I talk about how random encounters worked in Arcanum, which used a very different system than the one in Fallout, which I described in this video: • Fallout Random Encounters
I remember playing the demo of Arcanum and, usually the demo would automatically end once you crossed the bridge to leave the starting town. However, I found that by north overland I could follow the river, go around the gap between the river source and the mountains and escape into the wider world map. There wasn't anything out there obviously but it was funny walking to Tarant and there not being a city there. I'm going to have to record that some day.
Brave topic to bring up given how nearly universal the criticism re arcanum encounters is. Namely a lack of encounter variety, and fair number of encounters that would near insta wipe non-combat focused builds (looking at you kangaroo wererats). It sounds like all the tools were there to control the encounters well, game just needed another pass or two from an enemy design team.
Love to hear thoughts on the modding community regarding their Fallout support. In particular towards drawing back the latest Fallouts towards the earlier conceptions for that universe. I've greatly enjoyed your insights and introspectives, can't believe I'm only just discovering this channel. Anyways, all the best. And keep up the great content sir.
A question that comes up is - were herbs a part of encounter system, or just terrain generation system? I mean that when you travel on a world map and stop at random (without an encounter triggered - just stop on your own volition), you can sometimes find herbs that you can use in crafting. I had walked a fair distance of overland "manually", without a world map, and never encountered any herbs placed on the ground, whereas repeatedly travelling and stopping on the world map would result in herbs spawning often, and always being within 1 screen distance of my character. Always. Which prompts me to believe that the herbs get spawned in around the player character when the player stops travelling. Either way, thank you for putting that functionality in - I *love* it when playing as a character with access to Herbology. Virtually unlimited healing and a good source of money :D
@KubinWielki, that is a good question. I looked in the code and could not find where herbs were created, so I think they were generated by scripts. So there must be a bug where sectors brought in by proximity did not run that script, while sectors entered via the world map did.
Thank you! Were those encounters "truly random" or were they repeating themselves before all possible encounter types have been observed? 😁😁😁 I jest of course, that randomness video on wildstar always gives me the chuckles when i think about it.. Thank you so much for this great insight on how these were handled in Arcanum! This game is such a fascinating piece of tech!!!
It's a good system, if a bit unpolished. For example, NPC prototypes couldn't have any skills attached (the TXT files governing the generation of these prototypes simply didn't support adding skills). In the case of monsters, this was fixed by the monster/undead/etc flags giving the critter free points (and even training) in Melee. But this only worked for Melee and only for monsters, so the regular human NPCs sill had 0 in each skill, including the Molochean Hand assassins and Orcish barbarians, hence them missing so much in the non-modded game. This was eventually fixed in the unofficial patch by just hex editing their prototypes to add the necessary skills (Melee, Dodge, Bow, Firearms etc) manually.
One small bit that I loved that showed early on the consequences of the PC's actions was selling the story of the zeppelin crash to the Tarant newspaper. You could haggle to 800 coins which is a lot early game (especially considering all the new traders you now have access to in Tarant) but then in the Molochean Hand encounters you could not persuade your way without a fight. And some of those fights could be really tough for a
I remember in our earliest playthroughs with my sister we could never beat Lukan, so we had to pay the toll to travel to Tarant. We were arriving there with no money and we discovered this option... That was getting us killed later in bars and in random encounters.
I love hearing about how the gears (haha) work behind the scenes of Arcanum, one of my favourite games of all time. I think even now the intricacies of its world and systems can capture your imagination. I first finished the game with an all-rounder who ended up a backstab specialist (OP) but I've had a lot of fun with technologists and most recently min-maxing a half-elf throwing/magick-user.
"Or even [sleep in] a dungeon" But Tim! I can't sleep in *any* dungeons in Arcanum! Not even if I find a bed in them. It was my main complaint in my replay earlier this year :)
I cant make a random encounter of any npcs (for example dwarf bandits with guns) becauase they are not hostile when you encounter them (and if i use the bounty hunter from bates then if do two of them rather than just the 1 man then the second is not hostile).
You should be able to add a script to your dwarves that run on their heartbeat that makes them hostile. And then the script removes itself, so it isn't doing that every tick.
Hey I just watched your Gay Game Dev video and I was wondering if in your next FAQ if you'd talk about if there was any other fights like in your Carbine studio. That was really interesting.
Hey, Tim! :D Always glad to see your videos. I'd like to know from your POV what has changed in game development from the days of Fallout and Arcanum to your most recent games! Of course the tech side of things change all the time, but in regards to the actual game, what did change and what do people do differently today? I'm guessing _a lot_ has changed, but did it really?
I know that's not what you said, but thinking that a second tie-breaker will never be triggered immediately made me think about "famous last words before a segfault" :D
Hi! Been really enjoying your videos for the past month, it’s a real treasure mine of knowledge and insight. Been wondering if you’ve tried the Pathfinder games and, if you did, what are your thoughts on them.
Can you give an in detail video on working in some original concept games like tryanny and pillars. Id like to hear more about what it was like being a programmer and if you got to work closely in other ways
Is there any chance that NightDive could talk to ATVI (or MSGS if the acquisition happens) to get permission for a remaster of Arcanum? It's practically the only good RPG left that hasn't gotten a remaster or even a remake. It deserves one even more than the BG/IWD/PS:T crowd imo
Have you watched any recent speed runs of your games? Would you ever do a watch along on stream of a speed run and go through your opinions of what’s happening?
Seeing as the ActiBlizz deal is likely going through reaching out to Phil Spencer about Arcanum's source code could be a slight possibility for this to actually happen.
@@yrtti7732 no publisher will even look at the idea of patching a 20+ year old game... yes there are very few cases but they are absolutely the exception
Yay! You can talk to me about Arcanum anytime.
I remember playing the demo of Arcanum and, usually the demo would automatically end once you crossed the bridge to leave the starting town. However, I found that by north overland I could follow the river, go around the gap between the river source and the mountains and escape into the wider world map. There wasn't anything out there obviously but it was funny walking to Tarant and there not being a city there.
I'm going to have to record that some day.
Jaaa I did the same!
Brave topic to bring up given how nearly universal the criticism re arcanum encounters is. Namely a lack of encounter variety, and fair number of encounters that would near insta wipe non-combat focused builds (looking at you kangaroo wererats). It sounds like all the tools were there to control the encounters well, game just needed another pass or two from an enemy design team.
Always neat seeing how games work "under the hood" as it were.
Be neat to have you do how encounters worked for all the games you've made.
Love to hear thoughts on the modding community regarding their Fallout support. In particular towards drawing back the latest Fallouts towards the earlier conceptions for that universe.
I've greatly enjoyed your insights and introspectives, can't believe I'm only just discovering this channel.
Anyways, all the best. And keep up the great content sir.
A question that comes up is - were herbs a part of encounter system, or just terrain generation system? I mean that when you travel on a world map and stop at random (without an encounter triggered - just stop on your own volition), you can sometimes find herbs that you can use in crafting.
I had walked a fair distance of overland "manually", without a world map, and never encountered any herbs placed on the ground, whereas repeatedly travelling and stopping on the world map would result in herbs spawning often, and always being within 1 screen distance of my character. Always. Which prompts me to believe that the herbs get spawned in around the player character when the player stops travelling.
Either way, thank you for putting that functionality in - I *love* it when playing as a character with access to Herbology. Virtually unlimited healing and a good source of money :D
@KubinWielki, that is a good question. I looked in the code and could not find where herbs were created, so I think they were generated by scripts. So there must be a bug where sectors brought in by proximity did not run that script, while sectors entered via the world map did.
@@CainOnGames Ah, that's fair. Well, bugged scripts or not, as I said - I absolutely love the fact that the herb generation is in the game at all :D
Its funny, games are kind of moving away from random encounters. Underrail and Age of Decadence don't have any, they populate literally everything.
Thank you! Were those encounters "truly random" or were they repeating themselves before all possible encounter types have been observed? 😁😁😁
I jest of course, that randomness video on wildstar always gives me the chuckles when i think about it.. Thank you so much for this great insight on how these were handled in Arcanum! This game is such a fascinating piece of tech!!!
I loved farming molochean hands armors for money!
And now I understand why I got attacked by a wolf while waiting for Arbalah to unlock his door. Thanks!
It's a good system, if a bit unpolished. For example, NPC prototypes couldn't have any skills attached (the TXT files governing the generation of these prototypes simply didn't support adding skills). In the case of monsters, this was fixed by the monster/undead/etc flags giving the critter free points (and even training) in Melee. But this only worked for Melee and only for monsters, so the regular human NPCs sill had 0 in each skill, including the Molochean Hand assassins and Orcish barbarians, hence them missing so much in the non-modded game. This was eventually fixed in the unofficial patch by just hex editing their prototypes to add the necessary skills (Melee, Dodge, Bow, Firearms etc) manually.
One small bit that I loved that showed early on the consequences of the PC's actions was selling the story of the zeppelin crash to the Tarant newspaper. You could haggle to 800 coins which is a lot early game (especially considering all the new traders you now have access to in Tarant) but then in the Molochean Hand encounters you could not persuade your way without a fight. And some of those fights could be really tough for a
I remember in our earliest playthroughs with my sister we could never beat Lukan, so we had to pay the toll to travel to Tarant. We were arriving there with no money and we discovered this option... That was getting us killed later in bars and in random encounters.
And I still did it every time lol
@@jayjasespud well of course... we have the power of the mystical quicksave button :>
@@jayjasespud total mistake, you wanna give it to the dude in caladon who made the planes.
@@ishill85 but that is for the camera, not the zeppelin crash story.
Youre the only youtuber i watch every day , keep doing your stories ! Also wanna say thank you for fallout and everything youve done for it
I love hearing about how the gears (haha) work behind the scenes of Arcanum, one of my favourite games of all time.
I think even now the intricacies of its world and systems can capture your imagination. I first finished the game with an all-rounder who ended up a backstab specialist (OP) but I've had a lot of fun with technologists and most recently min-maxing a half-elf throwing/magick-user.
Thank you, I'm starting this Sunday with some extra motivation :D
i had no clue that there was a mechanic for giving you different encounters when you slept in the wild! that's very smart. great video!
What crazy attention to detail - amazing!
"Or even [sleep in] a dungeon"
But Tim! I can't sleep in *any* dungeons in Arcanum! Not even if I find a bed in them. It was my main complaint in my replay earlier this year :)
I am sitting right now looking at the random encounters in Arcanum in the module arcanum rules wm map file and then i see this video.
I cant make a random encounter of any npcs (for example dwarf bandits with guns) becauase they are not hostile when you encounter them (and if i use the bounty hunter from bates then if do two of them rather than just the 1 man then the second is not hostile).
You should be able to add a script to your dwarves that run on their heartbeat that makes them hostile. And then the script removes itself, so it isn't doing that every tick.
@@CainOnGames thanks for the answer
Love these kinds of videos, more please, more programming videos please.
I love you so much Sir. Thanks for all.
Listenning to this as I grind them
I love these videos
Hey I just watched your Gay Game Dev video and I was wondering if in your next FAQ if you'd talk about if there was any other fights like in your Carbine studio. That was really interesting.
Hey, Tim! :D Always glad to see your videos.
I'd like to know from your POV what has changed in game development from the days of Fallout and Arcanum to your most recent games! Of course the tech side of things change all the time, but in regards to the actual game, what did change and what do people do differently today? I'm guessing _a lot_ has changed, but did it really?
Thanks for sharing your wisdom :)
6:38 smaller circle meaning "a more specific override"
I know that's not what you said, but thinking that a second tie-breaker will never be triggered immediately made me think about "famous last words before a segfault" :D
Hi! Been really enjoying your videos for the past month, it’s a real treasure mine of knowledge and insight. Been wondering if you’ve tried the Pathfinder games and, if you did, what are your thoughts on them.
Can you give an in detail video on working in some original concept games like tryanny and pillars. Id like to hear more about what it was like being a programmer and if you got to work closely in other ways
Love the trek shirt :)
Thanks. A friend at Cryptic Studios gave it to me!
I had no idea they could be triggered when not fast traveling, that might explain encounters I had that I thought were bugs.
Assassins of The Hand.
So what I am hearing is it's better to sleep in the wilderness for grinding purposes, and to hell with an inn or wandering around on the map.
Thanks for vid! Do you remember how you guys come up with half ogr island? It was one of the greatest game experience for me and many others.
Pretty cool
Would be awesome to get your thoughts on baldur’s gate 3
Hi Tim, it's us, everyone :)
hey tim can you do a video on group dynamics and how to handle artists who just wont work or don't put up to standard
You could probably make a cool text based game in c64 BASIC
We may not be able to get a new Arcanum game, but by golly if I don't enjoy all this new Arcanum content.
Clockwork Revolution might be closest we will ever get.
Is there any chance that NightDive could talk to ATVI (or MSGS if the acquisition happens) to get permission for a remaster of Arcanum? It's practically the only good RPG left that hasn't gotten a remaster or even a remake. It deserves one even more than the BG/IWD/PS:T crowd imo
Have you watched any recent speed runs of your games? Would you ever do a watch along on stream of a speed run and go through your opinions of what’s happening?
How do you QA something like this? Could you run the encounter engine with some inputs for some form of quick unit tests?
it may not be in theme but you're still going with nerdy shirts, are those hawaiian Orions? I can see a Gorn too
Cool shirt.
I wish you would make an Arcanum patch or a mod that would improve the experience on modern machines. There is Drog's UAP patch but it's not ideal.
I was thinking more along the lines of a module, maybe even Journey to the Center of Arcanum!
Seeing as the ActiBlizz deal is likely going through reaching out to Phil Spencer about Arcanum's source code could be a slight possibility for this to actually happen.
@@yrtti7732 no publisher will even look at the idea of patching a 20+ year old game... yes there are very few cases but they are absolutely the exception
How playable is it today? Is it improved by mods?
Oh my gosh, your shirt is gorgeously ugly, where can I get something like this?
Arcanum's random encounters were so boring.
Fallout's were great on the other hand. Perfect mix of variety, procedural generation and handmade stuff.