It is so easy to forget why we started this Shelter project. As days go by, one gets lost in the intermediacy of it all. Climbing one hill just to see another on the horizon... with no end in sight.
I have a confession to make. I've not replayed Fallout 1 in many years.
Last week, I've read a Fallout walkthrough, and it all came back to me. How Fallout was ambitious not in scope, but in depth. How this depth caused it to remain game that has an active mod community 12 years after release... despite the fact that modding Fallout is not far removed in complexity from brain surgery.
I also remembered that Shelter was born out of necessity... a necessity to preserve something intangible, something that is a sum of many parts, something impossible to explain. Something I only saw in Fallout, that needs to be cultivated. It's not about 50's humor or radiation. It is about preserving and evolving the true concept of a Role-Playing Game - through richness of underlying gameplay mechanics. The richness that allows one to create a world. A world... not a series of levels separated by puzzles, scripted fight sequences and linear NPC quest chains. A world where a red X does not appear when you aim at someone the "storyteller" can't handle you shooting.
In less abstract news, I am reworking Shelter's UI structure, to allow for more flexibility necessary for looting shelves and placing items (such as explosives) on the ground.
By default, dialogue-triggering achievements will be now HIDDEN, so all dialogue will look the same. A perk will be available which will show the affected dialogue options in different colors and the necessary requirements.
Shelter now uses a preliminary base-stat system. This is what a typical initialization looks like for an average person:
EQUIPSLOT[SELF`SLOT_HANDS`Knife]
EQUIPSLOT[SELF`SLOT_HIP`10mm SMG]
EQUIPSLOT[SELF`SLOT_TORSO`Leather Armor]
EQUIP[SELF`10mm JHP]
EQUIP[SELF`Med Pak]
EQUIP[SELF`Med Pak]
EQUIP[SELF`Med Pak]
EQUIP[SELF`Med Pak]
EQUIP[SELF`Med Pak]
SETSTAT[SELF`faction`F_PLAYER]
SETSTAT[SELF`gender`G_MALE]
SETSTAT[SELF`level`5]
SETSTAT[SELF`s_MELEE`100]
SETSTAT[SELF`s_LIGHT WEAPONS`90]
SETSTAT[SELF`s_FIRST AID`70]
SETSTAT[SELF`s_SCIENCE`82]
SETSTAT[SELF`awareness`8]
SETSTAT[SELF`luck`5]
SETSTAT[SELF`intelligence`5]
SETSTAT[SELF`appeal`5]
SETSTAT[SELF`strength`7]
SETSTAT[SELF`endurance`5]
SETSTAT[SELF`dexterity`5]
In Fallout, a person with entirely average, "balanced" stats got the short end of the stick. In Shelter, they will have a special Achievement you earn by being average... one that will open certain doors.
Not literally.
