Magic and its role in "Mechanical and Automated" Blocks

[Toukon]

Get ready for the biggest shit eating wall of text, im sorry but i really want to show what i think will make the game amazing

Hey guys I wanted to create this thread so I could share what I feel this games theme should be in regards to crafting and blocks…

After looking at all the concept art for oort online and getting a feel for the game I am really interested in the opportunities that you guys have in making magic a somewhat core feature in all aspects of the game but not making it feel too generic and keeping it mystical and wonderful…

Obviously right now we all know about the portals and how you need to acquire oort stones to create portals into other worlds, which is really awesome in itself but I would love to see this roll over into the crafting and building side of things.

|ACTUAL IDEA STARTS HERE|

———————-Powering blocks————————————–
Instead of a game like minecraft where all mechanical blocks are powered by “Redstone” which is pretty much just a basic wiring system with some stupid infinite energy torch block which I find incredibly stupid I have two different options that i think will make it allot more interesting, fun and balanced…

OPTION 1
Have a beacon that powers everything around it in a radius that needs some special stone that may or may not be rare (kind of like an oort stone) to power it but the stone degrades over time so lets say every 3 days you have to replenish it with another stone… This will make sure that nothing becomes too automated and boring where the played can just sit back and watch everything happen, but not be a stage where everything has to be managed hourly…
Think pylon from starcraft

OPTION 2
A Magical book that can be found in one of the oort temples library that can be used on certain blocks (mechanical blocks) that creates a rune below them and powers them for a set amount of time (could be a day, week or even month)… too make this more balanced though have different books being able to affect different mechanical block group types.. not all separate books for all the different mechanical blocks but separate them into like: please disregard the shitty magical names
1.Movement(Momentus?) – any block regarding movement of items, blocks or players
2.Damage(Infernus?) – Any block that is used to protect or damage other players and mobs
3.Growth(Plantus?lol) – Anything that has to do with farming
4.Mining(Matus?) – Anything to do with materials and mining and maybe crafting
You could also have some sort of ultra rare book that has all three and enchants them permanently which opens up magical traders that will share the magical powers of this book for money…
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———————Movement Blocks—————————————–
Some simple ones I thought of that you could add to the game include:
-a bouncing block that bounces players and items high in the air
-a magical chest that picks up items you throw on the ground and could also pick up items that you tell it to straight from your inventory when you walk in close proximity of it (useless dirt blocks etc) and can be used as sorting chests
-a block that lets you walk on its surface no matter what the orientation (walking on walls and ceiling)
-enchanted railway tracks for boosting and stopping carts (if they are going to be in the game at some point)

Now onto the advanced stuff, the one thing that I really enjoyed about some popular minecraft mods was the addition of pipes and being able to move items around the world easily but I really hated how they looked and how it didnt fit with the feel of the game at all… so here are my three different propositions for you

OPTION 1
A rod like block that can be linked to another rod anywhere from 1 to 100 blocks away that sets up a connection between the two, there needs to be little or no obstructions between the two rods and if there is it will try to find the smallest path around the obstruction to the other rod but if the path goes over a certain length it won’t work. These will work similarly to pipes, only there not being a pipe just some sort of beam of light between the two… you place items into one beacon and they slowly float over to the other beacon, unlike pipes players can pick up these items as they are floating through the air so you have the potential of someone stealing all your precious loot!

OPTION 2
Have a warp chest (that can also be enchanted to pick up items) that you can put blocks in and have it warp to another chest! also carry a magical backpack that you can put items in that also get teleported to a chest back home! be careful though because there is a 2% chance the item will be lost in the void (I’m an asshole aren’t I?)

OPTION 3
Puppets! little enchanted puppets that will carry items, they can be made with little backpacks to hold different items and you will have little beacons (puppet houses maybe) that they can be rallied to go to from anywhere!
—————————————————————————–

——————–Damage Blocks——————————————–
In here can be all your generic damaging blocks…
-Damaging floor block disguised as any material you want
-a fake block that you fall through disguised as any material you want
etc….

FUN ONES
-An enchanted pedestal that you can place any weapon on and it makes that weapon a guard… put a bow ontop of the pedestal and the pedestal will fire mobs even at far distances… put a sword on it and it can fight mobs up close by itself.. the damage and stats depend on what weapon you place on it.. place whatever weapon you have crafted and see how it goes by itself!
-Little puppets that can be enchanted and follow you around that will fight mobs… they aren’t too strong but in numbers they can become a dangerous bunch!
—————————————————————————–

——————-Growth Blocks———————————————
There are really two core concepts i think you could play with here.. not too sure how the would fully work, maybe someone can help me flesh it out a bit but here was what i was thinking… either..

OPTION 1
Have little puppets that do tasks for you, this will be interesting if the magical puppet theme is throughout the the “mechanical block” side of things… have them planting, watering, collecting.. that kind of thing… could be pretty cool and will make for some cool little ecosystems that are somewhat self sufficient…

OPTION 2
Have Growth beacons (maybe even enchanted saplings) that will do a certain task in an area around them… plant, water or collect materials..
—————————————————————————–

——————Mining Blocks———————————————-
Now this one im not sure about… I really don’t know if I like having some sort of automated mining system… but if we do maybe just have enchanted floating pickaxe mobs that follows behind you and you can tell it to seek out and mine certain ores or stuff, but you have to be within like 4 blocks of it… or you can right click on blocks from a distance and it will go close and mine it for you… If not that maybe just like puppets!!! (you really like puppets don’t you)
—————————————————————————–

So thats the main premise of the ideas I had to make this game special, hopefully anyone that read through it all understand my concept and thinks it is also a good idea!

• This topic was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Toukon.

[Toukon]

TL:DR

Make Mechanical and Automated blocks based around ancient Oort magic technology

[Thorbjorn]

I really like the idea of little golems running around doing the work 🙂

[Toukon]

So I wrote that at midnight when I was very tired so I quickly wanted to add a few things to clear some stuff up!

I think mechanical blocks can still be a very mechanical and not magical way of doing this.. gears that turn, pistons that move etc…

With the pistons and gears and such they should be manual use (go up and activate the button on the piston or turn the gear) but when you come into the fully automatic side of things there needs to be a better explanation for it being powered that isnt a block that you just place on the ground that powers EVERYTHING that you connect to it.. there needs to be some sort of lore behind it and a reasonable explanation on how it works.

That’s why I chose magic to be that “unlimited” power source because I think it sits nicely into Oort online and its backstory of a mystical lost race of explorers

[Master_Chill]

Personally, I kinda like the small robots being used for added protection. Set them up at my walls, tell ‘m to hold and they’ll form a perimeter around my house/castle/town whatever. But to power ‘m with magic is something I’m not really for. I’d rather see them powered by something more solid. A special sort of material to be found deep underground perhaps that expires over time.

They can carry extra items whilst I’m mining, other ones can guard me and follow me around and that sort of stuff.. Yes, I’m all game for that. But don’t solve it with a cheap way by infusing them with magic. Make it so that they can be build from the ground up or something with a special sort of rock as base material/energy source.

And if you really want/must have magic to infuse it into them, it should be at least done with a skilltree where infusing the small golems is the last part of that particular science. This way, it’s more satisfying to the player when you have a small golem running around. It’ll also prevent the world from over-occupying it with multiple golems.

A last added note on this topic; if they’re build to be non-permanent, please let it be a system that allows the player to check up on it everytime he/she desires. I don’t like my droid/golem to power down whilst I’m in the middle of a fight or something.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Master_Chill.

[Toukon]

I do understand 100% on what you are talking about masterchill… what you suggest makes allot of sense!

My suggestions for the actual block mechanics where just something to give you the idea of how you could put magic into the game… and things that i thought would be interesting

I am really only proposing that instead of having something that resembles electrical energy (redstone) they should consider making it have a more “magical” energy… all the actual mechanical blocks could be 100% logical mechanical devices (which I actually prefer) where the only thing that magic has that comes into it is powering them… just think of the magic (or magic stones) as batteries…

[Kuma]

I really like your ideas. And I see no conflict in both of your opinions. I mean even if you build the golems/puppets with a certain material which gives them their live/power, you’d still have the magic in this material. I would say the idea with mechanical things powered by magic is a perfect combination of this mostly opposing ways to approach a certain problem.

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