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Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 12:18 pm
by Khrome
Dungeons are massive in Daggerfall, at least usually they are. It gives them a certain charm: There's not many games which let you get truly lost. Forget to set a recall (if you even have it) and you could be really stuck!

That said, i wonder if certain abilities could make dungeoneering less arduous.

1) A spell called 'Find Escape' (Mysticism), which when cast opens the map, and shows a path to the exit you can follow. It doesn't have to be the quickest one, just the fastest one the algorithm can find.

2) A spell called 'Mark Path', which opens the map and shows all the areas you've already explored, highlighting areas you have not been to yet. This is probably a much more difficult effect to implement, i don't really know how you'd define boundaries and prevent secret passages from becoming too blindingly obvious (unless that would be a reason to use it).

3) A skill called 'Tracking', which does something similar to 'Mark Path' and 'Find Escape', for non-magic users. When opening the map it always shows where you've been and how to get to the exit. How this one would work? I have no idea.

4) This one might be a bit obvious: The ability to make notes on a dungeon map! Or the ability to color discovered floors with a basic brush, with 3 or 4 colors, so you can play out whipping out a map and doing everything yourself :)

I think the above may make dungeon delving a little more interesting for those who choose to do it, and give some more nuanced alternatives to 'just use Recall' .

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 1:43 pm
by Al-Khwarizmi
Nice ideas!
Khrome wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 12:18 pm 1) A spell called 'Find Escape' (Mysticism), which when cast opens the map, and shows a path to the exit you can follow. It doesn't have to be the quickest one, just the fastest one the algorithm can find.
This would be cool. But instead of showing the path on the map, why not show it in the dungeon itself? It could be shown as a line of arcane lights guiding you to the exit (something similar to what is done on planes, but more magical). I think this would be more immersive than showing the path on the map.
Khrome wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 12:18 pm 3) A skill called 'Tracking', which does something similar to 'Mark Path' and 'Find Escape', for non-magic users. When opening the map it always shows where you've been and how to get to the exit. How this one would work? I have no idea.
Maybe it could have an associated keystroke and show messages like "You think you have to walk north to go back to the exit". If your skill is not enough, you could get a message about not remembering where the exit is, or even get contradictory messages.
Khrome wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 12:18 pm 4) This one might be a bit obvious: The ability to make notes on a dungeon map! Or the ability to color discovered floors with a basic brush, with 3 or 4 colors, so you can play out whipping out a map and doing everything yourself :)
Notes on the map were in classic, and I think they are planned in DFU.

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 2:57 pm
by BansheeXYZ
I don't understand what you mean by "forgetting to set an anchor". Once you set an anchor in town or near the exit, you've got a teleport to a fast travel area for the rest of the game. The anchor doesn't get wiped, only overridden. Do people really set anchors deep inside dungeons? Because that's the only situation you're going to potentially screw yourself into backtracking out.

The only real problems a mod could address is that (a) non-magical characters can't recall and (b) you only get one anchor.

A proper mod to eliminate backtracking would be to buff the teleport spell with the ability to set multiple anchors. The player can then select the anchor from a list the way modern games have established with "waypoints". A mod could also address (a) by making the dungeon map fast-travellable, just letting characters click segments they've already explored and poofing them there.

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 3:47 pm
by Al-Khwarizmi
Not the OP, but personally I think these are nice ideas because they can improve immersion, especially for characters that (for any reason, like role-playing) don't want to rely on magic too much. Not because I ever had problems with forgetting anchors.

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 5:40 pm
by jayhova
I think a lot of these concerns/suggestions could be taken care of by better map control. While the map is good as is it needs better ways to control the features that exist. For instance it's not very easy to fade out levels below completely and give levels above a color that is transparent or the reverse. The controls that are available do not have a UI. Having advanced map controls (possibly on a popup panel) that would allow you to change the view on the map would be great. IMHO there should be at least three overlays: above me, below me and not (recently) explored. The map should also allow notes to be made.

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sat May 11, 2019 6:36 am
by TheHourMan
I think something like the Clairvoyance spell in Skyrim would be easier to implement

Re: Dungeon nagivation: New spells/skills

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 3:53 pm
by Hazelnut
You may be interested in checking out the locator devices I implemented in the Archaeologists mod. See the thread in the completed mods forum. (note: mod is usable but not completely finished, I plan to add more)