Re: [glob2-devel] Ideas for post 1.0 version

[Gabriel Walt]

> For each affiliation there is some spell. The more powerfull the spell is, the 
> more mana it takes. The idea is to have speels that alter the map to use this 
> capability of the engine.
> Here is a quick list of possible spells
> * Irigation - regenerate ressources faster (water, simple)
> * Waterfall - water attack (water, medium)
> * Waterforming - create water (water, ultimate)
> * Algaforming - create seeweed in water (nature, medium)
> * Bug - destroy fruits (nature, medium)
> * Grassforming - create grass (nature, ultimate)
> * Digger - remove stones (rock, medium)
> * Armagedon - massive astral bombing (rock, ultimate)
> * KissOfDesert - create desert (rock, ultimate)
> * ...

I agree with Joey, these spells really sound like the ones that could be 
found in warcraft or so. It doesn't fit into the strange universe of 
globulation, it sounds almost like standard roleplay spells.

By the way, for me, this is also a problem with the level 2 and 3 
graphics, they look very human and like what could be found in standard 
games. What would a globule want to do with so human buildings? Of 
course there must be hints for the function of a building, but globules 
have no idea of gothic or whatever architecture! ;) I like a lot the 
level 1 buildings made of earth, excepted the "barracks" that I took a 
while before understanding the perspective. But I do by no mean signify 
that I dislike the level 2 and 3 buildings, most of them look very cool, 
but I think that they don't fit into the globule universe.

Globally I think that we have to be very careful about not breaking the 
delicate universe of the globules, we have to try to stick better to the 
original ideas that were very innovative and subtle. We must try to find 
again this subtle innocence and big coherence of the beginning. If you 
implement the ideas you were talking about, please think about a better 
integration of them into the globulation universe.

Now for more "technical" considerations, I'm not sure that being able to 
modify the map, and accelerating the speed of growth of resources is 
interesting for the gameplay. There are already a lot of things that 
makes it hard to create strategic maps, mostly because of the 
wrap-around that eliminates the strategic position of map corners, and 
of the growing/collecting of resources that can completely change the 
impact of a place for a game.

This has been highly improved with the fruit trees that, when well 
placed by the map designer, can really create strategic points that must 
be controlled. Your idea also introduces such points that are strategic 
to control. But the problem of your idea is that it allows to remove 
stones, enhance speed of growth of standard resources, lower the speed 
of growth of trees, and control the shapes of the map... These are 4 
strategic elements that you make less strong! So in my opinion your idea 
makes the game less strategic, or at least doesn't make it better, only 
more complicated.

But perhaps I'm wrong, it'd be cool to hear also what other people think 
about the gameplay implications of your idea. Because of the crashes of 
the windows version I only could play very short network games and am 
not very used about advanced strategies of human vs human.

Gabriel