Well, not literally a grue, but currently, all Spawned enemies seek out and assault your positions in some way or another. Some seek your heroes out directly, some want to destroy your modules, some go straight for your dust generator.



What if some didn't hunt you down immediately, but instead remained in dark areas, hunting for any hero that dared trespass, and would instead flee if an area is lit up? You could make these fairly rare, and more powerful than normal enemies, such that if a player should see one, they would want to send out an extermination team to hunt it down. You could also make them band together resulting in a fairly harder fight, or near impossible one should you let them build up for too long.



Remember, the more dark rooms there are, the more places there are for one to hide in, and it could attack your scout at any time. A little paranoia is healthy if they really are out to get you!



Edit: Just thought of something. You would want to go on a Grue hunt right before picking up your crystal too, since soon the whole place WILL be dark and any existing ones will be coming for you!



Edit 2: Just realized, you would have to change the end of round mechanic a little. End of round would have to happen when all enemies that are attacking you are killed, but not necessarily the ones that are not attacking this round. Then you can have enemies still around without the player knowing after the end round bell was called. Furthermore, the instant health/repair mechanics would have to occur only in lit rooms. Dark rooms would have this mechanic turned off due to the unknown possibility of a hostile presence.

I like the idea. Currently the game-mechanic does not really fit to that because you have this: "All monsters are dead, heros are automatically healed to full"-thing.



So if there still would be monsters around, you would know and then have to seek them, which could become tedious.



So one would have to think about how exactly it should be implemented.

Ail wrote:
I like the idea. Currently the game-mechanic does not really fit to that because you have this: "All monsters are dead, heros are automatically healed to full"-thing.



So if there still would be monsters around, you would know and then have to seek them, which could become tedious.



So one would have to think about how exactly it should be implemented.

You may have missed my edit, but I suggested that mechanic be altered to "All monsters currently seeking you out are killed" and the health/repair bonuses only apply to lit rooms, unlit rooms do not get the bonus, and the bonus is lost upon discovery of a mob in hiding (until that mob in particular is killed)

It would come tedious as anyone would send all the heores to each dark room after each wave to be sure there won't be some of them on the next round.

I like this idea allot. Yes, some things in the game might have to be altered to keep it from become tedious. But imo I think its well worth it to make dark rooms dangerous.



Just to kick a few ideas around, maybe it could be an invisible monster with a dedicated AI, with enough brains to know when to attack, when to hide, and overall just keep out of sight until it sees the players scout? imo I think it would be nice to have some kind of AI opponent in the game

VieuxChat wrote:
It would come tedious as anyone would send all the heores to each dark room after each wave to be sure there won't be some of them on the next round.

That's the thing, I wouldn't recommend them being that common. 2-3 by the end of the 4th floor kind of uncommon. Something where sure, you could just be tedious and check everything, or you could simply shrug your shoulders after not finding them the last 10 times, and then get pounced upon 15 doors later >

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
I like this idea allot. Yes, some things in the game might have to be altered to keep it from become tedious. But imo I think its well worth it to make dark rooms dangerous.



Just to kick a few ideas around, maybe it could be an invisible monster with a dedicated AI, with enough brains to know when to attack, when to hide, and overall just keep out of sight until it sees the players scout? imo I think it would be nice to have some kind of AI opponent in the game

I wouldn't mind it turning invisible in a LIT room, but it should attempt to stay well away from such rooms, preferably 2-3 dark rooms between them and the lit rooms if possible. However it should never voluntarily enter a lit room.



This would mean if you were lighting a branch where one hid without you knowing, it would then move through your base to an unlit branch. In this case, there might be no warning if you didn't suspect it in the first place. Just suddenly there is one out there lying in wait.



I did have another idea too. Something not unlike a monster breeder. Hides in a dark corner, does not hunt you, but every door opened it spawns a single monster of a type to come for you. Kind of like a necromancer raising the dead out of sight. No wave warning with it's spawns, so you know he's out there if you get incoming enemies without wave warnings, or without warnings in that direction. Of course he would not go invisible in lit areas, and would defend himself if found out. Perhaps he keeps the first 2-3 units with him as bodyguards in the event that you find him.

It would come tedious as anyone would send all the heores to each dark room after each wave to be sure there won't be some of them on the next round. )

good point. maybe some clue could be implemented so players know when the "grue" has spawned. an event warning, or a creepy lurking sound now and then...

wmdragon wrote:
good point. maybe some clue could be implemented so players know when the "grue" has spawned. an event warning, or a creepy lurking sound now and then...

But it's not the purpose of the "grue". It should be a surprise.

Maybe render it totally random ? And some players actions could raise the percentage of him appearing ? Like if you play like a coward you raise the chances to get him (for instance less than 15% of dark rooms). On the contrary, if you play daring then you could get some different kind of "grue".



It reminds me of the stalker from Warframe, and it's a cool addition, but he appears "while" you play. That would be even more creepy : for instance on the last wave, when the player can be caught off-guard

EDIt: But once everyonde died, the the game shouldn't spawn things while you think about your next move. The grue should be tied to the "action"-phase of DotE

What about hidden monsters as an event? Some rooms have backgrounds which clearly lead to subtunnels and otherwise inaccessible areas to the survivors. What if when you open a door, something (a unique monster--something that doesn't look like the current mobs) plops out of something and you have to contend with it?