This place seems reasonably safe.

[Nightmarjoo]

I just found a random artifact on the ground of a place with "this place seems reasonably safe" at 1350'. Do artifacts not effect special feelings anymore if "lose artifacts when leaving level" is off? Special feelings seem relatively useless at this point ._. I remember "you have a special feeling" used to nearly 100% mean artifact/jelly pit.

[Bill Peterson]

If "Lose artifacts when leaving level" = no then you will never get a "special" feeling. This has been the case for a long time. "Special" is a warning for those playing without preserving artifacts that there may be an artifact on the level. Having it also set for various pits is just so you can't count on finding an artifact, things would be too easy that way.

Vanilla 3.1.x does seem to generate some really nice items without a corresponding increase in feeling. This could be because a monster dropped it or the calculation of level feelings needs some adjustment.

[d_m]

I don't have a horse in the race, but I think many of the devs want to phase out level feelings, although I think enough people still like them that they haven't been removed yet. This is just my impression.

[miyazaki]

I'll cop to it. I really like the level feelings and would be saddened to see them go. I do think that they need to be rejiggered, tho'. I think that the feelings should be generated based on the single best piece of equipment or single most dangerous monster on the level, rather than some cumulative formula.

[Pete Mack]

I like level feelings--I mostly ignore them, but it does add some nice flavor, and every now and then, falling for an early "good" feeling can lead to some spectacular luck.

[Magnate]

I don't have a horse in the race, but I think many of the devs want to phase out level feelings, although I think enough people still like them that they haven't been removed yet. This is just my impression.

I would say that I see a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the current implementation of level feelings, but not necessarily a desire to get rid of them altogether.

Personally I really liked whoeveritwas's suggestion that level feelings should contain two components - a "danger" component which is about the nastiness of monsters per square foot, and a "loot" component which is about the treasure on the ground (or indeed carried by monsters, if we go down the route of generating drops at level gen time). So you could end up with lots of different combinations.

There may be other even better solutions, but whatever is implemented has to solve the current problem of jelly pits appearing to "improve" the feeling, which is nonsense.

[fizzix]

There may be other even better solutions, but whatever is implemented has to solve the current problem of jelly pits appearing to "improve" the feeling, which is nonsense.

You feel like you need a bath.

[NotMorgoth]

I don't know if any other variants have it, but I quite like the system in Sangband where, as well as the normal level feeling, if you have good perception you can get 'precognition' messages on entering a level, eg 'you sense a presence/powerful presence' for a unique, 'you sense a dangerous/very dangerous place' for a vault etc.

I do find it quite annoying that these messages are sometimes inaccurate so you can spend ages searching the level for a unique which isn't there, but overall I think the idea has potential.

[Hariolor]

I'd be all for something that reads like: "you suspect few/valuable/priceless treasures are hidden here, guarded by weak/average/fearsome foes"

but that might be more a variant thing.

[bio_hazard]

are there any variants that make use of wall inscriptions to give information about the contents of a level? I think it would be fun to have dwarf-fortress style wall or floor inscriptions (i.e. with potentially amusing and somewhat randomly generated text) near the stairs that the player could look at.

"This wall is carved to show a large dragon surrounded by dwarves. The dragon is breathing flames on the dwarves. The dragon sits atop a pile of treasure. The dwarves are dying"

"This wall is carved to show a group of orcs. The orcs are guarding an ancient treasure!"

"This section of floor is carved to show a hulking menace in the shadows of a large room"

[Sirridan]

I have an idea for level feelings, similar to ones already posted. The goal of the feeling would be to give an indication of what items of interest are on the level, what places of interest are on the level, and of course what creatures of interest (if you fear something, you're interested in it ) are on the level.

Generally junky items, or low depth items in a higher depth place (Like slay animal whips at dl50 are trash)

- You feel there is nothing particularly spectacular here.
- You feel there may be some useful tools or trinkets.
- You feel there could be some very good items here.
- You feel there is something spectacular here.

And so on in this fashion, although perhaps worded better.

Of course maybe some "error" in the feelings, base it off wisdom or charisma? (OMG Charisma is useful? hah)

For interesting places:

- The corridors look typical of a dungeon, maybe even a bit shoddy.
- The dungeon is well kept, perhaps something of interest is here?
- This dungeon is pristine, something must be guarded here.

And for monsters and creatures.

- The floor is littered with bones and remains of dead adventurers and monsters alike. (OOD monster, severely out of depth >5-10 levels)
- The flow of time feels oddly different here. (Time hounds/vortexes)
- This place is unnaturally cold... as if your life was being drained away. (Undead pit)
- This place smells vile. (Jelly pit)
- You cough and wheeze from lingering vapors in the air (Poison breather, no rPoison)
- Your skin tingles and you smell ozone. (Elec breather, no rElec)
- The walls look warped from unnatural heat (Plasma breathers)
- (Color) scales litter the floor here. (Dragon pit)
- Remnants of large, partly eaten meals line the floor. (Troll pit)
- Orange octopus make toast with painted pens. (Chaos breather)
- You feel you have something here to do. (Sauron or Morgoth present)

EDIT:

It would be an (Item OR level feeling) and a monster feeling.

So if you have a greater vault, of course there will be something spectacular. If you have a lesser vault and a ring of speed at dl 40, then the item value bit may be higher and thats what would be shown.

Morgoth/Sauron feeling would override all of course for monster feelings.

[Mondkalb]

Detailed creature feelings could be nice but might be a bit too much. On deeper levels you get almost every kind of dangerous creatures on one level so that all warnings/feelings would pop up.

[Sirridan]

Detailed creature feelings could be nice but might be a bit too much. On deeper levels you get almost every kind of dangerous creatures on one level so that all warnings/feelings would pop up.

True, but my idea would be the most dangerous monster would be displayed, first off instakills, if not those, the big melee or breathers. Pits would trump all.

If you had a Great Storm Wyrm and a Drolem for example, and you had rElec but not rPoison, the Poison feeling would be displayed, since 800 damage poison > 566 elec. However, if you had rPoison and rElec, then you would get the elec feeling because 566 > 266.

I would personally only do this for instakillers and OOD monsters and pits, although up to a point some pits aren't worth mentioning, such as a drolem being far more dangerous than an orc pit in nearly all cases.

[Eagle]

I do not like the spoilishness of level feelings. Especially detailed ones (stairscumming ).
However a "supurb" feeling does get me excited to explore the level.

It's spoiler vs anticipation. A thin line.

I think this level feelings are just fine the way they are.
I find the idea of adding flavor in the dungeon itself which hint to present uniques more interresting. And personally I love the feeling of seeing a vault on my map after casting Detection! I do not need to know this the minute I enter a staircase.

[d_m]

As an aside on this thread: I just started a ranger game and got a superb feeling on level 1. I haven't finished exploring, but I think it's the copy of "Wrath of God" lying on the ground.

Of course this has to be an ironman game!