Arian Blade
Virtual Warriors
IMPERIAL LEGI0N
0
   |
Posted - 2012.01.26 00:06:00 -
[1] - Quote
Hi there, Just a response to a very interesting thread, I like a lot of the ideas expressed, (officer spawn equivalents) and a more interactive mining process.
Initially I really liked the "captcha" style visual queue dynamic but then that evil little part of my brain that over analyses everything kicked in (I have worked in useability). Whatever is used to differentiate 'roids and there yields would have to be robust enough to be understandable regardless of graphics settings, this in itself may not be difficult but then I thought about flaws and workarounds inherent to "captcha" and other visual media.
"Captcha" has an audio option as unfortunately many people have visual impairments to differing degrees. I am unsure as to the veracity of statistics but I am seeing stats of 6-8% of the male population suffering red/green colour blindness as just one example. This means that any visual recognition system risks effecting an amount of the user base if not implemented in a sympathetic manner (I am looking at this as effecting the "vaining idea").
Please dont take this as an attack on the idea as I personally really like it and support of any idea that makes more aspects of this game fun as at the end of the day thats what games are for and different people play in this sandbox in different ways.
Okay so now I put my potential spanner in the works maybe I should try to add something to the mix hmmm.... okay how about this.....
Mining continues as now but with the rotational idea maybe denoting asteroid density (showing potential mineral content maybe) but how about once you select your asteroid some sort of mini game style thing happens? possibilties could be...
Idea 1, copying is the sincerest flattery...
Mass effect 2 style probing mini game using a audio/ visual queue as you hover over a asteroid representation to find the best areas of the asteroid to hit with your mining lasers. if you choose poorly (or not at all in the case of afk miners) you get a poorer yield (mining skills could improve the accuracy of the audio/ visual queue or the resolution you could scan at maybe). You could also have the rare "ultra dense" drops show as a special anolomoly on this that you may miss if you do not check thoroughly) If you have not played mass effect 2 there are loads of vids on youtube of the probing mechanic but my forum foo is weak and I cant make a working linky. 
Idea 2, use a similar mechanic already in place....
How about the "heat map" from PI also becomes audio and is adapted to be used on asteroids to again show relative potential yield areas with the same "if you choose poorly (or not at all in the case of afk miners) you get a poorer yield" mechanism I mentioned above. Obviously the visual heat map will need to be robust enough or the colour scale changeable to allow for visual impairment. Also as with PI you could simulate resource depletion so it rewards people interacting more and finding the best mining laser site at any given time. Skills can effect the audio/visual representation in a way similar to PI and through properly exploring the asteroids you may find the "super duper dense officer mining equivalent" that an afk miner will not further rewarding people actually actively mining.
Possible fall out of proposed mining "improvements"
Okay those are 2 ideas that someone elsewhere may have already had but I didn't spot (sorry if this is the case and its not intended as an offence) but what could be the result of making mining better through a "mini game mechanic"?
As is already known people like to min max where possible, by adding a new element to the equation to take concentration you run the risk of not spotting other things (like that hostile that just came into system or the new belt rats etc). I am not actually saying this is a bad thing (I am actually a null sec raider and would love more chance that a miner may not spot my entry into local but I feel this mini game idea, due to concentration required to attain the best results will actually help keep the "risk/reward" mechanic in place.
While were at it why are asteroids "only" positive?
Also on the subject of min maxing fits I had a random idea, why are asteroids only a resource? why not make them the trigger for rat spawns or even have them shoot back? using the two mechanics listed above how about not having all finds positive?
You could have some asteroid anomolies that are negative, for example...
You accidently spooked a hidden pirate hideout and they boil out of hiding to protect there hideaway (maybe handled as simply as a player generated belt spawn)
The asteroid actually has camoflaged weapon implacements and starts shooting at you itself and you must now incapacitate the defences or even leave its vicinity if you cannot.
Hell go wild people, I am sure others can come up with cool alternative asteroid anomolies both positive and negative.
The mechanic of sec status could be used to govern the likelyhood of these "negative and positive anomolies" and the severity when they occur and skills could help you spot these special anomolies more easily and avoid them or not as required. This will add an element of balance into people fitting there mining ships as they have to consider if they can survive a potential "negative anomoly" which again helps the risk/reward mechanic.
Okay...wow I was only intending to make a short reply and now I have written a horrible wall o' text so I had better bring this to an end and let other people with good ideas get there say, oh and in before any of my corpies point out they have never seen me in a mining ship (there right for just the reason this thread exists, mining is boring  ) but if it was made more about exploring and more.. fun.. I just might |