I agree. The game needs to be made without markers in it at all. We follow instructions from our journal or from the people we talk to.
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It should be made with options for people who prefer markers and people who donât.
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Exactly. It should be quite easy to make markers optional. I think for somebody like Dan who criticized Skyrim heavily with a list of 100 points such a design issue should be mandatory.
Player should be able to flexibly and easily turn stuff like minimap, compass, quest markers and stuff on and off anytime.
But of course players should be able to solve quests without using markers. Just for those who want an âeasy and casualâ experience there is no reason to not give them the possibility to turn markers on.
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Marker off for me, other wise why an open world? I like investigating, asking NPc, think, and finding clues, to solve a quest.
Markers make the game so linear and player act as a robot, he donât pay attention to the dialogs (why should I do? I will get my arrow at the end of this dialog). And this is also a good excuse for the game designer to dump down the scenario.
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Having markers or a compass in a game has never made me feel like I wanted to skip through dialogue or pass up the chance to explore, especially the first time I played it.
[quote=âbebuce, post:31, topic:16259â]Having in-game support for making screenshots would be nice. And having support for recording a video of my gameplay would be totally awesome. The game could just keep record of the game state and render the actual video afterwards frame by frame, not in real time, which would allow to render it in the best possible quality. With the possibility to switch HUD elements on and off after it has been recorded. One of the games supporting this is Team Fortress 2. Maybe not worth the effort, butâŠ
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That would be totally awesome. I know some games did that. It allows you to change camrera (e.g. in Trackmania) and in that in addition to rendering in the best possible quality really makes awesome videos on youtube.
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I really like the idea of this topic. It reminded me of the Gothic games (as well as some other older RPGs) - I quite enjoyed having to think about things and finding things through exploration. Sometimes I had to look up a guide on the internet when I got stuck for a long time, but that was really worth it. Nowadays, there are no guides anymore, because the games basically do everything for you.
Personally, I think that this is one of the bigger issues in modern games - even if they give you an interesting quest, they point you in the exact direction or spot right away, so your task is just riding or going to the spot, pressing an action button and clicking through some dialogues. It also kind of takes away a lot of the excitement - for example, if you are to go on a super dangerous mission into some banditsâ chief encampment, but then you see every bandit as a red dot and their chief highlighted on the map⊠any feeling of danger is usually gone, either you are strong enough (have good enough equipment etc.) to take them down or you donât.
I think it would make a lot of sense in KC: D, especially as it should be closer to the âhardcoreâ RPGs more than other games out there (and as said, there should be some investigating). Having optional quest markers is fine though (or more likely, the option to disable them), everyone wants something different from a game. Not having the option to disable the markers would be very dissapointing though.
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We should have only a map that works a bit like a good old treasure map. You could put there your own markers ââXââ marks. But it shouldnât show on a compass, a compass isnât even supposed to exist yet.
You may want to double-check when compasses were first used.
But again - this should be an option for players. I would rather Warhorse had it so people who want or need the compass can have it show up, or they can turn it off if theyâd rather not see it.
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I agree, its all about options. Obviously the game needs to be accessible to most of the people and to some, having no navigation on the map could be very frustrating. I just hope that Warhorse will put in the extra effort to adjust the design to people who want to actually follow the dialogues and conversations and want to explore and figure out things based on that instead of being taken by hand and pushed to the exact spot by the game.
From the interviews and lectures given by Dan Vavra which I read, I have faith in Warhorse in this regard. That would be very refreshing instead of the pointless dialogues in most of modern games where you just want to skim through them, pick up quests as fast as possible and get going. It almost seems as if many companies from the game industry think that âaverage gamerâ means âwithout a brainâ and therefore there is a marker for everything.
Having a treasure-like map sounds interesting, but probably wouldnât appeal to the majority of players. But again, its all about options.
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Itâs hard to define hard-core mode. But we are answering your prayers. We will try to find a compromise for everybody, which includes the option of disabling features like quest markers, maps and the compass. There isnât any clear image yet, but we are definitely working on it. So hopefully weâll create a pool of settings which satisfys everybody, from casual- to hard-core gamer.
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The new Deus Ex had plenty of options to disable HUD features (crosshair, interactive object highlight, quest marks, and so on). I think there is no need to force it on everyone, even in the âhard coreâ mode (though some things should not be available in it), but people should have option to disable those additional hints (and I do not think they have to play in hardcore mode to do so). So if we have bunch of settings we can play with, I will be quite happy.
For example, I do not like games with checkpoints, I prefer to be able to save my game when I want to. On the other hand all other options I like hardcore. I know that other people prefer checkpoints (no quick save), but they want regeneration. So options to let player choose custom difficulty would be awesome.
It would be great if these features could work as a part of the gameplay instead of a switch-off-able menu/HUD feature. I remember Dan VĂĄvra mentioning several times he wants to avoid traditional game menus and HUD and find ways to work around these.
Like making the map and compas as obtainable items that you have to get in-game and can put them away if you want. Or like having an optional mind-compass Perk/Trait to get either at the gameâs start or during the later character development.
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That would make it much more immerse. I approve. Would bring me back to my Morrowind days.
Thanks for the update Tobi - Sounds excellent!
(will be going fully hardcore myself ;))
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I agree with many of the ideas here saying quest markers on by default isnât the best idea (sure itâs easy for an average gamer) I have to disagree whith the folks mentioning darker nights, however as for caverns below ground of course theyâre dark but I guess some people really do have bad night vision if they think ârealistic nights in skyrim requiring a lightsource to see anything around 10-50 meters was actually realisticâ I love the idea that HUD elements being customizableâŠMy guarnteed Mod every time in Skyrim was SkyUI itâs what Bethusda should have done for the PC port.
Yes itâs nice idea ! 
Regarding darker nights: I agree that some mods/ENBs make the nights unrealistically dark, but if you get a decent/realistic one (True Vision ENB for e.g.) it vastly improves the game. Nights are scary and you donât want to be caught out unprepared, this is especially true when in forests which are even darker. Traveling in snowy areas becomes more appealing than temperate areas as the snow on the ground makes everything much easier to see (but then with Frostfall you run the risk of freezing⊠:)).
In Skyrim and Fallout NV nights were never threatening and didnât really have much impact on gameplay. Darker nights make a real difference to how you play - âWill I make such and such a town before nightfall?â and the fear of realising youâre lost as the sun sets really adds tension and gives the player more interesting decisions to make (particularly when you throw other survival mods into the mix). With the default night lighting values thereâs no real threat as itâs not much harder to see than day and thus there are no real fears or interesting decisions to be made (IMO anyway).
I hope that in KC:D weâll have different night lighting based on the moon and cloud cover/weather. Walking across an open field on a clear night with a full moon should give you pretty good vision. The same situation but with an overcast sky and rain should be another matter entirely; inky dark and a dangerous prospect for the lone traveler. Then you have all the in between states, both weather and location; whilst a dense forest is always going to be dangerously dark at night, lightly populated woodland might be quite easy to navigate on a good night but âoff-limitsâ under bad conditions. Of course the weather is dynamic as well which should lead to more interesting situations developing (depending on how rapidly it changes and the timescale of the game).
Regarding HUD: If you havenât already given âiHUDâ and âLess Intrusive HUDâ a go (for Skyrim) you should do. Both work well with each other and SkyUI. These three HUD mods combined allow for a massive amount of customisation.
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This is such a major issue, honestly. If the game is going to be a seriously immersive and realistic RPG, then it either needs to completely remove quest markers, or make them optional. I suspect the developers will choose the second option, to coddle those who cannot go without. I want to explore this world and âhappen uponâ where I need to be to do my role as I ascribe it. Have the characters actually give you directions, make people explore the world dynamically! Thatâs what I want, anyway. And yes, the example everyone gives is Morrowind, an RPG that did many things right. Let us not speak of Oblivion, howeverâŠ
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The ability to turn off any HUD or quest markers or in-game tips is definitely worth the effort.
I would back you up on your request about ability to record the gameplay or take a screenshot combined with a possibility to remove or apply the HUD afterwards.