As this forum states, this is meant to be a discussion regarding the production of an action rpg. This has been a trend recently as many of the new console games have started to go this route. given, this type of game has been around for some time on the PC. "Tomb raider" and "legacy of kain" are prime examples of this as well as the more so well known "legend of zelda" series. In the spirit of following the pack in someways i thought that it might be interesting to produce one of my own as something to do. On another note, I picked up the much awaited "Final Fantasy 9" and needless to say, i was impressed. i figued that i wanted a very RPG style of gameplay but also to maintain the full real time battle system that involves a more fighting game aproach. At this time, my ideas are limited merely to characters and some gameplay issues as well as a skeleton story. I think that if we can discuss this in a semi formal fassion, we can put together a very nice action Rpg. also, I will be looking for assistance in actual implimentation fo these ideas as i am only an artist. I am not text, I am not organized pixels, I am not killed by turning off your monitor, I am not isolated by turning off your computer. I just am.

Conshape Electronic Arts

Like I said FE, I was thinking about you for my project. So far I am still in design, but once that is over we may be able to team up. Email me your ideas and I will see what I can make of them and see if they are compatible with my project.

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

sounds good dwarf. the project here though is meant to be a stand alone. I am also useing it as a project to better my 3d character skills. at some point I will prepare a short example of what i want and send it to you.. i have been thinking about making a short movie file in max using the in game models when i am done with them as a demonstration of the gameplay. this would include all the overlay graphics as and a few other things. i dont know. way back when i wanted to make an ff game i wanted to do this. my skills are crappy so it might be a while and i need a program to paint models with as i suck at textureing.
as for the ideas, I will compose a short doc for you.

I am not text, I am not organized pixels, I am not killed by turning off your monitor, I am not isolated by turning off your computer. I just am.

Conshape Electronic Arts

Being a fan of old school fighting / adventuring games going back to the days of Double Dragon I to III, I''ve wanted to see more of this type of hybrid.

But one of the first things I''d think about, unless you''re cool with making a clone, is the core gameplay. I''d be up for a TR type game that has more object use / inventory / character interaction, myself. Laura got a bit old for me, after awhile, because I felt the action was pretty one dimensional.

So what do you want to do that these other games haven''t done? I''d like to see combat get a bit more nuanced (more options, more resources to think about during combat). I''d also like to see some way of using the environment creatively. Would be especially cool in conjunction with magical weapons or special power... just some thoughts...

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Just waiting for the mothership...

essentially you are describing what im planning but there is more too it. I have been thinking lots about the gameplay and have come to the conclusion that aside from scattered story building cutscenes, it will be completly real time. fights will occur in real space, the maps wont change. Thus you are not likely to run into the big mofo shit that you do in most rpg''s.
most of the game is actully meant to be in battle. you play a demon who is trying to prevent a fusion of 3 dimentions. you dont really have a physical form but you do take damage from physical enemies as the two energy types conflict when used in a malitious fassion.
There isnt meant to be an inventory system and what will make things more interesting is there will be no cureative items or magic. you will not run around, kill monsters and pick up health vials. since most of the items you come across are based in the human world, you cannot use them as all battles occur in your own plane of existance. (sort of a soul reaver thing).

You run around the world and when you run into a monster, you drag it into your own plane to fight it. I guess i just totally contradicted myself here as this sort of reaks of random enemy encounters. this will be cool though as when you get into actual battle, the two worlds come together and it looks all phased and cool.
now for actully commanding your character in battle. I know that i have been focusing on this but it is a BIG part of the gameplay. The beginning of the game strays away from the main character a bit as she starts out as a lowly theif. for most of this part, you will actully play other characters as the setting of the game starts to fall into place. you will not be introduced to the battle system for some time but you will get a chance to fight as other characters under a different style of fighting. every character fights differently but you will never get other people on your team after the protagonist dies.
once this occurs, you learn a new way of doing things and the real game starts. there are three planes of existance in this games settings which govern the 3 vanes of power. (names are to be made up later)light gates or so called heavan is the realm of gods where the falls of the night are where demons and weapon beings reside. the third is the human plane where the game starts. when a human dies, they are sent to either of the two other planes depending on their life story. when a god or demon dies, they are sent to the human plane and the cycle goes on. from the start of it all, god''s and demon''s have been locked in war. the placement of the human plane seperates the two from fighting suspending the the conflict of the two mass forces.
Your character (Anyka Mirage) is sent to the dark end when she dies and is forced to endure her own personal hell.

Now, battle. This game is meant for playstation so I will use the control meathod in my descriptions. A battle is initiated when your character runs into a monster or anything that trys to attack you. when this happens, you can do one of two things; fight the monster where it stands or drag it into your plane of existance. each choice has its own set of pluses or drawbacks. fighting a monster where you find it allows you to pretty much kill it as you see it really fast, however, you will not have access to any healing ability or items. you will still be able to use magic but your hp and mp will not charge automatically like they would in your own plane. Draging it into your world opens up the absorb command which allows you to recover Hp as you deal more damage and make the monster suffer more. the times at which this will be available to use will be determined by your armours glowing brightness. your armour senses suffering and only when it is glowing can you absorb that and gain hp. with this you can also absorb mp and later in the game, abilites and magic.
a call to switch planes can be called at any time in the battle but it will take a second to do which leaves you open to attack.

to attack your enemy, you will need to equip abilites onto your character which are triggered by key commands. each action key has one slot with which you can add an ability, some times, you will be able to add more than one abilty to the key of choice. example;
jump, spin, peirce and spinning assult are abilites that you can equip to the keys. there is no limitation to where on your character these can go so whatever your conrol preference.
to equip an ability, you enter the menu and select the ability submenu. in this menu you see 8 slots with which you can add ability. these 8 slots corispond to 8 keys of your choosing. to add an ability, simply slect the slot, select an ability and you are done. that key is now active with the thing you added. say you wanted to add a triple slash in place of your peirce attack. that is how you change commands. there will be 3 types of abilies; attack, support and addon. attacks are just as they sound. new ways in which you use your weapon to kill things. useing multiple attack abilities at in succession activates combo attacks. targeting is automatic so you can continue moving around the enemy as you do these. support abilities are stuff like jump or spin. these increase your mobility and can open up new attack abilities when combined with others. addons are simply addon abilities for abilities. the increase the effectivness of certain actions by adding another action to them. for instance, you equip triple slash. if you were to equip an backflip addon to it, you would attack 3 times and then do a backflip to get away from the enemies counter. this isnt a real example but it demonstrates what can be done. this is how fighting works as it is essentially a fighting game where you equip your moves.
one key is always reserved for menu. this is where you access your magic table and use the absorb command while in your home plane. this is also where you switch between the planes and alter the battle conditions.

while running around in the world, there will be parts that you can use to your advantage. you will be able to influence land forms and things on them to aid you. you will be able to cut down trees and break doors. you will also be able to set fire to things and kill villigers should they piss you off. however, this will affect your characters image and reputation. you will have to ballance your killing and not killing while you advance the story line as there is the potential that you could kill someone very important. so there is the potential for you to kill the guy who is meant to save the world. thus when that point in the game comes along, that task will fall to you or the world will be destroyed and you will die.

I think most of this makes sense but in not very good at writing it.

I am not text, I am not organized pixels, I am not killed by turning off your monitor, I am not isolated by turning off your computer. I just am.

Conshape Electronic Arts

come on, someone has to at least a little interested.

I am not text, I am not organized pixels, I am not killed by turning off your monitor, I am not isolated by turning off your computer. I just am.

Conshape Electronic Arts

That sounds very interesting. I have not seen such an original, creative idea in a long time. I would be very interested in helping you with the story board for this. E-mail me (chaos1111@hotmail.com) or ICQ me 22527985 with all you''ve got if you''re interested.

"When i was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse, out of
the corner of my mind. I turned to look, but it was
gone, I cannot put my finger on it now. The child has
grown, the dream has gone." -Pink Floyd

gee. thats a big comliment. thank you. I would be more than interested in your help.

I am not text, I am not organized pixels, I am not killed by turning off your monitor, I am not isolated by turning off your computer. I just am.

Conshape Electronic Arts

Will create a Game Firm, wanna work with me Dwarfsoft and Fantasy Edge ?

Unfortunately it''ll be in France


-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

I''m willing to move to France, though I would have to learn how to speak french. I only had one year of it in school... I always liked that language.

Maybe I can just talk through NPC''s using IOL though

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche