Multiplayer/Co-Op & Frictional Games? NO!!!

**Shev** · 12-20-2010, 05:14 AM

People here are going to say no, but most of them are narrow minded people who'd probably make horrible game developers themselves, wanting to stick to the same basic formula over and over again and probably change things less than nintendo did when they re-released the same mario games over and over again.

Honestly, multiplayer could be epic. Heres why

You and your partner might be in a room together, all the sudden a monster starts banging on the door. The room is small so only one person can hide well, while the other person might get a crappy hiding spot and might come close to dying. This creates a dillema putting even more pressure on the people.
Eventually the two of you might split up. Well if you're playing like you should (no communication via steam, would be like the rule with lights off and headphones) this could create some problems. You might be thinking "Did my partner die?" etc, and he might have to do a puzzle on his side so that both of you can progress.
When you do eventually regroup, at first you might not even know its your partner. Hearing footsteps by him can cause your character to freak out and think he's a monster playing the theme it plays when you run into a enemy, until you get a good look at the partner, this whole thing keeps the tention on and creates confusing
Basically, multiplayer can be a good tool to cause fear by using the confusion, conflicts, and lack of important info between the two partners to make the game even more scary.

**Dark88** · 12-20-2010, 05:26 AM

(12-20-2010, 04:57 AM)Adiane Wrote: The idea of a multiplayer puzzle game in the same vein is interesting, but it would be severely out of place in Amnesia. The isolation and loneliness are part of the overall experience. With someone else beside you, and especially with voice chat, it would turn into a completely different game - so why not HAVE it be a completely different game.

Exactly, Amnesia was designed as a single player experience therefore a multiplayer element would kind of kill the idea of Amnesia but I'd definitely be up to play a completely different game that has the gameplay elements that OP is suggesting.

Would it be as scary? Maybe, Maybe not. It's not as fear-breaking as giving the player the ability to fight back but I could see having an ally at your side lessening the fear some. If done right though I could see it being at least a satisfying horror co-op experience.

**Thingamajig** · 12-20-2010, 05:30 AM

(12-20-2010, 05:14 AM)Shev Wrote: People here are going to say no, but most of them are narrow minded people who'd probably make horrible game developers themselves, wanting to stick to the same basic formula over and over again and probably change things less than nintendo did when they re-released the same mario games over and over again.

Honestly, multiplayer could be epic. Heres why

You and your partner might be in a room together, all the sudden a monster starts banging on the door. The room is small so only one person can hide well, while the other person might get a crappy hiding spot and might come close to dying. This creates a dillema putting even more pressure on the people.

Eventually the two of you might split up. Well if you're playing like you should (no communication via steam, would be like the rule with lights off and headphones) this could create some problems. You might be thinking "Did my partner die?" etc, and he might have to do a puzzle on his side so that both of you can progress.

When you do eventually regroup, at first you might not even know its your partner. Hearing footsteps by him can cause your character to freak out and think he's a monster playing the theme it plays when you run into a enemy, until you get a good look at the partner, this whole thing keeps the tention on and creates confusing

Basically, multiplayer can be a good tool to cause fear by using the confusion, conflicts, and lack of important info between the two partners to make the game even more scary.

I have to agree with this.

I can truely see such a game being a really good investment for any developer who successfully pulls it off. Based on what i've experienced with Penumbra/Amnesia i think Frictional could do it.

**Tenacious** · 12-20-2010, 06:29 AM

I think multiplayer would not be a wise decision. Let me start off with the most basic observation: we don't know what Daniel looks like. The only other characters we meet in-game besides the monsters are Agrippa and Alexander, and even they aren't normal. I can only imagine that player models would have to be referenced to Daniel, but because we don't know what he looks like, we can only guess. They would have to use some kind of model for players and I doubt they'll use monster models.

The game simply wasn't designed with multiplayer support. Perhaps they may implement some sort of multiplayer in their next release, but I'm pretty sure they'll leave Amnesia the way it currently is.

**Deu sex** · 12-20-2010, 06:17 PM

I am sorry but a coop in amnesia (or penumbra) is a terribly bad idea.

**Som1Lse** · 12-20-2010, 08:35 PM

@everybody who says it sucks:
No, the idea is good, but it wouldn't work for Penumbra or Amnesia.
If it was to be used it would have to be for a completely new game which was meant to be played this way.

It should also be required to work as if you were actually inside the game so you could only hear the ones that were around you.

This wouldn't decrease scary level if it is implemented correctly, however implementing it correctly is easier said than done.

**Shev** · 12-20-2010, 09:01 PM

(12-20-2010, 08:35 PM)Someone else Wrote: @everybody who says it sucks:
No, the idea is good, but it wouldn't work for Penumbra or Amnesia.
If it was to be used it would have to be for a completely new game which was meant to be played this way.

It should also be required to work as if you were actually inside the game so you could only hear the ones that were around you.

This wouldn't decrease scary level if it is implemented correctly, however implementing it correctly is easier said than done.

This, but its probably going to get ignored when a bunch of closed minded people shoot down the co-op idea without really thinking about it.

If a idea sounds bad, most people lack the ability to think so they just go off whether or not it sounds bad, and shoot it down. It works like that on pretty much every forum.

**Mr.Goodcat** · 12-20-2010, 09:12 PM

The only way I could see this turned into any multi-player is for multi-player games. Like a "Clue" kind of game where someone is told to be the murder and has to kill the rest of the group. While the rest of the group has to find out who is the one killing everyone. The murder wins if he kills all of the group, the player that kills the murder wins but loses points if he kills someone that isn't the murder. Just throwing an idea out but I already know that Frictional isn't going to do it because it is expensive running a lot of servers. Plus they are most likely already working on a new game.

**Spooder Wekd** · 12-21-2010, 04:03 AM

I like the idea as a kind of "after ur done and uve played it 5 times" because the game is soo fun it would be fun to chill with friends in the world. Ever so often seeing a monster. I know it ruins the game, but It would be cool for vets!

**DIGI Byte** · 12-21-2010, 09:15 AM

implementing multiplayer is far more complicated then just "max players increase"

I don't think there would be multiplayer support for a while, setting up networking, let alone online connections is a horrible and ugly thing to code

and really... what can you do with a co-op item finder? I cant think of one idea that would make the game a strong and wonderful game play, the idea of co-op, is you cant save then you would have to have the game based on a 1 shot experience, at best it would be like playing bio-shock multiplayer

its not really worth the trouble

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