Rainault
commented
2 years ago Thanks for the write-up! I'll have to give this some thought to see how well it would fit into the randomizer. There's a weird tension where more randomization adds more variety, but too much randomization spoils strategic thinking, which is where much of the interesting gameplay comes from. But I imagine there is probably some form of monster randomization that works well, so I'll give it consideration for a future update.
I've been thinking about monster randomization, but I cannot figure out how it could be best implemented.
The idea behind monster randomization is twofold:
1 - To spice up combat by having typically strong monsters generate with weak stats, or typically weak monsters generate with strong stats.
Ways to implement it:
First method: the switcharoo
You take the fighting stats of Brigand, Purple Saurus, Mantray, Saurus Rex, Troll, Cheetaur, Brutus, Ogre, Tauros, and the Bear, mix them up in a bag, and redistribute their stats to a different monster: E.G.: You encounter a brigand in the forest, and he sure looks like one, but he fights like a bear. Upon searching its corpse you notice a "Hi, my name is Bear!" nametag, to help you identify just what it is you killed.
I'm leaving the gobbos out of the equation for the switcharoo on account that the goblins training grounds should remain a safe way to grind gold and stats on a difficult seed. (Plus the eighth goblin's body could be a future item location.) I'm also leaving Fred out because he outclasses absolutely anything in the game and his corpse and lair acts as two potential item locations, he's meant to be tough.
Altho you would never know if you are facing a fierce opponent or a weaker one, the battle music could be used a cue to hint you whether the opponent you are facing is a weak one or a tough one, with the goblin battle music used for the weaker opponents, and the tough battle music used for the tougher ones.
Second method: Pure RNG
Here monsters can be Jacks-of-all-trades, Lightning Bruiser, Glass Cannon, Damage Sponges, Fragile Speedsters, and anything in between.
It would require a guiding hand to avoid situations where every monsters fight too averagely, or too fiercely. Maybe by totalling a monster's stats in a pool, before redistributing this pool at random among the monster's various stats. And repeating this process for every monster in the game:
E.G.:
For consideration, maybe the sword could become a fixture in every game. By that I mean, regardless of what character you play as, or whether or not you have the Parry skill, the dagger is the starting weapon in every game, and it is never locked behind a gate that requires you to fight a monster, but the sword is always present in the game and acts as a weapon upgrade because it is locked behind a gate that requires you to fight a monster at some point. So fights could be a surprise, but regardless of what class or non-class you are playing as, you can count on the game to give you a sword to improve your fighting abilities. (inb4 you loot the sword on Fred's body, but RNG is a fickle mistress.)
2 - It would add another layer of randomization into the game: At the moment, Cheetaur, Troll, Ogre, Tauros, Brutus, and Fred are guaranteed item drop locations; Goblins and Brigands serve as an easy source for gold and stat increases; and Purple Sauruses, Saurus Rexes, and Mantray serve no purpose at all.
The idea here to mix things up a bit, so that, Purple Saurus, Saurus Rex, Mantray, Cheetaur, Troll, Ogre, Tauros, and Brutus all become potential item drop locations, however, only five (or less if you implement more item locations) of those monsters will reward you with a useful item, and the remaining three will give you a single dud silver. So you must hunt down more monsters (not just the guaranteed drops) while keeping track of every monster you defeated.
Fred's corpse and his lair, should always be guaranteed item drop due to his challenge status.
Anyway, thank you for breathing some new life in this old game, Rainault. You're making me dream that some day this game will get some mods that'll add extra content into the game. I'm at work and I find myself daydreaming of new dungeons with challenges for all three classes, or new spells or features... I cannot wait to see your future projects.