The original idea behind Progress Lands was basically to make my own version of Progress Quest, just with an apocalyptic setting and some dark end-of-the-world humor.
But the game kept growing…
Now there’s a visual world map, equipment, a camp, and all these RPG systems. At this point, Progress Lands is probably as far away from Progress Quest as it could possibly be.
Yesterday I played the game again myself. Farming and collecting loot was fun, until my bags were full, my health was almost gone, and I had no potions left. I wanted to return to camp… but doing that would have been a stupid risk.
The current encounters aren’t completely random. Every enemy rarity has a certain chance to appear when you enter a field. But as a player, the result still feels unpredictable.
When you’re low on health, you might encounter another enemy on the way home. Maybe you can’t escape immediately, it gets one or two hits in, and that’s it.
So the safest option is to stop moving.
If you still have enough food, you just stand there and wait for your health to regenerate. Once you can survive another couple of hits, you continue toward the camp and hope for the best.
That’s safe… but it’s also incredibly boring.
When the best strategy is to stop playing and wait, something probably needs to change.
I think the time has come to move away from invisible encounters and show enemies directly on the map. They could wander around, follow patrol routes, or defend certain areas.
That would give the player more control. You could watch how an enemy moves, plan a different route, and use your own skill to get back to camp safely. The safer route might take longer, but at least you’d be making an actual decision instead of waiting for a health bar to refill.
Of course, this creates a whole new collection of problems…
If every enemy is visible, maybe players can simply walk around all of them. That could make exploration too easy. Enemies might need perception or aggression ranges, so they can notice the player, move toward them, and initiate combat themselves.
But should every enemy behave like that?
Maybe some creatures are passive and only defend themselves. Others could actively hunt the player. Area bosses might protect their territory and attack anyone who gets too close.
There are a lot of unanswered questions here, and I honestly don’t know yet whether roaming enemies will solve the problem or just replace it with several new ones.
I think I’ll have to try it and see how it feels…
Would visible roaming enemies make exploration more interesting for you, or would being able to avoid fights remove too much danger?
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