Companions - Brainstorming for ideas

Hello all.

I thought i try to become constructive in regards to Companions and Brainstorm about possiblities of implending them in the Multiplayer World.


1. Brainstorm: Invisible Companions.

In the Multiplayer Mode every Player can only see his own Companions from the Story and interact with them.
For the rest they will be invisible.
If you chat with your companions no one will notice as you are in the chat interface.

Companions only give comments about other NPC or yourself, never about other players of course.



2.Brainstorm: Different Companions and limitation on Hexes

Every Player gets own "random generated companions with unique names" for his story.
So you may meet your friend having companions with him on the Multiplayer, but even if they "have the same reason and story and AI" they look different, have a different name or even gender or race.

To avoid overcrowded hexes with companions they also will count towards the hex limit that a hex has.
So if 10 players with 2 companions enter a hex - the hex will count 30 player in this zone.


3.Brainstorm: The Companion Tavern! - Switches between Multiplayer Online - Selective Multiplayer

Every City has a Tavern for Companions.

If you are Multiplayer Online and enter that Tavern (loading screen) you may ad the Companions to your group, now the magic happens as you leave it - the Solo Player Multiplayer loads and you play your adventure on Solo Player.

If you drop your Companions after you had fun moving on with the story you can drop them in those Taverns and the moment you leave the Tavern the Server will notice - you are alone again and will load "Multiplayer Online".

This means you will transition within the game without need of logging out and Companions will never be playable on the Multiplayer Mode, but on the Solo Multiplayer.

Remark: It is important that the Companions enrich the Story , but are not necessary to finish the story.
So you may get them in the Tavern and move on with them on Solo Multiplayer, or you drop them in the Tavern and move on with the Story on Multiplayer Online.

4. You may Set Up under Options to play with or without Companions the main story on Multiplayer Online

If you set on Multiplayer Online - Companions activated it will mean that all story releated hexes will be Solo Multiplayer Hexes with Companions only and they will always say sort of good bye to meet you later one when you leave the zone ( rpg : Farewell, we will meet back in the Tavern of Owls Town).

Now you are back in Multiplayer Online - but you know if you go to the Owls Town Tavern it will load "Solo Player Online" and you can move on with the Story with your Companions.

Or you leave it turned off and you stay Multiplayer Online without Companions.



That was my Brainstorm.

Have fun giving more suggestions or destroying the ones i made.


Myrcella...
oops...Myrcello

( I am no Game Developers, so please be gentle if it is total crap i suggested. )

 

Nice thread. They are all good ideas Myrcello!. I think a good mix of the concepts you present here could make the companions system work.

I would add to the idea number 3:

If you have companions and enter a city hex, you could be notified about where your companions went in the city based on their interests/personalities: Companion Billy went to the tavern, Companion Lily went to the flower shop, etc... They should follow you on the wilderness or adventure hexes.

 

Very compelling ideas...nicely done.

 

Another solution would be that companions can not be recruited as party members in multiplayer. They would be NPCs with a more fleshed out background and personality and give hints about your mission. Also you could send them to missions for example to find the entrance to some mysterious ruins.

But in single player you would also be able to recruit them so that they travel with you and fight alongside you. You could manage their gear and stats/skills. This would have the benefit that compansions could act as support. The support you get in multiplayer through the help of other players. This would also solve the problem that if you visit a companion at his home there would not be many other players standing around there.

Aside from that companions could only have their "true name" visible to you and others see them with a different name.

 

I like this suggestion.
The Companions for you could maybe be for the rest only standard NPC's with no meaning?

 

Is really necessary/desirable to be able to equip and manage the skill set of our companions? I am not clear about this point, i tend to believe that it is not. Then how should we interact with them?
Idea: We could be able to give orders to our companions via text commands: "Billy attack (cursor)", "Billy defend (cursor)", "Billy stand", "All attack (cursor)", "All free attack", "All defend (cursor)", etc.. Maybe we could be able to use them to carry some equipment, opening their bag and droping items into them. Maybe companions could choose a piece of equipment from what they have on the bag and equip it. I would avoid to mess up with skill and stats.

 

First - I like this thread. Thanks for creating it Myrcello Second - I prefer Lord_Darkmoon's solution Once again a great suggestion imho.

 

I like lord darkmoons suggetipon as well. Why not be able to equip them? I think that is far more important then having control over what they do ala go attack him...they should have an ai for who they attack, acting in character.

 

SWTOR has a great companion system. If one is implemented I would hope it is setup like that one.

 

I agree they do however they also had a much larger budget and time.

 

Dang ...... I thought when I read "Companions - Brainstorming for Ideas" I was gonna suggest a little prancin', dancin', romancin', single and ready to mingle. But I think you have a different companion in mind.

 

As a roleplayer I don't like the idea of "true name" vs random name or invisible companions. I would want the option of incorporating a companion into my roleplay. If s/he's standing next to me I want to be able to talk about them. I also wouldn't want to hear dozens of people talking about their imaginary or spectral friends trying to compensate for an odd mechanic.

I do agree in the necessity of diversity. I also would not want to see 20 instances of the same companion following people about in the same scene.

One possibility I might put out is that companions could give some plausible excuse to leave during certain situations. "I have some errands I need to run, I'll meet up with you just outside of town when you're ready do leave" "I since you already have X party members here I'll scout ahead" or what have you.

It seems unfeasible to have completely unique companions for every player online also. 10,000 players online means another 10,000 NPCs but not all would be in use.. so say there are 2,000 companions where the game tries to keep X amount free for players to pick up. This way companions can know multiple people and you might have a chance to bump into players that are friends of a particular companion NPC.

In certain instances it may be permissible for multiple instances of a companion to be active at one time.. provided the game avoids allowing them to come together. Such as having them leave or actively not allowing players with the same companion in the same instance.

 

So... maybe even have a companion that you could adjust there stats, so you could also use them as a pack mule then to carry your harvest?
And would they be able to be PvP'd if they were carring my valuables... that special weapon or armor?
Hope they wouldn't run off then lol

 

Our Companions Could Become the Most Fascinating Part of Our Game!
"That fact could not be understated" ...

*The Time Lord prepares to begin one of his long incoherent rants of endless run-on sentences*

Multi-Player Online Limited to One...
I do not want to see a multi-player world of endless, mindless pet companions, because that's what multi player is all about... "choosing real people you wish to be with"... Yet there is something more to the ability to have at least one companion that fits our individual play style. I say this because a mage has such a summoned companion, and we assume that our taming Avatars will also tame something that can fight for them. Yet when we look at the Knight or crafting style Avatar that does not summon something from a magic spell, we can see that a Knight could acquire a Squire and a Craftsman could acquire an Apprentice.

Complexity...
The complexity of our companions is one of the most important things about companions. I wouldn't mind there being less companions in our beginnings if those companions had depth to their character, usage and complexity of talent. This is where that summoned monster of the mage could take on such things as mentioned, no longer being the mindless fighter, yet becoming the same summoned entity every time they are summoned who can even be named by the player. The pets of a taming character could have some form of personality the way a real dog or elephant is to it's master, yet requiring much more hands on affection and actual care just as an elephant needs to be bathed, in order to have them more deeply care about their master and thus be more willing to help or aide the tamer in the same way Rin-tin-tin or Lassie was within our TV cinemas. In this way, even the tamer character has just as useful companion for their playing style when compared to other more humanoid companions. "What's Lassie excited about?... Let's go see"...

Maintaining Balance, Through Imbalance...
No one style looses in such a situation as this because every play style then has it's own diverse way of play that seems to be far different than all the rest. Such differences are what sets apart each from the other. This is a world where PvP may not always rule the world and balances come in stages where the seemingly weak in one stage of their development may seem more difficult than another, yet as that play style reaches it's higher achievements, then it could become more powerful than that which was thought to be the finest character build before. Yet upon this note, we could see the more difficult pathway lead to the greatest powers of our game. Indeed, "risk vs reward"... yet also, "toil vs reward" should have it's own better reward for having endured it's hardships. Just as taking on an older apprentice, creature or animal could reap high early reward, yet the younger and less talented could become the finest because you raised it or invested in it's education yourself.
Everything being similar in nature to the training of your Avatar, thus the companion, no matter what type of companion that is, could become more useful as well as talented to help achieve the individual player's goal in life, yet this requires complexity and the more complex they can be, the more I'm willing to wait for them to be in our game. But when we look at balance, "it's imbalance that creates true diversity, as well as complexity"

Offline and Single Player Mode...
I would expect that our companions in these modes would collect or be attracted to us in time, where the story line or character development line would then present them to us for the gathering. I would not however, wish for only one companion character to be attracted to us, thus our decision to choose well becomes a greater challenge and more thought provoking, which we could even ask our other companions their thoughts on the matter before recruiting them into our Avatar's Fellowship. Yet here in the offline and single player worlds, I would expect that we would be able to gather as many as 5 or more companions that we could fellowship with and adventure with as a group. Such a gathered fellowship can easily have different personalities to the point where some could clash with one another to a certain degree, where the mage wished for more help when the player picked up another Knightly character which all the Knights were in favor of. Such a thing could thus cause your mage companion to become grumpy or more authoritative within their attitudes, thus changing the way in which the group reacts to things that happen.
Things such as these can only serve to make the world seem more real ...

I could see where a stealth, or invisible companion could be of use, yet invisible I would think would be more informative as a scout and have no combat application, where a stealth character companion would... or should.
Thanks Myrcello for bringing this up !
I do so much appreciate such threads as these, because our game is far from finished, there's more future ahead of us than there is past and our companions in the way they will be, or could be created, would and could set us apart from any game on the market... which can only help our game get even better with more content than it could without such innovative appeal.

Diversity, Complexity and Imbalance is What Stirs the Universal Melting Pot of Everything!
Whatcha' Tink'? ...
~Time Lord~

 

Sounds like Richard and the Team are after the same things we are looking to see in our game
~Time Lord~

 

The answer Richard gave us make this thread even more valuable to gather ideas.

 

Richard, that's great to see more features from the old Ultima games that you are incorporating into this game, such as NPC's that have a daily routine. Yes, it's a pain to wait for them to wake up in the morning, or try to figure out where they went after work, but it adds to the fun and realism! I can't wait for that! Here is one thing I really miss from the old games that I don't know if you can bring into this game or not, but it's partially discussed above: NPC Companions. My favorite thing about old RPG's was having a party to control, not just a single character. You could meet up with Jaana, Shamino, etc. and ask them to join you. There were more NPC's than the 6 or 8 spots you had, so you had to choose which combination of classes/skills you wanted in your party. Then you didn't have to worry about your main avatar needing all these different skills. You could concentrate on being a fighter or spell caster or whatever and the rest of your party could fill in the gaps for battles.

Problem: The old RPG's were turn-based, so you gave commands each round to each NPC. Solution? Have a pre-set option for each NPC on how to behave in battle (attack nearest enemy, attack enemy nearest death, heal lowest health character, cast any available combat spell, do nothing). Their abilities would have to scale with your level and even if you drop them and pick up someone else, they should be similarly scaled. It could work, but a lot more programming and changing the balance of combat power. Could be really nice and unique in today's games if implemented. When in town, the NPC's should be minimized unless you request to talk to one of them unless in single player mode (probably not necessary).

If you set the party size to 6, and a real player requests to join your party, you would have to select which NPC's to remove from the party to keep the max at 6 characters.

So far, only a few days playing the game and starting to really get into it...slight learning curve but not as bad as I thought. Awesome game so far!

 

It is hard for me to imagine an Ultima without proper travelling companions but my understanding is that SotA Episode 1 is only having basic hirelings and combat pets.

I'm hoping that by Episode 2, they can have companions like SWTOR.

 

Specialised artisan companions that you could station at your home crafting area would be pretty sweet. If you had a black smith you could hand him materials for 100 iron plates and tell him to hop to it, collect the finished products later. Convenience at the cost of crafting exp not gained.

 

Such companions would be just stupid hirelings. Specialized but still stupid regarding the story. I would like to have companions like Iolo, Shamino and Dupre in the old Ultimas.