Post by chriscrawford on Dec 16, 2015 20:09:35 GMT -8
I have been working on everything BUT Siboot for the last two months, but at long last I am returning. I've been integrating Luc's new icons into the system, and am now ready to consider extensions to the dealmaking process. Dealmaking is in fact the most important part of the game. Currently, there are only two types of actions that can be traded in deals:
1. Revealing an auragon count of a third person.
2. Promising not to attack the interlocutor.
These are limited in range. I would like to add other tradeable actions. One that has been in the design for a long time (and in fact is already in place but not fully implemented) is trading Siboot beads. These are explained in the novel, but I have not settled on the final value of this item. My plan had been that Siboot beads give you better lie detection. However, this raises a whole raft of issues associated with lie detection.
The plan is for lie detection to be based on facial expression excursions. But precisely how is this feature modulated? In other words, how would beads improve the ability of the player to sense lies? I could perhaps make the facial expression excursions indicative of lying more extreme, more frequent, or longer in duration.
But this would make beads have decreasing value; at the beginning of the game, beads have enormous value, because they can be used for many turns, but late in the game, their value is lowered because they can't be used much longer. I'm not sure I like that feature. So I need to modify the way beads affect gameplay.
But I want something more, something else to trade. Perhaps I can use something like the Indonesian concept of "tanagadalang" -- a kind of debt. Americans say "I owe you one" to express the same idea. This could create some interesting dynamics when a character agrees to "owe one" to another, then later is called upon to deliver something that he doesn't want to deliver. Perhaps it could be separated by a day; "If you give me a hamburger today I'll pay you back Tuesday".
But I still want something else...
1. Revealing an auragon count of a third person.
2. Promising not to attack the interlocutor.
These are limited in range. I would like to add other tradeable actions. One that has been in the design for a long time (and in fact is already in place but not fully implemented) is trading Siboot beads. These are explained in the novel, but I have not settled on the final value of this item. My plan had been that Siboot beads give you better lie detection. However, this raises a whole raft of issues associated with lie detection.
The plan is for lie detection to be based on facial expression excursions. But precisely how is this feature modulated? In other words, how would beads improve the ability of the player to sense lies? I could perhaps make the facial expression excursions indicative of lying more extreme, more frequent, or longer in duration.
But this would make beads have decreasing value; at the beginning of the game, beads have enormous value, because they can be used for many turns, but late in the game, their value is lowered because they can't be used much longer. I'm not sure I like that feature. So I need to modify the way beads affect gameplay.
But I want something more, something else to trade. Perhaps I can use something like the Indonesian concept of "tanagadalang" -- a kind of debt. Americans say "I owe you one" to express the same idea. This could create some interesting dynamics when a character agrees to "owe one" to another, then later is called upon to deliver something that he doesn't want to deliver. Perhaps it could be separated by a day; "If you give me a hamburger today I'll pay you back Tuesday".
But I still want something else...
