I may be an immersion snob. That's always been my main focus when choosing and modding games.
I'd like to start a conversation about what makes games immersive, and will start off with some gameplay ideas that have been a constant pursuit in my endeavor to mod other games for immersion.
Firstly, I like RPG progression to be seamless and realistic. I want to get better at how I approach problems in a natural way.
No points to allocate or unrealistic perks to unlock.
I'd like Cyberpunk 2077 to advance the player character's skill at a certain task by doing that task more frequently and with greater success.
I want to learn by doing.
The other aspect of character progression that goes hand in hand with a cyberpunk setting is body modification.
I would like to see this implemented in a manner that avoids phantom requirements like level.
However, the player may need a certain constitution to withstand more complex procedures with a lesser impact on their body and performance while they heal up.
Healthy people heal faster.
As well, I'd like the implants come with more than a financial cost. If I augment my arms, maybe until the healing process (which is faster than normal due to advances in technology, as well as gameplay reasons to avoid alienating the player.) completes, my arms move slightly slower as my neurons relearn how to operate the new limb.
Also, on the topic of levelling, I'd like to see that mechanic avoided. How does my character immersively attach a number to themselves to indicate how skilled they are?
I want money and experience to be the bosses of the game. An enemy doesn't magically have more health than you because they've lived longer and done more.
They might, however, have better equipment and more focused skills than you. I want the difficulty to be a slow and subtle ramp as you're driven into encountering higher profile characters. Wanting to be a jack of all trades will eventually catch up to you as you find specific skills below the quality of a more specialized character.
Which leads me to encountering characters and completing objectives to advance your position in the game.
I hope that there really is a multitude of ways to solve every problem. My main goal when playing any RPG, is to see how viable it is to avoid killing. I want the option to complete every objective (even ones that require someone to die.) without ever properly getting blood on my hands. I want a character that can change the world and it's people without violence. I want to play an aweful person who walks around with a clean conscience because they've never committed a top-tier heinous crime like murder. They may be unkind, but they feel vindicated; righteous.
Next, I'd like to talk about gameplay elements.
I'd like my character's perspective to be one of a fully modeled and anatomically correct body. I don't want the perspective to be a floating head with arms for ears.
I'd also like to have an immersive way of determining vitals information until an implant is installed to display such information. Maybe before I can afford a cybernetic eye, I have to wear some heads up display glasses that tap into and display my blood pressure and heart rate. I want my vision to darken or become blurry when I get whacked in the head. I want to hear my heartbeat and uncontrollably blink.
And even with an implant, I don't want some unimmersive bar or number telling me how close I am to death, but rather a bar that fluctuates with my blood pressure and heartbeat to show when I'm sustaining blood loss as the pressure drops and the heartbeat slows. I want blood to be the cost of failure in battle.
And, lastly, I'd like to tie the third and fifth paragraphs together by asking that combat be dangerous and frightening. I want to know that I have as much chance of dying in combat as my opponent. I want scenes that thrust me into warfare with multiple foes to terrify me. I want anyone who isn't geared for combat defense to be realistically fragile. Damage should be instantly debilitating without pain suppression and immediate first aid technology. I want melee weapons to recoil when they encounter bone or steel without a military-grade strength implant. And even then, I want the bone to resist severing until it has a surface or force opposing the direction of impact to break against. I want bodies in the open to ragdoll, but someone against a wall to snap and crumple.
So, that's my wall of text on immersion. This is just a sliver of the thoughts I have on the subject and I will add more as they surface in my mind. If you read all of this, thank-you for sticking with it.
I'd like to start a conversation about what makes games immersive, and will start off with some gameplay ideas that have been a constant pursuit in my endeavor to mod other games for immersion.
Firstly, I like RPG progression to be seamless and realistic. I want to get better at how I approach problems in a natural way.
No points to allocate or unrealistic perks to unlock.
I'd like Cyberpunk 2077 to advance the player character's skill at a certain task by doing that task more frequently and with greater success.
I want to learn by doing.
The other aspect of character progression that goes hand in hand with a cyberpunk setting is body modification.
I would like to see this implemented in a manner that avoids phantom requirements like level.
However, the player may need a certain constitution to withstand more complex procedures with a lesser impact on their body and performance while they heal up.
Healthy people heal faster.
As well, I'd like the implants come with more than a financial cost. If I augment my arms, maybe until the healing process (which is faster than normal due to advances in technology, as well as gameplay reasons to avoid alienating the player.) completes, my arms move slightly slower as my neurons relearn how to operate the new limb.
Also, on the topic of levelling, I'd like to see that mechanic avoided. How does my character immersively attach a number to themselves to indicate how skilled they are?
I want money and experience to be the bosses of the game. An enemy doesn't magically have more health than you because they've lived longer and done more.
They might, however, have better equipment and more focused skills than you. I want the difficulty to be a slow and subtle ramp as you're driven into encountering higher profile characters. Wanting to be a jack of all trades will eventually catch up to you as you find specific skills below the quality of a more specialized character.
Which leads me to encountering characters and completing objectives to advance your position in the game.
I hope that there really is a multitude of ways to solve every problem. My main goal when playing any RPG, is to see how viable it is to avoid killing. I want the option to complete every objective (even ones that require someone to die.) without ever properly getting blood on my hands. I want a character that can change the world and it's people without violence. I want to play an aweful person who walks around with a clean conscience because they've never committed a top-tier heinous crime like murder. They may be unkind, but they feel vindicated; righteous.
Next, I'd like to talk about gameplay elements.
I'd like my character's perspective to be one of a fully modeled and anatomically correct body. I don't want the perspective to be a floating head with arms for ears.
I'd also like to have an immersive way of determining vitals information until an implant is installed to display such information. Maybe before I can afford a cybernetic eye, I have to wear some heads up display glasses that tap into and display my blood pressure and heart rate. I want my vision to darken or become blurry when I get whacked in the head. I want to hear my heartbeat and uncontrollably blink.
And even with an implant, I don't want some unimmersive bar or number telling me how close I am to death, but rather a bar that fluctuates with my blood pressure and heartbeat to show when I'm sustaining blood loss as the pressure drops and the heartbeat slows. I want blood to be the cost of failure in battle.
And, lastly, I'd like to tie the third and fifth paragraphs together by asking that combat be dangerous and frightening. I want to know that I have as much chance of dying in combat as my opponent. I want scenes that thrust me into warfare with multiple foes to terrify me. I want anyone who isn't geared for combat defense to be realistically fragile. Damage should be instantly debilitating without pain suppression and immediate first aid technology. I want melee weapons to recoil when they encounter bone or steel without a military-grade strength implant. And even then, I want the bone to resist severing until it has a surface or force opposing the direction of impact to break against. I want bodies in the open to ragdoll, but someone against a wall to snap and crumple.
So, that's my wall of text on immersion. This is just a sliver of the thoughts I have on the subject and I will add more as they surface in my mind. If you read all of this, thank-you for sticking with it.