optional perma-death mode?

good idea? bad idea?

i'm thinking in terms of fpsrpg's (and maybe shooters?) but any game type is open for discussion.

they could save at any time, but it would only load your last game, and would not load if you died.

you could add a "gallery of fallen heros" that showed all the player characters who had died in optional perma-death mode.

maybe even make it so you could toggle it on and off mid-game - in case you had a particularly tough bit to get through. or just make it optional, but "always on" if they play in that mode.

Optional as its own is every time a good idea, the questions if it fits into the gameplay.

When you add perma death mode into a game with many quick time events where it is difficult for players to recognise the reason because they died then it may be more con as if you add into e.g. survival games where players need to appraise if attacking other players is woth the risk to get killed then it would make more sense to involve a prema death.

It could be at least a variable for the designer to get control over the player to do things he is allowed to but to avoid things he isnt allowed to, for example stealing items or murder other characters and for a deeper relationshipt between player and his own character. You may take a look at the good old Pen n Paper RPGs, Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun, Pathfinder. In all these games a perma death is part of the gameplay and realy realy annoying when happening because creating and leveling characters takes way more time than clicking a button and when dying you may have certain progress with your group as well.

There is quite a thrill with very harsh death consequences, I think it certainly can add to a game when you are in trouble and know just how much you stand to lose. It can be irritating too though and I think it has less of a place in more of a linear story driven game but I think it could work. I am struggling to think of games where I have chosen to play in the perma-death mode (where they offer it) but I've played plenty of games where perma-death is always on and they are enjoyable.

With an FPS RPG I think as long as it's roaming it could work well. Would be nothing worse than having to repeat the same thing many times over especially if it takes a while to get to that point.

maybe even make it so you could toggle it on and off mid-game - in case you had a particularly tough bit to get through. .

I think that defeats the purpose of perma-death.

so "always on" perma-death as an option eh? guess if you could turn it off, it wouldn't really be permanent would it? <g>.

as Nanoha, I don't mind games that have permadeath but whenever there's the option to have it or not, I never turn it on

Turning on and off permadeath during play is a pretty crazy idea, crazy enough that it might just work. I think it'd need an incentive to it, though, like if it's embodied in a particularly good weapon, piece of armor, or buff such that, if you die while it's equipped/active, you can't reload that character ever again.

Having an option to create a new game with "perma death" enabled would be quite easy to implement, it fits very well with fpsrpg:s of almost any kind, (specially survival-type) and there is definitely a target audience that would enjoy it, while there is little chance players that don't like it would enable it "by mistake" and not enjoy your game because of it.

So I think the question should be "why not implement it?" :)

(I also think having at as an option that could be turned off mid-game defeats the whole idea of perma-death, so I doubt players who like perma-death would enjoy it, and players who don't like perma-death wouldn't enjoy it either)

Mid-game switching seems odd to me. Better to have it as an option for new games.

The point of permedeath is that it should be there even for harder sections of the game.

>> Turning on and off permadeath during play is a pretty crazy idea, crazy enough that it might just work. I think it'd need an incentive to it, though

how about:

you can choose perma-death mode at new game start. you can toggle it on/off at any time during that game. when its off, you don't earn any experience from combat. no risk? no reward!

>> So I think the question should be "why not implement it?" :)

yes, implementation is not very hard. and it does add more gameplay modes, and expand the title's appeal. i wonder why more folks haven't thought of it yet.

guess i'd better put it on the todo list for caveman!