In a player vs player game, how can we design traps that one player can set for another?
Would a straight forward implementation work? E.g. an invisible landmine that explodes when another player steps on it.
Feels like there would be a lot of griefing. And if there is a way to detect the mine, the game becomes a tedious repetition of walk, scan for mines, walk etc.
Are there successful examples of pvp traps in other games?
Designing Traps for Player vs Player?
Couple of ideas:
-Placing takes time. If someone sees you placing a trap, he can defuse it and steal your explosives/whatever. (he would need to walk near the trap and use some a bit time taking action to find it)
-Traps wear off or become easier to detect over time. In a dense forest nobody will notice your pit of doom and will walk into it, but somewhere else wind/rain/whatever might move the camouflaging away and people can detect it, or it might not work when they trigger it.
-If someone falls in a trap with other friendlies around, they can help him if he got stuck and treat him. If its someone sneaking to your secret cave base, the trap works, but if its 5 meters from the global spawn some unlucky player just needs to wait a minute to be treated and can continue (and you cant even make a trap in places like that due to the first "-")
-Traps require some resources so you wont be placing them in stupid places where theyre useless when you can put them in places like forest and to protect your stuff where theyre actually useful.
-Placing takes time. If someone sees you placing a trap, he can defuse it and steal your explosives/whatever. (he would need to walk near the trap and use some a bit time taking action to find it)
-Traps wear off or become easier to detect over time. In a dense forest nobody will notice your pit of doom and will walk into it, but somewhere else wind/rain/whatever might move the camouflaging away and people can detect it, or it might not work when they trigger it.
-If someone falls in a trap with other friendlies around, they can help him if he got stuck and treat him. If its someone sneaking to your secret cave base, the trap works, but if its 5 meters from the global spawn some unlucky player just needs to wait a minute to be treated and can continue (and you cant even make a trap in places like that due to the first "-")
-Traps require some resources so you wont be placing them in stupid places where theyre useless when you can put them in places like forest and to protect your stuff where theyre actually useful.
Author
Couple of ideas:
-Placing takes time. If someone sees you placing a trap, he can defuse it and steal your explosives/whatever. (he would need to walk near the trap and use some a bit time taking action to find it)
-Traps wear off or become easier to detect over time. In a dense forest nobody will notice your pit of doom and will walk into it, but somewhere else wind/rain/whatever might move the camouflaging away and people can detect it, or it might not work when they trigger it.
-If someone falls in a trap with other friendlies around, they can help him if he got stuck and treat him. If its someone sneaking to your secret cave base, the trap works, but if its 5 meters from the global spawn some unlucky player just needs to wait a minute to be treated and can continue (and you cant even make a trap in places like that due to the first "-")
-Traps require some resources so you wont be placing them in stupid places where theyre useless when you can put them in places like forest and to protect your stuff where theyre actually useful.
Sorry, forgot to say that I am assuming there isn't any friendly. Either 1v1 or free for all.
These are good points. But traps still feel random. Is it possible to design them in such a way that players can only nail each other with traps if they are used skillfully?
In the mmo Dofus, the class Sram is able to place traps in both pvp and cooperative. In the past it was a problem that traps were not visible in cooperative; allies would accidentally set them off a lot and as a result Srams were under pressure from other players not to build their characters to specialize in traps. I'm not sure if they fixed that since the last time I played the game. Traps worked fine in pvp though.
You could add a trap crafting mechanic, where players are provided with basic ingredients (wood, barbed wire, springs, nails, rope etc...).
Players could then construct traps from component parts, maybe in a different window (a la Minecraft). When they are finished, they could be compiled into a placable unit that players can trigger in whatever way the designer intends. Alternatively, the traps could be built from components live in the game. In this case, physics engines really open up the potential for things like this.
Players could then construct traps from component parts, maybe in a different window (a la Minecraft). When they are finished, they could be compiled into a placable unit that players can trigger in whatever way the designer intends. Alternatively, the traps could be built from components live in the game. In this case, physics engines really open up the potential for things like this.
Author
What I meant was that traps feel arbitrary in their use:
1. You set them up.
2. Players step on them get trapped.
I suppose it takes "skill" to place the trap in the correct place. But there is no way for a skillful player to avoid getting snared.
1. You set them up.
2. Players step on them get trapped.
I suppose it takes "skill" to place the trap in the correct place. But there is no way for a skillful player to avoid getting snared.
Author
In this case, physics engines really open up the potential for things like this.
I suppose 3D engines allow for more "skill" since if that Terminator Salvation trap is in the game, good players might be able to recognize it and avoid or take precautions. Or we could have something cool like pointing a shotgun at a door and tying a string from its trigger to the door. Smart players will peer through the window and spot it.
Hmmm...I guess I can do the same without a 3D engine....with some creativity....
You could just make traps easy to detect, so the player has to go and sitract them and lead them to the trap (go shoot them and throw granades so they run to the direction you want and dont pay attention to traps)
You could also make traps expensive and the maps big, so placing traps randomly is useless as very rarely people will fall in them and the enemies will have used that time for something useful.
Also you could make automatic traps fail, so the enemy can see the triggering thing, and it might not trigger at the right time and the enemy survives. So you would need to watch the trap and trigger it at the right moment.
You could also make traps expensive and the maps big, so placing traps randomly is useless as very rarely people will fall in them and the enemies will have used that time for something useful.
Also you could make automatic traps fail, so the enemy can see the triggering thing, and it might not trigger at the right time and the enemy survives. So you would need to watch the trap and trigger it at the right moment.
In Ultima Online, in their faction system you could place traps that required a lot of resources and affected other factions. It required a tinker, and the opposing factions could use a tinker to "disarm" the trap and it gave them most of the resources used in making the trap, so they had some value to both sides.
The traps were invisible, but if you ran on the tile you were hit, if you remembered which tile you could go back and try to disarm it. Traps were active until they were disarmed, and the player who placed it was rewarded each time it killed someone. So if you killed a few people with it, it paid for the cost of the trap, but if someone disarmed it sooner, you lost a lot of resources.
Obviously you wouldn't require a tinker character, but if you made traps take value to place, and be disarmable(with a wait) and then usable by the other side it could get interesting.
The traps were invisible, but if you ran on the tile you were hit, if you remembered which tile you could go back and try to disarm it. Traps were active until they were disarmed, and the player who placed it was rewarded each time it killed someone. So if you killed a few people with it, it paid for the cost of the trap, but if someone disarmed it sooner, you lost a lot of resources.
Obviously you wouldn't require a tinker character, but if you made traps take value to place, and be disarmable(with a wait) and then usable by the other side it could get interesting.
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