In this devlog I'd like to ruminate for a little bit on why I'm including a lute-playing minigame, a card-playing minigame, and puzzle chests.

As I continue to map out features and try building different sections, I've recently spent some time thinking about minigames. I've completed a significant redesign of the Inn in Aeramor and minigames came to mind. So far, I'm planning for taverns and inns to include two minigames, with another minigame scattered around the gameworld.

"Why minigames?"

I'm not the biggest fan of minigames. The amount of times I've tried to pick a lock in Skyrim have led to a feeling of utter disdain whenever a game includes a lockpicking mechanism. No matter how "fun" it is. Guess that's just a personal bugbear I've developed. I go out of my way to install mods to either skip or modify these puzzle-games, like the chemical matching game in Spider-Man, or the "hacking" game in Cyberpunk 2077.

"Uhhh... again, so, why minigames?"

Then I looked at games I really enjoy playing and at how minigames have been incorporated. I never understood Gwent, couldn't be bothered, but I understand lots of people went crazy for it. A card game I did really enjoy was Pazaak in Knights of the Old Republic. Simple, fun, but with collectable cards and the right mixture of strategy and luck. Plus, it would be fun to code. So looking at the inn, you can see the lady in the bottom right waiting to engage with the player in a friendly game of close-to-Pazaak. It'll be optional, like Gwent, but will allow you to make some money, get some collector cards, etc.

"Is that it, then?"

The game that inspires me most of the time for Fhaloness is the amazing Betrayal at Krondor. One thing I really enjoyed? Trying to make some money playing a lute!

As "Performing" is a skill from the OpenQuest RPG system I'm using for significant parts of the game, it was very easy to add a lute-playing component to your tavern-and-inn-visits. So that's exactly what I've done. Similar to BaK, it would help to get your hands on a practice lute, of course! In the meantime, you can try your luck at making money as an untrained musician. Who knows... you may get lucky!

"That's not all you're lifting from BaK, is it?"

Correct.

It's not much to look at yet, but another minigame that was incredibly popular in BaK days were the puzzle chests. Random riddles and rhymes were scattered across the lands on enemy supply chests. Whilst the in-game logic was perhaps a bit odd, the fact that it was written in Moredhel language and required either a Moredhel-speaking party member (hi Gorath) or the use of a spell was quite a nifty addition. Regardless, I'm working on my lore to fit something similar into Fhaloness. Love some good puzzles!

(Hail. The answer to the puzzle above is Hail.)

Will that be it?

I think so. Feature creep must be managed! And these little minigames are relatively simple to code, but add a nice bit of variety to the gameworld, in my opinion. I look forward to showcasing these in more detail once I'm further along with things!