How would you design a perk that gave you an item based off the current game state when plundering?

RatherUncreativeName
RatherUncreativeName Member Posts: 14
edited August 2020 in General Discussions

The idea comes from the card Zephrys the Great from Hearthstone, that "wishes for the perfect card" based on the many different mechanics of the game, and gives you 3 choices of what it thinks is the most useful for the situation.

I think this would be far too much coding for one perk, and be too difficult to tread the line between stupidly powerful and bad, but it's just a thought experiment. The following questions aren't a school assignment, so don't think you have to answer them. They're just food for thought that helps give you an idea of what it's like to design a perk this complicated.


First, you'd have to ask "What information does this perk know?"

Does it check what perks you have? Does it look at what perks the Killer has? Speaking of Killer, does it change depending on who the Killer is? Should it look at the health states like who's injured, hooked or has Deep Wound? Does it look at the number of generators left and give a Toolbox or Key?


Secondly, you'd have to decide how rarities and addons work.

Does it only decide what the item is, and leave the rarity and add-on to Plunderer's Instinct and Ace in the Hole? Or does it guarantee related addons like a Sabotage/Repair theme, but leave the rarity of the add-ons to RNG? Can it apply specific add-ons to counter a Killer like a Red Twine Map to track Bear Traps and Totems?


Thirdly, how does it use the information it knows from the first question?

If you think it should take into account what the Killer is, how do you as a pretend-developer decide what's most helpful against a given Killer? Some are a given, like Flashlights vs. Wraith and Hag, or a Toolbox to sabotage Trapper's traps. Others make for good discussion. What do you personally think is the "perfect card" against a Hillbilly, or a Nurse, or a Demogorgon?


Finally, how much do you assume a player knows?

If you have a thousand hours in the game, you likely know you can disarm Phantasm Traps with a flashlight, or burn a Wraith, or sabotage Bear Traps, but what about someone who just started? Can you assume that they know how to flashlight save, and give them a Flashlight if there are two people down?

Comments

  • As a side note, please never implement something like this if you read this, developers. Trapper already has like 5 counters, so adding a perk that says "if killer = trapper, then sabotage all bear traps" would be cyberbullying.