A thread to discuss the journal

[Adam Ryland]

As usual I don't get everything: how do storylines start exactly? Is it completely random or can there be a event as a trigger. Like, I don't know, have Bane beat Batman in a fight to start the Knightfall-Storyline or something like that.

 

Storylines are one of the content types; if you see entry #2, that explains how they work.

[Cold Cobra]

A very exciting entry, as Mattyc said above me this opens up databases to be crazy detailed if the creator wishes (or has the time!)

[LostInWeb]

Storylines are one of the content types; if you see entry #2, that explains how they work.

 

Thanks, now I get it. One detailquestion though: is there a limit to how long a storyline can progress. Like up to 10 progresses or can we add as many parts of a story as we want to?

[Adam Ryland]

It's unlimited.

[Adam Ryland]

2. Team moves. For example, Colossus throws Wovlverine as the fastball special, or the Charmed Ones work together with the Power of Three. Can you set up a power so it can only be used if other characters are present?

 

Returning to this question from a while ago, I mentioned before that this was planned but not coded; I can confirm that this is now in.

[Thane of Fife]

Returning to this question from a while ago, I mentioned before that this was planned but not coded; I can confirm that this is now in.

 

I don't think I said thanks for taking the time to answer my questions before, but I did appreciate it. Thank you.

[BobbyRogers]

I will be buying this as soon as it is ready.

[Cold Cobra]

A good, simple update today. As much I like the editor (and will no doubt spend a lot of time in there) I'm looking forward to more on the game proper next time.

[ace1193]

So excited for this so i could do my own x-men run if i wanted too this sounds so cool!!

[Cold Cobra]

A nice taste for what's to come. Sounds a lot more fun than CBH's click to see what the encounter is, told what it is and then do it gameplay loop, sounds like this time there's not only more story to the encounters but the team / rating scenario and the extra locations and items will mix things up nicely.

 

It's a shame this forum isn't seeing more activity, but then I suppose GDS is more about sports sims. Still, hopefully it creates a big splash upon release. I'll certainly do my best to big it up everywhere so long as it meets my expectations (which I see no reason why it won't)

[djthefunkchris]

A nice taste for what's to come. Sounds a lot more fun than CBH's click to see what the encounter is, told what it is and then do it gameplay loop, sounds like this time there's not only more story to the encounters but the team / rating scenario and the extra locations and items will mix things up nicely.

 

It's a shame this forum isn't seeing more activity, but then I suppose GDS is more about sports sims. Still, hopefully it creates a big splash upon release. I'll certainly do my best to big it up everywhere so long as it meets my expectations (which I see no reason why it won't)

 

It's still going in the wrong direction, so it's kind of "well, sounds better but, wish it would have..." category, at least for me.

 

I was hoping to be able to create a world similar to TEW or WMMA, with age progressing (people aging) and dropping the whole "comic book issue 001" thing. You win some, you lose some, the world ages and new heroes and villains emerge while others get older, etc.

 

That being said, I absolutely love the ability to do story progressions and scenarios.

[LostInWeb]

It's still going in the wrong direction, so it's kind of "well, sounds better but, wish it would have..." category, at least for me.

 

I was hoping to be able to create a world similar to TEW or WMMA, with age progressing (people aging) and dropping the whole "comic book issue 001" thing. You win some, you lose some, the world ages and new heroes and villains emerge while others get older, etc.

 

That being said, I absolutely love the ability to do story progressions and scenarios.

 

I'm not entirely sure of course, since I'm not developing the game, but I think, what you want to do might be able through the editor with storylines to a degree.

It would be some work, but maybe you can add storylines, that involve new villains entering the world or having them age by giving them a new costume and new stats or something like that when a storyline starts or ends.

Sure, it wouldn't be an automatically developing world, but that way, you could simulate one at least.

[djthefunkchris]

I'm not entirely sure of course, since I'm not developing the game, but I think, what you want to do might be able through the editor with storylines to a degree.

It would be some work, but maybe you can add storylines, that involve new villains entering the world or having them age by giving them a new costume and new stats or something like that when a storyline starts or ends.

Sure, it wouldn't be an automatically developing world, but that way, you could simulate one at least.

 

Yeah, and the fact that it is set up to introduce new characters as part of the "rolls", if you have them in the database. It's just the idea of having it do it at certain times vs random rolls. Kind of like in CBH, when you could have Robin at some point (randomly) change his persona into Nightwing (randomly), and set Nightwing as never changing so he don't go back to Robin.

 

Also, I'm jumping the gun as the game is still in development. Adam always has some great things to announce later down the road. Some of these might make what I'm talking about tedious or obsolete.

[LostInWeb]

Yeah, and the fact that it is set up to introduce new characters as part of the "rolls", if you have them in the database. It's just the idea of having it do it at certain times vs random rolls. Kind of like in CBH, when you could have Robin at some point (randomly) change his persona into Nightwing (randomly), and set Nightwing as never changing so he don't go back to Robin.

 

Also, I'm jumping the gun as the game is still in development. Adam always has some great things to announce later down the road. Some of these might make what I'm talking about tedious or obsolete.

 

I know what you mean,but as you say, there is still stuff we don't know about the game and as it seams at least we can do a lot more with this one than CBH and I already had a lot of fun with that one and am still playing it from time to time.

[Adam Ryland]

Yeah, and the fact that it is set up to introduce new characters as part of the "rolls", if you have them in the database. It's just the idea of having it do it at certain times vs random rolls.

 

Just to clarify, this isn't correct. People can debut via rolls if the Debut New Character content gets selected, but equally they could be made to appear via Storylines or Reactive Events, the latter meaning you could have it happen in a specific issue (or within a certain range of issues). Indeed, the default database uses the latter method exclusively.

 

things to announce later down the road. Some of these might make what I'm talking about tedious or obsolete.

 

I can see why you'd want a TEW-style universe where people organically automatically age, go through career phases, and eventually retire, but that's not a direction that CBU will be going (it's not something that generally happens in mainstream comics so I don't think that anyone should be particularly surprised by that), so you're unlikely to see any coming entries that will have any bearing on that sort of game setup. As covered, you can achieve the exact same effects through Storylines and Reactive Events, but it wouldn't be organic.

[Damien]

One thing I felt was missing from CBH was the lack of feeling like you were in an active, breathing, world. The world almost resets between turns with little change other than the status of specific characters.

 

Reading through the journal I think this has been addressed with CBU with the storyline and event functionality. Can we use for example to create the sense of having a nemesis, a rival, as Lux Luthor to Superman situation across issues? Where a villain targets a hero, maybe targets the hero's allies and/or teams up with other villains ala Sinister Six?

[Adam Ryland]

Relationships would certainly affect interactions, so if X and Y are set to have the nemesis status then they're more likely to end up fighting each other; indeed, there are specific schemes and quests that can only trigger for nemesis pairings. That would also include knock-on effects like a villain intentionally going after their nemesis's partner, etc.

 

In terms of it being a continuing 'across issues' thing, you wouldn't see specific arcs where it's a single ongoing storyline that takes place over several issues, but you would see earlier events having echoes later on; for example, hero X might foil villain Y's scheme and so a hatred develops between them, that would then have knock-on effects for how they interact in future issues. Or if Y steals a powerful artifact in one issue then they're going to feel different next time you encounter them because they now have new powers and abilities. It's that sort of thing, plus the character evolutions that have already been discussed, that will form the basis of the game world feeling more of an ongoing process rather than one-shots.

 

Note that it's not going to be to the same level as you'd see in TEW or WMMA, but that's the nature of the beast - the wrestling and MMA industries naturally breathe and evolve, whereas comics are far more about being pulled towards the status quo. For example, obviously a wrestler has a natural career path from debut to retirement (and beyond) that would see them change quite radically over that time, where as you don't really see comic book characters change that much outside of temporary alterations (within reason - I realise there are some exceptions) so there's only so much natural variance you can build in before it stops feeling like a comic book game. Fun as it'd be to have the X-Men reach pension age and hang up their suits, I don't think anyone really wants a game world where all the major heroes have ended up in a retirement community in Florida.

[Damien]

Relationships would certainly affect interactions, so if X and Y are set to have the nemesis status then they're more likely to end up fighting each other; indeed, there are specific schemes and quests that can only trigger for nemesis pairings. That would also include knock-on effects like a villain intentionally going after their nemesis's partner, etc.

 

In terms of it being a continuing 'across issues' thing, you wouldn't see specific arcs where it's a single ongoing storyline that takes place over several issues, but you would see earlier events having echoes later on; for example, hero X might foil villain Y's scheme and so a hatred develops between them, that would then have knock-on effects for how they interact in future issues. Or if Y steals a powerful artifact in one issue then they're going to feel different next time you encounter them because they now have new powers and abilities. It's that sort of thing, plus the character evolutions that have already been discussed, that will form the basis of the game world feeling more of an ongoing process rather than one-shots.

 

Note that it's not going to be to the same level as you'd see in TEW or WMMA, but that's the nature of the beast - the wrestling and MMA industries naturally breathe and evolve, whereas comics are far more about being pulled towards the status quo. For example, obviously a wrestler has a natural career path from debut to retirement (and beyond) that would see them change quite radically over that time, where as you don't really see comic book characters change that much outside of temporary alterations (within reason - I realise there are some exceptions) so there's only so much natural variance you can build in before it stops feeling like a comic book game. Fun as it'd be to have the X-Men reach pension age and hang up their suits, I don't think anyone really wants a game world where all the major heroes have ended up in a retirement community in Florida.

 

Cool. I believe CBH had a nemesis rating but not nemesis specific schemes?

 

As for storylines the idea I was having is if you could chain them using the 'Requirements; functionality to effectively have arcs?

[Adam Ryland]

You could chain storylines to create arcs of effects, such as character or game world progressions / evolutions, yes.

 

You couldn't use them to actually specifically create arcs of encounters though, if that's what you meant. I.e. you can't use a storyline to force an issue to feature Villain X running a specific scheme against Hero Y. You can put the characters in the same location and give them relationships where it makes it much more likely that they will clash, but the actual encounter can't happen until you roll dice that give you a scheme or quest style issue content.

[Pastafarian]

Is there an option to control just a selection of characters during fights, as in CBH you only controlled one?

 

For example, I'd like to control Captain America, but would like to let the AI handle Bucky?

[Cold Cobra]

Loved today's entry, makes the game sound like a really fun JRPG, with terrain, a team of heroes and lots of moves both defensive and offensive to chose between. Definitely a major step up from CBH.

 

Out of curiosity, after spending some more time with my old CBH database (and boy does that ever need a major update when CBU comes out...), you've said before about each issue having an incident occur via dice roll but does that mean only one thing happens in between a turn, or do smaller skirmishes and characters moving around still happen across the whole playing world and it's only the area you're currently at that gets effected? (if that's even still a thing given you don't command a specific person) Otherwise it feels like having a larger database would mean a lot of areas of the game world seeing little to no action for many turns at a time.

 

Obviously new character debuting and major incidents should be at the mercy of the issue dice roll but just had to wonder how active the world will be outside of the issue-to-issue transition, or is it that the issue-to-issue stuff happens so much quicker than the CBH turns that it still makes everything feel more active?

 

Either way colour me very excited indeed!

[Adam Ryland]

does that mean only one thing happens in between a turn, or do smaller skirmishes and characters moving around still happen across the whole playing world and it's only the area you're currently at that gets effected?

 

Character travel and faction changes happen for the whole game universe at the end of each issue, irrespective of what or where the main content was.

 

It'll be covered in a later entry, but there's also an optional feature (called 'Meanwhile...', as in 'Meanwhile, in the X universe...', which is the heading when these pop up) whereby something minor - like a relationship change or a character progression - will happen at the very end of each issue, which again can occur for people anywhere in the universe, unrelated to where the main issue took place.

 

There's never any skirmishes or battles other than the main meat of the issue though, the player is always involved if there's an actual fight happening. That does mean that some locations can go several issues without a battle happening there, especially if you have a particularly large world, but that's the nature of the issue-by-issue format.

[Cold Cobra]

Character travel and faction changes happen for the whole game universe at the end of each issue, irrespective of what or where the main content was.

 

It'll be covered in a later entry, but there's also an optional feature (called 'Meanwhile...', as in 'Meanwhile, in the X universe...', which is the heading when these pop up) whereby something minor - like a relationship change or a character progression - will happen at the very end of each issue, which again can occur for people anywhere in the universe, unrelated to where the main issue took place.

 

There's never any skirmishes or battles other than the main meat of the issue though, the player is always involved if there's an actual fight happening. That does mean that some locations can go several issues without a battle happening there, especially if you have a particularly large world, but that's the nature of the issue-by-issue format.

 

That's fine, I don't mind battles only happening in places from time to time so long as it still feels like those locations are actually moving and evolving. That just means when a battle comes to a location it'll most likely be different each time even if you start a new file.

 

My excitement has been retained

[landxx]

That's fine, I don't mind battles only happening in places from time to time so long as it still feels like those locations are actually moving and evolving. That just means when a battle comes to a location it'll most likely be different each time even if you start a new file.

 

My excitement has been retained

And for my Marvel/DC mod this will be big hit because i have many locations many characters so many fixes will need to be done

[Adam Ryland]

Is there an option to control just a selection of characters during fights, as in CBH you only controlled one?

 

For example, I'd like to control Captain America, but would like to let the AI handle Bucky?

 

In case you didn't see it, this was answered in the latest journal post; you can give AI control to any number of characters.