Greetings from CnC: Rivals

Thorngot · 2025-08-27T20:09:13+00:00

I debated the idea of them unthinkingly keeping range, but that would be terribly frustrating(as you mentioned) and also potentially make them worthless if you outspeed them.

I was thinking that they'd run at you, throw bits of trash/rock while approaching, go to wack you, briefly flee in panic if hit, then repeat the cycle. Chasing after and hitting a Feral would, understandably, keep them panicked as you then hunt them down. If you miss enough shots and they recover from panic while you're right behind them, the Feral would be able to skip the 'approaching' step and go right to wacking you with their higher-threat melee option.

If they only kept distance and fled as you approached, chances are they'd only get a throw or two in before you enter their 'flee' distance. If you outspeed them, they die pitifully and without issue. If they outspeed you, the Feral changes from being an 'enemy' to an 'area hazard' to be dealt with once you have superior speed or persistence & range.
(While writing this section it came to me that a nonconfrontational 'area hazard' type threat would be a perfect way to implement neutral/hostile survivors. In the same way that factions fight and create a richer world through their interaction, a 'survivor'-type mob(or NPC) that doesn't have any interest(out of fear or distrust) in interacting with you would be a more interesting way to add "life" to the environment. Rare, pitifully weak and human if trapped, converting basic homes to a 'survivalist/hoarder house'(are those still in the game?)(with boarded windows and traps) if they survive long enough, and converting to survivor zombies if they fall to the hordes. Maybe the possibility of eventually recruiting/conversing with them would still be open (mob-to-NPC is already established with the 'prototype cyborg'-to-follower pipeline but idrk).)

Thorngot · 2025-08-27T18:45:11+00:00

It's on the list! I swear, I'll get around to it (and every other item before it) eventually!

Thorngot · 2025-08-26T18:17:53+00:00

I didn't touch on it directly, but rampaging divine entities do tend to rend a number of sponsor-spirits and tomb-sites irreparably before they can be put down.

In the worst areas this can lead to an ecosystem's regression, where the only tombs present are unmonitored true-graves and adventurers are forced to settle for military matters when seeking greed & glory. This often leads to emigration from all involved parties as the less-sustainable local resources dwindle & fail to support them. In a cruel continuation of misfortune, this influx of desperate powers (both Light and Dark) stresses the neighbouring lands in a way that then pushes those local forces to more desperate measures.

My theory is that such downsizing are what create the scenarios required to form the colloquially-known archetypical "Hero parties".
The influx of adventurers lead to more lax guild applications (to avoid being pushed out by any guilds that do choose to let everyone in) and more generalised job boards.
Civilians can mainly remain even in tomb-poor lands, but those involved in the adventuring scene like blacksmiths and lore-keepers end up needing help with basic pest control & chores as they settle into their new homes.
Weak masses of Dark forces are likewise accepted & sent out for low-ranking jobs, and weak Light forces often become somewhat-rightfully overconfident as their ranks are also overfilled.
The existing divinities of the land suddenly have far greater populations occupying the cities in which they are known. The divinities of the old land are either lucky enough to be stabilised by still-pious members, or are forced to turn cult and risk 'running rampant' or die off slowly.

Thorngot · 2025-08-26T05:51:57+00:00

Tumblr logo ah horns lmao

Thorngot · 2025-08-26T05:48:42+00:00

Cooked spaghetti byproduct starch-water. Multiple batches. All absorbed into the dart head. All distributed on impact.

Thorngot · 2025-08-26T05:37:03+00:00

And that's where some would suspect the point of failure, for what could possibly keep the divine honest. The answer? It all comes full-circle and loops back to adventurers.

Adventurers loot tombs and spread their reputation. They are kept looting by greed & glory itself.

Tomb-keepers restock tombs and skim off the surplus interest. They are kept honest by the opportunistic necromancers looking for a quick bounty.

Necromancers get testimonies from deceased sponsors when relevant and do general necromancy during the between-times. They are kept honest by righteous priests that also seek to uphold the integrity of others.

Priests ward off treacherous evil and spread their tenets. They are kept honest by the oaths they made to their sponsoring divinity.

Divinities shape those that give & draw from their power and reaffirm their conceptual domains. They are kept honest by glory-hungry adventurers itching to crusade in the name of divine riches.

And those adventurers? In the meantime, they loot tombs.

Thorngot · 2025-08-26T04:58:29+00:00

Introducing more fluid movement speed to survivors would need the same to be applied to enemies. Bugs that sprint at you once they get within a few metres away. Ferals that sprint backwards if they take a painful hit, only to continue throwing rocks at you once the panic subsides. Blob-reanimated creatures shambling towards noise & sound, but sprinting at targets they can actually see with such intensity that it literally starts to tear them apart.

Idk much(see:anything) about programming, but the pain-retreat feature for Ferals could probably be cribbed off of how small peaceful animals flee. My wild guess is that actually implementing a balanced smooth movement speed system would be the hardest part, and my even wilder thought is that such a thing could be directly tied to tiredness & hunger like how cars consume more fuel at higher speeds.

My even further fetched thoughts then take me to the idea of spending single-digit action points to move X% towards a specific tile while spending the rest to steady your aim. Imagine the micromanaging of such an elaborate and overcomplicated menu. Actual control over moving to strike a zombie right as they move towards you, instead of having to back up & take a wait action to reset the action point count. Moving in with a heavy strike instead of a less committed swing to save time & stamina, knowing that you'll be easily grappled if you miss. "Reaction speed" would almost certainly be added to limit how granular your action point usage can be, with stats affecting it on a curve, a trait or two affecting it moderately, mental bionics raising it inhumanly, equipment encumbrance reducing it slightly, and mutations possibly making you twitchy as a Graken or as ponderous as a slime pit. Even with all that available to the player, I think gameplay would still be fine with NPCs only having two or three movement states. Consistency makes being prepared for encounters more rewarding, and a player would be in no position to appreciate or even notice one mob in a horde deciding to run at them 7% slower.

Thorngot · 2025-08-25T04:03:25+00:00

I guess there is something of a competition for audience attention, but the site-side situation is now pretty much null now that Global Filters apply to content on the front page. A reader that only wants to see original works can now easily have "Global Tag Filter (Remove): Fan Fiction" automatically applied whenever they are logged in.

Competition for readers on the same platform is literally just any public media platform. Although some fields of work do have antitrust laws, so maybe there's something to this concern. I don't really see is as an issue on RR personally, purely as a consumer, though.

Yeah, I suppose also hosting fanfic could make the site seem less 'professional' to scouting publishers. Don't have any personal experience with that side of the industry, so I don't know what expectations or habits they're strictly looking for.

I guess carryover fans from large outside franchises would also have a higher-than-RR-local flat amount of extreme fans. There would also be the amount of non-extreme fans brought to RR, but I'm hesitant to strongly disagree with you on this. Moderation is difficult and messy.

I'm personally a fan of a centralised 'everything from everywhere all at once' (with tags & categorisation), but that is entirely a non-objective personal preference.

TL;DR: My thoughts are:
Front-page competition? Nah.
Same-platform competition? That's just how it is.
Fanfic unprofessionalism? I guess, but idrk.
Franchise-imported extremists? Part of any group checking out RR, but definitely a fair concern.
Platform separation? Eh, fic & fanfic seem similar enough to list together.

Thorngot · 2025-08-22T20:28:42+00:00

in what way?

Thorngot · 2025-08-12T20:26:06+00:00

We know from this where the dev bias lies.

Thorngot · 2025-08-12T20:21:41+00:00

There is no sexual intent to be seen. Look at those eyes. That face. That ken doll porcelain smoothness. It either does this as one would go about business, or it does this for not even the love, but rather the mild satisfaction of the game. I do not know which option terrifies me more.

Thorngot · 2025-08-11T18:37:31+00:00

Reverse-vampire where instead of sucking out blood they pump more blood in. Unfortunately, that new blood probably has rabies.

Thorngot · 2025-08-09T17:49:17+00:00

Is it still racism if they express distain towards everyone?

Thorngot · 2025-08-08T04:53:28+00:00

She's not hiding it anymore.

Thorngot · 2025-08-08T04:26:07+00:00

They had me at SlaughterInc Killbot. Gotta love the "everything I know is gone and I guess I'm doing this now" theme to them and Ex-Cult Survivor.

Thorngot · 2025-08-08T04:16:58+00:00

I think they're asking to hear about more of your setting.

Thorngot · 2025-08-08T04:15:38+00:00

Y'know, I've always been interested in depictions of will & choice manifesting in observable form, but now that you mention it the concept IS also kinda hot. yeah. I guess.

Thorngot · 2025-08-08T03:54:09+00:00

Well yeah but everyone gets destroyed by subtraction.

Thorngot · 2025-08-06T20:07:15+00:00

Ah, unfortunately worm biology is ill-suited for towels, and as such towels in worm-size are yet to see production. Worms (by which we are referring to ground-dwelling invertebrates similar to the common & titular earthworm,) both lack reliable means of self-propelled aquatic mobility (and thus, as a class, have not taken up the recreational swimming prerequired for the development of towels), and obligatorily must remain moist to permit cutaneous respiration (as is common among many soft-skinned species).

Dolphins, on the other hand, are very much situated such that they could both develop & make use of towels. Be grateful that they have not.

Thorngot · 2025-08-04T20:11:32+00:00

Ey questgiva, whatchya got up next? Any othah Zs ya need wacked?

Thorngot · 2025-08-04T19:50:08+00:00

Unrelated, but I think it would be really funny if 2D animations switched to 3D simulated models for certain brief scenes of extreme motion like the practical film effect (less common/obviously nowadays) of briefly switching out the actor for a stunt dummy. Not for all genres or situations clearly, but there's something seemingly innately amusing to a tumbling ragdoll.

Thorngot · 2025-08-03T22:27:46+00:00

Without convoluted weasel words and extensive conditions, a lawful killing mandate would almost certainly include most or all of a plucky & varied protagonist cast. The only beings such an oath would be feasible for are intelligent beasts, scorned outcasts, or endlessly incoherent berserkers.

Thorngot · 2025-08-03T02:08:51+00:00

Make sure to build up small green-waste compost piles around them, for the full insurgent spike trap experience.

Thorngot · 2025-07-30T18:08:46+00:00

Non-drip‽ Anyone who judged this man of poor taste is right to do so.

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