A game of survival, trade and exploration in the universe of Fallen London
Features for navigation - horizon / navbuoys
densewords
Posts: 5
5/2/2014
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The biggest gameplay/immersion issue I'm having is that the top down view distances the player from the sea itself, and from the sense of being on a dark ocean with unknown heights and depths above and below.
The ideal enhancement would be an inset window showing the horizon. The simplest implementation of this would be a horizontal box with lights along it, marking the position of anything visible (real or imaginary) with lights in the appropriate colour. This would mitigate the effect of having (for instance) a long east-west view but short north-south; it would also mitigate the effect of having cards and HUD elements on top of the map. More complex implementations would be to show the eerie glow of monsters, the lamps of ships and other dynamic element, right the way up to showing the outline of nearby land.
The top down view also creates minor navigation issues that are nonetheless significant when trying to minimize terror, as well as fuel and supplies consumption. A droppable navigation buoy would mitigate this AND has the possibility for a certain amount of fun... such as helpful things like naming the buoy and having a buoy in sight slightly decrease the increase rate of terror, as well as annoyances like having it moved by monsters or stolen by pirates, and horrors like having marooning crazed zailors on it, or certain monsters being drawn by it.
I continue to putter about happily and look forward to more content...
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