Do any games have this type of mechanic? [closed]

Question

This question got closed on gaming SE as off topic. I hope it's on topic here.

Many years ago, a friend and I prototyped a simple 2d rpg with what we thought was a unique idea for the combat mechanics. It used wandering monsters and a cutaway battle screen system. We added a bunch of effects like "conditions" that could affect your player - the standard stuff like blind, dazed, weak, etc.

The unique part is that we wanted to make the combat as close to you, the player actually fighting, and not just you commanding a character to do stuff. So we made it so what the character experiences, you experience. The basic combat screen included an outline of the enemy, and one of you. At randomized times, targets would appear on either figure, and begin to shrink. On the enemy, these were "openings" and you had to click them before they disappear, the closer to center, the better the hit. On your figure, you had to click to defend from an attack before the target shrank.

The conditions on your character made this interesting. Like I said, they were intended to affect the player literally. So blindness literally dimmed the screen 90%. If you were dazed, the targets would wobble randomly. If you were weak, your mouse cursor would lag and glide around. Everything translated to an actual impairment in your gameplay, not some arbitrary "your attacks do half damage".

This would have logically extended into a spell system, where you actually have to remember spell words and combine them into creative combinations and type them real time. I know some games have done variants of this kind of spell system.

Looking back, I think this was still a fun idea, but it seems awful from an accessibility standpoint. Players like their games to make them feel powerful, not to acknowledge and emphasize their real life flaws. So have any games attempted something like this and had some success? What came of it? If not does it seem like a reasonable and creative idea to try?

Answer 1

There's been similar stuff in various games, where you character becomes harder to control when you're drunk or on drugs (GTA3 et. al.), where aim stability is affected by experience/etc and also where the screen display is severely affected by different things (many RPG-FPS:es has this).

I suggest you research that and see if it makes for a good gameplay component. It will make users be frustrated if done improperly, so careful tuning is required.

Usually challenging, but overcome-able (...) gameplay mechanics are good. So a dim view, or laggy/overshooting (but predictable) mouse pointer may work well, but be careful with randomness. Game outcome based too much on chance aren't that fun (for most of us at least, some people enjoy bingo... but these rarely buy videogames).

Personally, I enjoy "bad control" or "random jittery targets" as an occasional change to the regular gameplay, but I don't think I'd enjoy having it as a core gameplay feature.

Answer 2

In roguelikes, blindness makes your character disappear (so you don't know where you are, unless you're counting steps) and confusion makes him move in random direction. In Morrowind (and I think other Elder Scrolls games) blindness made the screen totally black. A lot of games where bow is used make crosshair wobble when the bow is tightened for too long (Thief did that, for example). Many games that have booze in them made screen wobble when the character is drunk (GTA, Deus Ex); Carmageddon had drugs that messed with the palette, transforming the picture into a mess of clashing colors. Metro 2033 makes mouse cursor lag when your character is under heavy burden. Note that many players considered this a bug and were very frustrated!

However, I'm not aware of any game where this stuff was a central mechanic. It might be interesting if the effects are varied enough and not TOO challenging.

Answer 3

Look out for Nintendo DS titles. They tend to use the stylus for game mechanics similar to yours.

There are rhythm games like Elite Beat Agents employing something similar to your attack/defend game mechanics but based on music. Elite Beat Agents is actually quite challenging but fun to play.

I'd also recommend playing The World Ends with You! It's an action RPG with very similar combat mechanics. It's also quite innovative and unique.

Regarding crippling the player (controls) I'd always advise not to. I haven't seen a single game where not-being-in-control due to darkness, staggering, impairing effects, etc. was adding fun. Realism != Fun != Immersion.

Answer 4

Something to that extent is certainly nothing I've heard of before. However, you should be careful when implementing it. The number one thing players expect from their game is control. Actions or sequences that remove control from the player are the most universally derided gameplay mechanics. A player expects to have complete and total control, within interface limitations.

It would certainly be an interesting idea, and objectively a great mechanic, but I think you'll find that in reality, human players will hate it.

Answer 5

Carmaggedon had some psychadelic colors on the screen and the camera moving everywhere when taking a drug power up.

RPG like Bladur's gate also reduce the player's field of vision by increasing the 'fog of war' when you're blinded. (the interface is not affected though...)

Anyway, how would this system work when you cast a blind spell on a computer controlled enemy for example? You would need different impairing rules for the AI.

Answer 6

Magicka

has been able to deploy active spellcasting and succeed.

Obviously you can't type actual words with 1 hand so you do combinations.

The earliest active casting i can think of is

WC3: Dota - Invoker hero. It was a successful character as well - even imbalanced as his adaptability is very high.

Answer 7

Wildstar, an MMORPG, has such mechanics too (blind = dark screen, confuse = inversion of commands).

Well done, such mechanics can work even on highly competitive environnements like hardcore MMO raiding scene.

Answer 8

Excluding your targeting allusion, a very good example of effects impacting your player in the scope of a first-person RPG is Borderlands (any of the games).

In Borderlands, any elemental proc damage that impacts the player, does so with a visual HUD effect, as well as a tangible impact on play. For example, with incendiary damage, if you get caught on fire, your screen fills with flames (similar to if you were wearing the flame suit Till from Rammstein wears on stage), and your character takes constant DoT from the fire. This also impacts your ability to aim, due to the proc effect.

Weapons/quest items that cause more obscure effects like drunkenness have a notable effect on your accuracy of firing your weapon, and directly impact your aiming ability.