Secrets puzzles and challenges with a tiny chance of ever being found

RobG · Apr 1, 2015

One of the things that really irritates me about huge in depth games is how quickly they are picked to pieces and every tiny detail of them is known within days of the release on a wiki.

I'm hoping for mysteries that last and keeps the entire player base guessing or an item that's only discovered years after the release because someone was holding a certain book under a certain moon wearing a hat they found after the boat they were in sunk and they harpooned a giant fish which dragged them to a cave with a secret portal to a mages fortress where there is a locked secret library with thousands of books, five of which reference each other and .... you get the idea (I think) something or things that even the most OCD of superfans would take years to discover.

crashingtingler · Apr 1, 2015

also, astronauts.

Tottel · Apr 1, 2015

I totally agree. Except it's not possible because some platforms require a huge document that describes EVERYTHING that you can do in the game. Because of age guidelines, I think.

RobG · Apr 1, 2015

I'm convinced there must be a clever way around that. What about a prerequisite of being struck by lightning? 1000 rings all the same except for one, scattered randomly, quest givers that only appear on a crit d1million roll once in the game, a musical instrument scattered into 20 pieces and only unlocks its secret hidden map draw if a certain tune is played...

Even if something like that was known about it would be really exciting waiting for someone to post proof that it had actually happened don't you think? Bah 'document' my arse is there anything bureaucracy cant kill?

Tottel · Apr 1, 2015

There's a downside to this too, it may not seem obvious, but as a fellow game developer I can definitely tell you it's important:

Every feature takes a LOT of time. I think Madoc can definitely confirm this.

So, if you spend weeks on a single hidden feature (and you want more than 1, you know..), you actually WANT enough people to find it.
Of course, this is a design decision (I love it too when devs hide things really, really well), but for a company with limited resources this is a drain that just isn't justifiable.

Vold · Apr 1, 2015

In Sui Generis, I believe that this won't be an issue, due to the dynamic nature of the game.
For example:
Run A: You discover a secret door that leads to a room that contains a powerful item.
Run B: An NPC discovers the secret door, opens it and takes the item, long before than you find it.
Run C: You are not allowed to enter the place where the secret door is located.
Run D: When you open the secret door, you get ambushed by a band of thugs, die and lose everything.
...
In exanima, it won't be like that though.

TwoPumpWarrior · Apr 1, 2015

I would hope that A and B could still occur. Or maybe the key spawned elsewhere in the level, temporarily making the room inaccessible.

Hemectu · Apr 3, 2015

The cure for this is to obviously not read entire wikis that give you a walkthrough.
The other cure is expansive content released over a given timeline based on existing content development cycles.

As in there is a door with a riddle that can't open.
The key to open the door is in the content release 1 year after game launch.
Be careful there could be a troll on the other side.

Meanwhile 10 pages of discussion emerge on how to open the door.

Hopefully the world itself will be so influenced by the player and AI that a natural variation will take place and secrets and mysteries and unique events will happen, albeit maybe with the help of a little player imagination.

Blodetsprutar · Apr 6, 2015

I hope there wont be wiki entries of everything in the game after a week. I really dig the idea of a collective ignorance of the world, and legends that may or may not be true and only rises to the surface after years of playing and investigation from the community.

RobG · Apr 6, 2015

In Sui Generis, I believe that this won't be an issue, due to the dynamic nature of the game.
For example:
Run A: You discover a secret door that leads to a room that contains a powerful item.
Run B: An NPC discovers the secret door, opens it and takes the item, long before than you find it.
Run C: You are not allowed to enter the place where the secret door is located.
Run D: When you open the secret door, you get ambushed by a band of thugs, die and lose everything

I find this answer really exciting actually, if npc's are moving items around it would be impossible for a wiki to ever be accurate, you would actually waste more time reading a wiki full of arguments as to where 'x' is than actually playing the game. Examina displays this to a degree in that you cant really say 'be careful of this room because there are 3 enemies with swords' or whatever, the way the enemies wander from room to room is one of the great things about the game as it is, seriously if the world is going to be as dynamic as you say here that is fk'in exciting!!

TwoPumpWarrior · Apr 6, 2015

@Blodetsprutar I think the minimalistic way they are presenting story elements will help to delay spoilers on the wiki. However, I would like to see an active wiki with lots of resources at some point, that sort of thing really helps players. With that said, I think the forums will always be a great place for spoiler free discussion and help.