Some mods do one thing, and do it well. Scriptor Magicae was kinda meant to be that, but there are so many ideas within that framework that, in the end, it does a lot.
And when you do a lot of things, it can be hard to keep things feeling consistent. Balance, vibes, and user accessibility are things I think about when I'm working on Scriptor. Which makes changing things hard.
Let's talk about some changes in 2.0.
Identify Scrolls
These were always a stopgap measure, but that doesn't mean it's any easier to remove them.
Ideally, I would love to have Scriptor obscure every mechanic and make people dig for anything. But if I did that, people wouldn't even play with it long enough to see the interesting stuff. So, when words don't always have obvious purposes, what am I supposed to do? Just tell players what they mean?
The Identify Scroll says "yes". And that's why I removed it.
Taking out Identification did two main things:
- it made a lot of the flavor text I'd written obsolete
- it made obscure words like reagents and conditions harder to figure out
And, since I said I'd love to leave these obscure, I decided to bite the bullet and just take out the Scrolls. Let players figure it out! It's fun to experiment!
But that doesn't mean I'm not dropping hints. So how can I direct players without giving it away?
My two solutions were Author Themes and Scraps.
Scraps are easy, they do pretty much what Identify Scrolls used to, but for single words from a limited pool. If you can't figure out a condition or something, chances are you'll eventually discover the word for it on a scrap of paper. That solves that!
But the more fun one, in my opinion, is the idea of Author Themes.
The default Spellbooks in Scriptor now come from a handful of in-lore authors that each have their own "styles". This means that they draw from a consistent set of conditions and reagents that they prefer, and usually write spells that perform particular types of actions.
And so, if I name some of the spells from an author in a way that gives away the "trick", then I can trust players to draw associations and figure out the rest.
I hope.
Engravings
Engravings are another rough one.
Specifically, copying down words from them. I've tried to make sure the contrast is a bit better in this version, but that doesn't mean they're always easy to read. And what about folks with dyslexia? I want them to be able to play with the mod.
Well, I actually implemented a solution for the latter, why not fudge it a bit to work for engravings?
The Scriptionary (and Writing Desk) were designed so even if you couldn't read the words correctly, players can still write accurate, functional spells. Now, if you use it on an Engraving or Chalk circle, it'll be recorded into the book.
Now, the hard part is letting players know that's a function. It's in the Nominomist's Guide, but getting people to actually read it is a whole other matter...
Observations
I want Scriptor to feel like something that's in the world, not just on it. In previous versions, the main source of spells were tomes and scraps.
Well, they still are.
But Minecraft has magic! What's a way to make that work with Scriptor?
Players cast through chat, why shouldn't mobs?
And so, the Observations section of the Scriptionary was born. It solves that same problem from earlier of not wanting to make players walk a tightrope transcribing words from chat.
When you bump into a mob casting a spell, you'll write it in your Scriptionary automatically, even if you don't have one. Piece of cake!
True Names
True names are something I've been trying to make work in Scriptor for a long time, and I still don't know how.
Part of the design ethos of Scriptor Magicae is that I want the mod to be "droppable in" to any pack. I love classic-style kitchen sinks, and I don't want Scriptor's inclusion to force players to specifically engage with it. Giving players the ability to target you with a spell from anywhere feels bad, and if you have to engage with Scriptor to counteract it, that feels like it defeats that.
"Just give it a range like the Lectern with a Casting Crystal"
Well, that removes the main utility I wanted to introduce, which was the ability for nominomists to design spells that apply to them from anywhere. Mix it with a high cost to allow for things like chalk circles players can trigger remotely, or lecterns with reagents to power you up for a bit. Those sound soooo cool, I want to make them work.
Alas, not yet.
Might make it into an addon mod, like I did for
Mana Mode
Mana Mode is not balanced.
Scriptor Magicae was not designed with a traditional mana system in mind, and I don't want to change that.
But, I get why you'd want it. It's fun!
So, put it in an addon, that way it doesn't mess with the balance but is still there for players who want it.
Conclusion
game design is hard