Random ideas

[ClericMaster]

Bobbin!? I thought this was RUSTY'S advenchure?

[Da_Duke2000]

It sure is.

And on that note. Bobbin, who?

[ClericMaster]

In the last comment, you said that BOBBIN will have to fight a monster before Chaos.

[Da_Duke2000]

I said no such thing!

(or, I found the typo and corrected it and am now trying to save face) Either or.

Not a noble thing to do, for a "duke". Edit by Abisso

[ClericMaster]

A while back someone mentioned about Rusty meeting the Ghost of Bishop Mandible. That would be awsome because Rusty would blame everything he lost because of him. His home, possibly Bobbin, who may or may not be his best friend, his father, etc.

Btw, Rusty could possibly think Bobbin was dead at first before dicovering he's alive.

[Da_Duke2000]

If Bishop Mandible is to make a cameo, I think he would be seen as Chaos last called him. As a Slave, in ghostly shackles, perhaps with an empty void look on his face (as if he is an empty vessel, soulless).

Bobbin will make himself evidently alive to Rusty at a certain point in the game. Keep in mind that Bobbin was an important part of the Loom Story, but he may not be a vital role in Rustys story. Afterall, the Weavers are hard at work repairing the Pattern from the Outside.

[Africa]

Although the idea of self-sacrifice to save the universe has been cliche ever since Jesus did it, keep in mind that the entire reason things are going downhill in the game universe is because of Bobbin's existence. That grey thread threw off the pattern, remember? Just some food for thought.

And I'm hoping there will be "fights" or confrontations that are solved by trickery rather than force, as in the first game. Bobbin beat the dragon by putting it to sleep and making its lair flammable. He got away from the shepherds by using illusion. And so forth.

I like the idea of having a Monkey-Island-swordfight kind of system, although without all the "grinding" required (yeah, I know, it wasn't really grinding but you know what I mean - it wouldn't be well-suited to the Loom feel). Also on that note, the first thing I thought of was the climax of King's Quest V where you had to learn these four spells and then use them to duel the evil wizard. Without just handing the player exactly what they need that way, I'd like it if there were something like that. Again, similar to what happens at the end of Loom as well.

[Da_Duke2000]

Bobbins existence certainly was a catalyst, with the coming of the Third Shadow. Its not something that will completely need addressing until perhaps even the Fold.

We do intend to incorporate more than the Loom style of puzzles though. Perhaps not exactly like the KQ or MI series, but some fun things we hope.

[Sarioya]

This idea might be a bit too complex for a Loom title.  I don't remember seeing anybody suggesting something like this either, so here goes.  What if each Spark is linked to a certain element, material, or attribute so that a schematic is drawn, the target is influenced by it in some way?  Say there's somebody that wants a sword made out of/with X material/attribute/element.  You'd select the appropriate Spark from the gauntlets, then perform the schematic appropriate on the object, like imbue or infuse or increase or something like that.  I'm probably explaining this terribly.  It is 3:00 in the morning and I've been sipping(and I do mean sipping.  I'm only on my third glass) sangria all day.  Still, I feel like the gauntlets should serve some purpose other than showing you how many Sparks you have, which is all it does from what I gathered from the demo.

[abisso]

I'm really interested in what you're saying, Sarioya, and moreover, anyone who tastes wine in any of its forms has to be taken into great consideration. Please try to develop your idea further, as soon as you can.

[Da_Duke2000]

Actually,its funny you mention this usage of the Sparks.

In prelim development, I tried long and hard to assign each Spark with an attribute much as you described. I had hoped to use the 8 properties of Metal, or something similar. It proved a challange to compress all of the gameplay with only 8 potential interactions. In the early stages the player would only have 3-4 options, I felt there would be insufficient diversity. Unless, there were multiple schematics on a central Theme based on the Spark.

Ex; Conductivity Spark, yields Heat/Cool/Temper/Magnetism schematics. 4 different ones.

But then we run the risk of spitting hairs, classifications. I would still love to hear more thoough. So, like Abisso, please organize your thoughts and be in touch!

[Sarioya]

Alright.  I got everything typed up in a(somewhat) neat little text file.  In the interest of keeping this post short, I'm posting the .txt file as an attachment.  Hurray for design document classes coming in handy!

If you feel that something needs more clarification or anything, feel free to let me know.

[Unai]

Hello!

I know I'm new here, but I'm jumping right into the action.

Even if I like the sparks idea it seems a bit too complicated... The grid itself its much more versatile than the distaff, and with 8 gems I think it gets way too complex.

Maybe it could be 2 sets of four gems, repeated in both gauntlets, maybe classic ¿elements? You know earth, water, air and fire. This elements are somehow linked to blacksmiths, earth would be the iron and/or the ore, water is used to cool down metal after tempering, air/wind is used to fuel the forge, and fire... well, fire is the forge

My idea would be that you can only activate one gem in each gauntlet. So at first, since you only have gems in one of them you only can cast single-element spells, either water, earth, fire or air related.

Once you get the 5th gem (maybe water) you can combine them, so now you can make:
water-water, water-earth, water-fire and water-air.

Now that I think of it... This doesn't add much, since the missing grid bridges already limit spell creation :S Well... maybe my approach gets your juices flowing...

About the starting with a singlet gauntlet suggestion that was made... I also think this could be interesting, maybe the Professor got the other Gauntlet and he's analyzing it, so he can explain how they work the moment Rusty finds him

[Da_Duke2000]

@Sarioya
Thank you for your text ideas Sarioya, they were most welcome. I've also recieved your PM, I'm emailing a reply shortly.

@Unai
The premise the Gauntlets, is that each Spark contributes a certain certain bridges on the Grid. Without all 8, the grid is incomplete. The bridges each Spark adds is not uniform or symmetrical either, so there may be times when a Schematic is learned two chapters early, or, heaven forbid, if the player looses any random spark the Schematic possibilities are altered.

We've tinkered with elemental, metaphysical, magical, and all sorts of other properties too. I'd like to think the actual theology behind the gauntlets is cemented. But its always exciting to hear creative theories.

[Arjak]

I just listened to the Audio Drama for Loom for the first time on YouTube (my copy didn't come with it), and it made me realize...

When we get to the voice acting phase, we should do something similar for Forge!

We could have all the actors from the game do their roles for the drama, and release it as an MP3 (or something similar) with the game. I would love to hear the backstory of the Guild of Blacksmiths and Rusty that can't be fit into the game. It would also be a good place to learn the full history of the gauntlets, as well as getting people up to speed on the story so far without padding out the introduction in the game itself.

The Audio Drama for Loom is probably one of the greatest feelies ever, and doing it for Forge would provide some nice continuity between games!