:idea: I feel that in DK3 you should be able to create a custom avitar who is the Keeper. When you first start a new game you shold have to make a new Keeper which would be a Human which you cold customize his/her body build by using arrows inticating buffness or fatness you could also customize the face by similar means, hair and eyes can also be changed differant colors and for the hair it could be made differant lengths. You should be able to obtain certain armor and weapons fit for a dark lord that your other minions can not get from the armory.

:horny: Democles

i also thought about a keeper u have has creature but not that u have to find armor and stuff for him and also make stats if necessary so 1 mode that u have a death match and only have your "special" creature. but not human u decide what he shall be

A customisable avatar for keepers is a possibility to differ the game from the first two and add a modern edge to the game, however I don't know how much work or what resources we would need for this and if we can get them.

Well i feel that if we can get some good programmers and concepts down we could easily accomplish this task. "Makeing a game is never easy especially if its dk3 and then, anything ever worth making never is easy." also you should be able to have a capes to that would be awsome.

not too sure i agree. the whole idea of a keeper is unique. a keeper is a higher-dimensional being who can only take physical form in the form of a magical heart. once the heart is destroyed, he can no longer gain access to the physical world.

but then there is also the problem of how he moves from one land to another. so the avatar idea is okay, except that the keeper unit should be VERY WEAK!!!! if the avatar is an almost invincible unit, then that will render early rushes obsolete. so make him have low health and low attack. it is your responsibility to keep him safe.

This is starting to sound like Overlord...

it would be cool to have a small avatar of the keeper....
BUT..

i think it'd take away some of the appeal given by the DK series, it was always different, and so many games now allow you to have your own customised bieng.....

plus, how would you be able to fairly get him in each level? via dfferent builds? like the elite creatures in DK II 1.7...?

it all sounds kinda.... pointless
:no:

Can't say I'm in favour of Keeper as a playable character

If you are going to customise anything, maybe a name, but I prefer the unorthodoxy of the DK series.

This just sounds like a way to add personalisation to the game and, while I don't disagree with this whatsoever, I think a Keeper creature is a really bad idea. There are masses of problems associated with this; if the Keeper is strong, it makes OTHER creatures obsolete and turns DKIII into a Keeper-possession-RPG. If the Keeper is weak, then your supposedly "powerful" incarnation seems pathetic, and also has very little impact on the game, getting in the way with other issues: is the Keeper a replacement for the Dungeon heart? Do you lose when either die? Do you only lose when both die? Does the Keeper respawn, as this would completely and utterly turn DKIII into a Keeper-possession RPG. Not only are there balance problems, but interesting level designs would be limited such as starting off with one, weak creature and working through the level with possession, finding new creatures. I'm not attacking you or your post, I just don't think it is a good idea to include in DKIII, and probably went a little overboard on picking out flaws.

I suggest that, instead of having a customisable Keeper creature, have a customisable Dungeon Heart, MAYBE with customisable effects/defences, which have been discussed in another thread. This adds personalisation and doesn't have such a drastic effect on gameplay.

The keeper avitar would be like the dungeon heart, when he/she dies you lose the realm that you are playing.

i dont like the idea of having a keeper as an avatar.

but i think that there should be some logical explanation of how the dungeon heart moves.

so i think that you should be able to "pack" your dungeon heart.

it shrinks into a box on wheels. it then can move EXTREMELY slowly. while in 'moving' mode, it has less health than an imp. it also takes about a minute for the heart to pack. while packing, it has extremely low health as well.

you can then move it to a claimed 5x5 room and have it set up. this takes about a minute as well.

your enemy is notified if you start to pack your heart. your heart is revealed to the enemy while its packing and unpacking.

so the only reason to have this is if there is a certain mission where you have to flee a certain area.

the reason why the heart has such low health while packing/packed/unpacking is so nobody abuses this option. all it takes is a couple of arrows to fly into it and your dead.

but maybe there is a mission where someone betrays your location, and you have to flee before a group of angels arrives.

or maybe there's gonna be a flood and you have to head to a different area.

No bad idea.

We're gonna have to make the heart look moveable though - unlike the Dungeon Hearts of DK1 & 2!

Relocating the Heart?

Hm...

I wonder about being able to build additional hearts as well :P

I recall Age of Empires III, where you can get wagons to travel off to become additional town centers.

It doesn't seem very dungeony to me.

I always liked the fact that in Dungeon Keeper it's as if you are the master of the dungeons one would explore in D&D.

OMG

Gelatinous Cube Trap.

That would be glorious to the MAXXX/

...anyway. A moving dungeon heart... idk. I would prefer more... maze-like dungeon structuring? Maybe you can create special "barriers" that are as permanent as dirt waiting to be dug by your imps. In this way, you could alter the way, or maze-path, to your dungeon. You only get a total of say... two barriers. They can be moved to different locations in order to block off ways to get to the dungeon heart, making it seem more... like a magical mysterious dungeon, but because they have to be moved, like doors/traps, it's not OP. Eh? I like it.

...and apparently this happens to be in the creature section. Ah well.

-Edit: Oh Em Gee. I'm a fly now. Wewt.-

I think (hope) he was joking there.

anyway, no thanks to a moving (or multiple) hearts, you build your dungeon around your heart, not your heart around your dungeon. sometimes you arn't in the best postion, and it's up to you to make do with what you have, not to just shift over somewhere nice and comfortable where your in no danger of any heavy assults.

I'd just like to make it known I was playing Devil's advocate here.

Like I've said before - a poll is the only way to make things definite.

Not really : vote of majority is a bad way to make the best choices, as it doesn't take into account one's level of expertise.

Actually I wasn't joking about additional hearts :P I recreated a DK like game in this other platform game, where you could construct additional hearts that cost specific gems (a rare material found amongst gold usually).

But I understand that might go too much against the whole DK thing :P

Well, this is a fan based addition to the series....I'm oresuming. So therefore, the people who help/make ideas with/for the game and give a majority on a consenting vote make the decisions. Unless a designer on a particular aspect says that the option that has been picked cannot be done. At which point, another option is chosen.

I wish I knew how professional game developers did this!

I also have read that since the horned reaper betrays you at the end of dk2 the keeper Avitar would defineatly replace the reaper since you will most likely have to face him in battle.

I am with those who thinks the keeper is the under-god.
I would have a priest or a shaman creature, who is your high priest and would start on every map. He should not be combat-oriented, more for keeping the creatures in line and such.

He could be casting the spells the keeper casts, but that would make him do your work, takes away some of the keeper-power.

The high priest would affect the type of dungeon, if its a goblin it would make the rooms and traps look goblin; if its an undead...and so on.
He shouldnt have to much impact on the game, maybe just estetic, maybe a weak spell or two, and maybe one extra unit to the aspect he is from (I would love to see wolf-riding goblins).

If your heart is destroyed he would escape through the portal, cause he is such a loyal subject :P He will not do the fighting. Then he can call upon your powers in some other realm, summoning the heart when he has gathered enough energy, witch would take a century at least! Time flies when you`re a god