So far my design would support
1. Tools that players can use
2. Tools that you can place around as traps for example. Maybe an arrow shoots out of the wall when you walk near it.
3. Tools that non-player characters can use
Well, having an arrow shoot from a player is basically the same as an arrow shooting out from another event, so you just create an event as a "trap" and when you walk near the event, the trap goes off and it fires an arrow.
I look at each tool separately and how devs can use them in their own projects
1. Ladder to climb to different levels
I call this a "Passage" tool.
What we are interested here is the ability to pull a ladder out of your bag and put it on the map.
Now, the ladder itself can do various things, but the main use is dynamic passage settings. There used to be a gap between two tiles...now you filled it up so you can reach the other side.
The graphic used can be a ladder. It could be a piece of rope, or a bridge. The ladder itself would span one tile, but you can combine multiple ladders together to create a longer passage.
One challenge here is what happens when you want to have a ladder that spans multiple tiles.
2. Scuba or gas mask (or perhaps hazmat suit) to allow the party to breathe underwater (or in a hazardous area)
These can serve two purposes
1: provide passage.
2: disable certain behavior
Suppose there's a lake with some treasure at the bottom. You can design this in two ways
1: you can't step in the water without equipping diving gear. Seems normal.
2: you can step in the water, but you will lose HP over-time. You will likely die before you reach the treasture. If you equip diving gear, you can then step in without losing HP.
So we have another category of tools for "Behavior". In the example above, losing HP would be the behavior if you don't wear your diving gear and jump in the water.
3. Water pump to put out fires so party can move through an area
4. Pickaxe to mine things from walls and to dig through certain walls
5. Lockpicks for treasure chests and locked doors
6. Grappling hook to go up a level or to go across a chasm
8. Crowbar to open doors or move heavy objects (such as boulders)
9. Tripwire to stop monsters (not too useful in random encounters but useful otherwise)
10. Weighted statuette to keep a pressure plate from activating (see: Raiders of the Lost Ark)
11. Block to hold open a door which closes on its own
12. Sleeping powder (put guards to sleep in a sneaking game)
These are tools that allows you to interact with objects on the map.
You swing a pickaxe, if it hits a special wall, wall collapses.
You set a door-stopper, which prevents a door from closing.
In general: use tool, something may be created (like an animation, or an actual object), stuff might happen.
I'll call these "Interaction" tools.
7. X-ray (or magical True Sight) goggles to see invisible passageways
I would categorize this as a behavior tool. Similar to the scuba gear, you have two options
1. No true sight, can't walk through walls with hidden passages, or
2. No true sight, but you can still walk through them. It just means you can't see them.
Now, we have three categories of tools that covers most of the ideas in this thread so far.
- Rope & hooks - for climbing.
- Axe - for cutting down trees.
- Shovel - for digging holes.
- Net - for catching fish, butterflies, monsters, etc.
- Knife - for cutting vines.
Rope/hook: passage
Axe: interaction
Shovel: interaction
Net: interaction
Knife: interaction
Boomerang that travels in an arc, hitting some enemies on the way there and possibly the way back.
You can have a "Beetle"-like (Zelda series) flying mechanism that can only fly for a certain amount of time, to press a switch or collect an item perhaps? All you need to do is create a button that spawns an event that you can control like a mechanical bird. e.g. Press "A" to create the "Beetle" and then use the arrow keys to maneuver the beetle to a switch or item that you could not reach if you were normally moving.
Bombs that can demolish walls.
A gust gun that can shoot out air, blowing away dust and enemies. It can also help turn switches, or move platforms across a room.
Use mitts to crawl through underground passages.
A bit of a more weird idea: create a "Portal" gun that you can shoot at one wall and shoot at another and then walk through it like it's a portal. This one will probably take way more programming, or at least it may not fit in with the usual "fantasy lore" type games.
Boomerang: interaction. A bit more complicated in that it travels in a certain trajectory
Beetle: behavior
bird: behavior-like.
Bombs: interaction. Area of effect
Gust gun: interaction. Again, potentially area of effect
Mittens: behavior or passage (maybe someone refuses to touch the ground without mittens)
Portal gun: Not sure how I would categorize it. I'd probably go with behavior since you step in and you come out the other side.
Magical Floor - Summons a small 2x2 hard light magic in front of you. It can be used to cross small chasms or cover traps. Could also be used to negate damage from below you... Or catch objects falling from the ceiling. Maybe you could even use it to protect an ice bridge from falling lava.
Used for passage, and also interaction.
Man...that would be really useful. You could maybe make a shooter a lot easier with a system like that. Thats what im thinking. Mostly a projectile function (guns, arrows, boomerang, fire ball, lol...), grappling hook, bombs for blowing up secret passages....
Yes, with my system, you can potentially create a shooter with only eventing.
