Undertow Games Forum

So I like the idea of the game so far and its vision, gameplay and it feels good aside from the audio issue I have (no audio). However there is one thing that is very important to me in just about any game for me to stick to it for longer periods of time and that is progression. I need some goals, something I can strive for in this game besides just having fun with gameplay. I am wondering if anyone has any information about progression system in this game (if there is any planned) or just perhaps has any decent ideas.

As far as ideas go, so far I can think of:

1.Money:
In Multiplayer mission mode there is a set amount of gold you are supposedly getting if you complete the objective. It would be great if a Multiplayer character would indeed get that currency on his account (preferably saved in a cloud but if that is 2 expensive, perhaps locally) for use in a Multiplayer store (no, not the EA kinda store). However to make it viable in a long term, the permanent items you could buy would have to be extremely expensive (if the store would allow to buy permanent items) or just stick on spending that money on "one use" items.

2.Ranks
Another way to add long term goals are ranks. Now ranks in a game like Barotrauma could be achieved via. just completing missions and generating XP for it. Or they could be achieved by spending the money earned in MP missions to advance a single rank (2000 for rank 2, 3000 for rank 3, 4000 for rank 4, etc.). Or any similar idea would work I guess.

3.Steam achievements
Not that anyone else cares about my steam achievements, but I do find it very fun to unlock them.

You have good ideas, but i cant say i like them. I feel like you are trying to mainstream the game. I feel at the moment that its good as it is, and that your money should only be in that one save game, not global. Its unknown if they plan on adding this to steam so who knows about steam achievements. The ranks i cant agree with either. You are either a Captain, engineer, medic, etc etc. Why add in all these things to convolute the game? In a roleplay sense it would be cool, like with my group we are contemplating on adding ranks such as captain, lieutenent, pvt, etc etc. ONLY for roleplay reasons. What you want to do is convolute the game. Add in things that are unneccessary to a game that is already fun. I think they should just sit and keep making the current build better, fixing ai, the hud system, etc etc.

Personally I do believe it is something many people would enjoy as it adds some kind of a feeling that you are achieving something the more you play even when it would be basically useless during game play. I think there are a few researches done about it that point out that giving such rewards even if kinda useless to players for investing their time it makes them enjoy the game more as they have a tiny feeling of some accomplishment.

Ranks wouldn't have to do anything with class, ranks just tell of overall experience of the player, how much he played the game. Same like in some Battlefield games for example, in Battlefield 2 you could have a commander (Similar to captain) that would be the main guy giving orders and other things. Any player of any rank could play Commander. What I am trying to say is rank and class have nothing to do with each other. Rank could basically be skill level, no title next to it, just a number to show people how "experienced" the player is.

Also adding the things I mentioned shouldn't be much work at all for a programmer so it basically wouldn't delay the game for much longer. The only issue for the developers could be if instead of local saves, they go for the "cloud" system, that would cost them some money to maintain and back up. Anyway this is just my opinion of course.

I don't think there should be ANY multiplayer progression, and here's why.

Your character in Barotrauma is someone you develop, it's how people know you. This community is still small enough that you see tons of familiar faces if you play even semi-regularly. Why should an extra "flair" exist next to a character indicating how long they've played the game? I don't see how that adds to the experience aboard the sub, except maybe that it would finally give the captain his desperately needed authority.
I would advocate for a simpler system that adds to atmosphere of cooperation in the game. What if we could just rate eachother as crewmembers at the end of the round? No longer can someone be an anonymous troll.
different levels for the "Teamplay" score

• userName
  userName
  userName

Something as simple as subtly changing the font color of a name would accomplish the goal of progression. I think mostly what matters though is how we accomplish that progression. teamwork/timeplayed tradeoff

jacobo