Ideas for game mechanics Thread - Damned

I've been playing for the past few day now with some buddy's of mine and I love every minute of it, but there are a few things that I think could add to the fear factor and make the game a bit more polished.

1. Alternative trap mechanics.
I've noticed that traps are beginning to lose a bit of functionality for the survivors as of late. As it stands, traps are meant to give indication to the monster of where survivors are while adding a sense of atmosphere and uneasiness for the survivors. However as players learn that traps mean the monster now knows where they are, this give them the mindset of "Ok guys just bail out of this room and search the next in the mean time" rinse and repeat. My thought is that maybe make it where some traps go off by themselves (of course the monster would only hear traps that HE armed himself) thus give the sense of uncertainty that maybe the monster know where you are or maybe he doesn't I guess we will find out around this corner. However in opposition to that one could argue that this would make traps lose the sense of panic when proc'ed or could over expose players to too many sounds (both monsters traps and dummy traps) thus losing the effects that the sound effect are meant to do in the first place.

2. Taking away traps setting for the monster.

Much like the prior suggestion maybe make it where the monster doesn't arm traps himself, instead there would be a small chance of a trap proc'ing on its own when a player is near it. I've been the victim of a monster who will stand by a common passed by trap and spawn immediately and kill off the party, usually followed by "Lol faggots!" Which is kinda weird because faggot hasn't been offensive since the 90s but I digress. This makes games feel very unfair and and a waste of effort trying to get into them only to have this happen. However, this could result in extremely boring idle time for the monster as trap setting is the only thing he really do in ghost mode. I would only suggest this if other game elements are implemented while in ghost mode.

3. Survivor characters panicking

Things that happen to survivors like traps going off, being chased, roaming the level in the dark, ect, would cause characters to accumulate panic. If ones panic reach to a certain level different effect would arise. This would be things like a shaky/fuzzy screen (nothing too extreme of course), difficult/drunken controls when manipulating objects(mostly noticeable when opening doors while running from the monster), survivors stumbling a bit when monster is in direct pursuit, seeing flashes of the monster when he is not really there (this would only be used if you let your panic rise to the extremes) I feel that this would add a level of emerson to survivors. Panic level could be reduced with sedatives with can be found scattered around the map like keys. Players would be able to give other players sedatives to further implement cooperative play. This would help balance out late game due to the players having access to more rooms but having the effects of an accumulated panic state.

4. No one hit kills

This was an idea brought up by someone else on the forums and I feel it could add a interesting twist to the game. Instead of dying right off the bat allow the player to be hit in which he would enter a bloody status. While bloody the survivor would leave a trail of blood that the ghost could see and follow to the player. It would be fairly indistinct, showing his general area rather than an exact location (much like a trap activating). Blood could be stopped with bandaging that players can give to each other to further implement cooperative play. However even if you treat your wounds the next hit will kill.

I definitely like the idea of traps going off by themselves (with a pretty high level of rarity, but still), it's an idea I never actually considered, myself. The panic level thing would certainly fit pretty well also, I'd almost expect something like that to be implemented in a game like this eventually, XP

I think the number of hits for a kill would likely be dependent on the monster type. Right now we've only got Huge McLarge as an antagonist and it makes some sense for him to be able to kill instantly. But with smaller monsters, possibly whatever the new one will be, it may be weaker to make up for whatever other abilities it may have.
Point is, HP is probably something that will be implemented in one way or another, as well.

I think it would be interesting to have a minor disorienting effect if the monster passes through the player. As though maybe the screen blurs slightly or vision darkens briefly. This would add a level of stress on the player knowing that any second if the monster spawns it would be near by.

I think it would be also interesting to have a "sanity" meter that if you see the monster too frequently you may built the chance of seeing a "false" monster shadow or image outline in dark areas. Maybe also give the survivors tunnel vision and muffled audio when looking at the monster that then needs time to fade away. In extreme cases maybe disorient mouse control axis slightly.

A final effect i think would add to the game would be giving the monster the ability to leave "sanity" traps (ie bloody claw print or foot prints, scratch marks etc) that would also have an effect on a "sanity meter" aspect. I think it would be entertaining to give the monster a line of sight sense for people who have no sanity remaining. Giving the monster a faint distorted image of players that sit in hiding.

It is also annoying to notice the monster but have to wait stuck behind players that do not notice fast enough and pin you in corners or in doorways. I think it would be fun to have the ability to "push" other players moveing them out of the way but causing them to stumble or fall.

Edited by: Aidivn

i definitely like the panic level idea, it's very similar to the sanity mechanic used in amnesia the dark descent (which imo is the best horror game i've ever played). it would reduce the amount of people that gamma cheat as constantly being in panic mode will scare the crap out of them (hopefully anyway), for the part where you see flashes of the monster at high levels of panic it could work like the slender eight pages does, you see the monster and as soon as you turn your screen away he disappears, the monster could also use this to his advantage,ie there could be a visual or audio cue that tells the monster if a player has seen the 'false' version of itself, making it even more dangerous to walk around with your flashlight off.

Also i love the idea of the survivors screen blurring or whatever when the monster passes through you, it would definitely add to the anxiety and tension of knowing that at any moment the monster could pop up in your face and rip it off

the cue could be a scream heard by all. This would help the depth of the game i think.

I like the number 3. ... makes sense ^^