Crypts of Avaritia is a combination of randomly generated dungeons together with a first person view with gameplay similar to Heretic/Hexen combined with Dungeon Hack, Ultima Underworld, Dungeon Master, Might & Magic, Daggerfall, Arena and other games in the same genre. The gameplay will not force the player into melee combat as many other RPGs do, instead choice will be given to approach any problem the way the player seem fit, just like in Deus Ex. As such there are many non-combat skills for the player to upgrade. There are strong survival-mechanisms coupled to the gameplay, such as the player need to sleep, eat and drink water. You can also break bones, bleed and get poisoned.
I have now implemented lock-picking , it is just a matter of balancing it. Lock level goes from 1-5 at the moment (as does lock picking skill level). The game mechanic works like it does in Gothic, you press left and right to pick the lock, when you begin a sequence is generated. If you press the correct direction you will proceed in the sequence, if the incorrect direction is pressed you will start over and there is a chance that your lock pick pin will break (low level, high chance, high level, lower chance). Also, if a chest lock is above your level, you can't even begin to pick it.
The current equation looks like this:
sequenceLength = Mathf.Max(3 , ((lockLevel + 6) - playerSkills.lockPickLevel));
This means that if a chest is level 1, a player with level 1 in lock picking skills have to clear a sequence of 6, a player with skill level 5 will have to make 3, 4 gets 3, 3 gets 4, 2 gets 5.
If chest level is 2, level 2 player gets 6, level 5 gets 3, 4 gets 4, 3 gets 5.
If chest level is 3, level 3 player gets 6, level 5 gets 4, 4 gets 5.
If chest level is 4, level 4 player gets 6, level 5 gets 5.
If chest level is 5, level 5 player gets 6.
So that means if you are on level, you will always have to make 6 picks right, and each level above reduces this with 1, plus the fact that your lock pick pin gets lesser chance of breaking.
So tell me what you think, any improvements or suggestions? One concern is that you might not get enough credit for being high level picking a low level lock, but I think it will be best to balance this out using the break pin chance.
What I like about this system is that there is both role playing skill and player skill involved, you will have to make notes to remember what directions was pushed to get it done (or keep it in memory, your choice).
And you might recognize the sound effects I use, they are place holder since I do not own the right to those (can you guess the game they are taken from?).