optional perma-death mode?

good idea? bad idea?

i'm thinking in terms of fpsrpg's (and maybe shooters?) but any game type is open for discussion.

they could save at any time, but it would only load your last game, and would not load if you died.

you could add a "gallery of fallen heros" that showed all the player characters who had died in optional perma-death mode.

maybe even make it so you could toggle it on and off mid-game - in case you had a particularly tough bit to get through. or just make it optional, but "always on" if they play in that mode.

There is quite a thrill with very harsh death consequences, I think it certainly can add to a game when you are in trouble and know just how much you stand to lose. It can be irritating too though and I think it has less of a place in more of a linear story driven game but I think it could work. I am struggling to think of games where I have chosen to play in the perma-death mode (where they offer it) but I've played plenty of games where perma-death is always on and they are enjoyable.

With an FPS RPG I think as long as it's roaming it could work well. Would be nothing worse than having to repeat the same thing many times over especially if it takes a while to get to that point.

maybe even make it so you could toggle it on and off mid-game - in case you had a particularly tough bit to get through. .

I think that defeats the purpose of perma-death.

so "always on" perma-death as an option eh? guess if you could turn it off, it wouldn't really be permanent would it? <g>.

as Nanoha, I don't mind games that have permadeath but whenever there's the option to have it or not, I never turn it on

>> Turning on and off permadeath during play is a pretty crazy idea, crazy enough that it might just work. I think it'd need an incentive to it, though

how about:

you can choose perma-death mode at new game start. you can toggle it on/off at any time during that game. when its off, you don't earn any experience from combat. no risk? no reward!

>> So I think the question should be "why not implement it?" :)

yes, implementation is not very hard. and it does add more gameplay modes, and expand the title's appeal. i wonder why more folks haven't thought of it yet.

guess i'd better put it on the todo list for caveman!