Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Let's talk about cars  (Read 2686 times)

seth--

  • Bay Watcher
  • We need a slogan!
    • View Profile
Let's talk about cars
« on: April 23, 2013, 06:46:20 pm »

There is a topic for weapon discussion, let's make one about cars.

Currently, the difference between cars is very basic, just a bonus between +0 and +3 to the driving skill.

If you are driving a stolen car, there should be a small chance of a police officer spotting you. It should increase with time and, after a month or something, start going down again, but never to 0.
Certain cars should attract the police more than others. Nobody will suspect of a taxi with 4 guys inside.
There should be a possibility of having a dedicated driver to help squad members acting alone. Like, if you have a guy doing graffitti, send this awesome driver with him in a car to help with running away from the police or an angry mob.
If you have a driver with low heart in a fast car, he may go too fast and be pulled over by the police.
A sport car shouldn't allow for six people inside. It's not that big.
We need real car names with real capacity and speeds. I can't help that much here because I don't know about american cars.

I think I can code all of it but I want some feedback first.
Logged
I am confused are you saying you changed the kidnapping so it is less... Saw?
Did Saw consist of you beating them then yelling Ronald Reagan in their face?

My Name is Immaterial

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2013, 12:24:17 am »

I'm all for more realistic cars, but I'm not so sure about the names. I think it sort of trivial. The rest looks fine.
Also, to add a suggestion, the act of looking for a car should be improved. Cars should be part of the map. You should need to return to the spot you left your car, or steal someone else's. Right now, I walk in front of the bank, have the teller open the vault, and then I can easily walk right out the back, and my car will drive itself to me.

seth--

  • Bay Watcher
  • We need a slogan!
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2013, 11:15:32 am »

When we buy a second hand car from any dealer then how could we come to know whether that car is stolen one or not.
IRL you can verify that.
In game, if you bought it, it's not stolen.

Also, to add a suggestion, the act of looking for a car should be improved. Cars should be part of the map. You should need to return to the spot you left your car, or steal someone else's. Right now, I walk in front of the bank, have the teller open the vault, and then I can easily walk right out the back, and my car will drive itself to me.
That sounds good but I'm not sure of how to represent that in the game.
Maybe when going to a location you could choice in what exit tile you leave the car, but that would be another key to press before going there and killing people and I don't like adding unnecesary steps.
If you can steal someone else's car, the previous thing would lose importance because with somebody a good at security you can steal any car.
Logged
I am confused are you saying you changed the kidnapping so it is less... Saw?
Did Saw consist of you beating them then yelling Ronald Reagan in their face?

Capital Fish

  • Bay Watcher
  • "Hi Mister Dog!"
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2013, 09:23:07 pm »

We need real car names with real capacity and speeds. I can't help that much here because I don't know about american cars.

This would work fine for pre-2013 cars, but how would it work for cars from the future? Either the current car models would have to be set to repeat indefinitely, or we would have to use fictious vehicle models.
Logged
Find the errors in the above post and win a prize!

seth--

  • Bay Watcher
  • We need a slogan!
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2013, 11:05:06 pm »

We need real car names with real capacity and speeds. I can't help that much here because I don't know about american cars.

This would work fine for pre-2013 cars, but how would it work for cars from the future? Either the current car models would have to be set to repeat indefinitely, or we would have to use fictious vehicle models.
Well, the weapons are all the same for 100 years, we can do that with cars too
Logged
I am confused are you saying you changed the kidnapping so it is less... Saw?
Did Saw consist of you beating them then yelling Ronald Reagan in their face?

Yannanth

  • Guest
.
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2013, 04:55:08 am »

.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2016, 04:41:32 pm by Yannanth »
Logged

Little

  • Bay Watcher
  • IN SOVIET RUSSIA, LITTLE IS YOU!
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2013, 04:58:15 am »

Logged
Blizzard is managed by dark sorcerers, and probably have enough money to bail-out the federal government.

Capital Fish

  • Bay Watcher
  • "Hi Mister Dog!"
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2013, 09:08:33 am »

Adding names to every car would not only (likely) breach several trademarks (LCS already does this with guns, but to a small extent), but also unnecessarily complicate the game. It's why I think we don't need more guns. Adding more cars when they're not meaningful would make the game mechanics less obvious and also create a doctrine in the player of 'collecting them all'. I think the number of car types right now could be cut down on, really. A good example is SUVs, which are super easy to steal, sell for a good chunk of cash and don't let you get caught easily.

As for the rest of the proposals, they're pretty solid.

I have to disagree with you on that last part. Technically, the game would play exactly the same even if only one type of generic "car" were available - even the year and color are unnecessary details. But while the game doesn't necessarily NEED any different vehicles, they do add some flavor to the game - even if it's only useful for roleplaying.

In fact, I'd be thrilled to see more vehicles added to the game!
Logged
Find the errors in the above post and win a prize!

KA101

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2013, 04:47:40 pm »

Uh, the color/year kinda help if you have more than one Van, Bug, Sportscar, SUV, etc.  It's important to know who's going in which car so you don't doublebook the motor pool.  (Only one squad can take a car, per day, no matter how many people are involved.)
Logged

Jonathan S. Fox

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
    • http://www.jonathansfox.com/
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2013, 04:48:34 pm »

Adding names to every car would not only (likely) breach several trademarks (LCS already does this with guns, but to a small extent), but also unnecessarily complicate the game. It's why I think we don't need more guns. Adding more cars when they're not meaningful would make the game mechanics less obvious and also create a doctrine in the player of 'collecting them all'. I think the number of car types right now could be cut down on, really. A good example is SUVs, which are super easy to steal, sell for a good chunk of cash and don't let you get caught easily.

As for the rest of the proposals, they're pretty solid.

I have to disagree with you on that last part. Technically, the game would play exactly the same even if only one type of generic "car" were available - even the year and color are unnecessary details. But while the game doesn't necessarily NEED any different vehicles, they do add some flavor to the game - even if it's only useful for roleplaying.

In fact, I'd be thrilled to see more vehicles added to the game!

There is a danger to adding more though. Too many options for the player and you start making the game worse rather than better, because players will become indecisive and confused.

The current car choice is pretty easy to navigate because people tend to know what different car types are, and they can guess at some they may not know. Like, I think "station wagon" is an option? That's a term that is rarely used for modern cars in the US anymore, but it's not going to run anyone's play experience that it's in. Even if you don't know what a station wagon is, you don't need to; you'll just assume it's a coup or a truck or a buggy or something, and it won't make your play any worse for it. It's a choice and people probably rarely pick it, but doesn't make the car menu notably harder to deal with by its existence.

If the player has to choose between five types of sports cars though, you're going to run into an issue where players aren't sure which one they really want -- they know they want a fast getaway car, but have no idea whether the Firebird or the Racer is better at this, and feel frustrated before picking randomly and wondering if they got it wrong. This is a distraction that makes the game less fun and makes players feel slightly helpless. So you need to temper the variations to ensure the game remains intuitive and empowering, rather than causing confusion.

Having cosmetic differences that apply only after you get into the car theft minigame would avoid some of this trouble, as long as those differences really are just cosmetic. So I could see something like, you pick sports car, and it says:

You're in luck. You find an unattended silver Firebird, a high-performance 2015 Japanese import.

Now you can get variation, flavor, and detail, but without muddling the game with too many choices. The player picked sports car, and the game says they got what they wanted, plus more details to get their imagination going. Average players won't grind for specific cars because they don't know what sort of car is better, and expert players who DO know all the mechanics won't get bored grinding either, since they'll know these are genuinely cosmetic details under the hood.
Logged

seth--

  • Bay Watcher
  • We need a slogan!
    • View Profile
Re: Let's talk about cars
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2013, 05:21:34 pm »

I wasn't thinking about having 5 sport cars with subtle changes, but something along the lines of one fast with space for 5 passengers and one really fast with space for 2.
The car capacity can be displayed ingame where it's neccesary. The speed should be obvious for someone with an idea about cars and would be documented in the wiki like it's now.
Logged
I am confused are you saying you changed the kidnapping so it is less... Saw?
Did Saw consist of you beating them then yelling Ronald Reagan in their face?