35 replies to this topic

[DarkFlameWolf]

I know this isn't part of the overall ZC theme, but it does fall under game design, so this is the best place I could figure to put it.

But I'm currently working on a rm2k3 RPG game that some of you may know of called Amulet of Fate. I've been working on it for over 5 years and it'll probably be a few more years yet before its all finally finished. But regardless, here is what I have so far:

Eight characters to utilize with one main character and seven supporting. The seven supporting can be hired/fired/leave you at any time during the game since they are in essence, mercenaries for hire. You pay them daily for their services. However, over the course of the game, the more you play with them through major story points, the more you learn about them and their pasts. If you play through the game with three of the seven, you'll learn them fully by the end of the game, if you mix and match, you may not get their full stories before the game is over, so this prompts repeat playthroughs.
Each character has a specific ability:
Summoner - summons creatures of power that you can level up once you defeat them first in battle. Optional attacks are magic strikes if either the black or white mage is in the party.
Black Mage - obvious, but does damage magic
White Mage - obvious, but does healing and disrupting magic
Blue Mage - obvious, but learns her variety of black/white magic from enemies
Warrior - learns techs through leveling up
Thief - can thrown items and weapons as well as steal and pick locks, chests, and disarm/avoid traps
Elementalist - has no skills until you enter battle, then learns skills from the environment (ice plains = ice spells)
Alchemist - utilizes materials dropped from enemies to create skills and increases healing item effects

You do not explore an entire world in this game, but rather one single continent which is large enough to be a world. You have five main cities to explore on this continent:
Alur'Rang - the main capital city of Melonia and is the largest city you can explore, it even has a casino and a castle!
Bhalstok - the city of nobles with tons of night life both savory and unsavory
Galea - the desert city with oasis
Odessa - A ruined hamlet destroyed in an earlier war, can you restore it to its former glory?
Erromon - the winter city high in the snowy mountains

Amidst these five cities is a bunch of sub areas, caves, deserts, temples, ziggarats, pyramids, swamps and towers to explore. There are three guilds to join (fighter, mage, thief) each with their own line of story quests that are separate from the main story arc. With the exception of the alchemist, each of the other six mercenaries have guild affliations and will refuse to accompany you on those specific guild missions they are opposed to, which may switch up your tactics when fighting during those quests since your 'favorite' character may not be joining you.

The overall game itself is like Oblivion or Morrowind in nature where you have a in depth intro sequence followed by a small tutorial of what to do next, then I quickly boot you out into the world and let you find your own way into the main story. Or deviate completely and explore. Do note, that the game does increase in difficulty over the course of the game by summoning milestones. By the fourth summon creature you obtain, monsters level up and become stronger, by the eighth summon, they level up a second and final time. So you can explore mostly anywhere without too much fear of encountering something extremely dangerous (there are always exceptions), but the further you progress into the main story, the stronger the enemies will become. You really can't avoid this if you want to complete the game or obtain high level spells for your black/white/blue mages. Shops won't sell the good spells, enemies won't start using the good stuff until they are leveled up. So there are some benefits to progressing the story to face off against stronger monsters.
Sidenote: You can empty out all the chests in the world when monsters are low level, but they reset/respawn in seven game days. So the rewards are small. The stronger the monsters, strangely enough, the better rewards you get inside these chests every seven days.

I could go on and on about what is already in the game are already in the works. But my question I pose to you is: how does this sound so far? And is there things you'd like to see that I should add? Anything I could do better? Comments!

EDIT: Also, I always hated the fact that in most rpgs these days you have this massive amount of healing items for both HP and MP, items to cure status ailments, etc. And you hardly ever use them at all. In this game, I'm balancing it in such a way that you will need to use these items and frequently. Sure there are spells to do the same thing, but magic is a limited, costly endeavor and you'll need to eventually fall back on your items. So balancing is a big issue with me for this game, it must be perfect! Furthermore, I've always hated that status ailments rarely work on strong enemies or bosses, not so here. Most enemies (boss or normal alike) are vulnerable to a few ailments. You just need to find out what! Makes the usage of those spells much more meaningful.

Edited by DarkFlameWolf, 10 October 2010 - 06:30 PM.

[SpacemanDan]

You knew I would post here.

That sounds great, actually. I think it gives players the choice on whether they want to do all their exploring in a safer enviroment, find all the goodies they can, then progress, but not get the full potential levels they could where as progressing further would make it more dangerous, but worth it. (I imagine more EXP and better items) Plus, I always like exploring and having the choice to do as much as I can before I need to go farther in.

The guild idea is also interesting, giving players another sort of story to play through. The classes sound all fine an dandy, and I like the idea of being able to get to know some of the characters even deeper by having them tag along. I've always been a fan of stuff like multiple endings or multiple 'paths' in a game. (So long as it doesn't get to the point of being horribly convoluted, but with careful planning, it shouldn't be. )

In all, sounds good. I can't think of anything to add or the such, but if I do, I'll come back.

EDIT; Regarding the last bit; yes. I agree entirely with everything mentioned. I normally have a stock of 99 <whatever the healing item is> and rarely do I ever run low. And making those ailment spells actually useful would be excellent; it's the main reason why I never bother to buy or go out to get them.

EDIT 2: Read the side note; that's an interesting idea. I assume the items will be randomized? (It's not hard to do at all, and I trust you know how to do it. )

[Snarwin]

This sounds like all kinds of awesome, and I will definitely be playing it when it's finished.

("Ziggurat" is spelled with a U, by the way. )

EDIT: Also, I always hated the fact that in most rpgs these days you have this massive amount of healing items for both HP and MP, items to cure status ailments, etc. And you hardly ever use them at all. In this game, I'm balancing it in such a way that you will need to use these items and frequently. Sure there are spells to do the same thing, but magic is a limited, costly endeavor and you'll need to eventually fall back on your items.

With regard to this specifically: Last Scenario solves this problem pretty well by simply not letting you buy MP-restoring items in stores. Ever. The only way to get them is to find them in chests or win them from enemies, which means they're in short enough supply that you actually have to worry about running out of MP sometimes.

It also solves the useless status ailment problem by just never giving the PCs any abilities that inflict status ailments in the first place, which may not be the way you want to go, but I figured I might as well mention it.

[DarkFlameWolf]

well you can both be on the tester list if you want when it comes time sometime next year (if all goes well).

There are a couple other ideas I've already implemented that further channel this idea of specific 'class distinction' among the characters. There is a weapon system where every enemy is weak or strong against certain weapon types. For example, jellies/slimes are pretty resistant to swords, axes and other weapons that can just cut them apart, they'll just reform again. But weapons that simply bash their heads in like staffs or whips can do more damage to them. So have characters who use those weapons in your group can actually do more damage than normal as a result of their natural ability to use the weapon the enemy is weak against. Whereas Ghosts and Elemental enemies are immune to all weapons, which means bringing in your spellcasters to do the job.
Likewise, each class is so distinctive, they really can't deviate from what they know. So in cases where you must fight against magic wielding enemies, you wouldn't want to bring your warrior or thief in. But in cases with strong magical defenses, they would be ideal. This is further complicated by the guild quests where some of your characters will refuse to go in with you on these quests if they are affilliated with a guild they are against. As a result you may have to redo your strategies when going up against a weapon resistant opponent and no magic user to back you up since you chose a quest he/she didn't like. This is done purposefully of course, to make you go outside your comfort zone with your party.
Not to say its a total bust. There are magic spheres you can buy/find/create that give everyone in the party the ability to cast any magic spell (with some exceptions). Only problem? The spells you gain from these spheres may be the same ones your mages have, they cost double to use, which can really put a damper on your spell casting. No problem though, you can use the sphere itself as the spell. You lose the sphere for good and have to go find another, but it means you don't have to spend double MP for the spell. In this way, you have a tactical option for your entire party in using magic, provided you have the spheres to do so.
So the goal for this battle system of mine is this: Limitations and restrictions. I want the player to use their items, to utilize each character's abilities and do more than just spam attack or their favorite spell. Chances are, even at level 99, your mages will only be able to cast that ultimate spell 4-5 times before you have to refill. And normal attacks may not do much if the enemy is immune to your warrior's swords. So all of these factors are coming together in providing a more tactical battle experience for the player, at least that is my hope.

[Ice Cream Link]

You TOTALLY got the idea from Final Fantasy.

[DarkFlameWolf]

which one? There are a lot of ideas here.
Also, if you want the full shimmy on the RPG and screenshots and info for it, its here:
http://rpgmaker.net/games/2276/

[Ice Cream Link]

Are you gonna do all of this in ZQUest? That's wicked cool!

And oh yeah, luckily guessing... hmm... FFlll, FFV, FFVl?

Thieves guild FTW

Edited by Ice Cream Link, 23 October 2010 - 07:05 AM.

[SpacemanDan]

No, it'd be insane to do this with ZQuest. She's using RPG Maker 2003 for this. (Yes, I realize I answered her question for her. Leave me be. )

The page you listed is pretty neat. Now if only I could get to work on my RPG that I've been trying to do for 7 years.

[DarkFlameWolf]

um, only a few ideas came from final fantasy, the rest came from the tales series, oblivion/morrowind and other rpg-ish sources. The ideas themselves aren't exactly original, but the overall mashing of them together into a single rpg probably is. lol

[Ice Cream Link]

I'm sure the game ill be really fun.

[Jenny]

looks like a awesome idea, good thing you started a new project

Edited by Yoshidude, 23 October 2010 - 10:24 AM.

[DarkFlameWolf]

thanks for the support guys. And started? This has been in progress since before Hidden Duality! lol I've just now finalized the overall direction I was taking with it. The main functionality is there now. I am just creating 'content' to play in.

[Ice Cream Link]

When's this coming out?

[DarkFlameWolf]

good gosh, I'm not even 25% done yet. It won't be for a long time yet. But rest assured, it is being worked on. Check out www.rpgmaker.net and look up Amulet of Fate in their gallery of games there to find all the latest updates on this rpg.

[DarkFlameWolf]

Another question for you all, would you prefer levels to be the primary source of character strength or equipment? There are some games where if a boss or situation is too hard, you simply level grind a few levels and it suddenly becomes easy. The other equipment option is that you can level grind 10-15 level before you see a difference in difficulty which places greater emphasis on equipment whether the weapon on hand is good against the enemy or armor that helps protect against certain types of magic or attacks, etc. Its the equipment that's the saving grace over how leveled you are. Which style of RPG do you prefer more?

As my my game: Amulet of Fate, I am taking a 'middle of the road' approach. Leveling does indeed help with strength and intelligence attributes as well as HP and MP. So leveling will indeed help with increasing your physical and magical fighting strength. But does little to increase your dexterity or defense. So enemies do the same amount of damage at level 50 as they do at level 1 (roughly) for either physical or magical. So its on equipment that you alter your dexterity and defense stats to suit the situation. Thoughts, ideas?

As for multiple endings and being able to learn about your companions, of the seven companions one will betray you at the end. How and why is completely dependent on YOU! Of the seven mercenaries you can hire, there is going to be one that you haven't learned much about OR answered the right responses during the background story events for that characters. (you will be given questions with right and wrong responses) So depending on who is currently in your group at the time of the betrayal, the character with the least amount of 'love' for you will betray you for reasons his/her own. So this scene could be different every time you play. The person who isn't in your group who has the highest 'love' for you will be the one to bail you and the other two companions out of the jam you are in. This obviously completely seals off any chance of using the betrayer for the rest of the game until New Game+, but it shouldn't be much of an issue gameplay wise since you probably weren't using him/her much to have them hate you that bad! lol So this is just something to keep the endgame interesting and fun!

Edited by DarkFlameWolf, 10 January 2011 - 02:49 PM.