie in switching weapon combinations for different NPC "wounded" mechanics, like a shield if a swarm of enemies rush you every time one dies for 2 seconds, or an AoE weapon if support NPC's drop their guard to support wounded. Summary: Some sort of visual clue about an enemy who is reaching close to death adds to strategy during combat, and can change the way we think before approaching a pack of monsters. In some cases it can prolong combat, making things a bit more exciting during a fight but also creates a greater feel of accomplishment when you win. Dynamic AI helps the game deviate from standard games and trump over its previous success, Terraria. Likely problems and Possible Solutions: Too many enemies with wounded mechanics can make things too complex and make the whole system boring and tedious. I.E.; A pack of space pirates all throw knives on death/close to death, causing a spam of projectiles. Possibly fixed by limiting the chance to trigger mechanics, or limit the amount of times a mob can use a support ability (like a medic can only heal a wounded enemy once and packs of mobs that rush players can only get damage/speed buffs twice [triggered buff when one dies]) Not every single mob can use a mechanic for fighting, and adding mechanics and wounding effects to every single NPC in the game can be very tedious in every way for the player and the developers. Very true. Sometimes, simple enemies are fun to kill too! When things get too complicated, you start to hate the game. Complicated in the sense that you don't want to fight an easy enemy penguin and then have it set to a chance it will transform into a tougher penguin sometimes, or even worse, occasionally explode when near death. Mechanics should be fun and interesting and unique. Give a shout out if there needs to be clarification/something added/removed in here somewhere! I sometimes forget when things I suggest are already recognized in the sticky!:barefeet: Edit 07/05/2012: Looking for critiques/additional ideas/conflicting ideas!!
I like this. In fact, it could also be extended to PCs, so that your allies know when to heal you if your sprite looks like a mess. In fact, if we complicate things a little bit, these damaged phases should even show the kind of damage that was inflicted, like burns from explosions, bullet-wounds, etc... I approve!
So, your idea is like how the Eye of Chulutu(I don't know how to spell it...) changes into a harder eye with teeth after you take 1/2 of its health in Terraria? I always liked that mechanic and would love to see it in Starbound!
Haha glad you like the idea! As far as PC supporting each other, it can really mess with gameplay when you play solo... to make it almost essential to receive healing/buffs from another player can make solo play downright impossible or tedious hit-and-run. To make it non-essential or not too effective either makes multiplayer way too easy or support items/equipment a waste of inventory space. It could be fun, for sure, and when I think of healing support I can't help but think of the medi-gun from Team Fortress 2... but it's about finding ways to balance fun, difficulty, and usefulness of utilities... I would say scale difficulty with more players on a planet, but that means all fights would be tedious to do solo.
Well, if more players means stronger monsters (which usually does in coop gameplay), then it would be easily balances. Also it's only a matter of setting the difficulty level in singleplayer, and I think Starbound is especially aiming for multi, so... I mean, healing support is always something that enriches gameplay, so rather than taking it away because it messes with singleplayer, you should balance singleplayer in another way ^^
In a way, yes! But with more than just bosses! Think about when you fought the goblin army (before you shred them like paper). Archers aside, there was no particular goblin you would focus attack on. You would just run into a pack of them and use weapons that hit multiple goblins. If say the fast moving goblins ran away to recover somewhere off screen, you would want to chase them down. If the soldier type goblins would lunge at you every time you hit an archer with a melee attack at low health, you might use a ranged weapon to deal with archers mid fight or ignore soldiers altogether to deal with archers first. Heck, if a soldier goblin pulled out a shield when close to dead that blocked all melee attacks that would still be pretty sweet. The goblin army should of been something more than meat bags that run at you... and this is a chance for some real evolving of AI for the soon to be successor of Terraria!
I would love this idea in the game, why not make it so that npc's can team up on you or battle amongst themselves.
Brain Blurb: NPC's will fight monsters, not like terraria,where they get knocked around by a green slime. When an NPC dies, it's body stays until you, Bury it, Clone it or get rid of it in other ways. NPC's would have Morale, the higher it is the more damage done and the longer they can fight. Morale decreases when wounded, and when a ally dies. NPC's can be told where to go and who to kill, but they are less likely to listen with low Morale. Short Brain Blurb.
Haha while good ideas, I would recommend putting this in its own separate topic where it can be viewed properly since I am focusing on wounded-NPC mechanics ;] Also, it's been stated already that they are not using the "bump attacks", and instead only actual attacks will harm players.
