Limit attribute grinding, providing fun alternatives

[luttje]

We want attributes to be trainable, but in a fun way. Players used to grind it by standing on top of props or doing other exploiting behavior (because it worked). We should limit this and counter it with fun experiences.

As mentioned by Falcon on Discord:

A lot of people know the easy ways to rush shit, need to be more legit ways to Stat train ect, we kinda played with the idea adding punching bags and treadmills

Suggestion mentioned by Ruby on Discord:

You can trigger stat increasing after a single jump exceeds 1 second, or increase by jump count rather than airborne time (for people who fix themselves in a corner with a prop to 'surf' indefinitely) You can set a max limit of ~5 jumps per minute which will increase the stat (for people who assign jump to autoclicker) Second method can also be used against endurance whoring with punching.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

Let's use this issue to track this subject.

Checklist

• [x] Training for dexterity: Target Practice
• [x] Training for endurance: Footrace
• [x] Training for stamina: Footrace
• [ ] Training for acrobatics.
  • Idea: like the Footrace but with hurdles. Checkpoints hover over the hurdles, requiring the player to touch them to progress. So they have to jump over.
• [ ] Training for strength:
  • Idea: (from the folks on Discord) training equipment, like a punching bag.
  • https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/sports/equipment/heavy-bag-porrada-sand
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=476160373
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2923958449&searchtext=gloves
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2813053087&searchtext=gloves
  • I think the bag should only be able to be used for a certain amount of time each X minutes.
  • Another idea: sparring minigame. Every couple hours you can fight with a friend, hands only. First one to get the other below a threshold wins. Instigated at an npc that oversees the match.
• [x] Training medical attribute (ideas by Ruby, I slightly changed the requirements):
  • [x] NPC at the hospital, giving out health themed achievement-like quests to achieve in the long run. Once you activate it, it would start the count.
  • [x] Bandage/heal 10 different players 10
  • [x] Bring a person back to life by healing them in critical condition.
  • [x] Bandage/heal 50 different players.

[luttje]

Stamina training by racing across the city: Two NPC's on each side of the city. If you talk to one, a race will start within a minute (others can join). You race (running) to the other side of town and talk to the other NPC, first one there wins. This increases your stamina stat (for all contestants). Perhaps the winner also gets something nice as a bonus (like increased stat bonus). Perhaps we even let players pay an entrance fee, which is then given to the winner

[luttje]

https://github.com/luttje/gmod-experiment-redux/assets/2738114/f6618d4f-c189-453f-93ea-e6ce951b6c1d

[luttje]

Suggestion mentioned by Ruby on Discord:

I can think of an NPC at the hospital, giving out health themed achievement-like quests to achieve in the long run. Once you activate it, it would start the count. For example:

• Bandage/heal 10 times (10 minute cooldown to track real heals and to combat whoring).
• Bandage/heal 10 different players.
• Bring a person back to life by healing them in critical condition.

[luttje]

Demo of training dexterity through target practice:

https://github.com/luttje/gmod-experiment-redux/assets/2738114/249b3f3f-4c17-489e-a45a-d66cc4393358

Big balloons give lower score than small balloons, hence the fractional score display.

Dexterity is rewarded as Score multiplied by the reward value (currently 0.2). So shooting 10 of the smallest balloons (size 1) will reward 2 ((10 / 1) * 0.2) dexterity. Shooting 10 of the biggest balloons (size 4) will result in a score of 10 / 4

[utaysi]

Quests in Gmod are not something we're used to. But damn these are looking much better than I anticipated 😃

[Nelaif]

I think it is nice to have like a training spot for certain things... You also have to imagine that there will be a line of people wanting to do the same thing. They might even kill eachother over it. I would be selling myself as security to ensure certain people have priority to do this training at the NPC. The others have to pay me an extra fee or i I kill them haha.

So covering an NPC + location which provides you with the materials for the training, we should also cover a more (costly) player direct method. For example buying targets to shoot for. Placing them in a base and just use your own ammunition to farm dexterity for example. Same for punching bags. Maybe portable treadmills, but I believe running itself is just something that happens over time.

I do believe we need to extend the map a little if we were to implement economical branches like this.

[luttje]

I like the idea of portable/buyable targets and training equipment, that's certainly something I'll add.

Extending the map is something I really want to wait with. If the map is too big, for too few players it'll spread them out too thin imo