[Vince]

I'm going to need some kind of AI routine for civilians fleeing when attacked or scared so I'm thinking it could apply to fleeing enemies as well.

We have that.

[ThreeStone]

Why is everyone always bringing up the Great Old Ones anyway?  Tell you what:  Shub-Niggurath is not going to be 3D modeled, full stop.  He's not going to be chasing you.  There will be no turn-based chasing.  Any encounters with entities of that magnitude will be text-based with paintings or slides depicting the horror.  There won't be any hatchet-attack option simply because your character will be under such intense mental strain that lifting that hatchet just won't be a priority.

Sweet.

I always thought this was one area where real time first person attempts at horror break down. Something may look big and scary but as Vince so eloquently pointed out if you have a gun you can probably shoot its weak point for massive damage. The shoggoth chase in Call of Cthulhu was very underwhelming for me because even though I knew something was big and scary was coming after me I was foxued on engaging in very mundane climbing/jumping/running to get away from it. Instead of being awed by this monstrous intrusion into reality I was focused on not missing the next jumping puzzle.

[Scott]

Instead of being awed by this monstrous intrusion into reality I was focused on not missing the next JUMPING PUZZLE!!

AIIIEEEEE!!!!  If there's one thing in a computer game which instantly invokes such horror that my flesh feels like it's going to get up and run away without me, it is the jumping puzzle.

[peakperformance]

Why is everyone always bringing up the Great Old Ones anyway?  Tell you what:  Shub-Niggurath is not going to be 3D modeled, full stop.  He's not going to be chasing you.  There will be no turn-based chasing.  Any encounters with entities of that magnitude will be text-based with paintings or slides depicting the horror.  There won't be any hatchet-attack option simply because your character will be under such intense mental strain that lifting that hatchet just won't be a priority.

Wow I was just about to ask if you had considered something like that for special meetings with ... erm ... creatures of the kind. It sounds wonderful and yet again makes me believe you have the ideas and talents to make a project like this work

I don't think I've said it so far, so here it comes: Best of luck to you and your co-developers!

[Ted]

No jumping puzzles? Meh, I'll play it anyway

I'm going to need some kind of AI routine for civilians fleeing when attacked or scared so I'm thinking it could apply to fleeing enemies as well.  I don't think it's much fun chasing someone down

Exactly! I always think of what happened in ToEE when you turned undead and they went fleeing - even on small random encounter maps it was a PITA to chase them, and in the Temple, they could end up dragging half the denizens into combat before you caught up with them! Definitely needs a smarter approach than that (though I dare say it will get one here )

[Ellorien]

I HOPE there won't be any jumping puzzles. Or lever puzzles. And certainly no maze puzzles. Right? Right?

[MaximB]

But would you have felt the same way if the story had simply continued on a different course (see the discussion of the same topic in the sanity and Mythos points thread)?

IF the story would continue in a different direction after the quest has failed it would be much better.
But what I really don't like in Fallout's 1 time quest is that after you finish it the game would end.
This leaving you a limited time to explore the world.
So in most ceases I'm against time based quests.
But there are some ceases like minor quests say for example - bring a cure to the king within a week, if you fail to bring it to him and he dies then his son will be the rules for better or worse OR the people will upraise.

There is other issue however, that most if not all quests if solved the "right" way gives you bonuses and prizes , but none thought of rewarding you if you fail the quest, like in my example - if you fail to bring the cure to the king then a better king  would come, or even your close in game friend could be the king which is far better then actually solving the quest the "right" way.
In most games you won't get rewarded of being "evil".
I remember playing some NWN1 mod (forgot it's name) , I have tried to be evil - and all people turn their backs on my and I wasn't rewarded in any way.
In the real word evil bastards do get rewards for their deeds.
 

[Scott]

I HOPE there won't be any jumping puzzles. Or lever puzzles. And certainly no maze puzzles. Right? Right?

Was my sarcasm too subtle?  Did I mention that lockpicking will be handled with a PuzzleQuest type mini-game, with little Cthulhu-head tiles and tombstone gems?

[Sleet]

Why is everyone always bringing up the Great Old Ones anyway?  Tell you what:  Shub-Niggurath is not going to be 3D modeled, full stop.  He's not going to be chasing you.  There will be no turn-based chasing.  Any encounters with entities of that magnitude will be text-based with paintings or slides depicting the horror.  There won't be any hatchet-attack option simply because your character will be under such intense mental strain that lifting that hatchet just won't be a priority.

Very good to hear from a game perspective! I would have been disappointed and leery of buying this game, if there ever was a chance to take on entities like that. The priority should be either run away, or start worshiping the Great Old One - sanity dribbling out your ears as you grovel.

Great picture too by the way. 

[renkin]

AIIIEEEEE!!!!  If there's one thing in a computer game which instantly invokes such horror that my flesh feels like it's going to get up and run away without me, it is the jumping puzzle.

Maybe you just suck at jumping puzzles?

[Gilliatt]

Don't forget about the possibility of surrender though.

That is an interesting option as long as it's not limited to the cliché where the weak and timorous evil guy, who's used to have his jobs made by someone else, surrenders once you put his bodyguards down.

I trust you, I'm sure you have thought of more interesting situations! 

[Hector]

Frankly, I reckon the PC should always have the option of surrender.  Whether it'll work or not is another matter .

[Scott]

I agree!  I mean, surrender to human opponents at least.  And give up one entire turn to attempt to surrender, so that if you fail you're one round closer to the Dirt Nap.

[ThreeStone]

I loved the fact that your could surrender to the Lieutenant in Fallout and receive a 'bad' ending. Bonus non-optimal endings por favor.

[caster]

Lets hope in this case surrender wont lead to any kind of ending but just into other options and different outcomes and relations to individual NPCs or any sort of organizations, cults and so on, depending on the situation.

Lets not forget the surrender of the enemies to you and what interesting and numerous outcomes that can have.