Physical System

Hello all,

This post is intended to describe the physical/health system that I think would be applicable to some degree in just about every idea we have proposed so far.  I emailed everyone a document with this info in it, but I felt that having it here would be more useful.  Games have a general tendency to use flat numbers to measure physical statistics like health and damage.  My thought is that character design would be more fun if it was measured more like how we measure these stats in the real world.  I’m hoping this system will be intuitive, allowing a satisfying degree of customization without a need for menu management.  

 The system as I conceive of it so far
-          Takes a user generated height and weight and sets three stats: Strength, Agility, Endurance. 
        -  Although user generated values could be fun, these could start with default values as well
-          Higher height and weight values will correlate to higher strength values, lower values will correlate to higher agility values.  This allows for a degree of initial customization to suit particular play styles.  It would be ideal if the player character’s size could be scaled based on these values, but this is not a necessity.  Instead of utilizing a traditional level system, characters would improve gradually through the use of skills, more like a person does through training. 
        -  For most of the ideas described so far, Size and Weight will be more variable and have more literal implications: heavier characters will be more affected by gravity, smaller characters will be able to go to places bigger ones wont, etc.  
-          Total strength is measured in kg, and could possibly be divided into arm/leg strength if more complexity is needed.  Strength measures ability to move objects, carry weight, deal melee damage, and absorb ranged weapon recoil.  As players take actions that require strength, their strength increases gradually at a rate with diminishing returns. 
        - Games set in space will allow these numbers to get satisfyingly large because gravity will act essentially as a strength multiplier.  
-          Total agility is a measurement of speed, probably in km/h.  This could also possibly be divided into hand/foot agility if that layer of complexity is needed.  Agility measures movement speed, movement abilities(like jumping or stealthing), weapon accuracy, and reloading speed.  As players take actions that require agility, their agility increases gradually at a rate with diminishing returns. 
        - Space helps strength, but probably diminishes agility somewhat (for gameplay balance anyway)  creating scenarios where the interaction between these stats is more varied could be interesting, in places where your ability to move is better than your ability to move things players will have to use different strategies than in the opposite case.
-          Endurance would describe the pulse and pressure of an EKG; characters have a standing pulse and pressure which increases when they take action, up to a threshold, and it would decrease when the character is bleeding.   These changes simulate the effects of blood loss and adrenaline rush.  The standing values are determined at start based on height and weight, the min and max thresholds are based on the character’s base strength and agility.  This means that endurance cannot be manipulated directly, only by improving other stats.
        - In Venkatesh's post, I described how oxygen intake could interact with the EKG, with its pulse and pressure levels equating to a variable rate of oxygen consumption.  In the "nuts and bolts" idea, however, the EKG doesn't make much sense if the player character is a robot.  

      I removed my descriptions for the dialogue system. Dialogue systems usually have a "tacked on" effect to most other types of games; I don't think it interested anyone enough to want to focus our design around it (completely understandable) so adding it to the ideas we have already would more than likely detract from them.   However, these physical systems are going to play some sort of role in anything that we design, and I think this model is both relatable and original.  Let me know what you guys think.