Cave Dweller mob and Stealth

[Jdbener]

Hello again! This is really turning out to be my favorite forum isn't it... welp I got another suggestion, and this one might be applicable to the game as it is now and not as it will be in five years! But first some context because I wrote it and am now trying to justify not removing it...yesterday I was thinking about stealth in games... what makes stealth good... and how enemies play into stealth. I was also thinking about my favorite moments in Minecraft and a very specific monster the Weeping Angels.

Beginning with stealth there are three things that make stealth experience. First understandable detection... NPC should be able to hear and see (possibly a perception stat to increase how far they can hear and see?). Sight is a cone projecting out from the NPC (perception could increase how far out that cone goes) while hearing range is a sphere that could be projected around the NPC (again possibly made larger by perception). Both cones are blocked by blocks, the exception being blocks tagged as transparent or non-dampening which the sight cone and hearing sphere go through respectively. 

This simple (at least to the player) system could then be projected on the ground in front of NPCs (and other players) while the player is sneaking (if the player them-self has a high enough perception or maybe sneaking skill). Giving skilled stealthies an idea of what they need to avoid. Additionally whenever a sneaking player moves it would cause a small sound, raising a rapidly decreasing counter for every NPC that can hear them. Similarly for vision, if an NPC sees a player it starts building a similar counter (based on distance). 

If either counter gets too high the NPC will become suspicious and set off to search for the source of his suspicion. And in the case of intelligent creatures, won't give up until it finds something. Allowing players who get detected to potentially plant something to offset the NPC's suspicion.

Additionally, there would be some blocks which count as stealth blocks. These would have to be blocks players can enter, and while inside of them sneaking will make that player invisible to any other NPC or player. Allowing stealth players to approach their target location using bushes and other underbrush.

Next is the monster... which for the purposes of this post I'll call a Rock Golem (since the BBC probably wouldn't be thrilled by the idea of Weeping Angels in a commercial product). It would take advantage of sight cones to only move when nothing can see it. But it will move fast, and it will hit hard! Players who can't keep track of it will be in for a very bad time. This would create tense situations where players have to go through an entire encounter facing towards a single creature while trying to deal with whatever else is besetting them from every other side.  

But as with all of my posts, these are just suggestions... possibly half-baked ones at that. Thank you for considering my proposition!

 

 

 

 

[Jdbener]

The stealth skill could show a range in which the player might be detected. As they achieved higher ranks in the skill, the range would get smaller and smaller until the range was simply a line at max level. Adding some mystery to where you will be actually detected, espetially if multiple NPCs have detection zones overlapping one another.

[Saraty]

Wanted to mention that I really like this idea! A simple stone statute who could track and follow a player with slow, but determined approach, would add a lot of unsettling atmosphere in deeper caves.