All right, this chapter was inspired by a recent conversation with my good friend OasisSquall (and no, it wasn't about shorts ). I've yet to see a CRPG where you can mug someone for their clothes and sneak in as them. I know this was done in Hitman, but I think that's more of an action game than anything. Personally, I think we need better infiltration methods in games (especially RPGs, my personal favorite ). Most of the time, you just hack, slash, and burn your way through the game. Personally, I enjoy this method, but I often find myself longing for something a bit more interesting. Stealing other people's clothes should be one of them, though I think we should leave the underwear. I'm not too thrilled about making an X rated game! Acting is another one. Pretending to be like someone is more than having his or her clothes (NOTE: I'm having a hard time writing this part, since I keep remembering Jonnyfish's jokes about pants). You also have to act like them. Remember the spy in Commandos ? Besides acting and wearing someone else's pants (sorry, I keep getting back to that), there's also the subject of infiltration and undercover. For instance, you may need to dress like some rich dude to infiltrate a business party, like in Charlie's Angels . See, you do learn interesting things from movies. Anyway, it's getting rather late, and my brain seems to have locked up, so I guess I'll let you guys come up with brilliant ideas of your own. Please wear your own pants though. - DarkMage139 (Neokatana Software) GDT Underground Info Release Date: "When hell freezes over" (a.k.a. A very long time from now) Genre: Action/Adventure Platform: Windows 98 and DirectX 8 Status: [working on the engine] l337ness: TOTALLY l337 Edited by - DarkMage139 on March 30, 2001 3:50:55 AM

I really like that idea. The acting should be pretty easy -- the character just has to avoid doing stuff that looks foolish. For instance, if you''re at a high class party you shouldn''t be running everywhere and searching your hosts house for treasure . (Although that could be a cool challenge -- steal stuff without raising suspicion )

This is just one more step (in the right direction, IMHO) toward making RPGs deeper and more involved.

You have to consider a couple of tough things, though:

As The Senshi just mentioned, you''d really need rules for monitoring the player''s actions in order for them to stay in character. Ever see True Lies? You''d need both a ruleset for appropriate social behavior, and ways that the player could deal with the challenge of impersonation tests (like when Arnie pretends to be looking for the men''s room when he''s clearly in an area that he shouldn''t be in; heh, then to escape the guards he goes and does the Tango )

Also, what happens to the guy you stole clothing from? Do you have to knock him out? What happens if he gets up? What happens if another NPC discovers the dead / unconscious NPC? You want all of this kind of stuff because it''s part of the situation and role, but your rules need to cover it.

I like the skill check method that alot of the RPGs use. Maybe combine that with passwords or dialog tree phrases that you''re supposed to know in order to be able to get into an area.

Heres'' an idea (fresh off the presses): You know how in a lot of games NPCs have schedules? Like "walk to x, hit control lever y, wait z minutes, then go to room A" etc.

Well, what if the player had to be aware of that in general when he stole someone''s identity. This would really apply if he was impersonating someone. He''d want to stay away from people his target knew (they''d be better able to suss him out), somehow handle or defer the target''s duties, and work his way from where the NPC was supposed to be, to where he wanted to be. And if it failed, well then...

"Prisoner transfer from cell block B"
"Who authorized this?"
"Uh, sent from upstairs."
"I''m going to have to check."
"Oh, here''s my authorization, right here--" BLAMM!!!!



--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

Have you ever played FFIII(6j)? In that game, there was one point where you actually did that. It wasn''t a big gameplay mechanism, though. It was more or less part of the story.


-Forcas

"Elvis is alive. He is Barney the purple dinosaur. He is the pied piper that leads our children into the wages of sin and eternal damnation."

Play Fallout 2

At a certain point in time, you need to free your tribe. But in order to do so, you need to get acros the water, and to do that, you need a pass from a high-security base.

Now, you *have* heard that they are bringing in recruits. So, you walk up to a certain guy there, and try to convince him that you are a recruit. He wil lthen give you as password.

You walk up to the gate, and give the guards the password. Next thing, you are standing in from of the Sergeant, and get bossed around... You do get a nice armour, though, but are assigned to guard duty.

Thing is, the guardmaster keeps walking around checking wheter everyone is on his post. You can leave off-course, but when he sees you, you are in trouble... You can also wait for six hours till your shift is over, but that''s boring

Anyway, you manage to sneak away, but then figure out your passkey is in the Commanders room. You cant just walk into there. So, you loose your cute Armor, and pretend to be a normal person there. You talk to a guard, and figure out only the cleaning crew can get in there. Right.

Now, you cant just walk away, and say: "Hi! I''m the cleaning crew!" The usual reply will be: "Yeah, right, first you ask whom may enter, and then suddenly you are one of those?"

No, you have to get out of his sight, wait a while, put on your pwered armor (with helmet), and then say you are the cleaning crew. You can now enter the Commanders rooms. But the Commander is also there. You cant just search his quarters, no... You have to leave to another room, and sneak in through a back door again.....

Another approach is to walk to the guard, and say that you have been issued orders to take key to a ''safe place''. When you are good enough in speech, this might work...

Fighting your way in is *not* advised, since you are out-numbered by people whom are as strong as you are...

Get the idea?

Thief had a situation where you dressed up like one of the trainee guards. It was rather interesting when you spend most of the game hiding from the guards, and suddenly you''re walking amongst them. However, the game is rather linear so you don''t have much choice. It''s not as though you have this skill throughout the game.


Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.
What a plight we who try to make a story-based game have...writers of conventional media have words, we have but binary numbers

I remember in Space Quest III (really old Sierra game) you had to dress up as a janitor and empty the trashcans in everyone''s cubicle (you work your way across the room emptying trashcans, then leave out the other door). The game was mostly a joke though, not a whole lot of roleplaying .

"Finger to spiritual emptiness underlying everything." -- How a C manual referred to a "pointer to void." --Things People Said

http://druidgames.cjb.net/