Corrupt Shadow wrote:But as the first few levels are extremely easy to pass, is 20 that big a number?
Yes. Especially if we want 1 dayers.
Ryme wrote:3) Decisions about several ascensiony factors, including
a) types of runs: softcore, hardcore, casual, no-IotM? Bad moon equivalent where no permed skills are a factor? Is there a more truly level playing field we could pick? Are there mechanics other than "the pull" for softcore alternatives?
I like having a "choose your run" type thing. All of those types are good as well. And no-IotM Bad Moon will probably be the levellest playing field for vanilla characters as it ever gets. Not that you can pull for Bad Moon anyways. And I'm very certain there are more mechanics you can think up, but they're just not very obvious.
Ryme wrote:b) skill perming. I think this is one of the most appealing factors of KoL, so I'll absolutely have it in some fashion, but there's room for variety. For instance, do all skills need to be permable? Can some be specific to a class and never permed? Should there be extra skills that aren't class specific? This is also obviously affected greatly by the ascension choices: if there's no hardcore, say, or no softcore, then we might not have two levels of perming. Or could there be three levels if there's some other option out there? Or a way to play a run without accessing permed skills that's not like Bad Moon, to remember how a vanilla character works?
Well, KoL has it so that classes have features so that skills don't really need to be class exclusive. Having class combos (or perhaps complete a superhero quest/retconscension run to perm) may be a neat idea though (like the TT's butt combo).
c) Ways to introduce variety into successive runs. I think reputation will be one of these--in a fast run there won't necessarily be freedom to switch back and forth easily, and this can be expanded, maybe even be a factor in a quest. Still, there's room for other options. Choices in quests which determine options in later quests. Multiple rewards for quests, depending on how they're solved. Stuff like that. There might be an obvious parallel between the teet/booze/oxy paths and KoL, but are they really interesting, and is that worth copying? What about a no-sidekick run? Or restrictions on transportation? What else might be interesting?
Reputations would easily be the coolest way to change up runs. Parallels to KoL aren't very interesting to me, as there are few strategic differences between different types of runs. However, it does give people more things to think about, so. A no sidekick run would be neat though, without a doubt. Transportation? Not so much. Unless you design new quests to ignore transport or something. But I don't see much variation in transportation yet. Other things that may be interesting...that's difficult. KoL's got the moons, but I'd rather have something else interesting. There's got to be some kind of layer we can add on.
d) Possibly reconsidering how sidekicks work. There seems to be a general dissatisfaction with the current method of having them as special buffs, and a lot of requests for more permanent options. I've been fighting it, but if I'm going to mess with this mechanic it should be before retcon is an option.
Spend X time with sidekick to gain its trust? I don't know.
e) Leaderboards. What would really compel people to compete? Most basic is total number of retcons, and speed (in terms of minutes rather than turns, probably) for a run. I suppose broken down by paths, if we do that. Lifetime stats? Lifetime PvP (which needs its own improvements, clearly)?
Honestly, I think KoL's way of rewarding people is fairly fine (run rewards, leaderboards/fame) because people run plenty (sort of) of contests in the community. However, maybe a collection of trophies (not badges) of what positions on the leaderboard have been hit would be a very interesting way to spice things up. So like a trophy for hitting 1st place through 5th place, etc.
a) Leagues (or clans, or guilds, or whatever). Not really required for retcon itself, but it's a popular request, and gives some leaderboard angles.
I can guarantee that clans are awesome for the community.
c) More holidays? I know holidays are fun on their own. The ones that currently exist would mostly interfere with a run, rather than enhance one. Do we need some that are more predictable and/or more limited in scope that might add to strategy? Or is it better if they're unpredictable and disassociated from retcon-style play?
Maybe some more holidays, but this not need to be a selling point of doing runs. In fact, And I'd very much like to have holidays that either help me but don't interfere (like the snow one) or optional and choice provoking. Not ones that I can't avoid.
What else is really necessary to make replayability work? Or what could serve to improve the experience upon replaying the same basic set of events for dozens of times?
I know I've brought this up and it's sort of hard to apply here, but Left 4 Dead. In more tangible examples...you already sort of have the concept down. New Game +. The idea that you start the game over with everything you end the last game with. Hmm. Replayability. I can only see procedural generation or user-submitted content as the only things that can perpetually go on forever.
A sort of insane idea I had was having each run give a story of a sort, depending on how the quest is finished.
