[Jon Alma]

I'm currently having some fun coding the opening of locked doors with a key or a lock pick. For the moment if the correct key is in the player's inventory the door is automatically unlocked. I'm currently not planning to change this as anything more would involve the player finding the right key to use (bit of busy work if you ask me).

Now I'm wondering what to do if the door is unlocked with a lock pick. Would appreciate you votes and input!

Jon.
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Legends from the Lost Realms

[RedSlash]

My preference would be the "This door is locked. Do you wish to use the lock pick? (Y/N)" dialog box.

The mini-game would be my second choice, simply because it can go one way of the other depending on how you handle it. You make it too easy or too hard then it becomes either too repetitive and frustrating because you have to be bothered with it every time you open a locked door.

Having to equip the lock pick before you open the door will be a nuisance if it takes multiple steps to change items. I really hate games that make you bring up the items screen, select the item, then use it to activate an event, then return to the item screen and go back to equipping the previous item. It would probably be okay if you have multiple items slots where you assign the items to the slots and the player would likely have the lock pick assigned to one of those slots most of the time.

[Rainer Deyke]

What RedSlash said.

Giving the player meaningful choices is good. Giving the player meaningful challenges is also good. Wasting the player's time is bad.

Having a lock-picking mini-game sounds good, but traditionally, most such mini-games have been more of the "waste the player's time" type rather than the "meaningful challenge" type.

[RampantCoyote]

I chose the third option for Frayed Knights:

Frayed Knights: Disarmament Treatise

You can try it out in the game right now, though it's still pretty unpolished and confusing for now. But the same interface is used for locks as for traps (with some obvious differences). Hmmm.... I can't remember if it'll work for trapped locks or not.

Anyway, it's due for an overhaul, but the concept is the same. This is a very simple lock - not much gameplay to it. The bolts are slightly easier to attack than the tumbler mechanism, and everything else is pretty equal:



The thing is, there must be consequences for failure. In my game's case, I force an extra random encounter check.

Maybe not the ultimate solution or anything, but I think once the presentation is cleaned up it should work nicely.
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[Verious]

I mis-read the poll, I think a mini-game would be the best option for picking locks (instead of "automatic").

[Hajo]

I voted for automatic, but if such attempt could trigger a trap or alarm, then I'd prefer the game to ask before doing it.

[RampantCoyote]

If there are no consequences for failure, then it should be automatic.

But I think there should always be consequences... :)
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[Rainer Deyke]

If you're picking the lock to the bank vault in broad daylight, even success should have dire consequences.