COMMUNITY - FORUMS - SOULBORN ENGINE
Online scripts?

We're all familiar with the principles of online players, and offline player scripts, as well as NPCs, but my question is this:

Will it be possible to "toggle on" a player script, and sit back and watch for a bit, interrupting it when you want to? This brings us into a who new realm of active / casual gaming. If you need to afk a min or start cooking, you could "flick the script on", head back and take over when you're free etc.

EDIT: Also means that people relying on "tells" for offline players, if there are any, might be in for a disappointment if players are chilling, watching TV next to their PCs.

EDIT: I'm not anticipating any in game advantage from using such scripts. In effect you'll be "offline" but watching :)


4/4/2017 10:02:38 AM #1

I think it should be made accessible, people will do it anyway so why restrict it to hackers if its already a game function? It will also cause some entertainment. Some snot attacks your script performing "OPC" and you then surprisingly chop him to bits, what's not to love about that?


4/4/2017 10:11:00 AM #2

It would be good to have to see if script is actually working as intended, let's say you make a script to gather mushrooms but make a mistake and now your character is trying to eat all poisonous berries he sees, this way you can see what your character does and tweak any mistakes you made.

4/4/2017 10:28:55 AM #3

Currently they haven't discussed that as a possibility.

and I hope it doesn't become one.

4/4/2017 10:41:49 AM #4

Actually they have, in fact Caspian has previously said that he "somewhat encourages what people consider botting" which can sound bad, but he's trying to say that he wants to see people get creative and communal with scripting. As the scripts evolve, the game feels less ... "botty" and "NPC infested" and more natural.

Even if you have a fraction of the population using scripts, the world is still very much alive and ever evolving.

As far as I know, the answer is yes. If you can activate scripts while offline, then the only difference between activating a script while online and offline is exactly that... whether you're offline or not. It would be almost pointless to deny scripts to online players if all they need to do to 'start up' the script is click log out. Besides people have asked this before and Caspian's answers, in context, were that he can't wait to see what people create.

It would be nice and extremely refreshing to be able to set your character to mundane tasks like picking your crops or chopping mass trees whilst you get ready for work or do some course work because it makes them feel ALIVE.


4/4/2017 10:52:53 AM #5

I think to get a feel for how appropriate this would be, we need more insight into what OPC scripts are actually going to enable.

My first instinct though, is that I would like something like this. Anyone who has played an MMO on a Sunday knows that it is easier to just step away from the computer to make some lunch, and as someone said, sometimes it is good to just relax and only be half playing the game. If my character can be casually doing some stuff when my attention isn't focused, rather than just standing there drooling, I think it would make it better for me and any players around my character.


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4/4/2017 10:55:47 AM #6

I really hope this is the case that we get some kind of "pause" button that activates your OPC. I know that you can just log off, but it would be nice to have an option for when you'll be AFK for a minute, or want to look up something on the wiki.


Shieldwall Strong!

4/4/2017 11:12:13 AM #7

Posted By CommonlyQuixotic at 12:55 PM - Tue Apr 04 2017

I really hope this is the case that we get some kind of "pause" button that activates your OPC. I know that you can just log off, but it would be nice to have an option for when you'll be AFK for a minute, or want to look up something on the wiki.

If for nothing else, at least so that he can defend himself while you step away from the PC, or alt tab.


4/4/2017 11:33:52 AM #8

As long as you gain no skills or stats from this online scripting and are limited to what an opc could do.

I'd also say there should be a delay in activation and a cool down. Like 30 seconds to turn on and it's not usable again for 15 mins if you interrupted your scripting.


4/4/2017 11:50:45 AM #9

Posted By Kaynadin at 07:33 AM - Tue Apr 04 2017

As long as you gain no skills or stats from this online scripting and are limited to what an opc could do.

I'd also say there should be a delay in activation and a cool down. Like 30 seconds to turn on and it's not usable again for 15 mins if you interrupted your scripting.

I agree that you should be limited to what an OPC could do, but why a cool down? The whole point of OPC's is for characters to always be active in the world. If they have to stare into space for thirty seconds any time you turn it on, or 15 minutes if your cat steps on your keyboard or something that seems like it would be detrimental to OPC shopkeepers in particular.

SP is already an incentive to be online playing, we know you don't earn SP (or by extension level you skills or earn achievements), when you are offline, why add annoying penalties as well?


Shieldwall Strong!

4/4/2017 11:55:11 AM #10

Maybe a delay in taking the character back over again then. Like you turn on opc mode instantly, but if you want control back it's a 60 second delay. I wouldn't want to see any situations where quick toggling back and forth between modes presents and advantage is all.


4/4/2017 12:04:20 PM #11

Posted By Kaynadin at 07:55 AM - Tue Apr 04 2017

Maybe a delay in taking the character back over again then. Like you turn on opc mode instantly, but if you want control back it's a 60 second delay. I wouldn't want to see any situations where quick toggling back and forth between modes presents and advantage is all.

I agree it shouldn't present an in-game advantage to have your character in offline mode. I think this is unlikely, since NPC's will be scripted to act like PC's as much as possible (have needs and personalities, can't automatically find their way home, etc), but will have a more limited set of actions they can perform. The whole point of them is to have characters remain in the world, and give players a chance to skip some of the simple, boring parts of play (sleeping for instance). If it can be used to provide out-of-game advantages like being able to make a cup of tea while your character follows a friend you are playing with, I don't think that will take away from the play experience, and will be a useful game feature.


Shieldwall Strong!

4/4/2017 1:48:20 PM #12

Posted By Kaynadin at 2:33 PM - Tue Apr 04 2017

As long as you gain no skills or stats from this online scripting and are limited to what an opc could do.

If you start reading a book in OPC mode you will gain some skills, I don't see a reason why you should not get that with script in online mode. But most complex tasks such as crafting a sword will not be available in offline or online mode because it requires player interaction in form of mini games. Or let's say you have a script that makes your character cut trees, and cutting trees requires small mini-game, by using script game should make it so you can still do that but at slower/slowest rate than if you would commit yourself to doing it yourself and doing mini game.

4/4/2017 2:33:33 PM #13

They have stated that while scripting you can not gain experience which is great. I would love to see Online Scripting with a timer interrupt so you can see how your script actually functions however it will not function continuously with out player inputs. This will prevent online botting yet you can use the same script when you log out and feel confident it will work as intended. Just my thoughts on the subject since not much has been released covering the topic.


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4/4/2017 2:53:09 PM #14

In my opinion bots just make the world feel more alive. If you came across a man that was just standing in the road and came across him in that exact spot 10 minutes later irl it would just feel like that person needs help lol. it just breaks emmersion for me seeing afk players standing about all day.


4/4/2017 4:38:23 PM #15

Posted By CommonlyQuixotic at 06:50 AM - Tue Apr 04 2017

Posted By Kaynadin at 07:33 AM - Tue Apr 04 2017

>> SP is already an incentive to be online playing, we know you don't earn SP (or by extension level you skills or earn achievements), when you are offline, why add annoying penalties as well?

This brings up an interesting topic for online scripting. If you are online and are scripting should you still gain SP? I could then theoretically leave my game running 24/7 and gain maximum SP while at work/sleeping and not actually be "playing" the game (the main point of SP). This would then mean a lot more people earning free sparks faster than the financing model could be based on.

I would be for online scripting if you couldn't gain skills or SP while doing it, much like OPC scripting.