Random Hammerfell Ideas

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:53 pm

What about mirages? Like a script that makes water appear to be there, but then dissapears when you get too close. Also, the desert at night can be a creepy thing to experiance. Maybe you could hear odd shufflings or see the sand move as though it were being walked upon. Or, to go along with the mirages, you could see "night mirages" such as ghostly caravans moving slowly in the distance, accompanied by low moans of sorrow. Lone gypsies that wander the sands, calling out in a different tounge as though searching for someone, but vanish into dust upon your approach. Creepy things like this add alot to a game, and every game needs a scare factor in my opinion. Like the sixth house in Morrowind. Imagine experiancing such an event for the first time, and not knowing whether you are quite safe or not. Opinions?

Serric · Post by **Serric** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:05 pm

It's a brilliant idea, though scripting it would probebly be a nightmare...also, after a few, the player would start to discount them if they knew they where going to vanish and have no actual effect on them. The idea's good, but if after 3 or 4 time they are ignored, would it be worth it? Especially if the scripting of it would be hard to get it to look right...

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:11 pm

True. Maybe these could be very rare occourances, few and far between. Or, if they must be more common, once in awile you would walk up to one, thinking it will dissapear, and yet it would turn out to be a real gypsy or evil caravan, and attack you. Quite a surprise to the player. Scripting might be a pain, but if you have ever played Runescape, you'll see that random events brighten the game up, make it alot more enjoyable.

Eraser · Post by **Eraser** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:44 pm

I really like these ideas.

The mirages we do by messing with the particle and shader effects(which they said we could do in tes4cs)

As for things like the caravans, haunted and normal. tweaking RAI as well as ambient sound for creatures, we could make them all real. Perhaps even making the RAI for the ghostly encounters cast invisibility or chameleon and silence when you get nearby if you go to "investigate" then when you leave, they appear again and make noise, like with RL ghostly or creepy encounters.

Stalker · Post by **Stalker** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:54 pm

They are easy to do even with TES3 engine. I can't see it as a problem for TES4. Simple GetDistance check and then disable.

Eraser · Post by **Eraser** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:58 pm

yeah, but if its AI done, the effect may ware off or they may choose to appear and attack you while you're close, making things more unpredictable.

The_Warder · Post by **The_Warder** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:35 am

In fable the screen got blurry and started to kind of melt away. would this be possible? the blurr could be for the mirages and we could use the other to simulate drunkenness in oblivion.

Macar · Post by **Macar** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:18 am

Well, I dont know about drunkenness. It would have to affect all alcohol- and that would mean messing with the original game. Big no-no.

The_Warder · Post by **The_Warder** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:13 pm

yeah I forgot about that sorry.

Boompiee · Post by **Boompiee** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:17 pm

Perhaps we could have magical oases that are only visible at certain times of the day/month?