[ut] [u1] -D e a d C e l l-

[Buff Skeleton]

http://monsterkillers.com/?p=116

Just in case you haven't seen it.

I plan to do this when I first start Dead Cell, at least once

[Mister_Prophet]

http://monsterkillers.com/?p=116

Just in case you haven't seen it.

I plan to do this when I first start Dead Cell, at least once

You actually are given a cyanide capsule as an inventory item. So I got that covered

[Jet v4.3.5]

http://monsterkillers.com/?p=116

Just in case you haven't seen it.

I plan to do this when I first start Dead Cell, at least once

Okay

[Buff Skeleton]

You actually are given a cyanide capsule as an inventory item. So I got that covered

Gahahaha, brilliant.

[salsaSkaarj]

You actually are given a cyanide capsule as an inventory item. So I got that covered

Gahahaha, brilliant.

You guys are sick

[Jet v4.3.5]

I have a bundle of questions I'm concerned about that occurred to me, mostly about how combat gameplay, puzzles, and replayability tie in with one another. With puzzles, and if appropriate, fights, will there always be a few different ways and routes/methods of doing them that help boost replayability, or is this minimal and many of those factors lie in difficulties, achievements, and other little things. What I mean on playing Dead Cell differently each time is, with the system of visiting one place or another by choice and finding something different in one place that would have been different from a situation had you continued down this path initially. Another thing is, is for any puzzles you do integrate, firstly, will there be a variety of all of the puzzles included, secondly, will there be several or few puzzles, and thirdly, with both prior mentioned cases, how many ways can a particular puzzle be bypassed or solved, if it is that kind of puzzle? With combat, what are the variations between a fight with someone when first beginning Dead Cell, versus fighting that same person after you and he/she have fought others and gained more inventory and "experience"? Another thing about combat is, how free are we when entering a fight with someone, as in, how many options do we have in each fight?

[Mister_Prophet]

I have a bundle of questions I'm concerned about that occurred to me, mostly about how combat gameplay, puzzles, and replayability tie in with one another. With puzzles, and if appropriate, fights, will there always be a few different ways and routes/methods of doing them that help boost replayability, or is this minimal and many of those factors lie in difficulties, achievements, and other little things. What I mean on playing Dead Cell differently each time is, with the system of visiting one place or another by choice and finding something different in one place that would have been different from a situation had you continued down this path initially. Another thing is, is for any puzzles you do integrate, firstly, will there be a variety of all of the puzzles included, secondly, will there be several or few puzzles, and thirdly, with both prior mentioned cases, how many ways can a particular puzzle be bypassed or solved, if it is that kind of puzzle? With combat, what are the variations between a fight with someone when first beginning Dead Cell, versus fighting that same person after you and he/she have fought others and gained more inventory and "experience"? Another thing about combat is, how free are we when entering a fight with someone, as in, how many options do we have in each fight?

Those are some good questions.


Since the beginning of this I've been doing my best to make sure that it can be played a variety of ways. While you don't have access to all areas of Dead Cell from the get go, you do have a choice of who you fight and in what order. You also get a choice on weapon acquisition (to an extent) and how much or how little inventory you wish to collect.

In regards to the other characters in Dead Cell, some of them are available to fight immediately. The idea here is that everyone is "migrating," and if you say, choose not to fight a particular character first when the opportunity presents itself, they may not be there when you get back (and might reappear later, rearmed, in a different area). But then again, every character is a special case. Some characters stick to a particular area no matter what you do or when you choose to fight them, but change accordingly due to the time it took you to fight them. In one particular case, a character is always moving around and can attack you without warning, depending on how you play. I can't say how many combat options you have with all the characters, but I will say that almost all of them have at least two different sightings (one for when you're weaker and one for when you're stronger). Some have more. In one case, a particular cell character is strong no matter when you choose to fight him, and fighting him sooner (if it is your choice to do so) will be very difficult if you don't have the proper qualifications (not strong enough), but by defeating this character earlier, if you're able to, you will gain access to a very powerful weapon to help you deal with the others. It's also important to mention that not every character is trying to kill you the moment you start Dead Cell. It's possible to encounter a character that will attack you the same way no matter what you have (using one kind of weapon I mean), but other attributes will change depending on when you fight him.

Typically, characters "migrate" depending on these factors;

*If you visit an area before you're technically supposed to
*If you find a better weapon before encountering an early appearing character first
*If you fight one character before another

The puzzles are hard to explain because many of them deal with the business of opening paths. But there are some that are secondary to the killing objective, and you have a choice in whether you want to pursue them or not (the reward for doing so of course is significant inventory gain). There is a whole sub basement section that can be explored outside of the area where all the characters lay in wait for you, and this area consists completely of locked gates and complex puzzles. Exploring the region may be crucial in finding unique gear (some of which is invaluable, expanding your physical abilities) or finding weapons you would only find otherwise by having to kill a particular character first. You can also use the sub basement to ascend to areas of the main map you might not be able to access with the current weapons you have (as all locks interact with certain weapons only, and the primary way of obtaining them is by engaging other characters).

In a twist, difficulty will not change very much of any of this, actually. The inventory filter will be the most significant change, since different difficulties might boast a completely opposite inventory location (but not weapons). Also, all the characters are difficulty filtered, and notable changes might be that if you follow the same path on easy that you do on hard, the character you come face to face with will have a different weapon and sport a shield. I'm trying to filter this further by alternating appearance locations by difficulty, but the system is very complex as it is already.

For all the reasons, I think replayability for Dead Cell can be potentially better than many SPs attempted for Unreal (if testing goes well, that is). That, plus an Achievements system....I think the only negative thing going with Dead Cell atm is that its size is still relatively small compared to some SP games out there, although it is no longer technically a single map experience. But the fact that the actual playing space to be explored is relatively limited to one main map and several sub levels might make it so dedicated players can experience most of the different paths that can be seen with only a handful of replays. I'm hoping the Achievements system can help here, since you get graded on how many of them you're able to unlock. Also, I want to work in a custom maps section on the menu where mappers can orchestrate their own Dead Cells using the included editor.

[Jet v4.3.5]

Looking forward to it, then, and thanks for those insights. Hopefully you can pull it off decently and to your own envisionary goals and style.

[Mister_Prophet]

It's all going to come down to testing. There's a chance I may not quite get to do everything I want.

[Hellscrag]

If USP ever did a presentation of themed awards for achievements over the history of SP mapping (which might be a good idea, actually, once most of the curren tranche of major projects are released), I think this would be a strong candidate for "most original game experience".

[ividyon]

Is all of that planned or done and in beta testing?

[Mister_Prophet]

Is all of that planned or done and in beta testing?

Most of it is in beta testing or done. Concerning the gameplay aspects I described, the pawns function adequately to differences in how the game is played, it's just cultivating the combat itself which is taking effort and getting all the event/tags of the new actors to function as we want them to. Much of it has been there since the project was still in the contest, in a less functional form. Hell, the main Hub itself has been largely functional since then.

Basically we have to try to break our system to make sure it all works. I really can't state enough how much this matters. I have to basically consider every decision a player will make in Dead Cell and prepare for it. So it's more than just functioning actors. They work pretty good now, as compared to months back when sometimes certain events for a sequence change might not fire. It's much better now. But as I said, the pawns themselves are not yet where they need to be.


Things pertaining to the menu are going through coding, since that is more recent, but the achievement system should be no big hassle (Raven's most recent objective). These are the only areas where more is planned then attempted, having to do with the menu interface that is.

[Mister_Prophet]

A couple of shots...

[Buff Skeleton]

Custom models look AWESOME, as do the maps (as usual).

[Mister_Prophet]

Kudos goes to Diamond for stepping up.