GTX0 Adventure

1. Was the "Mystery of the Mansion" game type any good, is it worth keeping or should I bin it and come up with something new. (Or do you see potential in it but I executed it badly, etc, etc)

For me personally, no, I lost interest about midway through it. My problem was the limited interactivity; there were constantly items I couldn't pick up or abilities I couldn't acquire so the game overall felt less free than Aliens did.

2. Sneak mode... Thoughts on it? I plan to alter how it works in some way, but I'd like to hear if you guys think it needs altering and also how you felt it impacted this particular game (in a good way or a bad way).

I think Sneak Mode has gotten kind of out of hand since everyone uses it now for everything. Since you can search a room for hidden people, it's also somewhat useless. I suggest placing limits on it, but making it pretty absolute during the time you're able to sneak so people really can't find you unless they have a powerful ability.

It seems that Sneak Mode is being taken advantage of. I think it should be altered, yes. I need to ponder on that first.

Good game though, I enjoyed it. I liked the theme a lot, but we could always try something different.

1. Was the "Mystery of the Mansion" game type any good, is it worth keeping or should I bin it and come up with something new. (Or do you see potential in it but I executed it badly, etc, etc)

It had a lot of potential but I think the execution was... somewhat poor.

For one (and this isn't specific to mansion) it literally took weeks to go from certain from to certain others. In a particularly bad case for me, I went:

Bathroom -> Corridor -> Attic (Find out I need something from bathroom) -> Corridor -> Bathroom -> Corridor -> Attic

Call it three days each (or was it two at that point?) And its either 2-3 weeks for just the one task I was up to.

Two, the inclusion of the necronomicron was a huge mistake in my opinion. Other than the whole 'haunted mansion' thing, I really was hoping for something more 'realistic' after last game.

2. Sneak mode... Thoughts on it? I plan to alter how it works in some way, but I'd like to hear if you guys think it needs altering and also how you felt it impacted this particular game (in a good way or a bad way).

Sneak mode got out of hand, but I think it just needs tweaking.

Any action against another player should have to be made publicly in order to be carried out. I snuck because its annoying that someone can just go -attacks you- and all you get is the host's defensive roll. Even if they don't kill you, they have the advantage if they manage to wound you for the next attack.

Other than that (and Xhin would really have to do a system for this) maybe sneak actions have only a 60% chance of being carried out in sneak mode. If they fail then they're posted as normal.

I didn't think the game was bad, and I don't think the concept itself is bad. I do think it lasted too long, though. I wouldn't blame you for any shortcomings because this is still a new experience. We've only completed two adventure games and we're still trying to find a balance.



Maybe sneak mode should only be usable for one action per round? Maybe someone's ability to sneak could be enabled or disabled, depending on that player's circumstances (e.g. if someone is in the middle of the room where everyone can see him/her, sneaking should be impossible). That might be difficult to program with the current system, though...

Other thoughts:

I can't speak for everyone else, and I guess sneaking and play style had a huge effect on this, but my interaction with other players was close to zero for the whole game. I'm thinking my play style may be a big part because I spent most of the aliens game alone too.

I'm getting the shakes and am having difficulty typing/concentrating so I'll share more thoughts later after I've eaten something.

It... was nice in theory, but there wasn't a very clear objective, and things felt out of the player's control (IMO.) It lasted way too long as we could only go to one room at a time, so traversing across the mansion and back took literally weeks.



It really made things worse this game IMO. Everyone used sneak mode, and if you didn't you were just a target to be attacked by someone who was in sneak mode. There was no other way to defend yourself from attacks really, and while I would have had no objection making most of my actions not in sneak mode, I've already had past experiences from multiple people this game that suggested going out of sneak mode was a terrible idea if I wanted to live.


Ahem... As a side note, I worked out some ground rules for a Virtue's Last Reward themed game, which I mentioned at the end of Aliens, which I think would work like Mansion but addresses some common complaints people had with Mansion, such as the amount of time it takes to explore, the lack of interactivity, as well as more opportunities for deception and, more importantly, teamwork to come into play. If there was interest in that I'd be more than willing to cooperate with Redack to get something like that going................

I observed three things while I was playing that I do think damaged the game a little.

1. The way this game was set up, it seemed like there were a very few key objects that you needed to get to win, and if you didn't have them, you basically needed to kill the person who did. I got lucky and found all three keys (although I didn't realize there was a fourth...), but if I had found two and someone else had found one, or if three people each found one, that would have been an even longer game since we all would have been just about out of luck. Having just one way out of the mansion was a mistake IMO...assuming that really was the only way. Also kept most players from feeling like they were making real progress.

2. The fact that the game was a free-for-all was a bigger problem than sneak mode, as I think that's what made everyone choose to sneak all the time. There was no meaningful interaction to be had with the other players since only one person could win, so we had every incentive to kill one another off and no incentive to work together.

3. As others have said, it took too long to move from one place to another.

After reading through the thread, you can probably scratch my first point. I didn't realize there were multiple keys for each chest.

Interactivity and teamwork were a big part of what I wanted to do with Alien game, but the more interactivity, the more of a bitch it becomes to make up the threads.

As for moving around the rooms, a change that could be made can be something where the first action, if used to move to a room, can have you travel three rooms instead of just going to the next room.

So, if wanted to go to the 'Study', and you were in the 'Basement', if you used 'Move to the study' as your first and only action, you'd be able to fast travel to the study and get there next turn.

Doing a first action and then having your second option be to move to a room would allow you to move through two rooms, and the last action only let you move to rooms directly bordering the room you're in.

As for interactivity, I think that can greatly be increased with co-hosts. Since it's entirely dependent on the creativity of the players and that of the hosts, the more people to assist with the work, the easier it might be to have more interesting games with more variability.

The time is harder to remedy. Round time can be decreased, but that will lead to more people missing their actions, so that's harder to determine.

It would have been a lot better if we had been able to move from one room to another without spending a whole day round in a hallway. After the portals were put in the game, it was great moving around.



Keep it but modify it for whichever game that's being played.

I think the reason everyone was sneaking was because if they didn't they might get killed. My whole game plan was to stay hidden and find clues without killing anyone.

Maybe in a game like Mansion it would have been better instead of a free for all, have some diabolical killer also trapped in the house with the teens . And they are trying to find the way out before he kills all of them.

In a game like Aliens only give the sneak "all the time" ability to warrior or soldier types and give it to anyone if they are in the process of stealing or trying to protect themselves.

As a suggestion. I think we need at least 4 Action Slots and should not have to use any for moving from room to room.

As for the hosting. I think you did a good job. I would say great job if you had not had rl issues (which we all have and they should come first)that kept you from doing things on time.
The one thing I was disappointed in was you not being able to take mid round actions.

I changed my mine.
Under the circumstances.
Great Job{y}

Also:
What was in the "Brick and what was the "Heavy Mirror" for?
And where the hell was the Green Key?{fp}

I started using "oracle" magic to find keys... the green one was behind a brick in the basement, I think?



This doesn't seem like a terrible idea. In case Redack feels that 4 is too many, though, might I propose a compromise? Three text boxes for actions, and a fourth box dedicated to movement.

Also just to confirm, Majora will be hosting the next game with me as a co-host due to popular demand for his idea. Sign ups and junk will come soon.

:)

I honestly rarely felt like I was running out of regular movements. Having the fourth box for movement might have helped me once or twice, but usually I kinda needed to wait to see the outcome of my previous actions before I decided if I even wanted to switch rooms.