Some suggestions:

[VRK9]

I asked in the discord and want to ear more opinions:
How many "AI's" will we have in the game with the player?
Will every thmpr and every OP-AI have a different AI?
Does that mean that in battle we will have 3 AI's with the pilot (thmpr+op-ai+pet) at the same time?
Will that won't be too much AI in our minds at the same time?
What if OP-AI could pilot thmpr as if they were OP-AI omniframes? In this way we only have to deal with the 1 OP-AI and 1 living pet at the same time, or we could equip the same or another OP-AI to a robotic pet.

 

[Pandagnome]

What if A.I could be priortised by which order they were put in
e.g. 1 is higher priority then goes down.

1- OP-A.I
2- thumpr
3- pet

If the op-A.I pilot thumpr as VRK9 mention it could be more smarter but you would lose information op-A.I gives to you since it is not in the mek. Would this mean it could turn into more of a battle type thumpr with op-A.I.

Could this then integrate the pet to the thumpr or the mek?

What could happen if the Kaiju somehow captured your beloved thumpr buddy with the A.I's inside could it turn thumpr against you :O

how would the effectiveness of the A.I's be in a team of other A.I's do they compliment the other A.I's if you are in a team so if you play along side each other the A.I's learn to recognize the friendly A.i's in the team.

Could this build a reputation for the A.I's meaning they would be better at their tasks could be defending, attacking or patrolling etc etc

What if the app could have things like stat sheets and stuff you can share with other people or save for later? This would help people who like to play together but can't always find time to meet up. It could also be used in a way to play a game without the other person(s) needing to be there. It could use a basic sever to store key information along with a calculator and have things like an RNG dice roll on it (just in case you don't trust each other to tell the truth about your rolled at home).

Like how when I was growing up, in the days before the internet was a big thing, I played games like chess with people by mail. We would just mail each other key info about the moves we made and moved things around on our own boards at home based on that. Going by the speed of the mail some games could take months to end. But it give you a lot of time to think about you next move between waiting for the letters, which in terms of tactical games, like chess, made them much harder than normal.

This could be like a virtual Em8er tabletop that co-exist in the Em8er game that lets you control available npc's constructed or purchased with ingame currency etc.

You can access the game through the app or ingame rolling a virtual dice say you have certain amount of moves and gain bonus moves by completing dailies or certain objectives.

The app/game could let you see your npc that you control as a little toy figure e.g if it was a Engineer it would have a small trooper with a wrench.

Lets say notification came on the app/game saying Alert minor damages on the outer perimeter BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP and you see little glowing dots where the damages are.

Then you can roll dice to fix those lets say you fixed a few but the others where too big and you have used your goes perhaps your friends can help fix the other damages hmm

When we use this app would this be built into the game so you could do this ingame?
If you wanted to get the app separately for other devices that could be done too?

Would we be able to have pvp skirmish training like in C&C but this would be with a dice and for fun you can unlock things the more you play ingame giving you better options when using the app.

unlock special skins for npc's and collect new additions to your units from encountering/studying
to creating them with bp + resources or building your bio lab to create.

The app could be like a pda unit on the pilot ingame that could then be seen on the screen and close up when you do not use it.

 

[VRK9]

How about living ships, omniframes, weapons... like in some other games and anime?

Those could be an interesting way to play the game in a different way, like probably we could have to feed them with resources and make them to level up with battle exp to make them stronger.

 

[Omnires]

How about living ships, omniframes, weapons... like in some other games and anime?

Those could be an interesting way to play the game in a different way, like probably we could have to feed them with resources and make them to level up with battle exp to make them stronger.

I still remember watching t.v. when I was kid and looking at The Twilight Zone or some other show like it. I remember in episode there was guy with a living gun attached to his arm. The gun acted like a symbiote as it would do anything to protect it's host. Because the gun was linked to things like his blood stream it would passively gather things out of his blood to make bullets with. This by itself didn't do anything to host other than make them eat a lit more than they normally would as the gun would pull things like iron out of their blood. I always thought that was a cool idea, not only because it was a living weapon but because the writers put some real thought into how a living gun would make ammo for itself. If it can get the host to eat foods with a lot of metals and other things in it than it can make more bullets that way.

 

[VRK9]

How about a living G-Suit just to take care of us?
I don't know if the game will have some kind of "leveling system" where more you play and more battle exp (and/or other activities exp) you get, more "skills" we could unlock, like some kind of passives to give us some boosts and/or unlocks certain things...

 

[Wyntyr]

...I don't know if the game will have some kind of "leveling system" where more you play and more battle exp (and/or other activities exp) you get, more "skills" we could unlock, like some kind of passives to give us some boosts and/or unlocks certain things...

Currently no levels/XP/skills. Three Omni-Frames (light, medium, heavy) and all the abilities/weapons the team can get into the game will be our playground (other than killin the sheet outta the Shifters). With that said...their will be a World Tier system that rises and falls based on how much of the planet/playable area has been terraformed and gear will have tiers as well. Basically if you're running around in current GT that matches the WT you're good to craft/repair said gear...but...if the WT drops then said gear becomes uncraftable/irreparable until the WT is brought back up. FYI gear doesn't go away, just becomes less effective as it loses durability. It's an interesting mechanic as it will allow for previously low tier gear to remain relevant during those low WT's as you may swap back to that gear since your high tier gear can't be repaired. Hopefully this info helps (and if i got it about right...lol).

 

[Pandagnome]

I had a thought after watching splinter



https://non-aliencreatures.fandom.com/wiki/Splinter_(Splinter)

Spikey kaiju and the splinter related maybe?

What if the spikey type has an attack form a variant would do something similar to what splinter does. However it affects could be involuntary movement and slow heath drain.

To remedy this your beloved medics have the cure or just topping up on health but that wouldn't stop the involuntary movement.

So getting the antidote administrated by the medics giving you immunity to this for a short time.
The Spikey creature adapts so that is why there is no true immunity just a way the medic can synthesize its blood rapidly and develop a cure in a matter of a short time thanks to their skill and antidote injector and lancet dna scanner that they have.

 

[PartTimeJedi]

Currently no levels/XP/skills. Three Omni-Frames (light, medium, heavy) and all the abilities/weapons the team can get into the game will be our playground (other than killin the sheet outta the Shifters). With that said...their will be a World Tier system that rises and falls based on how much of the planet/playable area has been terraformed and gear will have tiers as well. Basically if you're running around in current GT that matches the WT you're good to craft/repair said gear...but...if the WT drops then said gear becomes uncraftable/irreparable until the WT is brought back up. FYI gear doesn't go away, just becomes less effective as it loses durability. It's an interesting mechanic as it will allow for previously low tier gear to remain relevant during those low WT's as you may swap back to that gear since your high tier gear can't be repaired. Hopefully this info helps (and if i got it about right...lol).

Wait so you can log on and all your gear is nerfed/non repairable from the last session you played because the WT went down while you were out of the game for a day? That sounds....imho.... not fun... Doing hard work then getting gear nerfed/not repairable for something out of your control doesn't sound pleasing in the slightest.. Maybe I'm reading this wrong?
I can understand if a player plays and plays and plays crafting stronger gear, then if they die they would respawn with slightly nerfed gear.. that's the players fault.. and motivates the player to "get gud".. But to play and play and play-- craft better stronger gear.. then lose that for no fault of that playet?... ehhh..that's not a mechanic that I can see loads of players going "yea that's great"

 

[Pandagnome]

hmm i think this sounds like we all in it together if the world goes poopy we must pull our big socks and help so our stuffs get back to the good tier.

Does this mean the kaiju have their tiers so if our tier weapons are lower because of the world tier does that mean there is a chance the kaiju tier could go up if the world tier is lower for too long??

 

[VRK9]

What if tsi-hu and kaiju could adapt during the fight with more players they defeat just by using the weapons/modules... from the fallen players?

In this case, if a player got defeated by a tsi-hu and kaiju, the tsi-hu could use their plasma canon and deepstrike ability and the kaiju could use their homing missile ability.

Could this be interesting or maybe too OP?

 

[Pandagnome]

What if tsi-hu and kaiju could adapt during the fight with more players they defeat just by using the weapons/modules... from the fallen players?

In this case, if a player got defeated by a tsi-hu and kaiju, the tsi-hu could use their plasma canon and deepstrike ability and the kaiju could use their homing missile ability.

Could this be interesting or maybe too OP?

That would certainly be scary for sure, could we be able to mimic their abilities too i wonder?

 

[PartTimeJedi]

Currently no levels/XP/skills. Three Omni-Frames (light, medium, heavy) and all the abilities/weapons the team can get into the game will be our playground (other than killin the sheet outta the Shifters). With that said...their will be a World Tier system that rises and falls based on how much of the planet/playable area has been terraformed and gear will have tiers as well. Basically if you're running around in current GT that matches the WT you're good to craft/repair said gear...but...if the WT drops then said gear becomes uncraftable/irreparable until the WT is brought back up. FYI gear doesn't go away, just becomes less effective as it loses durability. It's an interesting mechanic as it will allow for previously low tier gear to remain relevant during those low WT's as you may swap back to that gear since your high tier gear can't be repaired. Hopefully this info helps (and if i got it about right...lol).

Let me say upfront, im not bashing, just an observation.
I'm not a video game designer or developer. I graduated UMass Amherst with a major in Psych back in 2009. I always had a passion for playing video games and one of my classes was "the Psychology of Video games" I tried to find my old text books last night but couldn't find them. I am going by memory on this-
There is a facet of video games called POSITIVE FRUSTRATION vs NEGATIVE FRUSTRATION.
All genres have this, from puzzle, platformer, MMO, to Shooter.
POSITIVE FRUSTRATION IS GOOD IN GAME
NEGATIVE FRUSTRATION IS BAD IN GAME
Positive Frustration- Frustration in the game that can be overcome by the player themselves. Whether by the choices they make or just plain practicing more.
Negative Frustration- Frustration in the game that's beyond the players control. Whether by glitches, bad design or mechanics.
Now heres the kicker. All great games, games that have staying power, games that people love, have almost zero Negative Frustration.
I feels to me adding a Negative Frustration mechanic to a game that is in large part a SKILL BASED SHOOTER is not going to help make it a great game. I completely understand that Em8er will have crafting as a major component and everything crafted will slowly break down, become less effective over time/use. I hope the Devs can find another way to tie this to the war in general besides a mechanic that punishes players for no fault of their own in a game that relies heavily on SKILL.
I can see many backers being ok with this mechanic but what about the regular player that signed up after launch? I can just imagine them logging on after playing for a few weeks, seeing that the WT has gone below their current GT and just logging back off to wait till the WT goes back up, letting only a core group do all the grunt work. If Em8er takes off and becomes a hit the majority of players will not be original backers who have a stake in the game. They will be average joes/janes.
I wish I could find my Textbook, it would explain it much better than I can by memory.

 

[Pandagnome]

just spewing ideas and day dreaming as usual but its great to know there is a process of how we can make a game better by the way we think and the aspects of psychology in gaming.

So if we have less of a frustration that i think of like barriers which get in the way, the more enjoyable it could be.

Does this mean making it more simple than over complicating with changes because with too much things implemented could that lead to frustration too?

Is there a correlation between frustration and being bored?

Dont mean to ask many questions just trying to understand this better it is very interesting!

 

[PartTimeJedi]

just spewing ideas and day dreaming as usual but its great to know there is a process of how we can make a game better by the way we think and the aspects of psychology in gaming.

So if we have less of a frustration that i think of like barriers which get in the way, the more enjoyable it could be.

Does this mean making it more simple than over complicating with changes because with too much things implemented could that lead to frustration too?

Is there a correlation between frustration and being bored?

Dont mean to ask many questions just trying to understand this better it is very interesting!

I wish I had my Textbook. Im going by memory on this.. Frustration is GOOD and BAD depending on how it affects the player and how the game enables the player to deal with it. GOOD frustration are games that let you overcome it by better player choices or just practicing more. Bad Frustration are games where the player is frustrated by facets of the game out of their control ie bad mechanics, glitches, game design, pay to win.
You want frustration in most games but it has to be Positive frustration, which allows the player to overcome it. That makes for a game that people come back for.
For example. gear/weapon breakage- a Positive way to implement this is the breakage/wear occurs when a player dies. The player has control over this, they can change their play style, take less risks in certain situations, be very conscious of not dying and just practice more so they die less.
This is a VERY general/vague definition of + and - Frustration in games.

 

[Maven]

I wish I had my Textbook. Im going by memory on this.. Frustration is GOOD and BAD depending on how it affects the player and how the game enables the player to deal with it. GOOD frustration are games that let you overcome it by better player choices or just practicing more. Bad Frustration are games where the player is frustrated by facets of the game out of their control ie bad mechanics, glitches, game design, pay to win.
You want frustration in most games but it has to be Positive frustration, which allows the player to overcome it. That makes for a game that people come back for.
For example. gear/weapon breakage- a Positive way to implement this is the breakage/wear occurs when a player dies. The player has control over this, they can change their play style, take less risks in certain situations, be very conscious of not dying and just practice more so they die less.
This is a VERY general/vague definition of + and - Frustration in games.

You do have a very good point, however, I never saw this as a potential deal-breaker. Do keep in mind that I was someone who supported the weapon breakage system in Firefall. Always felt that all it needed were a few tweaks to the rate of weapon decay, to become a decent mechanic.

Coming back to Em-8ER, yes, there is a likelihood that you may end up unable to repair your weapon, if the world tier has dropped. And being an MMO, the individual is not fully in control of the world tier status, by virtue of it requiring collective effort.

At the same time, Em-8ER does not have vertical progression. While not strictly flat, the progression curve is planned to be very mild. The way I see it, having to use a weapon from a lower tier might not cause you to lose so much of your 'potency' that it becomes a chore to reclaim the lost tier. You may have to forego your favorite style of play for a while, but it's a temporary thing. It falls to the dev team to tweak numbers just right, and find that sweet spot between frustration and motivation.

The one thing I felt Firefall lacked, was consequence. Player actions/inaction needs consequence. And there should be repercussions. It makes the world feel alive. Not everything needs to be completely in the player's control. When the player has complete control over all factors, it can inevitably lead to routine, which in turn leads to stagnant gameplay. If the player knows that they can simply repair their favorite gear using whatever resources they have, regardless of world tier, it gives them a sense of security. It is essentially a static world where there is minimal cost of failure to the individual.

External factors can add a little spice to that routine, keeps you on your toes. It asks the player to think ahead, build additional gear, prepare themselves better. When the world tier inevitably falls, it also acts as motivation.

In a game that is otherwise entirely dependent on repetitive gameplay, there needs to be external factors to keep things interesting. I would be fully in support of the team introducing more such elements. It is a war after all.

 

[PartTimeJedi]

You do have a very good point, however, I never saw this as a potential deal-breaker. Do keep in mind that I was someone who supported the weapon breakage system in Firefall. Always felt that all it needed were a few tweaks to the rate of weapon decay, to become a decent mechanic.

Coming back to Em-8ER, yes, there is a likelihood that you may end up unable to repair your weapon, if the world tier has dropped. And being an MMO, the individual is not fully in control of the world tier status, by virtue of it requiring collective effort.

At the same time, Em-8ER does not have vertical progression. While not strictly flat, the progression curve is planned to be very mild. The way I see it, having to use a weapon from a lower tier might not cause you to lose so much of your 'potency' that it becomes a chore to reclaim the lost tier. You may have to forego your favorite style of play for a while, but it's a temporary thing. It falls to the dev team to tweak numbers just right, and find that sweet spot between frustration and motivation.

The one thing I felt Firefall lacked, was consequence. Player actions/inaction needs consequence. And there should be repercussions. It makes the world feel alive. Not everything needs to be completely in the player's control. When the player has complete control over all factors, it can inevitably lead to routine, which in turn leads to stagnant gameplay. If the player knows that they can simply repair their favorite gear using whatever resources they have, regardless of world tier, it gives them a sense of security. It is essentially a static world where there is minimal cost to failure, to the individual.

External factors can add a little spice to that routine, keeps you on your toes. It asks the player to think ahead, build additional gear, prepare themselves better. When the world tier inevitably falls, it also acts as motivation.

In a game that is otherwise entirely dependent on repetitive game-play, there needs to be external factors to keep things interesting. I would be fully in support of the team introducing more such elements. It is a war after all.

I understand what your saying. It is going to 100% up to the devs to develop and Implement a system that doesn't frustrate or take away from the desire to play.
We'll just wait and see I guess. I'm just very surprised by the path the devs want to take. I for one think it's not a good idea. This is primarily a skill based shooter with crafting and if we want this to succeed we want new players looking for just that. I feel that that mechanic would push away a large swath of potential players. It almost feels like the fast pasted excitement and competent crafting that was Beta FF turned into a micromanagement simulator.
I could see external factors that impact the personal experience in game, but to have in-game mechanics that punish the player through no action of their own... I've never seen a successful game do that. Plenty of duds, but none that thrived. I'm sure their are some niche games for the closet narcissist thriving out there though lolol.
And in all honesty, I dont enjoy games where I have to micromanage everything. Crafting? Yes! Customization? Yes! A living world? Yes! And there are ways of tying the living world to crafting while not penalizing the player for things outside their control.
As the old saying goes "I have a BAD feeling about this"
(Or I could be completely wrong and Em8er becomes a SMASH hit around the world)

 

[Pandagnome]

there is a likelihood that you may end up unable to repair your weapon, if the world tier has dropped. And being an MMO, the individual is not fully in control of the world tier status, by virtue of it requiring collective effort.

For some reason i am liking this even though i may or may not be responsible for this still makes me think ooh we all got to work together as this affects us all.

Then i can see the point of view for example lets say a player who just crafts and plays it safe suddenly their favourite weapon just poops the world tier has suddenly gone done that is alittle annoying.

Although if thie world tier keeps going down alot then its even more annoying would other players stand for this??

After that we would all do our best and it would be back to normal i hope it doesnt happen all the time then that just gets annoying but i am sure it could be tweaked depending on the population of how many players are there etc etc

The one thing I felt Firefall lacked, was consequence. Player actions/inaction needs consequence. And there should be repercussions. It makes the world feel alive. Not everything needs to be completely in the player's control. When the player has complete control over all factors, it can inevitably lead to routine, which in turn leads to stagnant gameplay. If the player knows that they can simply repair their favorite gear using whatever resources they have, regardless of world tier, it gives them a sense of security. It is essentially a static world where there is minimal cost of failure to the individual.

That is a great point i feel super powerful at times almost untouchable the thought that we all have something of a concern makes us realise we have to be proactive for each other.

when i play dead by daylight for example there is that element of choice should i hide should i run for it what if i make myself visible so the killer chases me and not my buddy there is a risk i like but if the killer gets me i am not dead just yet but incapacitated the killer is probably using me as bait :O

It was fun for a while playing as a killer i was a friendly killer and incapacitated as many as i could and let them escape and the most fun was running after some and not hitting them just wanted to see where they were going anyways finally someone stopped and we jumped around it was good especially with friends when they actually play

Stopped playing that game it was fun but then just lost interest but i dont like games made available only on steam i like games that have there own installer to play than linked to steam or this or that.
Anyways i am going off topic!

External factors can add a little spice to that routine, keeps you on your toes. It asks the player to think ahead

Like the weather, and natural disasters even the surrounding and what about dev's who take control of weaker enemy characters and start randomly bopping your mek and then hiding :O

I understand what your saying. It is going to 100% up to the devs to develop and Implement a system that doesn't frustrate or take away from the desire to play.

I hope they get that perfect balance

As the old saying goes "I have a BAD feeling about this"
(Or I could be completely wrong and Em8er becomes a worldwide SMASH hit because of these unique mechanics)

Thats always in the back of the mind but with a Super team behind this i am leaning more on it being a smash hit

 

[PartTimeJedi]

I do have to add that personally browsing through years of FireFall posts since the servers went down, on Reddit and video game forums etc. I have never once seen someone write "my favorite time in FF was when they implemented gear/weapons breakage"
Yet I have seen countless mentions of ex-players favorite time being "after they removed gear/weapons breakage" or if they did mention the gear/weapons breakage version it was always in a negative context.
Still confused why the Em8er devs would include in such an all incompasing way a mechanic that caused so much divisiveness in FF.
I hope I'm not coming off as mad or anything. I'm not, no game will ever be 100% to everyone's wants or desires. I'm just genuinely surprised by this as I can see it becoming a hot topic further down the road of development.

 

[EvilKitten]

I do have to add that personally browsing through years of FireFall posts since the servers went down, on Reddit and forums etc. I have never once seen someone write "my favorite time in FF was when they implemented gear/weapons breakage"
Yet I have seen countless mentions of ex-players favorite time being "after they removed gear/weapons breakage" or if they did mention the gear/weapons breakage version it was always in a negative context.
Still confused why the Em8er devs would include in such an all incompasing way a mechanic that caused so much divisiveness in FF.

It won't be permanently broken, simply unfixable until the world tier goes back up. Seems like if you can still use your uber weapon after the world tier drops then you would have little incentive to push forward, assuming that the mobs are weaker with a lower world tier that would make you much stronger in comparison. So no, temporarily at least,it does make sense to restrict higher tier weapons if the world tier drops. Work hard along side the rest of the reapers and you will have that weapon waiting for you when the tier goes back up.

 

[PartTimeJedi]

It won't be permanently broken, simply unfixable until the world tier goes back up. Seems like if you can still use your uber weapon after the world tier drops then you would have little incentive to push forward, assuming that the mobs are weaker with a lower world tier that would make you much stronger in comparison. So no, temporarily at least,it does make sense to restrict higher tier weapons if the world tier drops. Work hard along side the rest of the reapers and you will have that weapon waiting for you when the tier goes back up.

I understand the mechanic, and even though Im not the biggest fan of it, I'll be right bedside my fellow Reapers pushing back, I'm just thinking about getting new players after KS and how the ex-FF base out there will view it.
If I had to pick the one thing that most ex-players (not active backers) disliked about FF Beta, which seems to be everyone's favorite who played both Beta and released game, would be the implementation of gear/weapons wear version/build. This is just my personal observation. I'm trying to look at this from a non-backer view. Or an ex-player checking the KS out when it releases.
FF comes up over on Reddit all the time. there are thousands of ex-players who know of Em8er but are just waiting to see what happens before getting involved. I can see this mechanic causing... strife.
Edit- where did you read about the mobs/Kaiju being weaker when the WT goes down? If that's the case then everything equals out, weaker weapons and gear vs weaker enemies.. interesting